The 12 truths of modern public relations

Corporate communicationsin the age of social technology
The 12 Truths of Modern PR
Seoul, Korea 2011.10.11

1.
People consume content selfishly
‘making the other person feel important’ has always been part of persuasion
listening to the sound of one’s voice
clicking ‘like’ generates ‘likes’
narcissism and know-it-all-ism
sharing ‘what makes you look good’

We keep losing control
of our time
of our privacy
of our own reputation
of the conversation topic
of the corporate communications narrative
2.

3.
Communication is becoming ‘female’
communication is more and more about listening and not just talking
vertical hierarchy being eclipsed by peer-to-peer horizontal
a shift in the quantity & tonality of content
more and more corporate communicators are women

4.
Sorry is no longer enough
the global rise of apology communications
most companies will have a crisis in the next year, but most are not prepared
lawyers are losing more client debates
holding statements look weak and defensive; ‘hiding behind a shield’
apologies must be sincere and genuine

Digital is becoming tired
there’s a backlash to digital jargon
‘Face’ is more important than Facebook
inaccessibility a barrier to adoption
the gurus say: most people ‘don’t get it’
but there’s only so much to ‘get’
social brand > social business > blabla
diminishing returns are setting in
5.

Attention spans keep collapsing
the myth of multitasking debunked
constant restless scrolling and clicking
the speed of change is accelerating
‘what’s trending’ is often utter drivel
raw emotion – especially anger – is trumping thinking and reflection
there’s no time to tell stories anymore
6.

Digital storytelling is key
the simplification of complexity
the rapid rise of infographics
where data meets design is the sweet spot
‘brain drain’ from journalism to PR when ‘every company can be a media company’
Guardian announcement today: The Guardian displays newslist to public online
7.

PR & customer service are merging
blurring of and confusion between traditional boundaries between disciplines
real-time rapid response plus savvy content curation is easy but vexing
the rise of dedicated digital teams
expanding the power of corporate communications and the CCO
8.

It’s all about the content
content must tell a compelling digital story
PR is becoming about programming content for communities
there’s too much noise, not enough signal
there’s a ‘TED’ constituency out there
content must be repurposeable across platforms, which change relentlessly
9.

10.
People crave deepermeaning
many feel unsatisfied from their digital interactions, like eating chips
where the online meets the offline is key
offline = the reality of everyday life
digital is ‘cool’ but it is also cold (transaction-like); analogue is warmer and face-to-face (relationship-like)

Complexity is making PR harder
the hundreds of people in a PR professional’s life have become millions
the sheer size of communities is a communications management challenge
communities are ‘social’ but they are highly atomized and ‘individually sensible’
analytics only answer some questions
11.

Asian companies are going digital
12.
Percentage of companies using a branded social media platform

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The 12 truths of modern public relations

by Robert Pickard on Oct 11, 2011

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