Public Relations in 2022: Key Tendencies
Pauline Volovik
Marketing strategist | Advisor | Turning venture and blockchain startups into gold | Honestly about digital marketing and building online processes | Solving your business problems, not looking for excuses
Each year is marked by the development of technologies, modernization of clients’ requests, and, in the end, considering the context of recent years, new realities of life during the Pandemics and global digitalization of all processes. All these factors directly influence PR, beginning with the tone of voice and up to PR campaign building.?
In order to keep leading and increasing the competitiveness in the market, we are to monitor and adapt to the dynamic change of tendencies in the PR sphere.?
The metamorphosis of recent years is evident. For example, companies are trying to provide resources for the formation of the PR strategy, since they realize the value of wisely built public relations.??
It is impossible to ignore such an essential factor as digitalization: Digital PR is believed to be one of the most efficient and prominent instruments.?
The world is actively going online, as evidenced by the increasing rates of mobile traffic. It suggests numerous possibilities for business development using PR in the digital space.?
Digital PR consists of traditional strategies of promotion and SEO. While the first two are responsible for the increased level of trust and brand recognition, SEO is responsible for ranging and statistics. Altogether, this tandem ensures a loyal and interested audience, quality content, high statistic metrics, etc.
In this article, I will rely on the PR Trends 2022: The 16 Hottest Public Relations Trends research and personal multi-year experience in the field of marketing promotion.?
PR trends in 2022
Human-oriented approach
This nascent trend is focused on person’s experience in real and digital worlds, thus supporting the cultural bond on the global level. This tendency ensures successful interaction with the audience using new technologies in real-time.?
Some modern platforms offer the possibility of bilateral communication (online and in real-time), leading to more fruitful communication.? The trend opens up new possibilities for use of PR to influence the target audience.?
Authenticity vs fake news
Over-saturation of information leads to the situation when those people who used to fight for access to a sufficient amount of data, today try not to despair while trying to find proven and true facts.?
This is the reason authenticity is one of the key aspects of a successful brand. Specialists from the PR sphere are responsible for the traits and ideas of their client's brands, and information for promotion goes through a thorough check.?
Due to the prevailing amount of fake info, fact-checking has become a necessary instrument. One failure is enough to ensure a “headache” for the company and has significantly influenced the possibilities for its development.?
Understanding of media field
In modern realities, it’s essential to understand the principles of media work, since PR suggests the distribution of information about a brand or company and services or goods, that is directly connected with journalists’ activity.?
It is not enough to know the basic principles of work in the field of journalism — you should know the place where to publish the info to make it appropriate and lead to the desired result.??
One of the mistakes when choosing the platform for publication is to focus only on the content placed there. An essential factor that should not be forgotten is the target audience. You should try to achieve the maximum match with the TA you were targeting when preparing the material.?
If the content is prepared by the platform, you should pay attention to the journalist you will work with: whether he sticks to the tasks set, whether his writing style correlates with the tone of voice of your brand or company, and whether the specification of your work matches with the fruit of how writing.?
Variability of communication channels?
Going back to the question of content authenticity, the brand presence in various communication channels can help you with it. The more platforms are used, the easier it becomes to establish the channel where the audience is the most loyal and the credibility is higher.?
Moreover, we see the emergence of new possibilities considering the content, and,? based on the audience’s feedback, the format working for each channel becomes clear, leading to further efficient use of each platform.?
Method of data transfer?
Modern companies are inclined to operate the term “big data”. A simple investment in data collection is not enough: you need to customize, monitor, analyze, and apply the volume of traffic received.?
PR is modernized correspondingly: the insides received on the client's behavior contribute to the emergence of personalized target messages and mailing. Thanks to this approach, the possibility that the information reaches the person, who will react in the desired way, increases significantly.?
Therefore, you should pay attention to data analytics and apply instruments for more efficient and accurate work with them. In the future, it will simplify targeting tasks.?
Building strong bonds with media
One of the latest trends that delighted with good results was media link-building. Teamwork in the field of public relations gives a chance to distribute information on a brand or team, relying on journalists you work with and who have credibility.?
Close cooperation with media provides access to user data collection that can be used to prepare topics to be published corresponding to the specification of your work. It's a win-win situation: you cope with PR tasks successfully, and the media audience is satisfied since when choosing the content, you were oriented on potential users.?
Ecosystem: interaction between departments
The concept of cooperation between marketing and PR departments is the key factor in the creation and realization of PR campaigns. The final result of a PR campaign will be influenced by the entire list of the results of work of related departments that form the ecosystem and achieve common results, for example:?
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Audience’s key changes
The era of smartphones symbolized dramatic changes in business functioning, making it adapt to new realities. According to Counterpoint Research, more than half of smartphone users spend more than 5 hours a day behind the screen.?
The new generation tries to beat these records. It suggests the need to correspond to their requests and focus on digital PR. While being oriented toward an updated audience, you should thoroughly study all aspects and insights, including interests, fears, and triggers.?
You should also consider that this generation is more critical of content uniqueness and for them, the question of the authenticity of a brand or company is especially acute.?
Technologies and live communication?
The development of technologies that we have been able to observe in the past recent years modernized the approach to public relations. Meanwhile, technological progress minimized people-to-people contact.?
Despite the indispensability of technologies, it is live communication that provides stories, experiences, and keeps on pushing.?
Each communication format has something to offer, but with systematic cooperation, they can offer much more, therefore, the search for the model of coexistence of technologies and live communication when innovations contribute to socialization will be the tendency of 2022 and the following years.?
Fighting disinformation
Unfortunately, we cannot escape from false information in the online space. It can become the catalyst for the failure of a PR campaign or brand reputation in general. To prevent such situations, you should thoroughly check not only your content, but also material that is published on other resources.?
You should invest in data analysis and processing, as well as instruments for monitoring, in order to increase the risks of fake information. It will provide the possibility for PR specialists to select more social-oriented content that will gain audiences’ trust.?
Multimedia content?
Active use of online space for the consumption of content has led to an increased demand for multi-format publications. The diversity of the variants of the presentation of desired info offers new possibilities for the creation of more detailed PR strategies.?
In the modern world, the required information can be presented not only in text but also in audio or video format, customizing it for a specific target audience according to its interests, fears, and desires. Such innovations should be monitored and tested in order to find the one working for your audience.?
Personalized content?
Ecommerce goes on developing and becoming more accessible. Modern PR specialists should try to not only involve the audience and increase the content relevance but also try to optimize it and make the users get primary access to your materials in a constantly growing flow of information.?
I would recommend using external platforms for link building, growth of the number of brand requests, SERM, and image work with product, service, or expert.?
More external than internal engagement
Despite the growing volume of online content, the media team is shrinking. It means that mass media experience a lack of content, and it’s what PR specialists need.?
The availability of freelancers who create content for various PR strategies is a popular way to ensure the coverage of PR campaigns. Focus on idea leadership to create articles for wide distribution by mass media that need sources of content.?
This tendency will go on growing and changing the ways of interaction between PR and mass media.?
Estimation of joint efforts of online PR campaigns
Digital PR has become an integral part of the promotion, giving a chance to increase organic metrics and the number of positive mentions online.
The effectiveness of your PR campaign can be measured with the help of such SEO tactics as:?
Variability of digital PR enables the achievement of high SEO metrics, traffic on site, number of leads, brand trust, and more. The rules are simple: monitor, follow, and implement new tendencies in practice.?
What to expect. Summary
The PR world is changing, modernizing, and adapting to the realities of life in this particular period of time. It resulted in the search for new approaches and possibilities that are currently broadly used within digital PR.?
It is the reason to focus on the balanced coexistence of two worlds: real and digital ones.?
Follow the tendencies in order to find the tools of digital PR that will work for your particular audience. Do not be afraid to try new things, one day of risks is worth all days of stability.?