By Linda Forrest
Ah, the end of the year. A time when PR practitioners far and wide dust off their crystal balls and prognosticate about what lies ahead in our industry for the year ahead.
My Twitterstream is positively jam-packed with predictions for public relations in 2012. The aim of this post is to provide a quick round up of the top trends PR practitioners see emerging and what they feel the impetus is for said trends. I trust you’ll forgive me that the brunt of the prose comes from elsewhere; my mind is filled to the brim with if not dancing sugarplums, at least my distressingly long “still-to-do” list.
In no particular order:
From Inkhouse:
The Phone Matters…Again. We had a few years during the blog explosion when some PR professionals slid into the keyboard, choosing to type their media correspondence behind the safety shield of their monitors. Email and social networks are important tools of the trade. However, to have good relationships, you need real conversations. PR people who pick up the phone get better coverage, period. In the late 90s, we used to send FedEx packages to reporters to convey importance because they stood out from the regular mail and daily barrage of faxes. Today, the phone is worthy of a resurgence since very few people use it anymore.
Amen. I whole-heartedly agree. That’s why it’s infuriating when media obfuscates their phone number deliberately; I’m looking at you, Jon Brodkin, who proclaimed in a Tweet on November 21: “I love how I have kept my new work number secret. Go ahead and try to call me, PR people. I dare you!”
From The PR Coach:
Content Marketing is Hot
In my view, 2012 will be the year of content. Great content will rule even more and advertising will still drool. PR pros need to master content marketing and take it to higher levels. It’s becoming an important strategic weapon as traditional advertising and marketing “push” campaigns fail to get results with jaded or overwhelmed consumers.
Think about how you can use content strategically in traditional and digital or social media channels. Some of the best content marketing strategies include: trends, problem solving, how-tos and case studies. Videos and storytelling also create big impact. All designed to demonstrate leadership, enhance reputation and reach out with real value to important stakeholders.
Bingo.
From Social Media Today:
Brand News World
We’ve seen companies and organizations take a clear step towards being digital first, towards embracing crowd-generated content, and towards empowering both their external and internal influencers. But on top of all that, companies and organizations will start thinking like journalists when creating and curating stories around their brand.
Not sure if I agree with this one from Affect:
Death of the Email Pitch, Rise of the Twit Pitch: In 2012 our reliance on email pitching will dwindle in favor of social media connections with journalists. The pervasiveness of social media has officially permeated traditional media relations. The short form aspect of social media makes it a favored place for journalists to receive pitches–no more diatribes about the benefits of your company’s exciting new product. Just 140 characters to love.
All pitching platforms, from the phone to Twitter and everything in between, work only as well as the reporter’s willingness to use that channel to be contacted. Believe it or not, there are still reporters that I reach out to who do not have Twitter accounts. Maybe they’ll sign on in 2012?
From the PRSAY blog:
Shifting Metrics And Integration Drive Digital PR
Both a challenge and opportunity for public relations professionals in 2012 is to have more data-driven decision-making processes. For those of us focusing primarily on digital, identifying the right data that can inform decisions and integrating across all channels will position us for success. (Joe Ciarallo, vice president of communications, Buddy Media)
The list will always be a strong PR hook, in my opinion. 2012 will be no different, says the CommPro.biz blog:
“The 5 Steps, The 10 Best, The 8 Worst” headline lists will continue to catch interest. The power of a promised list continues to live on as an effective hook. “Ten Steps to…” or “5 Top Tools You Must…”—these headline teasers continue to seduce us by promising to fulfill our desires. “The 8 Steps to Total Happiness?” Joy! Life simplified! Questions answered! The best wisdom culled from the pile! PR pros will continue to use this tried and true method to catch interest when writing headlines and subject lines, tweets and updates. Hey, it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.
Aggregation and curation are the wave of the near future, says aggregation and curation purveyor Huffington Post:
Content Curation and Discovery- Just Give Me What’s Important and Let Me Find What I Need
a. Aggregation and curation will be critical going into 2012 and companies will either create a social layer into existing IT systems and/or look to the multiple new vendors popping up.
b. Discovery will be encouraged, not blocked.
c. Competitive advantage goes to companies who quickly figure out how to enable effective aggregation curation. Look for rapid innovation in this field.
This is a lovely thought from Peter Bartram:
Smile, please. Not an instruction for a group photo, more a plea for PR campaigns that raise people’s morale. People will be looking for things to cheer them up after nearly four years of hard times. Tip: Look for ways to inject an optimistic touch – even a flash of humour – into PR campaigns.
I like this final one, from the PR Experts: In 2012, as ever, change remains the only constant.
Continued Improvement. The one thing constant in PR is change. As PR professionals we must embrace change because it is a part of our daily working environment. One of the most important aspects of effectively implementing change is ensuring that everyone involved clearly understand the reasons for the change, the likely impacts, as well as the methods used to create the change and the expected benefits.
We’ll find out soon enough what 2012 will hold for our industry. Happy holidays, all.
Image: A Bug Free Mind
