The world of high-tech public relations is experiencing a major shift. While the primary objective to communicate and share information remains the same, the techniques used to accomplish this goal are changing. Old-school channels such as press releases, white papers, and media pitches are making way to social networks, consumer-generated media, and other cutting edge tools. This new frontier in technology public relations is known as PR 2.0. This article examines the new world of PR 2.0 and how it applies to high-tech companies. WHAT IS PR 2.0? PR 2.0 is an innovative strategy that leverages emerging technologies to increase the effectiveness of high-tech public relations. Organizations incorporate blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, and other tools into their PR mix to quickly get their message out to a broad audience. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR TECHNOLOGY PUBLIC RELATIONS? PR 2.0 adds immediate value to any technology public relations strategy, allowing companies to: * Increase speed and reach. With PR 2.0, information becomes instantly accessible to a much wider audience. * Communicate directly with potential buyers. Traditionally, news was broadcast to media outlets, who then reported it to the masses. PR 2.0 eliminates the middle man", allowing businesses to deliver their message right to the buyers. * Improve lead generation. High-tech public relations is about more than just branding. It's about creating real business opportunities that impact profitability. PR 2.0 can improve search engine rankings and drive a higher volume of qualified leads to a company's Web site. WHAT ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS OF PR 2.0? A successful PR 2.0 portfolio includes: * Really simple syndication (RSS) RSS is a form of Web syndication that rapidly distributes up-to-the-minute Internet content. RSS prevents information overload by allowing users to subscribe only to news that is important and relevant to them. Most major wire services offer RSS-enabled press releases, so announcements will be delivered directly to interested subscribers. * Blogs Blogs are personal journals created and maintained on the Web. They make for great technology public relations tools, allowing companies to provide information, answer questions, start discussions about relevant issues, and more. Businesses can create their own blogs, or form relationships with bloggers who discuss topics related to their products and services. * Memes A meme is an idea or thought that spreads across the entire Web population. Memes can be monitored using memetrackers, services that analyze blogs to uncover the most frequently discussed topics. Memediggers are more proactive, using human-powered voting systems to dynamically deliver news that is popular or interesting. * Tagging Descriptors assigned to topics and objects to make them easier to organize and locate. By adding tags to press releases, white papers, and other PR collateral, companies can increase their search engine ranking and participate in creating Web buzz. * Podcasts Companies publish files (primarily audio files) to the Internet, and allow users to subscribe to receive those files automatically. Podcasts are an effective, yet inexpensive way to promote products and services directly to potential customers, as well as the media and other members of the Web community. * Wikis Wikis are Web sites that enable interaction and collaboration by allowing visitors to add, edit, or delete content. Technology companies can seek out wikis that focus on relevant industry topics, and enter information about products and services. * Social Networking Social networking sites, such as MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook, help PR professionals form an extended network of peers and colleagues. They can efficiently connect and stay in touch with reporters, journalists, industry experts, bloggers, and other important contacts. * Social Bookmarking Social bookmarking sites utilize tags to locate, classify, rank and distribute Internet resources. Businesses can use these sites to share timely, relevant Web content such as articles and blogs that provide information about the company with potential customers, journalists, and other Web users. * The Social Media Press Release A press release that is optimized for new social media channels, offering a brief summary, some pertinent quotes, links to background information, tags that identify coverage and issues similar to those highlighted in the release, and images or video. These releases can broaden distribution and publication, and give journalists an opportunity to put their own spin on original news.
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