Striking the Balance: Online PR vs Traditional
A recent study by Open Road has found that the number of opinion formers visiting Twitter for their daily news and information has jumped from 29 per cent in 2011 to over half in 2013. The study also found that traditional sources of information, such as newspapers and magazines, are still relevant despite being less essential.
In light of these findings, this week’s bcm blog offers some expert tips on striking the right balance between traditional and modern public relations’ strategies in order to produce the biggest return on investment.
Understand the benefits: Traditional trade publications are still the best place to publish thought leadership or technical articles, as they are seen as more trustworthy and the audiences are very specific. Once your content is published, social media plays a vital role in promoting your news and making sure it gets read. After all, there’s no point in creating interesting content if it’s not reaching your target audience.
Integrate it: Having multiple platforms for distributing your message can seem daunting, but if you have a keen understanding of your business, message and target audience you can begin to identify which integrated solution will work. Adapting the same message to fit into different channels will give you brand continuity, and produce much better results through increased client brand recognition.
Don’t overdo it: Just because you have a plethora of tools at your fingertips doesn’t mean you have to use them all. If the message doesn’t fit with a particular channel don’t just use it because it’s trending at the moment. Consider each new platform’s merits individually, and remember that being consistent with your communication methods will increase your brand awareness and prevent spamming.
Rebecca Reilly, Open Road Director, said: “Businesses and brands need to communicate over a broad spectrum of media to reach a diverse stakeholder base.” While social media use may be becoming more prevalent in B2B PR, the best strategy is a fully integrated one that makes the most of both traditional and modern platforms.