Josh Pedro

If you would have said to everyone in 2020 that the new few years would bring about a global pandemic, social unrest and seismic shifts in the way the majority of people communicate and live, they would have thought that you were going bonkers. But that’s exactly what has happened.

 

This in turn has made it difficult for those of us in Public Relations (PR) to confidently say what the year ahead will hold.  But, one thing for sure is that the skills previously required to be an effective communicator in the PR industry have broadened. More than ever, it is imperative for workers in PR to be more agile, listen closely to target audiences and be hyper-creative in the way in which we communicate.

 

Enter social media.

 

There is a new wave of the way we effectively communicate with our audiences and it's something that every business should be utilising as part of their PR strategy.

 

Here’s our rundown of the trends we expect to see emerging:

 

Welcome to the new age of social media!

 

“Ding dong the old social media is dead, which old social? The old-school social media” (Don’t worry you aren’t reading the script from The Wizard of Oz)

 

The old social media is dead, and the new age social media is alive. And for those who still use Meta (Facebook), let’s face it, although the social media platform still has billions of users, it’s not what it once was.

 

Enter the new wave of social channels. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter not only provide an opportunity to find out what pain points prospects are currently facing but also to communicate to a large-scale audience about how you and your clients are working to rectify those issues.

 

Short-from videos are on the rise

 

Increasingly short-form videos are becoming a prominent strategy in the world of PR and communications. A major contributor to this is the fact that consumers seem to like absorbing information this way. According to studies, 73% of consumers prefer to watch a short-form video to learn about a product or service.

 

From talent recruitment to displaying business capabilities and culture, both Millennials and Zoomers indicated that they are more likely to take in information in a video that is less than a minute. The need to get clever about tight storytelling has never been more important.

 

The Bread and Butter Will Remain the Bread and Butter, it might just be presented differently.

 

Don’t get us wrong, even with all the advancements in technology and social media platforms continuing to evolve and grow, writing effectively is paramount to establishing effective communication. No matter how advanced technology becomes, writing skills will always be needed.

 

Whether that be for writing the script or plan for effective audio or video content or an old-school successful press release, compelling writing will always be present and needed.