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Public relations is often regarded as the art of storytelling, generating and narrating positive accounts to be communicated to the target audience through various media channels. In the current age, marching hand-in-hand with PR is digital media, a 21st century tool that capitalises on as well as influences content tactics and strategies, completing the communication strands of the brand.
So what is the best way for PR and digital media to work together to increase the value they deliver to organisations?
The digital team spends a considerable amount of time trading heavily with information, engaging with the target market and monitoring their actions and interests. PR Account Managers should be open to receiving pitch ideas from content marketers, as they may provide fruitful recommendations to what is useful to the audience.
In order to fuel the proposition and articulate the message strongly, digital content should be aligned with the editorial calendar and vice versa. Along with marketing the editorial content on-line, the client’s digital performance, challenges and achievements should also be communicated through traditional media. The brand’s presence needs to be felt on-line as well as off-line.
Social media provides clients with an additional platform to broadcast the coverage the PR team has garnered for their clients. Posting coverage that appears in print, links to online articles and uploading videos of interviews expands the shelf life of the exposure and generates further coverage when viewed or shared, thus amplifying the impact of the message.
Equivalencies and measurements of PR value have long been difficult tasks. The digital team can aid PR in measuring reach and awareness through tracking conversations, their mentions and volumes, and reporting accordingly to the PR professionals the impact of their efforts.
There is an ongoing need to recognise when digital media should accompany PR and to evaluate which media platform is best to communicate each message. When this is established, audience interest and engagement, as well as earned brand image, work together in symbiosis to ensure an impactful reach of outbound communication. This inevitably generates inbound traffic, which in turn enhances organisational performance.