eConsultancy just released their 2008 Benchmark Report about the state of Online PR in the UK.
The results show a surprisingly large percentage of retained PR budgets are being spent on Online PR. Company respondents report that 39% of their PR activity is online whilst agencies report that 47% of their clients’ retained fees come from online PR.
When companies outsource Online PR to agencies or specialists, only half (51%) of companies are using PR agencies. A significant percentage are using search marketing agencies (29%) and web development agencies (22%) to develop and deliver Online PR strategy.
When online PR and optimized press releases first appeared back in 2003, PR agencies in the US showed little interest – it was SEO and web development agencies that took the lead. Perhaps the same thing occurred in the UK.
The most popular definition of Online PR by respondents was “maximising favourable mentions of your company, brands, products or websites on third party sites”, indicating that current Online PR objectives are more outreach and engagement-based than identifying, listening to and understanding stakeholders.
Strange that there is no mention of content strategies, brand awarenss thorugh search, online reputation managemen or online news and video in this definition.
Although many PR agencies have a separate Online PR division and consider online activity as a specialism, its predicted to become immersed into the overall PR strategy over time. How many PR agencies have a separate “broadcast PR” division after all?
One important finding is that agencies and specialists should take note that levels of client satisfaction are not encouraging and they may need to improve their Online PR knowledge and offering.
Online PR training, incorporating SEO/PR and social media training, should be a priority for in-house and agencies in 2009.
Clients also recognise that their own knowledge could be improved – just less than half (49%) say their Online PR knowledge is good and 12% poor.
What online PR services are most popular in the UK?
- outreach services such as online (traditional) media relations (84%)
- search engine optimised press releases (74%)
- press release posting sites and wire services (72%)
- blog relations (70%)
- corporate/brand microblogging via channels such as Twitter (38%)
- widgets (35%)
- virtual world activity (12%).
I beleive that video and online reputation management should be on the list.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next round of social media and online PR training days from Bulldog’s PR University.
Feb 5, 6 NYC. Feb 12, 13 in Washington DC. Feb 19, 20 in Chicago and Feb 23, 24 in San Francisco
