New Media as an Important Media Relations Tool during the Economic Crisis
Organizations should optimize new media to make ‘noise’ especially during the downturn
Organizations should optimize new media to make ‘noise’ especially during the downturn
Kuala Lumpur, 18 May 2009: Organizations should continue to make and build their presence despite the economic downturn by using the new media such as Faceboook, Twitter, Youtube, podcasts and blogs as the main communication channels.
According to Manminder Kaur Dhillon, CEO of intelectasia™ Consultancy (pic), constant presence of an organization in the various electronic, print and more recently, the new media, is vital to increase the confidence of stakeholders and public towards the organization.
“Media relations has always been an important element for most organizations, but during these trying times, more emphasis should be given to create presence by maximising the potential of the new media.”
More importantly, says Manminder, the use of the new media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, podcasts and blogs should be given particular attention by organizations to create a positive relationship with consumers, stakeholders and the public.
According to Manminder, Coca-cola is a good example. By simply realising the potential of Facebook, the soft drink giant used the social networking site to communicate with millions of consumers. And this story was picked up by major news channels all over the world, automatically generating news for the brand.
“The old school of thought by sending press releases and hoping media to cover an event especially in Malaysia has to end. Everyone is jostling for the media’s attention. Why not create your own news? Use blogs, forums, social networking sites to communicate, use Youtube to upload interesting videos, use Twitter to update fresh stories. Editors and journalists are picking up stories from these sites to have a fresh take on things. Don’t bore the media with launches and events.” adds Manminder.
Manminder should know. Being on both sides of the fence, as an ex-broadcast journalist with a local news channel before joining a public relations firm as a consultant, Manminder believes that most organizations still depend heavily on traditional media to reach out to stakeholders and often overlook the whole idea of creating newsworthy stories.
By having award winning journalists and experienced public relations consultants on her team, Manminder recently started a series of media relations workshops for corporate companies and government agencies.
“For us, the media relations workshops act as a platform to share our knowledge and expertise in this field. By doing so, we hope that many more organizations will understand the key elements of media relations to stay ahead in today’s competitive environment such as creating newsworthy stories and optimizing the new media as a channel to reach out.”For more information on the media relations workshops by Manminder and her team, log on to http://intelectasia-mediarelations.blogspot.com/
To see the press release on prlog, visit http://www.prlog.org/10238225-new-media-as-an-important-media-relations-tool-during-the-economic-crisis.html
