Does PR Need Media Relations?

The second way social media has changed PR is that the public relations industry no longer depends on the media to communicate with their clients’ audiences.

That’s huge.

Social media has nullified the cornerstone of PR, media relations. The old process was to write a news release and get it approved; media train a spokesperson, pitch the media; suffer the pain of rejection and the elation of an actual interview, organize the logistics around the interview, confirm the interview and then accompany your spokesperson to the interview before waiting with baited breath for the article to appear.

Now you can sit a charismatic executive down in front of a WordPress interface or podcasting rig and self-publish all the coverage you want. I’m simplifying things somewhat but that’s the sort of change we’re looking at – and you can start with a podcast.

Fret not. It’s not all doom and gloom for the traditional media – so rejoice editors, you’ll still have PR groveling and begging for you to publish their releases. Many corporations, and PR agencies, have been slow to embrace the social media phenomenon. RSS use hasn’t taken off with the launch of IE7 the way people predicted. People are still wary of blogs and very few listen to podcasts.

Today’s PR needs to be a hybrid of media relations tactician, social media doctor (because their fingers are on the pulse…) and brand strategist all rolled into one. That’s not likely to change for a while.