Some people fondly call it PR 2.0, in few western PR markets they have even moved to PR 3.0 and some call it Digital PR. What exactly is it? Does online PR exist? Can we develop relationships in the WWW? Well, let’s try and find out.

We live in societies. Our social life reveals much about us than anything else. The way we dress, the way we interact, the neighbourhood we stay in, the vehicle we drive, the organization we work with and so on… There are many factors, which symbolises the society we belong to. Today’s marketer analyses all these and more to interact with us on a daily basis. In the world wide web, we reflect the same characteristics. The groups we belong to, the applications we use, the blogs we write, the networking sites we hangout on, the friends we keep and so on. The new age marketers need to analyse all these in order to interact with us - but hold on! There is one BIG difference.

The big difference is that in the www, I am the one who has the power not only to read but also to write. We are evolving as a read-write society thanks to web. Now, if you ask me that as a PR professional how could I develop a relationship with this new generation of people (age no bar!) who also has a power to express? My advice would be, apply the same principles of relationship building as in the offline world. But keep in mind that in this world whenever there’s an action - there is a reaction. So, your actions should encourage positive reaction and should give an opportunity to people on the web to engage with you or your brand in a constructive dialogue.

Getting a press release published on few news portals is not online PR. Developing relationships here requires good amount of time and efforts from you but it is very rewarding. The content you create in order to initiate a discussion need to be exciting enough for the community to participate, indulge and forward. The game here is creating an idea that spreads like a virus! Use all available options (almost everything is free out there!) to engage with the web consumers at every stage.

• Use blogs, video lenses, podcasting, widgets, applications, online groups, discussion boards, social networking sites, second life, games etc. depending upon the target consumers you want to engage with
• Start with few things and as you go explore other avenues after developing a comfort level with the medium
• Judge consumers’ response and use various free tools (available online) to measure the impact
• Reinvent your self regularly - update and upgrade your content frequently
• Every society has few rules, learn the rules of this world and maintain the discipline
• Be open to criticism and develop a constructive approach
• Rectify mistakes immediately and never repeat those ever again

There are various things one can do - ask your PR agency to help you create your online relationship model and go for it. The future is here and one needs to take full advantage of it. If you have any specific questions about this, please feel free to write to us at editor@indiaprblog.com and we will help you achieve what you are looking for.