Nowadays, communication experts generally consider social media and online public relations a useful additional feature to classic measures. However, especially for organisations which have little or no budget for public relations at their disposal, online communication can be an efficient means for their success, too. Our US-American colleague Lisa Wilmore recently described this phenomenon in one of her blog articles. Although a big budget may open up great possibilities and allow for elaborate and sophisticated strategies, it is creativity, savvy as well as freely available tools which can achieve quite similar goals.

The domino effect of the newspaper crisis
Classic PR is suffering from the effects of the persistent media crisis. Editorial offices have reduced staff and thus cannot attend every press talk. Newspapers and magazines have turned space which had typically been used for free publicity into sections for (paid) advertisement. Classic media as a conveyor of PR messages have become unreliable and hard to access for all those who are no big names in the business. It thus makes sense to evaluate the possibilities of social media, not least because many users tend to focus on the Internet when looking for information.

So what are the possibilities to reach one’s target groups via less common ways? First of all, there are uncountable online portals – national as well as international ones – which offer the opportunity to publish press releases without charging a fee. Cash-strapped institutions or non-profit organisations do not have to deny themselves an online site where to get in contact with interested readers either. Instead of setting up a website which has been worked out to the last detail it may be worth considering a weblog. With a little technical understanding and ingenuity, you can shoot your own promotion videos and upload them on video portals such as YouTube. And when it comes to podcasts, online service providers such as BlogTalkRadio.com are glad to lend a helping hand.

Unfortunately, Lisa Wilmore does not share her thoughts on social networks. However, we would like to comment that platforms such as Facebook and their corresponding fan sites, user groups, and the possibility for direct links offer the perfect terrain to enter into dialogue with interested parties quickly and without any detours. For updates on certain events, the microblogging service Twitter is the ultimate choice. All these possibilities are not entirely free, of course. After all, know-how and some hours of work have to be invested in order to supply the different channels with up-to-date, high-quality input. But when cutting down the costs on the technical side, you can still fall back on pros in the beginning to help you with producing the necessary content.

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