Marketing and public relations encompasses and requires a great many skills; In order for a brand to succeed, proper PR and marketing strategies need to be used to facilitate the process. As opposed to public relations from twenty years ago, the modern profession has evolved in this digitized business world and is now conducted through many different channels. The Internet is the new frontier where marketeers and PR professionals wage their battles. Every good marketer knows how important it is for him to utilize the tools offered on the Internet, especially social media for the promotion of their brands. The following list outlines the five biggest challenges commonly encountered in technology PR and some solutions for these challenges:
Loss of Control
There are times when brand managers lose control over the image associated with their products or firms. Since the brand managers cannot directly influence the reviews from independent customers about their products, they have to actively engage their customers through the Internet and maintain relationships with the customers to get the most-to-date feedback.
Maintaining Honesty and Transparency
In business, there are always customers or competitors who have conflicts of interest with the company. The challenge here is for the brand manager to be transparent without exposing the company’s secrets. Sometimes brand managers should try to uncover the identities of their oppositions before offering responses. When communicating to the outside world, messages have to be factual, informative, professional and respectful while making sure that company’s secrets are kept safe. Nowadays, social media channels, Twitter and Facebook in particular, are being used by the consumer to voice grievances about service or products. The Facebook profile page of a company is fast becoming a hub whereby users expect quick customer service.
Having the Right Priorities
A well-established brand on the social network always receives more feedback from the customers than the brand managers of the company can handle. The brand manager needs to prioritize his responsibilities to determine what the most urgent issues are. This means that the PR or in-house professional always takes care of the issues that are the most influential to the success of the brand.
Having the Right Tools
Brand managers should find the right tools to use in their online campaigns. Not all the social media platforms available suit the needs of the organization. Finding the right match between the needs of the organization and the best tools can save the company a lot of time and money.
Getting Noticed
Since its inception, the Internet has overloaded customers with information. In order to stand out, brands that are not well-established have to work extra hard. For smaller brands, getting the messages to the public is not easy. Having an online presence requires a lot of work. Companies or those tasked with brand management need to invest in Search Engine Optimization technologies to achieve high rankings in the popular search engines and have the company’s website and advertisements noticed. However, if these challenges are well addressed, social media can lead to many new opportunities for all businesses.
Guest Author – Lizzy Thomson researches and writes on behalf of PR Agency One, specialists in technology PR. She blogs on all things social media, SEO and technology.
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Loss of control is a very important aspect. Internet has facilitated a migration of power traditionally held by manufacturers. Tackling this loss of power is very important.
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