Grace Kiire is a public relations professional with experience in international communications, most notably with private equity in locations such as Africa, London, and Abidjan. In the following article, Grace Kiire discusses three changes in focus within the industry that are trending, which will provide a better understanding of the shifting landscape of public relations.
Public relations has always been about making sure the stakeholders in any given organization are perceived well by the public that the organization interacts with. This can involve so many different platforms that it is hard to keep up with the constantly shifting landscape.
In the modern age, Grace Kiire explains that the field of public relations has experienced a change in its formatting. This is thanks to new technology which analyzes data with more efficiency, but also in the advent of social networks and how to listen to the input received from the public. As a result, PR is prioritizing digital mediums over traditional trends.
The Public Relations Focus
The focus of any industry is business growth and success. Grace Kiire explains that nowadays, more time in PR is spent focusing on social media, than real-time rallies or gatherings, which shows that the industry has shifted into the digital era.
To better understand this, Grace Kiire takes a look at the three main trends that are emerging in the industry below:
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- Now Driven by Faster Data
2. PR is now Focusing on Smaller Media Platforms
3. Listening to Social Network Feedback and Interacting with the Public
- Now Driven by Faster Data
Grace Kiire dives deeper into how the public relations’ change in focus is altering the landscape, and how that focus revolves around ever-updating technology rather than more traditional means of data gathering, adjustments and in-person meetings.
Public Relations is Now Driven by Faster Data
Arguably, the focus of Public Relations has always been on receiving data. Public trends, opinions, and values are at the core of a good PR department’s actions. However, nowadays, the way public relations receives this driving data has become much faster and driven by advancing technology according to Grace Kiire.
One example is the advent of Artificial Intelligence programs that can track the impressions on different categories of media and news coverage in record time.
According to SLX Marketing, this intellegence can even analyze sentiments. Additionally, AI is capable of creating entire lists of media that focus on a specific target, including press releases and interviews.
With just a small but essential amount of information provided by public relations representatives, artificial intelligence programs can streamline the process in which data is collected in a targeted fashion.
Public Relations Are Focusing on Smaller Media Platforms
It is no secret that most of what can be understood about the public’s values is found digitally through media, now. However, Grace Kiire explains that algorithms and content purchased through sponsoring can make it incredibly difficult for a PR representative to reach an audience with any trustworthy level of authenticity.
That is why, instead of combing through large media platforms and hoping to find members of a target audience, PR firms are now focusing entirely on niche media platforms. This has been done by locating internet personalities such as YouTubers and Influencers with similar values to a PR rep’s organization to endorse.
Social Network Feedback
Finally, Grace Kiire explains that public relations have shifted to focus on social networking interactions as their main source of feedback from the public. This makes the process of responding to customers faster, more controlled, and even more genuine. The image of a brand is protected with higher rates of speed and efficiency through social network listening and engagement.
In Conclusion
To conclude, Grace Kiire explains that Public Relations is a branch of industry that, by definition, must have an ever-changing landscape to keep up with the shifting means of communication, and the shifting values, of the public. Nowadays, this looks like a tighter focus on digital formatting than traditional formatting for PR.
Public Relations has focused more on the data received by analytical programs that operate in real-time, as well as focusing more on outlets of media that are niche rather than mainstream to communicate more directly with an audience. Finally, PR is prioritizing the communication that dominates all others between an organization and its public on social media networks.
