Hill & Knowlton

I came across two very different articles today which I found interesting as I think they both talk to our ever changing world of PR and media. And the added pressure it places on our industry as a whole to either evolve with it or dissipate into cyberspace…

The first was Nielsen’s release of a new study looking at Internet usage and how there has been in an increase in users engaging with social media. April alone showed 22% of the total time we browse, we engage with social media – which is not huge, but the consistency and increase of it globally shows how the borders are merging, even when there are language barriers.

More evidence of this is cited by Mashable, “We’ve seen ample proof of the burgeoning popularity of social media in the past — just two months ago, Nielsen reported similar growth — and it makes sense. Facebook has been giving Google () a run for its money when it comes to traffic, and YouTube () recently surpassed two billion views per day.”

Secondly, the Next Web discusses how journalism will change in 5 years, by the creator of Google News. The top 5 changes are going to be:

1. Clarity over the role of every journalistic organisation.

2. Use of social networks much more than today.

3. Efficient Packaging and Payment

4. Smarter Ads

5. Interesting new ways of packaging

These are definite external forces that will shape journalism, not withstanding other factors like the overall mergence of technology. We’re seeing it more and more with the release of Google TV, linking to content, ads, apps etc. I think we’re moving into a world where the lines are going to be more blurred than we’ve ever imagined and the place of PR increasingly questioned. If we don’t shape it, our future will be lost and it’s high time the marketing industry (both internally and externally) starts to consider how traditional ways of communicating are no longer valid.

Times of crisis emphasises this point more than ever before with social media in the mix – and communicators are the best to facilitate this process both internally and externally.

I’m certainly going to give this subject more thought and will contribute further to this discussion. I’d be interested to hear your point of view – how we as an industry can pull together to enhance our communication capability that will better service our clients and the industry at large. If not, we may as well start looking for other jobs.

A study has just been unveiled by Arbitron and Edison Research with findings showing how the internet is the “most essential” medium, surpassing TV amongst consumers in the US.

Mentioned in Marketing Charts, “When asked which they would choose if they must, never again watching television or never again accessing the internet, slightly more people chose TV as the medium they would eliminate. Forty-nine percent of respondents chose to eliminate TV, compared to just more than 48% who said they would get rid of the internet.

When first asked the question in 2001, 72% of respondents said they would do without the internet, while only 26% said they would eliminate television. In the demographic of persons younger than the age of 45, the gap between the two forms of media is more profound, with more people choosing to live without TV.

So I ask the question, how come we still find ourselves having to evangelise digital and social media in a world that seems in most countries (not all) prefers the internet to TV? Or at least a combination of both.

I can totally understand why marketers would want to measure the medium and understand its role in driving sales, which is still misnomer (in Digital PR not necessarily adverstising) but could we please pass this now where we speak about Digital as a “must” not a “nice to have”?

Interestingly this subject came up when a few colleagues of mine and I were discussing social media monitoring and the true value it offers our clients. A concern was raised, that questioned the true value of engaging in social media and the impact it has on ROI. Apparently, some of our clients are not convinced that social media is a necessity and somehow we need to prove that it is…

Then I came across this blog post from eConsultancy that discusses this exact question with the final comment from Convince&Convert’s Jay Baer , “Despite the constant bleating everywhere about the need to map precise ROI to social media, two-thirds of respondents to this large study feel measuring social media is less than critical.” How interesting… in fact rather amusing. Here we are banging our heads on how to show value (even though we can measure every click, view and level of engagement consumers have across most social media channels) and some brands are in fact saying that it’s not crucial; they’re just doing it!

First Direct is a great example of this by incorporating tweets from customers as a live feed, regardless of sentiment – very risqué for most I dare say! And not to mention the rise of new platforms such as foursquare and Gowalla, which hardly have a base in the UK and brands are already knocking on their doors.

So what do you say – do you think we’re being swept along by a phenomenon that goes against the grain of traditional marketing practices, where everything was about ROI but now seems to be more about looking good than doing good? It also has a slight taste of a decade ago when the value of PR was questioned, that hasn’t been resolved and yet here we are evolving.

I don’t know if I have the answer, and to be honest will keep on searching, which reminds me that I have several “social media measuring events” to go to where we will discuss the same thing and come out with the same conclusion – we don’t know.