Social Media Archives

New Media and its impact on PR practice

by Mangal Karnad | Sep 29, 2018 | Public relations, Thought Leadership

Welcome to the Age of New Media. Gone are the days when we had select few print publications, a handful of TV Channels and a fixed style of news reporting. The advent of the Digital Age has bought in an exhaustive list of new media thereby expanding the scope of coverage and opportunities.

Traditionally, media companies presented factual, unbiased reporting to their readers or viewers in order to provide them information. Today anyone with a smartphone or a tablet can create and share news or information to reach masses through various social media platforms.

However, this doesn’t mean that journalism is dead. With a shift in demographics like higher disposable incomes and the need to be well-informed, the new age media has the onerous task of living up to it. The new age millennial has a shorter attention span, and they are always on the hunt for compelling and gripping stories and content. Hence, new age journalism is all about reaching a larger audience in a shorter period time with exciting content.

Role of a Journalist or a PR professional in the age of new media:

Journalism today is no more about just writing and speaking. New age journalists rely both on verbal and visual communication skills and keep themselves updated with various forms of social media to tell their stories. Often, they are needed to take photographs or shoot videos, design the layout for the website or promote their message through social media. The traditional media houses are catching up fast and are exploiting the new media to expand their reach. PR professionals need to be creative and sharpen their pitching skills.

The media today needs a PR person more than before. Journalists are constantly on the lookout for new stories and information, and they pick up interesting stories from the social media feeds! PR firms need to be on the alert for such opportunities for their clients. The ordinary pitch isn’t going to work much longer. A creative pitch which is short, crisp, and accompanied by videos and infographics might be preferred.

Influence of Social media:

With the changing times, media has evolved too. As everyone is glued on to his or her smartphones today, the source of breaking news is no more the Newspaper or TV, but the various social media handles that one owns. Journalists share their personal opinion or a story more openly on social media than via traditional medium. Therefore, there is less fact-checking involved here as there is a constant need to upload new information before it gets published (by someone else) and becomes stale. No wonder for publications the order of the day is “Publish first and then correct if necessary.” Twitter is considered as a “news network” as it is the social media platform where generally news breaks first.

Social media has influenced public relation practitioners too, and the industry has seen some dramatic changes as well as new opportunities for communicating with clients and businesses. As journalists are more active on social media and pick stories from these mediums, therefore PR people should be active on these mediums too and portray and post newsworthy content on behalf of their clients in such a way that it is of interest to the media.

It is important to grasp these new channels of communication so that we can effectively use them as a means to communicate with the public and to see how it affects the PR practice. The journalism and PR programs in colleges need to implement these changes in the course curriculum to equip future practitioners with the knowledge and skills required to handle these media.

5 Copywriting Tips for Creating Interesting Social Media Posts

by Mayur Bhat | Mar 15, 2017 | Content Marketing, advertising, Marketing

Copywriting requires a combination of 3 skill sets – storytelling, conciseness, and creativity. In a world where people don’t pay more than a few seconds of attention.

Brevity is the soul of wit – William Shakespeare

keeping your social media posts short, sweet and to the point is of paramount importance. Here are the 5 Copywriting Tips for Interesting Social Media Posts:

The 3 C’s of copywriting

The number 3, symbolizing trinity, the minimum number of sides required to form a closed shape, symbolizes completeness. So it would only make sense that the rules for copywriting would come in 3’s.

So here are the 3 C’s of copywriting:

Clear
Concise
Compelling

Your social media posts need to be clear, to the point and interesting enough to invoke an action.

The 3 U’s of copywriting

1. Unique

2. Useful

3. Urgent

Your writing needs to create a sense of urgency so it encourages the viewers to act.

The 3 W’s of copywriting - Who? Why? What?

Copywriting is similar to storytelling, therefore an effective method that can be incorporated is the 3 W’s, which is the condensed version of Who? Why? When? What? Where? How?

Who is this for?
Why should someone care?
What should be done next?

Answer these questions so it stays relevant to the reader and there is purpose, personalization, and direction for the reader.

Use Social Proof - Substantiate your claim

There is little trust on the internet. People make a lot of claims. A LOT!

There are a lot of fraudulent posts online, this makes users sceptical to the claims made online. If you have relevant information to back your claims, it might be a good idea to use social proof in your posts to increase the trust factor.

An easy way is to link the person you are referencing (ideally an influencer with a following) or show proof in the form of imagery.

People are far more relieved and more likely to act when they know someone else has walked the same path with desired results.

AIDA

AIDA is an old-school marketing technique and can be used effectively in copywriting as well. example.

AIDA stands for:

Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action

It is the act of moving someone from the state of being Unaware about a certain topic to a state where they perform a desired action, like purchasing your product or service.

A person might spend 10 seconds or less on your post title, make sure there is something that grabs their attention right off the bat. Interesting imagery or content could grab their attention – social proof is a good method to move your prospects from awareness to desire. Action is a matter of good lead follow-up processes.