The Dawn of the Hyper-Networked PR Era

The old axiom in business is that it's not what you know, but who. With so much collective knowledge now available online for free, the saying holds more than ever. Pure-play PR professionals must invest heavily in strengthening and expanding their networks for the industry to remain vital.

Public relations practitioners, especially those who work inside agencies, know relationships count. Over time many agencies specialize and/or develop practices. This deepens their knowledge of the sector as well as the journalists who cover it. But this alone won't sustain the profession going forward.

For starters, nowadays every public-facing employee has a PR role, even if it's not their trade. In the Hyper-Networked PR Era, a video of a single repairman asleep on the job can spread around the world, eroding a company's reputation. On the positive side, grassroots or sanctioned corporate bloggers inside giant and small corporations have built tremendous goodwill for their businesses with key stakeholders and press.

In the Hyper-Networked PR Era, journalists (pro and citizen) have done a great job building relationships with all kinds of stakeholders directly. This - arguably - reduces the need for PR professionals to fulfill this role and helps them get scoops too. They're turning to social nets, conferences and, above all, a transparent dialogue with their audience. Read Dwight Silverman's blog and first hand you will see what I mean. In addition, check out this recent post by Penelope Trunk on how journalists can use LinkedIn.

Marketers too seem to be adapting nicely to the hyper-networked environment. The ANA, which represents the largest marketers in the world, is advocating that advertisers become more collaborative. And they are. Don't believe me? Read Wikinomics.

The situation in the PR biz is less heartening. What I have seen at my own firm is terrific. However, I feel differently when I look at the pitches I receive from others in the industry. It feels as though many just expand their media lists to include bloggers, podcasters and other online opinion leaders without trying to build relationships. They spam us with meaningless information, just like they do with the media.

If this continues, these firms will see their networks devalue. They must not just focus on generating coverage. That's a byproduct of good relationships.

So as you go out this weekend and invest in your personal circle of friends and family, think about how to do the same in business. My advice? Proactively focus on becoming more networked. Join social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and others. Start a blog. Go to conferences where the influencers flock. Get to know us as people and you will expand your network and your value to clients.

In the Hyper-Networked PR Era, this is the most essential skill you need to thrive.

Comments

[engtech]

I was linked by Dwight once. As good for traffic as Digg, Fark, Slashdot...

[Ryan Holiday]

Steve,

I think you're 100% right. It seems like PR agencies just see blogs as mini-newspapers or magazines, and that if you get popular on enough of them it can equal the same amount of "eyeballs" or whatever. And from this they remain totally ignorant of quality vs quantity and what is becoming a major consumer shift.

But at the same time, how can you say that this isn't exactly what Edelman does? Do you know how many times one of the Edelman has sent some smarmy pitch to Tucker Max, not bothering to understand the content on a deeper level, expecting him to grovel to their feet? And then when real, partnership negotiations are brought up, they make moves but then drop the ball and get lazy?

Let's be honest here. ALL PR is bad. It's just matter of degree and Edelman isn't as flagrant with their obliviousness.

[Stephen Davies]

Whoop, there goes another sweeping statement about PR. **Sigh**

[Patricia]

Convenient that what you see at your own firm is "terrific." Perhaps you're just demonstrating the earlier point about every public-facing employee serving a PR function? It wasn't necessary to include the line about Edelman, Steve. Besides, I'd bet you don't see most of the pitches your people in the trenches send out to bloggers anyway.

[Penelope Trunk]

Okay, yes, the Edelman remark was a little off-putting. But as a career columnist/blogger I can tell you that one of the most common questions I get is "How can I blog about my industry without getting into trouble with my company?"

This is a real problem. You need to blog under your real name in order to use your blog to help your career. And you need to have real opinions about your industry in order for your blog to get popular. Unless you want to be a professional blogger, you need to do this while you're employed.

Steve is actually a great role model for how to do this. He is sort of inventing the wheel as he goes, but he's one of the most high-profile people facing this problem. I don't see anyone with a better answer to the question of how to do this. It's remarkable that Steve has been able to maintain such a popular blog on his field without completely alienating his company.

As a career advisor, I point people to this blog all the time, as evdience that it can be done. So, okay, the Edelman mention was not necessary for us, but he did not do it for us, and given the circumstances, that seems fine to me.

Penelope