Today’s shift toward online marketing is undeniable, but there are several components that must come together for a successful campaign. From a PR perspective, it’s about conversational communication, not just pushing your message out. This means being part of online communities in which you can’t dictate conversations and topic; you have to be open to the reality of negative comments in addition to the positive ones. The benefit of taking part in these open dialogues is that you can deliver immediate solutions.
When it comes to making this shift, the most important thing is that a company is committed to the process; both its development and maintenance. Without the help of an agency or dedicated internal personnel to build a company’s online presence, the effort will fail. Our agency has just expanded its expertise in online marketing with the recent hire of an online marketing specialist, accelerating the efforts and focus of LoSasso’s iDrive Interactive division.
Read more about PR and social media in this insightful article: Digital PR Pitfalls and Promises: What Agencies Don’t Get (But Must) About Social Media.
David on November 14, 2008
Glad to see your post. Your summary is right on. The online space including blogs, forums and other social media will continue to become more and more vital to every company’s ability to succeed. The lines are blurring between traditional PR and social media, as well as things like customer service.
Anyplace people can learn about and talk about a company’s products and services – and their personal experiences with them – there are opportunities for marketers to listen, learn and reach out with solutions.
If you’re a marketer, you need to understand that people are out there talking about you. The successful marketers will be the ones that learn how to listen – to the good and the bad – and react to help better serve and engage with their customers.