Public Relations 2.0

What is Public Relations 2.0 and how does it differ from traditional public relations?  As is the case with the other “updated versions,” it is much more interactive in nature.  New technologies have resulted in traditional journalists being dethroned as the gatekeepers of the media and created a new breed of “citizen journalists.”  Anyone can post news via a blog, a Web site or RSS feed.  The newswires are no longer the sole domain of the major media but will [who will?] now accept releases from anyone.

Does this mean that traditional public relations is dead?  Not at all!  The best practices of this discipline have gained new tools and channels.  And just as public relations is evolving, so is the release.  It is no longer appropriate to call it a press release, since you may now completely bypass the traditional media outlets and go directly to your customers.  Instead, you may now simply call it a news release.

How do you bypass the traditional media and access these citizen journalists and your potential customers? There are a several ways open to you.  You can submit a news release to one of several wire services such as PR Newswire or PRWeb. These services charge by the extent of distribution you desire, but whether you select local or national, the release will go to both Google News and Yahoo News and thus hit the World Wide Web.  You can also distribute the news via your own Web site or blog.  And don’t forget all the new opportunities you have to post it to social media sites such as Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us to name a few. The most active citizen journalists, however, are the thousands of bloggers out there writing on every subject under the sun.

Writing a news release that will be read and not tossed is the real trick.  Many years ago journalism schools taught that there were strict rules regarding the construction of a press release.  These rules are still valuable guidelines and are covered in detail in the PR Toolkit at PR Newswire.  But now there is a new breed of news release – the Social Media Release.  The SMR, as it is known, is designed to get conversation going and provide new media influencers with the information they need without having to carve out the hype of a traditional release or pitch.  These releases utilize keywords and phrases to “optimize” their success, much in the same way that you optimize a Web page.

Just as no speaker worth their salt would give the same presentation to every group without tailoring it to the situation; neither should a stock news release be blasted out to all media.  A little time spent researching and building relationships will go miles towards your success ratio. 

Here are some tips for dealing with journalists at traditional media outlets:

• Read several issues of the publications you wish to target;
• For radio and television, listen to/watch the target programs;
• Send notes to reporters for stories you enjoyed and/or that are in your field of interest;
• Check out the Web sites for these outlets, many of which will have blogs as well;
• Find out how the reporter likes to be contacted (phone, fax, email);
• Be respectful of deadlines;
• Check out the editorial calendar to find the focus of future issues (this is in the advertising section of the Web site); and
• Do not be a “fair weather friend” but rather provide leads and information unrelated to your needs so that you establish yourself as a reliable resource.

Bloggers can be traditional or citizen journalists. Most operate a little differently than full-time may wear multiple hats such as holding down a “day job” or writing for multiple sources.  Bloggers, however, are an invaluable resource for reaching your target audience.  They work in established niches and have a following within that topic.  And a mention of you, your service and/or product within their blog can help your search rankings and site traffic. 

When dealing with blogs and bloggers, there is a three-step process I call the three C’s:

1. Cruise – find the existing blogs in your field of interest.  Go to the advanced search function at Technorati and enter your keyword in “blogs about.”  In this way you will find all the blogs that deal with your subject matter and not the hundreds of others that may just mention that word.  Subscribe to them and familiarize yourself with the tone and content.
2. Comment – once you’ve found the blogs that pique your interest, begin participating in the discussion by leaving relevant comments or trackbacks.  This will introduce you to the blogger and establish yourself as a member of the community.
3. Create – after you’ve become familiar with the blogging world you can jump in and create a blog of your own.  The addition of a blog to your Web site has been known to significantly improve Web site rankings in search engines.

So you’ve done your homework on the publications, programs and blogs that you think will be interested in you or the insight you can offer on a larger news story.  Pitching a journalist can be a daunting task to those who fear rejection and humiliation.  But you are actually providing a service – more than 80% of what you read, hear and see comes from pubic relations related sources.  It is all in the relationship and viewing yourself as a valuable resource to them and their audience.

Cris Canning CMP^© is a prolific speaker, writer, teacher and consultant.  Via her company Hospitality Ink^®, she is dedicated to helping others increase their personal visibility, and the visibility and credibility of their companies. She has published four booklets and many articles.