PR builds your online presence

Jonathan Bowers, September 17th 2007, 12:48PM

As Communications Director at UKFast, I occasionally do presentations to
businesses on the ways they can boost their brand using the Internet. At
the end of last week I did a talk with the CIPR in Manchester on
podcasting as part of an Online PR evening. We did a similar event back in
March this year and when I came to look through the original slides it
amazed me how much has taken place since then.

Having spoken just on audio podcasting earlier this year I knew that
videocasting and the potential of viral video would have to play a part in
this session. I also had to update all statistics about the industry and
it became clear that the various forms of online PR are in some ways
converging. Sites like YouTube, Facebook, Digg.com bring a variety of
functionalities that businesses are really beginning to harness with some
great results.

It was exciting to see a tremendous mix of people in the audience. Present
were some of the North West's largest PR agencies as well as
representatives from some of the regions biggest companies. Some of them
were coming completely fresh to online PR, others had success stories and
enthusiasm with them.

Hearing stories from the audience, two things stood out. One delegate
revealed that the mix within a PR pitch a few months ago was four fifths
offline and one fifth online. Now, they are looking at closer to a
fifty-fifty split. Another told of using Facebook to develop awareness and
how they had not received instant results.

The online PR landscape is developing so rapidly that a lot of what we try
is experimental at this stage. Personally, I think that what is most
important is that we do try it and in many cases, those who persist with
it will be the ones with the most impressive results.

UKFast

Tags: , online_pr, podcasting
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