When it comes to the field of mass communications, Public Relation has a major role to play in it. Public Relation or Pr is one of the 4 main pillars of Mass Communication (other three being journalism, advertising and digital marketing). Public Relation can be defined as a strategic communication between an organization and publics that builds mutual trust and cooperation between an organization and the publics.
Somewhere a decade and half ago there was the concept of Public Relation which known to all and was practised thoroughly by the Pr experts. However with the growth of technology and the evolution of internet, in the recent few years the concept of digital Pr and strongly evolved and gradually we are seeing the shift of paradigm from traditional Pr to Digital Pr.
So what does the concept of Digital Pr literally means?? Digital Pr uses the similar tactics as used by Traditional Pr but digital Pr has the added advantage of impacting the client’s online business through better use of SEO techniques and other digital techniques. Digital Pr can be defined as the combination of traditional Pr with content marketing, use of social media and digital media with which it transforms static news into conversation by engaging the media to speak directly to the target audience via online medium.
To understand digital Pr well, let us have a comparison of working of traditional Pr and digital Pr-
Medium of Communication – The traditional Pr uses majorly uses the medium of press, radio and television as their channel of communication to distribute their information. However, when you come to digital Pr, the main channels of communications are blogs, social media and online websites to reach the information to the target audience.
Type of Communication – Traditional Pr uses many formats like press release (of repeated structure), Interviews, meetings, quotations, articles and many more to deliver its message to the audience. The hit ratio of these formats are less are they are not defined by any target audiences and the apart from the target list, others find it boring.
In the case of Digital Pr, the scenario is totally different. For digital pr, content is the king. Digital Pr generates quality content which they disseminate according to the needs of the clients and as per the target audience. Therefore, digital Pr hit straight into the mind of the target audience by creating appealing contents.
Type of Format – Traditional Pr main format or main source of weapon of engaging journalist is Press Releases. However, these days, even the traditional Pr is aware that a normal press release is not enough for engaging the media and getting its client the best coverage according to the client’s wish list. These days, apart from press releases, traditionalist pr try to establish interactive and encouraging relationship with journalist, by building good personal rapport and even by helping the journalist in times of their need, for better results of their client.
When it comes to digital Pr, the main formats which its experts emphasize are company blogs, social media, digital marketing, online traffic, and multimedia content and effective content distribution. It is totally different from traditional Pr as they directly engage the clients with the target audience without using the medium of journalists.
Working Pattern – In case of traditional media, its experts have to maintain big files of phone numbers of every journalist and call nearly hundreds of them every day, in order to promote their client. They have to call journalists for scheduling interviews, making them come into events, putting their client’s quotes on various journalist stories and even pitching them for articles and press releases. The life of a traditional Pr revolves truly revolves around journalists.
But when it comes to digital Pr, there is barely any need for journalists. Digital Pr focuses on good content for various clients, which they can share on their websites according to the target audience. Digital Marketing and good content are the two aspects that the Digital Pr really emphasizes.
Thus, digital Pr is really changing the way once the Pr industry uses to work. With emphasize on content and less on media professionals, it only saves the time and money of the clients, but also gives them the pinpoint result and reach which every client wants. Though the paradigm shift is slow it is gradual and only for a positive cause.
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