With the rise of social media, many “experts” have predicted the demise of traditional media, whether for information dissemination, advertising, marketing or PR.
In fact, one of our readers recently commented, “I am not so sure I need access to a traditional reporter anymore!”
While I encourage my clients and students to include social media in their PR strategy, I would not advise anybody to drop traditional media.
It may seem that traditional media is losing its usefulness. Many newspapers and magazines have folded up. More and more people are turning to social networks first to get the news. And popular bloggers are reaching incredible numbers of people.
All this is true.
However, we still need traditional media for PR. Here are five reasons why:
1. Traditional media are instantly recognizable.
Chances are, the average person can recognize your city’s newspaper rather than the most popular blog in your area. Traditional media have been around longer than social media, and many have built recognizable and credible brands.
2. Traditional media give you instant status.
Because traditional media are recognizable and often seen as credible, getting exposure through them gives you instant status and credibility as well. On the other hand, being interviewed on a blog or web TV may not have the same effect.
3. Traditional media still reach vast audiences.
As long as a traditional media outlet is still publishing or airing, chances are, it continues to reach a large enough audience to keep it viable. This is why many online stories take off only after traditional media talk about them.
4. Social media feed on traditional media.
Bloggers often write about what’s going on in traditional media, whether it’s a new TV ad or a story that ran recently in the news. If you land an interview in traditional media, you’re likely to catch the attention of social media as well. Furthermore, appearing in traditional media gives you something to post about in your own blog and in social networks.
5. Traditional media have huge social media presence.
Traditional media outlets often also have an Internet presence, such as blogs and social networking profiles. Those with websites usually get more traffic than even the most popular blogs.
So if you were ready to ditch traditional media for social media — don’t! You still need traditional media to reach an audience and establish your credibility.
The most important thing is to target those media outlets that YOUR target market is consuming, whether it’s a digital medium or a non-digital one. Chances are, you’ll do best to have a mix of both.
Image from Yuri Arcurs Website
Elena is founder of a technology PR agency that works with startups to billion-dollar companies. She is passionate about helping marketers and small business owners with practical publicity strategies.
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For those of us that are deeply entrenched in the social media world (or bubble as I like to call it) it’s easy to forget that there are lots of people still watching TV, listening to the radio and reading newspapers. Points 4 and 5 are especially pertinent — the most popular tweeted links are almost always top tier “traditional” media links!
Thanks for the great post, Elena.
Thanks so much Amanda. I know with my clients, they love being covered in blogs and web TV shows – but there is still more weight to be covered in traditional media than online media. What one client said is “great, now my parents will know what I do!” Like you said, not everyone is in deep in the social media world.
Great post! A good plan today leverages both social media and traditional media. Like any tool, there are limits and advantages. Remember that tired old cliche…. don’t put your eggs all in one basket. It still applies, even if baskets are fading in popularity
Thanks Greg for stopping by! I agree with you about using both traditional and social media – the challenge for clients is finding a person or agency that has an equally solid track record in both. I’m finding traditional PR agencies scrambling to “learn” social media or abandoning traditional PR completely and heading toward the social media goldrush. It can be confusing for companies thinking they only need one or the other.
@ Gregg I agree a great communication plan works with both. And thanks Elena this is a great piece and especially useful in planning media programmes for the year
Thanks for this tid-bit Elena. I so agree that leveraging both modes of media is still critical. The day will come when traditional media outlets are forever changed, maybe even gone, but for now I still see people reading the newspaper in every coffee shop I enter. I still listen to NPR and sadly, we all watch too much tv. You’re a wise lady to advise people to not jump on the new media jet so fast.
Hi Elena. I agree with the fact that bloggers get their “inspiration” from traditional media, but there are more and more people that turn towards the Internet to get their news. I for one still prefer the traditional media. Great post.
Mindy and Arcadia – It must be my age…I’m caught between loving all things online but I still love the feel of the pages of a magazine, book or newspaper! My younger sister on the other hand consumes most things digitally!
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I always say that my mother will hoot and holler if I’m featured on the evening news or in a national newspaper, but if I was highlighted in a wide number of blogs, it wouldn’t make a difference to her. I think it ultimately depends on the audience and the product/service.
Paulo Coelho and Sean Parker (Napster/Facebook/Spotify) just did a great panel where Coelho spoke about hist choice to promote his latest book solely on Twitter and Facebook. The result: it was a bestseller.
It is younger generation of kids use social media and blogs to get their information. There is still a huge number of people (older people and middle age mostly) that live as it was 1980s. Watch TV and read newspapers, have a landlines phone in their house, and have a hard time finding the right button, every time they need to send an email. Probably 10-15 years from now, an internet connection will be in every single house as it is now with a television set. But until then, it is too early to write off the traditional media as a thing of the past.
.-= David @ Dallas Painters´s last blog ..Interior painting in Dallas =-.
Its tricky to get free coverage in traditional media – I guess thats why the small business sector will rely greatly on online media at the beginning.
And online media can often lead to coverage in traditional media! The key is to keep trying to get visibility for your business.
Wow, that’s amazing Sayo! Thanks for sharing that story…authors should be paying attention to Twitter and Facebook for sure!
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Where do you think Google News gets its news from? Traditional media.
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[...] Need Traditional Media February 18 2011Danielle Sherman blog 0 CommentsThis week, I came across an interesting post from Elena Verlee that asks if traditional media is still needed for PR. With the increasing [...]
Traditional media is still VERY relevant. Social media should be treated as another media to work with as it takes time to establish yourself, gain a following and provide value before you can ask for anything.
While the “print” industry has taken a big hit, they still have credibility and an established community that they have built up over the years. Most writers you will talk with may be freelancers these days, but they are still the gatekeepers to coverage that will have a greater reach than most social media efforts.
Considering that the recent HP social media study shows that most trending Twitter topics come from traditional media (http://bit.ly/fD6NLy), I’d say that reports of traditional media’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Amy, that’s great! Thanks for sharing that with us.
GREAT post!
As a junior, marketing student, I find this post to be extremely on point. Traditional media should not be eliminated in an entity’s strategy, but should be streamlined with all media outlets. A consistent message that is disseminated via all integrated media avenues yields strong perceived credibility.
Thank you for your insight!
I would agree that traditional media is still important. Social media is newer and not as established as traditional media. People are still getting used to social media outlets such as Twitter, so it’s good to still keep older media outlets, like television, around. Traditional and social media should both be used because if someone sees something on TV, they are likely to tweet about it. I think it would be very effective.
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It’s really amazing that TV, radio and print media are called traditional, what the heck happened? FB, TW with all others did well with moving huge target. Thanks Elena, for great topic sharing.
You’re welcome Rich. Thanks for stopping by and reading!
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