Effects of Social Media on Public Relations

Studies suggest that social media is an integral part of the lives of PR professionals these days. Almost 80% of the PR professionals feel that social media is absolutely necessary in their day to day lives and that they cannot do their job without it. Most of them admit that they don’t even feel the need to do the fact-check when they use social media. Social Media has definitely had its impact on the public relations industry over the years. There have been quite a lot of changes in the PR industry due to the emergence of social media. Let’s take a look at some of them:

1.      Direct Contact with people – Social media encourages interaction. Professionals get to be in direct contact with their clients/ customers through various social media platforms. With social media providing a wide variety of marketing tools in platforms like Facebook, Twitter both public relations and advertising can be specifically targeted for a unique customer base. Hence, most PR Companies in Delhi practices the rule of interacting more and more with the target audience to increase the chances of their social media posts reach-count to go higher and higher. Therefore, social media provides the means to save money when trying to reach your people because you won’t be paying for people who aren’t interested to see your stories.

2.       Creating engaging content – Let’s face it. The hunger for engaging content that grabs the reader’s attention is increasing every day. With the ease of opening an account on any number of social media platforms as well as creating a blog – everyone looks for stories that create a bond with their audience. And if possible, these stories have not been told before. PR is no longer able to shoot out the same story for every journalist to use. But, the good news is that when you get this right, the entire world will start sharing your article with you. And that is possible now only if you digitalize your work sphere.

3.      Integrating services. By now we all know that social media encompasses a wide variety of essential elements that we use on a daily basis for work and otherwise. It is forcing many different PR firms to broaden the scope of their organisations. Especially, the PR Consultants in Delhi are including different aspects of social media to their business. PR agencies are integrating advertising people, digital marketing people, and big data specialists into their teams to provide a complete package for their customers. Gone are the days when most PR firms stuck strictly to PR work. That is because social media efforts require the full team.

We can see how social media’s effect on PR industry is increasing every day. Social media is definitely not going anywhere, and hence it is only wise for the PR industry to slowly but smartly integrate social media into their sphere of work. So for all the PR Companies in Delhi, you’ll need to think bigger, do more, and constantly look for the stories that can become game-changers in your business and for your clients.

How to secure a good internship in PR industry

Every year, thousands of media and communication students along with their CVs are all prepped up to find the best possible internship in the best Public Relation (PR) firm from a huge lot of PR companies in Delhi. This is perhaps the most important time in everybody’s career with every single move being crucially judged and scrutinised. However, this can be a positive thing for your budding career as hard work done during this initial period and can land you with great employment opportunities. Here are some tips that will help you secure an internship in the best possible PR agency in Delhi:

1. Remove the clutter from your CV

Whether you are a recent school or university pass out or seeking a change in career path, one thing to be clear with is the fact that the CV is a concise view of your educational and work experience till date. Even if it might not contain anything directly relating to PR the key trick here is to highlight specific achievements and identify how these skills can relate to the PR practice. Don’t make it too long instead keep it punchy and concise. PR involves pitching client’s ideas to journalists, and your CV gives you the first opportunity to pitch yourself to employers.

2. Remove unnecessary things from your social media profile

According to many recent research and studies, people spend most of their time in updating and surfing on their social media accounts. Hence, your social media profile is a mirror image of the person who you are. No matter how liberal and fun-loving your employer might look like, but they won’t accept a person is posting shameful photos across the Internet. So beware, if you have something like that in your social media profiles, remove it at the earliest because social networking sites are one of the first places employers will look after they have seen your CV.

3. Try to familiarise with the workings of the agency

When applying for an internship, the company you choose from the many PR companies in Delhi always has the opportunity to quiz you on their client base, competitors, campaigns among other related questions. So it’s best to be prepared beforehand.  Most company websites provide information about their workings even if not it’s your responsibility to dig up a little. Adequate preparation will not only calm your nerves for the interview but will also show your enthusiasm and passion for working with them.

4. Don’t forget to do the follow-ups

In a day PR Consultants in Delhi get thousands of internship applications and responding each one of them is simply not possible. Here, you need to take charge remind them about your application and try to familiarise with them. While doing so, make sure to keep your tone positive and friendly. This quality of being proactive and following up again translates to enthusiasm in you.

5. Try to improve your interview skills

Interview practice is crucial before facing the actual interview round. Have a friend or family member prepare you with the competency questions well in advance. This will help you in boosting your confidence and giving right answers. The trick is to be clear, concise and calm and these can only be achieved with adequate preparation.

Public Relations in Achieving the Goals of IT Startups

Startups that have a great product their customers love can benefit from Public Relations (PR) in more ways than one. Aside from the obvious benefit of publicity, entrepreneurs gain credibility. For a startup that hasn’t settled on a product customer’s love, press coverage can be a huge mistake.

The act of public relations has been thought of as a selfish one, where a publicist aims to get without giving in a vain attempt to secure media coverage for a client, merely building a relationship in exchange for a sought-after positive public portrayal of the client’s company.

PR professionals need to engage themselves and their work in a more refreshing manner. Instead of waiting to engage individuals at the exact moment you need something from them, try using a more proactive approach: start building relationships early on. There is incredible value in viewing the daily public relations of your startup as a two-way street.

To achieve the goals of a start up, PR agencies needs smart techniques. The focus of your PR plan of attack should be on making friends, not contacts. Consider the impression given when attempting to make dozens of contacts based on pitch emails or cold calls. Go ahead, state your case. Your efforts are just like everyone else’s: they lack authenticity. And they more than likely suggest that you’re really reaching to get coverage.  If you aren’t giving the impression that you would like to invest in a relationship, writers will not willingly invest in you or your startup. Just as you must invest in relationships with your customers instead of mindlessly pushing promotional social media content, you must invest in building genuine relationships with writers.

What doesn’t work for a start-up is sending cookie cutter emails to writers who are probably going to get annoyed. This happens a lot in the PR consultants in Delhi. Not surprisingly, word travels fast in the small world of tech journalism. The last thing you want to do is develop that reputation. For a startup founder, what works best is to concentrate on pitching to fewer writers in a more strategic, relationship-focused way.

By working hard to invest in others who, ultimately, will become vital to your company’s success, you are making real friends in strategic places (from whom you can ask favors). To build relationships, start small. You can begin by simply engaging via social media. Reply or retweet a tweet. Comment on one of their recent articles, always be brief, be genuine and to be the listener. Also never pressurize a writer. Remember that a ‘No’ is just ‘No’ sometimes. (We hope all the PR agencies, esp. PR agencies in Delhi, are listening?!)

Concentrating on the long-term goals of your startup is crucial. At the end of the day, we’re all just humans moving through life; and some of us are crawling, some are shuffling. In the startup world, we’re all hustling. Focus your energy on building mutually beneficial human relationships, rather than one-sided business relationships; your PR efforts will start to pick up the pace.

Investing in friendships with writers will bring you media coverage on major tech blogs more quickly and effectively than cold calls. It’s time to change the perspective of PR and put the “human” back into our relations.

Role of PR in Crisis Management

Crisis takes place every now and then. It occurs even in the most idyllic settings. The only way to deal effectively with the crisis is to be prepared. Crisis management plan is necessary because of news and information, travelling faster than ever. Companies must be able to answer questions and allegations about looming crisis quickly. As far as we know, most of the PR Firms in Delhi and rest of the country do pretty well with dealing with an unwanted/unexpected crisis (except for maybe a glitch here and there).

However there are times when crisis strikes, most companies are unprepared and poorly handle the situation. Organizations might try stonewalling the situation, toughing it out or pretending the crisis will pass, but they only make the situation worse. Organizations who waste valuable time at the beginning of a crisis can expect to see a loss in revenue and plummeting stock prices. It is useless to conceal the truth from the public because eventually, someone will blow the whistle.

Companies and organizations often make the mistake of waiting for a public relations crisis to happen and then responding to it. No matter how much damage control a company does, it’s hard to overcome an embarrassing situation. A better approach is what many of us in the PR industry call “crisis prevention.”

Nowadays many companies hire professional hackers to uncover potential security breaches of their networks and servers. Why not do the same for public relations? Protecting a company’s image is just as vital as protecting its physical plant. Most of the PR agencies in Delhi are well equipped regarding this matter.  But it’s not always easy to see one’s own faults. That’s why your company should hire an outside consultant to “hack into” your company’s image and assess where potential PR problems may arise. Correct the problems you can and, if something can’t be fixed, have a good reason why things are the way they are. Don’t be afraid to admit that your company isn’t perfect and needs to improve things. The public likely will respect your candour.

There have been countless public relations crises in the past, and there are five steps that should be executed to manage a crisis properly. First, the corporation in crisis should be prompt, addressing the public right after finding itself in the crisis. Second, the corporation in question should maintain honesty because the public is more willing to forgive an honest mistake than a calculated lie. Third, it is important to be informative because the media, as well as the public, will create their own rumors if no information is given to them by the corporation in crisis. Rumors can cause significantly more damage to the corporation than the truth. Next, it is important to be concerned and show the public you care because people will be more forgiving if it is clear that the corporation cares about the victims of the crisis. Finally, maintain two-way relationships. This is important because the corporation can learn a lot about the status of public opinion by listening. These five steps are necessary to manage any crisis public relations situation. However, we must not forget that each crisis is unique and requires a tailored response. Communicating with the public openly and honestly helps to deal with as little damage as possible.

If you like to know more, there are way too many startup PR that had taken place in the past such at the Diet Pepsi case and the Tylenol case. Some are successful PR crisis situations whereas others are poor examples of crisis management, the Ford case and the Firestone case are some of the most quoted examples in this context.

No matter how much planning goes into preventing crises, there are always crisis situations that can not be planned for.Crisis public relations is changing. With new media, such as MySpace and Facebook, crisis situations have occurred on the web. While products and services expand to new media, there are new ways for crises to emerge. At the same time, new media can be used to communicate with the public. Corporations can now communicate with customers across the world using a number of different media such as e-mail, websites, podcasts, internet video, and more.

While communication with the public is easier and cheaper than in the past, the original 5 steps to properly manage a crisis, as well as the six types of responses, continue to be the foundation of any crisis public relations plan.

Revolutionising the Digital PR World with Video content

Psychologically proved is the fact that pictures are more appealing and understandable than a thousand words giving detail about the same. Decades back, newspaper editors understood the power of pictures and inculcated them in the newspapers, magazines and other publications. Years later the history is repeating itself but with a certain twist of online marketers and digital experts incorporating the blend of social media and video marketing which will ultimately lead to a grand success of Digital Public Relations (DPR). With over 52 million adults watching professional video content every month, it is quite evident to the Public Relation (PR) companies; especially to the PR companies in Delhi that online video marketing is the new breed of promoting brand image.

The professionals working in PR consultants in Delhi need to first analyse the needs and objectives of the client before making the video content. This shouldn’t be neglected as it is the most important step in initiating the DPR campaign.  Immediately after this, the next important thing to do is to divide the market into sets of the audience and then to finalise the set(s) of the target audience. Product specifications and the demographic profile of the target audience are the two factors primarily affecting the content of videos for DPR.

Creativity is the core essence for the videos being made. If left untouched by this essential element, potential customers will surely not be attracted towards a DPR campaign and even might confuse it with that of the competitor’s. Out-of-the-box ideas, innovative concepts, creative script and visualisation are the ones that make a video interesting and engaging thus promoting the viewers to inquire more about the described content on the social media sites. Better contact links with the media through PR companies in Delhi further enhances the chances of communication between people and the promoter.

In this fast paced world, lengthy is mostly considered as boring instead a series of short videos is what gains more attraction. A PR professional needs to have a good repo with the creative and designing team and he/she should be quick and assertive enough while giving suggestions and sharing feedbacks. The better the PR person is able to explain the better product including more creative ideas, script and tools is sure to come out as an outcome. Moreover, it is the good coordination with the production team that can bring out customised videos for different social media platforms. If you are working in one of the PR companies in Delhi and obliging all these suggestions then don’t wait, get ready and start some real action.