Has PR Been Slow to Adapt to New Media?

55% of agency, in-house and freelance PRs think their fellow practitioners are 'incapable' of performing comprehensive online PR campaigns

90% said that online coverage had become more important to their organizations or their clients in the past 12 months.

46% of web users said their awareness of brands increases if they see information about them online

55% of respondents identified brands getting it wrong online. These included the use of fake bloggers, such as the blogs created by Edelman for Wal-Mart

People who say lovely things about Diva Marketing and then ask for me to be their best friend and write about their stuff. People who forget to tell who they are or who they work for or why I should take my time to promote their product. People who forget to say “thank you”. Toby, marketing blog owner

New Media, New Influencers and Implications for Public Relations: The Society For New Communications Research

So where is the misstep?

One of the problems I identify in terms of developing social PR is the difficulty many businesses have in producing regular content. By this I mean news releases, comment, blog posts etc. Content creation, and the community and discussion that develops around that content, is one of the biggest factors in social media. Robin Cannon, web designer

79 out of 100 British PR Agencies do not offer online PR services Only 14% of the 21 that do, maintain blogs Only half of those provide both services and blogs

PR 2.0 It’s an understanding of markets, the needs of people, and how to reach them at the street level—without insulting everyone along the way. PR will become a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and Web marketing. ~ Author Brian Solis PR 1.0 Basically, Bernays is the inspiration for the PR 1.0 publicity and spin machine and the architect of how a majority of companies still approach PR today—even though this is all changing right before our eyes. ~ Author Deirdre Breakenridge

You don't see any way around using traditional media. TV, radio and newspaper are still important. But you don't need them to talk to the people who want to hear what you have to say. If you make an effort to communicate directly with people online, you will see results. Guaranteed. David Brazeal, Learfield Communications