Note: Original version of this article appears on FlackMe.com and was also featured on Talentzoo.com.
The old standard.
For Immediate Release
For More Information, Please Contact….
ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz. Boooooorrring. Asleep yet? I don’t blame you. Dare I say the old standard news release is dead? Or at least dying?
Credit: Kerry Ezard
We PR people are, by our very nature, professional communicators, and communication has changed. If “interactive” isn’t a part of your daily vocabulary, I’ll assume you are working the PR strategies of a Trans-Siberian oil rig, cut off from the outside world. More than ever before, it seems communication is a two-way street and that is why the old standard has evolved beyond recognition (it was primarily one-sided). Especially in today’s saturated and over-stimulated sensory experience that is our Web-based world, if you’re not smack-dab in the middle of the discussion, you’re not doing your job. And I think I saw a great deal on Travelocity to Novokuznetsk, near Siberia. I hear they’re hiring.
Two-way street, remember. Content is posted. Viewers can comment. The content originator responds, and on and on it goes, all over the Web. Somewhere in there, your client is mentioned, perhaps even slandered, and all of the sudden 100,000 people have just read something inaccurate or unfair about your client that you were not responsible for. Ah, but now you are responsible and this is key in understanding the new model: it is our duty to know what conversations are occurring all over the world that pertain to our client (far from the old generate-media-kit-distribute-watch-the-articles-appear model). It’s our duty to interact. My advice is one word: vigilance. It is absolutely vital in policing the perception of your client in the never-ending galaxy of the Internet. Now get out there and moderate.
Tyler McNally is a freelance writer and PR professional who specializes in social media and non-profit public relations. Contact him via LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, or regular old email: tymcnally@gmail.com.
Tags: Freelancing, PR, social media, TalentZoo
May 13, 2009 at 1:00 am |
What an awesome piece! Very insightful and eye-opening. This should be a part of your resume and or sent as letters to editors????? How do I forward this to other dinosaurs?