With more and more frequency we are confronted with the statement that in times of social media, public and media relations have changed completely. Some even prophesy the death of traditional public relations facing the increasing proliferation of social media tools. Ten, five or even only two years ago PR used to make use of entirely different distribution channels. In those days, a press release sent by e-mail ended up in the wastepaper bin as quickly as a fax.

Is this just fiction or reality? In many cases, the tried-and-tested (offline) method to reach the media as the classic multipliers has become dated and does not always guarantee maximum success. Meanwhile it has become common practice to offer free access to material which is destined to be widely distributed – via a public newsroom for instance. The number of communication possibilities on the Internet has experienced a substantial rise in recent years. For this reason, the media in their function as a multiplier have become partly obsolete. In the best-case scenario it is the respective target group to take care of this task in the field of social media.

But there is another interesting question to be answered: do social media in deed make fundamental and ground-breaking changes? It seems to be a common thought that the social web allows media experts to work faster, cheaper and more efficiently. What people tend to forget in this case is that it is indispensable to be skilled in the traditional methods of public relations to make the ‘new’ PR work successfully. Basically, Public Relations 2.0 are just as good as their movers and shakers in regard of traditional media relations.

Traditional public relations are well acquainted with listening to people and entering into dialogue with them. From their perspective, platforms like Twitter cannot be considered promotion channels. Experienced PR professionals know very well that the attempt to place sales messages in this environment will not go down particularly well with the web community, just as it is when feeding editorial departments with advertisement. The basic rules have stayed the same. Web 2.0 may have increased the opportunities to make your voice heard, but public relations have not changed at all. Thanks to the potential of viral marketing, communication lines are shorter but the relation between effort and benefits is the same. Conceptual and strategic work in PR continues to call for an increased level of awareness to achieve maximum results. In other words ‘I know a dead parrot when I see one’ or ‘Content is king’ as Henry Ford used to say.

This is a transcript of ‘Öffentlichkeitsarbeit 2.0: Content is King!’. The orginal German sources to this article can be found there.

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