The Siginificance of Online PR in Today's World

Over the past five years, PR has changed - and radically. No longer is the discipline just a matter of calling your favourite editors and placing stories strategically for your clients (although we still do that) or writing the world's pithiest press release (we still do that too), content-rich copy is increasingly valuable.

PR today - while still harnessing media connections and calling on creative writing skills - is about understanding how, when and where your client's demographic is sourcing its communications, and chances are, a good part of it is happening online. Making the most of digital space to share, and indeed create your news, breathes life into your brand and can leverage phenomenal PR opportunities like never before. The Ford Fiesta Movement campaign provides a perfect case in point.

Ford was keen to call attention to its small car market with its new offering in the States, the Fiesta. Rather than relying solely on traditional ad campaigns. Ford looked at social media to create an undercurrent. Instead of appealing to the classic early adopters (the people who act as influencers for the rest of us), they set their sights on a very specific group of people - consumers they knew would be passionate about the product.

To charge the campaign with 'glamour, excitement and oddity,' Ford sought out and gave (for six months) a Fiesta to 100 twenty-something YouTubers, who were asked to craft a true narrative video by highlighting everyday situations. These 'brand ambassadors used their new cars to deliver Meals on Wheels, take treats to the National Guard, wrestle alligators, elope, and generally live their interesting lives - all the while posting on social media sites, such as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign was a huge success, with Fiesta receiving 6.5 million YouTube views and 50,000 requests for information about the car - virtually none from people who already had a Ford in the driveway. Most importantly, Ford sold 10,000 units in the first six days of sales, all for a fraction of what it would have cost to run a national TV campaign. Concluded Jim Farley Jr, Ford VP of Global Marketing: "I want customers to tell our story. That's what digital has shown us - how to earn cred among consumers."

Welcome to the modern face of PR - spreading your message as far and as wide as you can, while still influencing your core demographic with a 'call to action' or a changed perception about your client. Without doubt, modern PR tactics still insist that you have a deep understanding of the media, strong writing talent, excellent communication skills, the ability to think critically and a strategic allegiance to a brand's marketing goals and objectives.

But today's PR professionals also need to harness the social digital arena with the ability, flexibility and agility to broaden the scope of influence and increase sales for its clients.

This should not only include the most popular social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging, but also the emerging channels, such as Pinterest, Flickr, Google+ and whatever else comes along. So whether recommending and managing one social media platform or seven, it needs to be done with purpose, strategically aligning with the brand and its business plans and goals.

In short, it's not just setting up a Facebook page for a client just to say they have one, but determining where the brand's audiences hang out; tone of voice, which kind of content will engage them in conversation, how to use and integrate the channels, how to manage the activities and who is empowered to make decisions. And while measure of success means numbers of followers, shares and video views, this is not enough. Metrics should include awareness, click-through rates, sentiment, calls to action, enquiries, comments and resultant bookings and sales.

Whether it is traditional PR or using social media channels, PR today still embodies that core PR professional personality when representing our brands: an insatiable curiosity, resilience to rejection (It happens when trying to please all of the people all of the time), engagement, tact, creativity, strategic thinking and sheer doggedness. All wrapped up in the power of PR!

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