PR Trend in 2017

PR used to be all about gaining exposure and generating buzz for a company through the media. Due to the rise of content marketing and influencer marketing, PR must continuously adapt to the new environment. There were many lessons in 2016, amongst which one thing was inarguable: the PR industry is primed for significant growth. Below is the expected PR trend in 2017.

Reputation management weighs more. Nowadays PR has included many responsibilities, and reputation management should be ranked top on that list. From media coverage to social media and online reviews, a lot of businesses, organizations and individuals will rely on communicators to protect and enhance their reputation. A research showed that there was concern about the destruction of reputations due to fake news. In the recent development of rating websites, the need for PR professionals to actively work to protect brands’ reputation is even more urgent. There is no doubt that this will continue to be a challenge in the future. It cannot be solved with one-click solution from “IT firms” who send out generic responses to complaints. This new challenge requires careful consideration from communication professionals.

Influencers become contributors. Influencer marketing will play a more important role in 2017 as more organizations and PR agencies leverage influencers as ongoing contributors. Here’s the new guide: make sure you find a real influencer who lives up to his reputation and could actually connect with his followers. Celebrities and influencers who only look for a check won’t be a priority for most companies. In 2017, voices from influencers will take the spotlight and deliver results for brands.

We’re more capable of measuring PR results. The ability to effectively measure PR results is one of the biggest changes in the industry owning to the rise of relevant technology. For example, we start tracking the influencers who share our content on social media. We could measure who and how many the content has reached based on their followers. Of course not all of their followers will read the content they share, but it does give us some insights into whether the content we’re helping them create is attracting the right audiences with great influence. We can then create more pieces that may go viral and cooperate with those influencers who really contribute a lot to the brand in the future. But this doesn’t mean PR results are easy to track.

PR and SEO strategies will be integrated. Five years ago, PR and SEO were dealt with in entirely different departments, with SEO in the digital marketing team and PR as a core part of the communication department. But as SEO continues to evolve and Google continues to reward high-quality content on high-quality sites, the two practices are becoming more integrated than ever.

Typically, there are two key functions of the PR department: 1. Publish first-rate content given by thought leaders or key employees. 2. Ensure that the press is writing about the company - together, they make up one of the major factors affecting search results.

Therefore, it’s vital for PR and SEO teams to understand each other’s goals and align their work, so the content coming from the company is high in quality and optimized for users to search.