Another year another research in the field of digital public relations conducted and carried out by Ginger Comms, more specifically Ginger Research - consultancy and stats for various media campaigns.
The host to this event was clearly PRCA - a trade association for the public relations sector in the UK. ''The PRCA promotes all aspects of public relations and communications work, helping teams and individuals maximize the value they deliver to clients and organisations. '' (https://bit.ly/2Kc9IvL)
The report took place in Cardiff Park Plaza on Thursday the 15th November and was a rather successful event. In a pleasant atmosphere, with a drink and snack, it was attended by nearly 40 members of PRCA, including active representatives as well as PR and Communications students. Other then having Ginger Comms present their research, which will be addressed further in the post, there was a panel for discussion with three guest speakers:
➩ Dr Jacqueline Harris - a course leader for MSc Strategic Digital Marketing at the University of South Wales (https://bit.ly/2FCiTHA)
➩ Andrew Bruce Smith - a managing director of Escherman - digital communications consultancy for PR and marketing professionals (https://bit.ly/2zXCQCq)
➩ Lauren Bradford - social media manager at the Office of National Statistics (https://bit.ly/2Tj8zad).
The results of the research referred to both PR agencies as well as in-house PR&comms departments of interviewed organizations. The most significant results were:
These three activities are currently at the top when it comes to agencies dealing with digital relations and online presence. The clients are expressing more and more desire to engage with influencers and bloggers as well as online reputation management , so it is clear that agencies are shifting their ways towards fulfilling the needs recognized by clients.
Further on, the results also show the most used social platforms by both in-house PR departments and agencies, and even though there is a slight difference in percentage, these four are the most significant ones. The usage of Instagram has downgraded in comparison to last year, but it is still there at the top. Also, even though there has been a lot of talk on how Facebook's power has been fading, it is still by far one of the most engaging platforms to provide with maximum audience outreach.
For example one of the most interesting facts to me was how the in-house PR office was distributing their budget towards increasing and sustaining online presence. Being on social media is still a number one feature towards everybody seems to be striving. Additionally, video is again in top three activities, making it still the most wanted form of providing the wanted content.
Lastly, the question at the end stands - what is going to be next? Which features should we in the PR community be expecting to take over by the same time next year? AR/VR, Chatbots and SEO are just some of the actions for which agencies are currently reporting a slight demand.
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