#PRSAMDC - Media Relations in a Disintermediated World

Media Relations in a

Disintermediated World

Andrew Careaga (@andrewcareaga)Missouri University of Science and TechnologyPRSA Midwest District Conference | #prsamdc

June 19, 2014 | Springfield, Missouri

Director of Communications, Missouri University of Science and Technology (@MissouriSandT)

Journalism background Blogger (Higher Ed Marketing –

andrewcareaga.wordpress.com) Twitter fanatic Tweeting about:

#highered#music#stlcards#branding

Supply-chain disintermediation

Supply-chain disintermediation

Remember these days?

Some recent examples…

What does this mean…

… for the news media?

The media, disintermediated?

‘In 2012, a continued erosion of news reporting resources converged with growing opportunities for those in politics, government agencies, companies and others to take their messages directly to the public.’

Pew Research Center, Project for Excellence in Journalism“State of the News Media 2013”

To paraphrase the famous words of Pogo …

THEY

MEDIA

Six emerging media trends

1. Online-only news organizations

Pew Research Center, Project for Excellence in Journalism, “State of the News Media 2014”


2. Emerging (but small) revenue streams



3. Social and mobile influence

39% of online news consumers use 2 or more devices to access news

20% say their smartphone is their primary news access point

Mobile is the “second digital revolution”

Pew Research Center, Project for Excellence in Journalism, “State of the News Media 2014”Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, “Digital News Report 2014”


4. Digital storytelling



5. Television joint operating agreements



6. Demographics


It was never about the media

The “mass” media were the quickest way to reach massive numbers of people

supposed to be

The goal got lost somehow and it became about the media and the clips

We are finally coming back to the core purpose of outreach

Marketing > advertising PR > just mainstream

audiences You are what you publish Authenticity, not spin Participation, not

propaganda ‘The Internet has made

public relations public again’

From The New Rules of Marketing & PR,David Meerman Scott

The rules have changed

Source: HubSpot, 101 Awesome Marketing Quotes (www.hubspot.com/101-marketing-quotes/)

‘Although many traditional journalists and media outlets see these new kinds of platforms as competition, they should be seeing them as an opportunity, a potential new model that could not only support existing forms of journalism but broaden the pool of potential talent.’

Consumers are: Side-stepping institutions (like the news media) Making – not just consuming Taking back their time (on-demand viewing)

gamechangers.wolffolins.com/

Think like a media organization

‘From a brand point of view, what this means is rather than piggybacking on this really powerful brand with a huge built-in audience [i.e., television], we need to look for opportunities to engage by creating our own content. Thinking like a media company, not like an advertiser.’

David L. Rogers, author of The Network Is Your Customer

Thinking like a media organization

Clearly identify audiences and goals Create, publish and repurpose stories Create our own distribution channels

(including the news media) Leverage social media Welcome Encourage participation

and user-generated content Curate and aggregate content

Identify audiences and goals

Who is (are) the audience(s)? Segment and prioritize It’s OK if the news media is one

What do you want to tell them? Clear messages Add value Repeat, repeat, repeat

How do you want them to respond?How will you measure success?

Create, publish and repurpose

Create, publish and repurpose

Create distribution channels

Create Use existing channels

‘A NEW scripted

comedy served

fresh by

Subway!’

Leverage social media

Involve your own networks … 50% share or repost news 46% discuss news issues or events via

social media … but reach beyond your corporate

channels Leverage influencers Retweet or repost coverage

Social media sharing tips

Numbers matter Bigger and louder works – to a point Beware “link fatigue” Sharing videos more effective on Facebook

than Twitter Click-through rates are higher on weekends It isn’t all about us Use combined relevance Help your audience look coolSource: Dan Zarrella, “The Science of Social Media” (smsci.danzarrella.com)

Encourage participationMake content: Easy to share Relevant to your customers An answer to WIIFM

Encourage participationAlso: Consider incentives or contests Measure effectiveness

Curate and aggregate

Content curation vs. creation?

Become an information resource

Establish credibility, expertise and trust

Encourage sharing

Content curation tips

Identify your topic(s) Follow the thought leaders Draw from a variety of sources Add your own commentary Retitle your content Quote short excerpts Credit and link to your sources Encourage sharing

Via Hootsuite (blog.hootsuite.com/successful-content-curation)

But what does this all mean…

for media relations?

What if PR gets disintermediated?

Adding value to the media

Share your organization’s expertise Don’t waste reporters’ time Rethink meaning of “media” in a

new, interconnected media ecosystem

Rethinking ‘media’

‘The conventional – journalistic – interpretation holds that a medium is a carrier of something. … To a biologist … a medium is a mixture of nutrients needed for cell growth.

‘It seems to me that this is a useful metaphor for thinking about human society; it portrays our social system as a living organism that depends on a media environment for the nutrients it needs to survive and develop.’

John Naughton, From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: Disruptive Innovation in the Age of the Internet

The new media ecosystem

Think like a media organization

Amplify via social Think more broadly

about “news” Republish media

coverage Gather and curate

Thanks!

Andrew CareagaTwitter: @andrewcareaga

View this presentation on slideshare.net/andrewcareaga