THE NEW RULES OF MEDIA RELATIONS

     Yes, normally, I write about teachers having sex with their students or people killing animals or something that has to do with the legalization of marijuana, but today I have a bit of classwork to do, so bare with me on today's blog post. The funny thing that some of you reading my blogs on a daily basis is that for the last month, my blog posts have actually been for a grade in an Online Public Relations class at Rowan University. The class is based around using new and social media and incorporating it with traditional public relations practices. It's a very interesting class and it's interesting to see how traditional practices of PR have evolved. 

     I remember when I first got into the media broadcasting field, receiving press releases from a PR firm to promote their artist, author, or one of their TV or movie celebrities, meant they were giving us the rundown on what their clients were promoting as far as products or an upcoming show or movie. The same went for products, where PR used to send out, by snail mail, press releases to let journalists or the media to let them know about their new products along with a sample for them to try. 

     Today, these practices are a lot different. Today they don't just send news releases out when big news is happening. PR practitioner seem to find good reasons  to send them all the time now. Also, they don't only target a handful of journalists anymore. With the use of online and everyone being on it, they create news releases that appeal directly to the buyers now. Releases are now also written in terminology that the buyers can understand as opposed to using industry lingo. They also include offers to make consumers respond to the release in some way. One of the best new tools of posting news releases online now is placing a link within the press release to deliver potential customers to landing pages on a company's website. These new ways of writing releases have allowed PR practitioners to also link related content on the company's site like videos, blog posts, or even e-books. The releases have also, obviously, optimized delivery for searching and browsing purposes. 

     With my new position as a marketing director for a concert promoter, I have actually used these new practices to reach radio stations and print media. Yes, they still get them, but they get them now in the form of an email. When I send these releases out, it also allows me to paste a link to the release of the artist or band that we are announcing. This way the journalist or the radio programmer knows which artist I am speaking of. As a journalist myself, I too am bombarded with online press releases from publicists proposing for me to do interviews with their celebrities. Many times, I'll receive an email just saying click the link to see the Press Release and the landing page will be a press release on the record company or the management company's website. Other press releases that I receive are imbedded right in the email with links to the artist's page, Facebook, Twitter and whatever website is relevant to their artists. 

      These practices have come a long way since I got into the business and with technology ever changing, so will the rules. So it is always best to stay on top of the newest technology. The funny thing is this weekend, I saw my old co-worker Whoopi Goldberg, do her stand-up at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City and she actually mentioned staying up-to-date with the latest technology. She says that she hates Twitter and she hates Facebook, but yet she finds herself on them every day because it's the best way for her to react with her fans, but also she feels at her age, she also needs to stay on top of technology and what the kids are doing because it's constantly changing and you don't want to be sitting there one day going, "Huh?"