As Seen in Forbes: The Evolution Of PR As We Know It
by Kelly Ehlers
Public relations has always been an elusive industry that many people don’t know how to categorize, and the evolution of the social media landscape only blurs the lines even more. What used to be sending news releases, monitoring media and placing stories has morphed into an industry that touches almost every aspect of business and has reinvented communication as we know it.
What Is Public Relations?
Since its creation in the early 20th century, public relations has been defined in multiple ways — from branding to social media management to influencer and media relations. PR has evolved with the ongoing advances in both society and technology. According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), public relations is “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”
This boils down to a few core concepts in that PR works to:
Influence, engage and build connections and relationships between businesses/organizations and the public across multiple platforms.
Protect organizations’ reputations.
Create content to improve a brand’s awareness.
Social media has been a massive factor in the modern evolution of PR, with many businesses not knowing how to take it on. Public relations professionals have adapted, learning to navigate these new platforms to our advantage by strategizing how to manage, create and post content.
No matter how you define PR, it is important to understand how public relations as a whole is crucial to helping your brand succeed.
The Importance of Public Relations
Despite public relations’ ever-changing landscape, the importance of PR has never been more relevant than it is today. Public relations is an incredibly underrated yet important industry, from helping place news stories to spreading awareness about a brand or even managing crisis communications. It’s arguably more important today as our messages have to stand out in a sea of content, with audiences worldwide consuming mass amounts of instantaneous content no matter where they are. As PR professionals, we are responsible for making sure the content we share for clients is accurate, equitable and innovative.
How Public Relations Is Evolving in 2022
When looking back at how the industry has grown, it’s safe to say that we’re not done taking on new projects and skills. Gone are the days of simply sending out news releases to journalists. Newsrooms are constantly shrinking, and the digital world continues to expand, changing the way the world consumes its media. PR professionals are evolving, forced to think outside the box for fun, creative opportunities to help our clients.
How PR Professionals Can Help Brands Stand Out in the Digital World
Audiences love to read human interest stories, so the best way for PR professionals to help a brand stand out is to tell the brand’s story. Businesses are often started because there is a hole in the market, so showcasing why your brand is different and how it came to be is the best way to stand out in the digital world. Additionally, once you have created that base knowledge of who your brand is, collaborating with like-minded creators and/or brands to curate organic stories will help a wide array of audiences relate to your brand.
Here are a few examples of how a household brand has stood out online, PR-wise, in a positive light:
Airbnb’s Refugee Hosting: With thousands of displaced refugees, Airbnb found a way to help in a genuine way. This campaign highlighted a brand that found a cause they could help with that stayed true to its mission.
Spotify Wrapped: This is a way for listeners to interact and share their most listened to music. This simple concept took off and has continued to grow over the last few years. Spotify’s Wrapped stories are posted and shared for weeks at the end of the year, keeping the brand’s name relevant and top of mind. Users sharing these stories increases awareness and encourages other listeners to share and subscribe if they haven’t already.
McDonald’s Celebrity Meals: This ongoing campaign is just the latest in the popular concept of celebrity meals. McDonald’s hopped on this trend in 2020 by partnering with prominent celebrities to create exclusive meals that consumers could purchase through the official McDonald’s app. This campaign increases awareness of different demographics and drives an increase in app downloads. Additionally, a campaign like this is a great way to curate new content both internally as well as user generated.
The last year has shown that the PR industry is resilient, and as we continue to move forward, we must keep some of that resilience in our back pocket and stay hungry for whatever the world throws our way.