PRojects

The “New Rules” of PR and how to make use of them!


The society we live in today is always changing in many ways, but a huge part of that change is with technological advancements. And with technological change comes change in the communication of the rules of marketing and PR. Rather than one-way advertising and advertising exclusively being about selling a product, marketing and PR has transformed into a multi-directional system where there can be direct feedback from the consumer, and businesses focus being shifted more so on the web. With the rise of the internet, this has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for companies to promote themselves whether it’s through social media networks, WordPress blogs, and ultimately by having a website with good design and even better content. Although it may seem simple to advertise yourself on the web, it’s authenticity and passion people are looking for, and I will show you how to do so.


To start, it's most important to know exactly who your intended audience is. You must ask yourself questions like; Who are you trying to reach? What is your buyer's persona? How many different groups are you trying to target? And if not those ask things like; Who would buy this product? Who do you see using this product? Once you know more about your audience and your buyer’s persona, you could then create your brand identity and personalized content that applies to them.


This ties right into the usage of social media in the new PR rules. You can plan your content and promote your brand accordingly by choosing which type of social media you choose to be on depending on what social media your intended audience uses. Social media networking comes in all shapes and forms like social networks, blogs, social bookmarking sites, wikis, video sharing sites, chat rooms, etc.


However, no matter what social media platform you choose to use, they all relate back to major functions of social media known as “The 5 C’s of Social Media”. This includes choice, the public has way more media options than ever before meaning you have the power of how they access your content. Then there's conversation, meaning the public now controls conversation and has a chance to voice their opinions. Next is curation, meaning that people are their own filters meaning they pick and choose what they consume and what they don’t. After that is creation, in that anyone could make their own content. And finally the last C is for collaboration, meaning social media can be used for a multitude of purposes whether it's personal or business oriented.


Now once you’ve considered your audience and the functions of social media, it is very important to know when to use it and when not to use it, almost like a “cocktail party”. You need to know when and how to use social media, be likable and not make a “party foul” so that you look out of place. Social media is an opportunity for your personality and passion to shine through to your consumer so that you become more approachable.


"People don't want PR; they want something that's real"(Scott, 2020)


To put all of this together, ultimately the best way to promote yourself online is through a personalized website to whatever you’re trying to promote with good design and even better content. With this you could promote your brand identity, your personalized content for your intended audiences and even link your social media networks and any blog posts. Websites are most effective when the passion of the web designers and the personality of the organization is shown. Meaning the website showing effort and time put into not only the design but the content of the website too. A website's delivery is worse off if they just seem like they're trying to sell you a product rather than content that allows you to learn about the product and what/who went into making it.


Considering the new rules of marketing and PR is vital in today’s business world, as it is almost impossible not to be a part of a social media network or website and be a successful and thriving business. Using technological affordances as an advantage to level the playing field and learning about how to effectively make use of the technology around us is crucial when it comes to marketing and PR in the information age.


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The Role of Social Media in Marketing and PR


Now that we’ve discussed a bit about the new rules of marketing and PR, it’s important to highlight one of the most important elements to these new rules. That element would be social media and all of the great things you could get out of it if used properly. One of the hardest things within marketing is being found and getting a following of supporters. This could be an easy fix with the power of social media, and I’ll tell you exact how. You must use social media as your marketing and/or advertising.


First off, as always, considering who your intended audience is key in deciding which social media platform to use for your business. There are tons of different kinds of social media platforms to use, the most relevant being Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook. Different age groups use different social media platforms, for example, if you wanted to reach a potential older audience, Facebook would be the best platform. Vice versa, if you wanted to reach a younger audience you might pick Snapchat or Tik Tok as your social media platform. However, for the best results, making a presence on multiple platforms(if not all) not only increases your chances of reaching people, but it increases your chances of getting a decent following. Your intended audience would determine how many social media platforms you decide to make a presence on.


Keeping “the 5 C’s of social media” in mind, you must consider how you present yourself to your audience. “You are what you publish” is a perfect idea of how you’re perceived online. No one is going to follow a corporation that seems like it’s run by robots trying to sell you a product. People want personality and something that they can connect or relate to. People are more likely to follow someone when they do something out of enjoyment and not just to make a quick buck. Easily digestible, quick, yet meaningful content whether in the form of blog, picture or video is the best way to keep an audience engaged with what you post.


Take TV star and comedian Eugene Mirman for example. Mirman is known for many things in the television industry, such as appearances on Comedy Central and late-night shows, and even voices a character in the animated series Bob’s Burgers. He has a Facebook page, a Twitter account and even has his own blog. “‘I want to be entertaining on the web,’ he says. ‘That’s what’s fun for me. While there is a store on my website, the push is to provide things to entertain people, not to sell’”(Scott, 2020). And yet, he uses Facebook and Twitter to get his information out to the world and it spreads like wildfire. For example, he posted a video on YouTube of him delivering the commencement address at a High School in Massachusetts, which he then posted to his blog, Facebook page and Twitter account and as a result, the video got 100,000 views in just a week. This goes to show how you can have an online presence without straight up marketing yourself and shoving advertising down your viewers throats.


Learning these new rules of marketing and PR and the uses of social media is vital if you intend to be a successful business in this new era of technology and internet. Having a vast multi-media presence not only expands your audience exponentially, but also allows you to hone in on specific audiences with specific social media platforms. In addition, it's important on these platforms to appeal to your audience with personality and charm. Be down to earth with your consumers and have a two way communication system rather than being directly focused on marketing and pushing a product. Making use of social media is one of the most important elements to these new rules, if not most important.



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Being Iconic With your Online Presence


Your company's image relies heavily on your online presence, the biggest and most successful companies have themselves established online and use this to their advantage. Some of the new rules of marketing and PR we’ve spoken about include having your company on social media platforms and concepts such as buyer persona and business being a multi-directional communication system. To tie all of these marketing and PR concepts together, we need to refer back to the concept of “Big Head vs Long Tail”, in which the “Big Head” type of media appeals to a bigger and more general audience, while the “Long Tail” takes into consideration the specific buyer persona and the media is specified for a specific audience group.

You want the media your company produces to be a part of this “Long Tail” portion of media rather than this “Big Head”. For reference, the graph shows that the number of results are a lot higher when your media content is less specific and more generic. As we’ve spoken about before having an idea on who your intended audience and your buyer persona is key into forming your online presence. This is where the “Long Tail” comes into play. Your company is better off producing “Long Tail” kind of media content so you create a personalized experience for your consumer. A company that does this flawlessly is Apple.


With the release of their new iPad and iPad Mini, Apple sent out multiple advertisements that were targeted specifically for certain groups of people. Some examples include advertisements for college students going back to school and offering college students free AirPods if they purchase a Mac or iPad. Another example of Apples specified advertising, is for small businesses with messages like “go paperless”, “get a client’s signature instantly”, and their “Small Business Experts Team” to help assist these small upcoming companies. Apple implementing user targeted advertising is a great example of being within this “Long Tail” medium where it’s specific enough so that the consumer feels as if the ad was meant and personalized for them.


I’d also like to bring attention for one of the greatest marketing campaigns of our time that takes into account this idea of “Big Head vs Long Tail” media, and that’s Coca-Cola’s “#Shareacoke” advertising campaign. In this Coca-Cola sold special Coke bottles where instead of the ordinary Coca-Cola label, they had personalized names and even labels that weren’t names such as “Dad”, “Mom”, “BFF”, etc. This caused people to try to seek out their name specific Coke bottles and snap pictures for social media. They even had a website where you could create your own customized label for a Coke bottle. Coke really changed the game with this ad campaign in that: It gave a powerful message of community, it was user-generated content driven, it had nostalgic and childlike excitement associated with it, everyone like personalization and a strong hashtag like #shareacoke works greatly. This is just one example of how Coca-Cola has the “iconic advantage”.


“Iconic Advantage is a strategy that focuses on building timeless distinction and relevance so businesses can rise above their competition, and build stronger emotional connections with their audience” (Yu 2018)


The book “Iconic Advantage: Don’t Chase the New, Innovate the Old” by Soon Yu covers 3 core qualities that make companies have the “Iconic Advantage”: Distinction, Relevance, and Recognition. Distinction meaning they’re known for something memorable and they stand out. Relevance meaning the products are highly relevant and meaningful to their audiences which allows them to stick around. And recognition meaning they gain universal recognition from their distinctive relevance and become the standard. All of these attributes could apply to Coca-Cola and even Apple, and is the main reason they are so iconic today. Everything companies do is planned and thought out, they aren’t iconic by random chance.




Reference:

  • Scott, D. M. (2020). The new rules of marketing and pr : How to use content marketing, podcasting, social media, ai, live video, and newsjacking to reach buyers directly. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu

  • Yu, S., Birss, D. (2018). Iconic Advantage: Don’t Chase the New, Innovate the Old. United States: Savio Republic.