If you don’t browse the Internet a whole lot, PR 2.0 might sound like a new term. Actually, it is not. It is, however, one of the new-fangled terms floating around. It is indeed one of the newer buzz words. Apparently, the PR job description has not only changed, it has evolved. Public Relations no longer consists simply of a variety of programs or various strategies designed to promote and/or protect a company’s image or its individual product. To get his job done and be proficient in his arena, the PR Officer and his team must integrate with Social Media, the technology of our day. Today’s technology is on the PR doorstep! So enters PR 2.0.

As Melvin Yuan heartedly points out,

“The dynamics of PR has changed, but observably, the role of the PR manager hasn’t. And it should. With public spotlight on every inch of the company at all levels and in all departments, the PR manager has to stop focusing on mere publicity and media relations. He has to start influencing public relationships through every department and at every level of the company’s structure – orchestrating, in effect, a concerted PR effort.”

He continues,

“Clearly, PR (in the true sense of the word) is no longer the sole responsibility of the PR team, or designated spokespersons. The reputation of a company and the relationship it has with the public lies in the hands of many.”

The PR manager must lead this concerted effort with an effective strategy – energizing employees to be effective spokespersons, engaging customer evangelists and integrating them into the media and marketing strategy, holding customer service accountable to stringent demands that corporate reputation is built upon etc.

No doubt, the value of relationships is pretty powerful in the business community. “Fundamental honesty is merely the price of admission to the new communications channels. Companies that wish to leverage those channels fully will need to achieve true authenticity—an alignment of their marketing and corporate communications messages with the values and behaviors and culture of their organization.” That means an external communications program needs to begin with an internal communications initiative. Paul Homes full article on The 21st Century Public Relations Firm.

A great article to peruse in the research of PR 2.0 is found at WebProNews . It is written by Brian Solis and incorporates a panel interview with Tom Biro, Jeremy Pepper, Michael Pranikoff and Donna Sokolsky. Their insightful definitions of PR 2.0 will definitely cause the reader to stop and think about how traditional PR could add value in the Web 2.0 world and how Social Networks/blogs change the PR landscape. Conclusion: “Social media is a democratization of sorts which means PR needs to adapt and innovate or die.” comments Donna Sokolsky. Dave Sifry of Technorati mentioned that many of the top blogs this year weren’t on the list last year. It’s the same for PR – social media is weeding out the bad PR.

Unquestionably, genuine participation in our world of technology is an immediate requirement of PR professionals.
Is your PR professional taking advantage of social media? Please comment! Let us know how it is working for your enterprise!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Business, Communication, Press, Web, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.