Mark Ragan’s session dove into what it means to be a PR person now. Here are his guiding principles:
- PR Superstar
- Fundamentals of good writing and “refrigerator journalism”
- Social media pro
- Leading the content creation and curation
- Effectively producing an online newsroom
- Build relationship with media – traditional and new
He didn’t stop there, he said all PR professional should be striving for a new title in the C-suite with a place at the table– CCO
- Chief Content Officer
- Content producer
- Reporter – finding internal stories to share to publics
- Conversation starter to any and all publics
- Community manager
He went on to explain that no matter your title or role in PR currently corporate communications and consumer communications are colliding and what consumers want and need for you/your brand is:
- PR Toolbox
- Helpful posts
- Compelling video
- A unique voice with personality behind the brand or company
- In your face social media
- Integrated customer service – be everywhere
- A brand’s website should mimic what the audience readers elsewhere in layout and tone. No sales, just communication
Now that we know what kind of PR person to be and strive to be it is an interesting note Mark makes about the push and pull of corporate versus brand message and how that impacts a public facing website. “Typical” corporate website often fall short of delivering credible stories that engage a user. A website following Mark’s ideals of content creation and curation will never leave a user wondering what the message was or worst have them leave your page before they have interacted. Example shared was:
“Don’t make people guess what is behind your content. Why do sites say things like ‘Click Here For More Info’ on a YouTube icon instead of grabbing the eyeballs with ‘Watch Interview with Breakthrough Scientist on Robotic Surgery” with the video embedded in the site?” Which one would you click and which doesn’t make you want to run to click on that video?