The New York Times today published an article about how companies are wisely using their beta testers as customer evangelists who will build early buzz. The article talks extensively about Google, in particular, which used the blogosphere extremely well to promote Gmail.
PR people, our profession has changed. Our day-to-day jobs are no longer just "how do we get the media to write about our widget." PR has now evolved to "how do we engage our customers in meaningful conversations so they do our PR for us and get the media writing about our widget!" The word "public relations" is finally no longer a misnomer. It means relating with publics in a two-way dialogue, not so much relating with media – though the two go hand in hand.
The public relations industry is at an inflection point. All of us will soon enough need to start leveraging both social and traditional media in our campaigns just as Google has. Here's what I predict PR job description might look like a year from now...
Company X has an exciting opportunity available for a self-starting public relations professional. Candidates must have 5-10 years PR agency/in-house experience and extensive knowledge of how to engage and mobilize customers through social media like blogs, wikis and discussion groups. Traditional media relations skills/relationships a plus, but not required.
