“GOOGLING” it on the Next Level

When you are searching for an answer to a question you don’t know, you could just ask Siri. Or perhaps you might try my go-to approach, Google. Search engines are a handy way to research a certain topic. However, I’ve also had trouble locating a helpful site after my initial search. I recently read the article, SEO Trends for 2013 & What They Mean for PR, which explained how much search engines will be advancing in the near future. Some of the current trends include a topic being so deeply researched by search optimization professionals that people will in turn get more quality results. The new content that you’re going to obtain in your search is said to “…not just capture but keep attention.” The new results are going to be very informative and educational to the audience in hopes to move the person into becoming a frequent customer. All in all, “…if content you are creating and distributing is highly useful and relevant for humans it will likely be favored by the search engines.”

Public relations is going to change dramatically parallel to the advancements in SEO sites and blogs. Professionals in PR write to a target audience and want to produce material that will be significant to the user. As I’ve written about before, building blog followers over time can eventually develop a great connection to people who share, respond, and recommend your ideas to others. Although I’m not personally interested in blogging for my career, professionals will benefit from optimizing search engines linking their topics with people looking for answers. People use a handful of devices on the go such as a Smartphone or tablet to answer business questions these days. It will be nice to browse the web before a meeting and get quick, quality, and channeled information. People in the PR field are continually on the go and the new SEO trends sound like they will be helpful to all.

Read the article here:

http://blog.prnewswire.com/2013/01/23/seo-trends-for-2013-what-they-mean-for-pr/ 

What’s Trending Today?

Have you “liked” a funny Facebook status in the last week? Did you see the disturbing Justin Bieber hash tag trends on Twitter? Or how do you feel about the latest blog discussing gun control? These forms of media have developed over the last decade and created a whole new approach to public relation tactics that professionals use today.

Before social media outlets were more thoroughly developed, traditional media such as television commercials and news papers were used to influence customers to buy a product. By using one-way communication to essentially “throw” information at users, these traditional forms of media were not as successful in building a consistent audience. Their marketing strategies worked when businesses promoted a product that users were already interested in, but left little room to attract new customers.

Back in the 1970’s when the internet became more wide-spread there were ways to stay connected to thousands of people, even though they weren’t one of your “friends.”. In chat rooms, such as the Bulletin Board System (BBS) users could develop an interesting two-way conversation about a subject, product, or service. As this became popular, more sites such as AOL, Friendster, Classmates.com, and Myspace were developed around 2003. History shows that people enjoy connecting with others that have similar interests.

The main purpose for LinkedIn, which was launched in 2003, is to “…establish a professional profile in order to connect with other people that have professional interests similar to yours.” Isn’t that what people have been doing on the internet for years? Now there are other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and professional blogs that allow users to search their interests on the computer, Smartphone, or tablet. With good social media marketing you may be targeted by a business because you have similar interests with a group of people and interest in the product that they are trying to sell.

When developing a successful social media site or blog, it’s important to focus on the long-term. While building a target audience and brand awareness there is not going to be instant gratification. For example, creating a twitter account takes time to build and interact with followers, business pages on Facebook have to get “likes”, and product sales won’t go through the roof over night. Due to the boost in social media marketing people believe that public relations needs to be redefined. Rosanna Fiske, the chairwoman and chief executive of the public relations society said that it is “a process we know is overdue.”

The new age of social media is going to bring a lot of changes to marketing. A positive aspect of this media is that customers are going to do the marketing for you. People can easily discuss products with others, create links to a businesses webpage, and even share pictures and costs with a click of a button. #ImagineThat

Cites:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/

http://fixcourse.com/social-media-definition/
http://www.netprofitmarketing.com/social-media/how-to-use-linkedin-for-business-quick-start-guide/

PR Writing for Professionals

Writing a blog in public relations varies from your everyday blogger’s intentions. Many people who have their own blog are writing to keep a record of their own opinions, personal thoughts, and may not have a specific aim for their posts. The professional upkeep of a blog requires writing that will help people to see a public image of an organization, person, or product. The professionals writing in PR want to develop a relationship between the target audience and their latest post, whatever it may be.

After doing some research I’ve found that there are certain things to do if you want to be a successful PR blogger. Each post should be released at least a few days before the major media is going to announce your target information. This is because blogs are used to create a buzz about specific products or services that each professional wants the public to talk about. Simply posting all the time is not going to reach the audience like you would think, so there are more steps to take in monitoring and promoting a blog. Some of these steps include making it easy for people to subscribe, commenting on other professional blogs, creating tags for others to easily search specific topics within your posts, and submitting to multiple search engines that track blogs.

Professional PR bloggers need to give their audience many ways to reach their blog. With today’s technology there needs to be quick and easy ways to stay connected, such as RSS updates on their phones, access through multiple search engines, and even emails sent directly to the followers when a new blog has been posted. You may wonder why it is important to comment on other people’s blogs when the focus should be on promoting your own. This is simple. Reading and responding to other blogs gives you an up-to-date example of the latest vital strategies, key tips, and new trends that you may want to implement in your posts. Other people may read your responses and in turn like what you have to say and link up to you blog for further information. It’s important to do your research and keep your blog relevant to the latest social media technology. Doing all of these things will help to build your audience and can impact your business.

Check out these links to see where I found some of these great ideas:

http://service.prweb.com/learning/article/public-relations-blogs-25-essential-pr-bloggers-you-should-be-reading/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/public-relations-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html