Seat at the Table

There is a lot of overlap and, as a result, common confusion over the role public relations plays in the online world.  This post attempts to provide at least  a basic answer to where and how public relations and marketing plays in the online world.

The many different types of audiences, forms of social media and various online outreach programs are commonly grouped into three categories: formal influentials, activisit consumers, the general audience.

In all the cases below, the public relations and communications professionals reaching these audiences share several critical areas of knowledge and expertise: knowledge of online communications features (e.g., mobile blogging), an understanding of how to communicate with others online, and a belief in transparency and conversation.

Formal Influentials

Formal influentials are the people whose job it is to get  information out to the public, whether it is a business, government or consumer public.  These influentials are commonly traditional reporters now publishing online, professional bloggers, and industry analysts. 

Reaching this audience is primarily a a job of public relations professionals.  It is becoming more common for media relations experts, people whose job it is to know how to work with journalists and analysts, to upgrade their skills in order to communicate with these influentials online.

Acitivist Consumers

Activist consumers are like formal influentials with day jobs.  It is not unusual for activist consumers to have similar expertise and even comparable audiences to the first category.  For example, an activist consumer technology blogger with an engineering expertise and several thousand readers a day.    More commonly, these are those friends and family members that tend to dive deeper into a particular topic - from consumer technology to gardening to politics.  They read or maintain blogs on particular topics, post comments and participate in online forums.

This audience can, and should, be reached by both public relations and marketing executives.  On the public relations side, what I call social media relations experts reach out to this influential audiences.  These experts are professionals that know the rules of social media, understand how to communicate online and are often former or current formal influentials, usually bloggers, themselves.   On the marketing front, this audience is often reached through highly targeted sponsorships, events and viral campaigns. 

Consumers/General Audiences

And then there is everyone else.  Although “social” media has a high profile these days, the average consumer simply digests information online from traditional news sites and the most popular blogs and, when needed, forums.  They communicate via email, social networks and mobile services mainly around social needs.  

While they are influenced both by formal influentials and activist consumers, they are still more broadly reached through formal influencers - mass media.  They are also reachable through online advertising (e.g., pay per click and sponsorships) as well as viral marketing campaigns.  The most comprehensive public relations and communications programs use all techniques - from activist consumers to mass media to viral marketing - to reach this audience.