Public Relations Predictions For 2013

Public relations or PR is an industry that is ever growing. In 2012 there were many changes, the biggest of which being the increased focus on social media. It is also an industry that is ever growing, due to companies recognizing it can no longer ignore the need for PR for their business. So what does 2013 look like in the PR industry?

Visuals
Due to the app Instagram becoming huge in 2012 Pr professionals need to look into the importance of visuals in public relations.  No longer is enough to say something using words. Make a statement using visuals. A great way to do this is using infographics. Infographics are a great way to get across a message in an engaging and interesting way. As a PR professional use your list of contacts to get your infographic out there as the more it’s seen the better. Infographics work really well on social media sites too so don’t forget to utilize these too!

Visuals can be used for lots of purposes in PR, from social media to branding and reputation management.

Social Media
Whether you work in technology PR or fashion PR, there is no denying you cannot avoid social media! When questioned, 25% of PR professionals admitted to not fully understanding social media platforms. In modern PR this is not acceptable as social media is essential for any business. PR agencies in 2013 must introduce social media training to their PR staff so as not to get left behind. If you’re not already doing it you’re really missing a trick.

During 2012 billions of blogs, articles and sites were shared on social media. Think about it, when you want to share a link with someone, do you email them? Probably not, you post it on their wall, or you tweet them! All this sharing means exposure to your business and the articles and news that you are trying to promote, and is this something you can really be missing out on?
Smart Phones

Nearly all of us now access the internet via our mobile phones, this includes social media and emails. PR professionals must learn to make their work smart phone friendly. Emails sent need to be short and straight to the point, tweets already limit us so we need to ensure we are interesting, engaging and snappy all in 140 characters and headlines need to be short and sweet. A lot of engagement with our company happens online, and due to so many of us being online on the go, we want to access mobile compatible information. The PR professional must learn to engage the mobile user in 2013.

Eilidh MacRae is writing on behalf of Eclat and would reccomend them as a technology PR agency.