#newsrw – Conference from a distance
A number of people on my Twitter friends list attended the recent news:rewired event on the ‘nouveau niche’. Having not attended the conference myself, my views are taken from the news: rewired website, blog posts and Twitter comments and hashtag #newsrw.
So, for the sake of brevity, two observations to make.
The first: no longer is it necessary to attend a conference, awards ceremony or event in order to find out what was said.
The second: the media landscape has changed and there is no turning back.
From the Fresh PR Awards earlier this year to a social media conference at Birmingham City University, Twitter has been used to create a feeling of being part of the group, to promote the event, to record the learnings and to stimulate debate. And, these are just two of the many events which have made use of the #hashtag phenomenon.
So, is it still worth paying to attend awards, conferences and events? When someone will post the information online afterwards anyway? And, when you can feel part of the community by commenting on the hashtag thread?
I’d argue yes. Without the attendance and the funding support, these events won’t happen. And, without the events to stimulate the discussions, fewer people are likely to get involved. And, possibly, the industry (media, PR, comms, marketing, conversation) will not progress as quickly as their end customers and target audiences.
The second observation – that the media landscape has chnaged with no turning back – actually comes from a number of sources. This blog by Business Desk editor Marc Reeves, a CIPR Midlands event attended with Birmingham Post editor Alun Thorne, and repeated conversations with Kinetic clients and others in the PR industry.
Marc argues – within the conference theme of ‘niche’ – that outlets which provide people with news and comment must truly understand their audience and must integrate thinking and offering around the content which is provided. He suggests that the media landscape has changed because the end consumer of ‘news’ no longer has to rely on the package he/she is given but can ‘pick and mix’ their own content from a variety of sources.
Not so different from Alun’s comments on the future of regional and national print media. For these titles to survive, they must understand their audience and provide them with the integrated content – free and paid-for as well as print, online, multimedia, etc – that they want.
Both suggest that advertising should form part of that integrated offering and that media outlets must get better at ‘selling’ a whole package which provides the audience – who could be readers, advertisers, providers of news stories, and competitors all in one – with what they need. In marketing speak, it is all about delivering customer value.
And the role for us as PR consultants?
To explain this changing landscape to our clients, to help them navigate through the world of integrated communications, and to support the media outlets – whether online, broadcast or print – which are truly delivering that customer value. And, that means understanding and embracing what the different platforms have to offer in terms of editorial, advertising and engagement opportunities.
Thoughts on PR and comms 