The Rise Of Digital PR And Why It Remains Relevant Today
Recently, I was involved in a discussion regarding the overall performance of a B2C campaign and one party mentioned that Digital PR has become the key to unlocking the wealth of brand awareness in a way Traditional PR cannot. This discussion prompted me to further analyze and understand how more brands have started to rebrand themselves and are now embracing tech-savvy and key digital PR strategies to attain a much broader audience that cannot be reached through traditional PR approaches.
Before I go any further, it is important to explain what both terms “Traditional PR” and “Digital PR” mean. Traditional PR (Traditional Public Relations) is a strategy which utilizes conventional channels such as radio, television, leaflets, billboards, and newspapers in order to generate and boost brand awareness. Digital PR (Digital Public Relations) on the other hand refers to all online methods, tools, channels and platforms that assist in achieving a greater online presence to facilitate building relationships and creating a strong brand reputation which is in the form of social media, influencer marketing, digital magazines etc.
During the times when social media and digital media tools did not exist, conventional PR studies used face-to-face communication and traditional media channels to ensure strong and effective communication between the target audience and the brand. In recent times, Public relations has gone through a dramatic change with more agencies embracing the opportunities that digital has to offer, which in turn has led to an increase in brand’s visibility and credibility as well as promoting positive customer engagement.
Why Is It Relevant Today?
A major advantage of Digital PR over traditional PR is the role Influencer marketing plays, which forms a key part of digital PR. The rise of influencer marketing as the primary medium of Digital PR to promote businesses, products and brands — has been effective in building brand awareness.
Case Study: Ray-Ban Stories X Burna Boy
Ray Ban utilized an influencer-led strategy by partnering with Nigerian artist, Burna Boy on the release of his music video, Vanilla to promote its new product, Ray Ban Stories. The partnership not only generated awareness for the new glasses but also Burna’s newly released music video, Vanilla as it sparked up conversations online between lovers of the brand and the Nigerian artist. This genre of digital pr stands out because it capitalized on social media and influencer marketing hence engaging a wider audience.
Another advantage of Digital PR over traditional PR is the ability to clearly track and measure success. Digital PR campaigns can be effectively tracked, monitored, and then measured, enabling for clear reporting that clearly demonstrates the exact value a campaign has added. In addition to simply having an accurate number of views/shares, it is also easier to see the kind of responses your content gets online.
Still using the Ray Ban Stories x Burna Boy as a case study, through collaborating with a name as big as Burna Boy, the new product definitely reached a lot of eyeballs as the music video was able to achieve a total of 5,853,639 views on YouTube.
It is safe to say that the launch of the Ray Ban Stories Glasses was indeed a huge success, of which can’t be achieved through Traditional PR approaches.
To sum up:
As Digital PR is becoming increasingly popular, we need to understand that there is still a place for traditional PR strategies to still exist. Brands should research and analyze the differences between traditional and digital PR and create tailored campaigns that can genrate impact.
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Cece Jacob-Okoro is a multifaceted creative and PR Girl on the rise!
