The Byline: PR and Marketing Insights from Eiler Communications

After more than 12 years in corporate communications, public relations, community relations and marketing, I took two years off to run my own business. In August, I decided to return to PR and happily ended up here at Eiler. Though I’ve only been away from the industry for two years, my re-entry has involved quite a bit of learning. Why? The evolution of new media.

In a 2006 Corante article, “Rebuilding Media,” media expert Vin Crosbie defines the two hallmark characteristics of new media. These are:

• Uniquely individualized information can simultaneously be delivered or displayed to a potentially infinite number of people.
• Each of the people involved—whether publisher, broadcasters, or consumer—shares equal and reciprocal control over that content.

Fortunately, I’m starting to figure out how to use the intuitive technologies. In fact, usability has not been an issue; time has. Exploring Linked-In felt like prepping for a high school reunion as I began to grow my network and saw who was on everyone else’s network and what they were doing. It’s so easy to get sucked in for hours at a time, especially if you start reaching out to people via email and phone.

Next, I’m embarrassed to admit I went on YouTube for the first time last week, and the story that got me to finally logon was about some beauty pageant contestant who answered a geography question with a string of words that made absolutely no sense. The kicker was she won third place. I just had to see the person who had answered this question.

Beyond initial exploration, however, I’m also starting to learn the PR applications of these technologies. I may have wasted some time on Linked-In and YouTube, but I’ve also learned how I can use these new media tools on behalf of my clients. I know having a large network is important in order to help my clients when they run into problems they can’t solve that aren’t PR related. I also know YouTube can be a great place for unique product launches or online press tours of colorful spokespeople. These are just two ways among many to use these two forms of new media.

The challenge now will be to try to learn at a pace that is slightly faster than the pace at which new media technology evolves.

Posted by Linda

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