As the relationship between consumers and the online world continues to develop and change, the way public relations get content out adapts to it as well.
A simple truth is that more and more people prefer to get their news, entertainment, and more from online sources rather than traditional methods every day. Cable-cutting continues to grow in popularity along with newspapers experiencing a decline in interest of printed versions, both of these a direct result of an increasing potential internet audience. While
For me, I’ve realized that public relations has more layers and is more complicated than what I originally thought. Keeping the attention of the consumer is not as easy as it may seem, and changes to marketing strategies and content may sometimes have to come quickly to keep up with the way people view things.
As much of one our linked articles addressed, the upcoming years will feature a heavy focus on blending new strategy techniques with this new frontier of news media. While this new style of advertising is important, it’s just as important to keep the people aspect of it in mind. When Envoy came to present in class, they mentioned that new kind of advertising often work products in more original ways then what we’ve previously observed with straight up ads. Instead, people can now often see things like product placement in videos, sponsored stories, or native advertising around articles that help make consumers not feel like they’re just another number getting advertised to in a lazy way.
In a similar vein, companies have adapted to a point where they target people to reach out to other consumers. Those that have healthy social media followings can serve as good natural advertisers of one’s product, while also remaining unobtrusive or too obviously angled to be an ad.
One personal example I have of this is my cousin, Sean Bryan, who’s known as the Papal Ninja on American Ninja Warrior. After finishing third last year, he gained a lot of attention on social media. This opened up opportunities on social media for him to post things on his story about new types of juices or protein shakes he was trying that were in sponsorship deals with him. People who saw posts may be more inclined to try the product, as it’s somebody they went out of their way to follow and see what they’re talking about.
While several new strategies and techniques for public relations are playing out as the internet continues to change, I believe the number one skill that aids in being successful is being aware of the changing market and being able to think of new outside-the-box strategies accordingly.
Matt Bryan's Reflections 