Our future counterparts will embrace even more technology in their roles as storytellers, brand
engagement experts and even in the ways they work if they are virtual consultants.
Marketing, digital, content marketing and advertising will continue to converge. PR will touch on all
disciplines in this evolving collaborative environment as organisations work to increase community
engagement and relevance.
What others are saying about a brand is more relevant than ever before, because those comments
and opinions are made in real time and can span multiple media platforms. Therefore, PR people’s
listening skills will be honed even further through monitoring what is being said about a brand
online and offline.
Social media will no longer be an added extra
Social media monitoring and support has already been adopted by the PR industry over the past
decade, with many agencies and consultants including it as an add-on to existing PR services.
However, social media will be completely integrated into PR’s offering going forward, with many PR
campaigns leveraging social media first and traditional media second.
As an industry, we have been quick to jump on the opportunities presented by social media. Social
media and PR just fit well together. PR people understand how important social media is as a way
to communicate directly with our clients’ target audiences, and in many situations these platforms
will become the sole way to engage with a niche.
Social media has also added another facet to the “relations” side of PR. Instead of broadcasting
a message or story to start off the relationship-building process, social media has made it much
easier to start and have a conversation around a topic, person or cause, bringing the level of
engagement up.
The current digital and media landscape will not lead to the demise of PR, but instead presents an
opportunity to use new methods and tactics to do what comes very naturally to us - tell stories.