Archive for: PR

Social is still successful and attracting big budgets, according to the PRCA’s 2019 Digital PR and Communications Report.

Produced in partnership with Ginger Research, PRCA’s digital report shows increased industry investment in social media and digital. The survey of 408 PR professionals across sectors including technology, NGOs, government, and finance and banking found growth in budget assignment for digital tools and tactics as well as a greater confidence in measuring its success for campaigns.

Reasons for keeping up a social media presence for brands has stayed the same as last year – to increase awareness of what they do (86%), drive audience reach (71%) and brand awareness (65%). Spending on digital and social is up this year, with over half of respondents saying their budget has increased over the last 12 months. For future spending, budgets will grow even further for almost half of those surveyed, with 49% say their assigned budget will increase and only 2% predicting less.

Where the budget goes shows what’s working and what isn’t – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) spend is down (by 10%), while more money is going towards video-based content, up by 4% (text-based is down by 9%).

What clients expect from their PR services shows a different motive, however – 51% expect online press release distribution, 49% digital crisis management, 46% image-based content and 43% social influencer outreach. That importance is being placed in different areas by those providing PR services and those paying for them – one looking to digital engagement, and the other to the more traditional PR tool of press releases – could signal a need for greater communication between client and agency on what is possible when embarking on a campaign (and digital provides many opportunities the press release can’t).

Those still catching up to the potential of digital and social media in-house cited lack of time, staff, education and budget as blocks rather than lack of interest or want. And which social platforms are most popular for those making full use of them in campaigns is probably unsurprising – Twitter comes out on top as most popular for in-house (90%), closely followed by Facebook (81%). Agencies place similar importance on Twitter as a platform (85%) but consider LinkedIn (84%) more useful than Facebook (80%). The popularity of Instagram as a social platform for PR is lowest out of the big four – 67% for agencies and 63% in-house.
Tweeting and Facebooking is second nature for campaigns, but where PR is looking for the future of engagement goes one step beyond to augmented/virtual reality. 32% would like more education on it, 25% on voice/search aps and 24% on chatbots.

Whichever particular digital platforms PR budgets will focus on for campaigns in the coming year, social media is where stories will continue to flourish: ‘No one can argue that digitally relevant content should be the cornerstone of every PR campaign,’ said Ginger Research creative director Ellie Glason of the report findings. ‘It will be fascinating to see how modern digital mediums will evolve, and what new platforms for storytelling will be at our disposal in the near future.’

PRCA Digital Group chairman and Play and Shiny Red managing director Danny Whatmough also sees excitement in where PR will go next with digital: ‘While things move pretty fast in the digital arena, our study has shown year on year that PR professionals across the UK are evolving and developing their skillsets to match changing consumer behaviours, uncovering new opportunities to reach and engage diverse audiences.’

The full report from PRCA and Ginger Research can be found here.

This year’s CIPR National Conference ‘Preparing for the Digital Future’ focused on getting attendees ready for the challenges the industry will face over the next few years. Big issues highlighted at the conference that are already impacting PR and comms included mental health issues within the workplace, irresponsible use of data and CEOs resistant to necessary change.

What can we do to get ready for what’s coming, and what’s already here?

Check out the main takeaways from the speakers this year and where they believe time, energy and resources should be spent (the first is definitely the most doable…).

1. ‘Cake always wins’
Katie Lawson, head of fundraising and communications at Tiny Tickers
Lack of budget and goodwill came up in questions to speakers a lot during the conference – naturally, not every team or corporation is going to have both. During the CIPR Not-for-profit Group Session ‘Digital communications on a shoestring’, Katie Lawson from charity Tiny Tickers talked about balancing the goodwill of her audience with a lack of funds. Want attention on social media? Office cake is the answer. Katie’s advice: take photos of any cake that shows up in the office and post on Twitter – this also goes for dogs.

2. ‘Spending money on content that isn’t engaging is money down the drain… what you’re doing is boring more people’
Helen Reynolds, communications and social media trainer at Comms Creatives
And on the subject of what works on social, Helen ‘The old lady of social media’ Reynolds also had advice during the panel on working with tiny budgets. Everyone wants more money for what they’re planning, but for Helen ‘the work is what’s important’. As discussed during this talk (which also featured thoughts from Leanne Manchester from The Wildlife Trust), no amount of budget is going to make content that’s lacklustre more interesting – it’ll just be much more expensive.

3. ‘Focus on the human aspect of work – if we’re not more open and transparent, I think we’re going to be forced to’
Peter Cheese, CIPD
‘So, I’m the HR guy’ is how Peter Cheese started his talk ‘Rebuilding trust from the inside out’. Peter made the point that companies are part of communities and society, and therefore important stakeholders to be considered. Moves to sustainability within offices (the increasing popularity of recycling initiatives and paperless working) and the adoption of workplace charities shows that a greater focus on the human side of big business is already happening. But it can’t merely be lip service. Like the RSC dropping BP as a sponsor, genuine steps must be taken for the wider community to see legitimate considerations for the future. Full accountability for bigger brands and high-profile people (Amazon was mentioned a lot during the conference, as well as a certain US president) might not be the reality yet, but it’s coming and is worth planning for now. Communities demand, and deserve, better from the corporations that serve and sell to them.

4. ‘Reputation management needs to be holistic and integrated. It’s vital and necessary to speak out on the big issues of the day’
Tony Langham (CEO, Lansons)
In ‘Reputation on the line’, Tony Langham highlighted a growing area of the PR and comms industry being within organisations. Employee engagement is where PR is heading, and employees need to be able to trust their companies and those higher-up on the food chain. And this is possible even when it’s not necessarily deserved; according to Tony: ‘People will forgive anyone if they like them’. So, be trustworthy to your employees, if you have them. Or if you can’t quite do that, be likeable.

5. ‘If you don’t take a stand on technology ethics, you’re still taking a stand. There is no neutrality in this space’
Dr Stephanie Hare, researcher and broadcaster
During one of the most passionate talks of the day, Dr Stephanie Hare (in Ethics of Our New Technologies) urged those in the audience to take forward a greater understanding of how to use their influence and skillset. Particularly when it comes to GDPR. For her, ‘the way that we are treating data isn’t working’ and the technology we use isn’t without discrimination or potential harm. Having penned an op-ed on the subject for The Observer the weekend prior, and citing the recent controversy with Apple Pay’s gender discrimination during her talk, Dr Stephanie made the case that ‘building better tech is about building a better world – you’ll have a better PR story if you get on the right side of history’.

6. ‘The same way that companies can track us, we can track them and what they’re doing – corporate digital responsibility needs to be applied in-house’
Dr Lawrence Ampofo, Digital Mindfulness
Also advocating for greater responsibility in the tech space, Dr Lawrence Ampofo argued for greater human interaction in the development of technologies and services, as well as with customers. Technology, services and products need to have the ‘friction’ of humanity alongside the benefits of AI (also a big topic during the conference, unsurprisingly). What humans can bring that AI can’t (yet) is responsibility to employees and clients – that’s only going to get more important, going by how many times it was talked about by the speakers and in audience questions.

7. ‘Get your boss involved in decisions to be part-owner of solutions. Ask ‘what do you think?’ Take them on the journey’
Joanna Blackburn, Government Digital Service
Moving away from pure profit considerations and towards a more mindful approach for the wider community we serve and the colleagues we work with has to come with CEO approval. What do you do when you don’t make all the big decisions at your company, and have a particularly resistant person in charge? Bring them on the journey with you, said Joanna Blackburn when talking through her successes with bringing about change at the Government Digital Service. And for those holding the power in organisations, her warning was that job titles don’t guarantee respect anymore and that workplaces are filled with intelligent people quick with questions for those in charge.

To be ready for the future of PR – wherever you are in your company hierarchy, or whatever your budget – the lessons from this year’s CIPR National Conference speakers was to be open, ethical and considerate. But also, to help get that started, bring more cake into the workplace. Also, dogs.