Mobile applications and mobile communication is the wave of the future for many reasons for public relations professionals. What we have to consider when looking at the various applications out there, there are many to choose from. There are applications for business use, but there are also applications for personal use to keep in contact with friends and family (ex. social networking sites) while others focus on getting information on what is going on in the media and around the world (ex. BBC News). In addition, there are many corporations and businesses, including universities, who are using these new applications and features for their own practices, and have seen the benefits. These applications and digital communication strategies in creating awareness of the brand and sharing information about this campaign helps create relationships and networks with others. Whether it is to share information about special deals and coupons to universities using Foursquare to connect with students coming on to campus. We are currently doing this for our own PR Day 2010 event here at the University of Tennessee by creating specific QR Code for PR Day 2010, accessing and posting information on our Tumblr site, and creating a hashtag for people to use when checking in on Twitter and Foursquare at our event (#prday10).
Many professionals are embracing this form of new technology – ranging from smartphones to the iPad. In fact, there are more applications targeted to specific industries that are using the iPad, like hospitals and doctors. A report by the Pew Research Center recently published looked at the increase use of these applications among cell phone users, and there were certainly some interesting findings to the report. It has indeed created a new aspect of our culture and how we communicate and share information. In other words, we are becoming social consumers where we expect information to be personalized, immediately available, and able to travel with us wherever we go.
There are so many opportunities in digital communications and public relations. The thing that public relations professionals need to be aware of is that they have to be on top of this new form of technology since it not only changes every month, but more like every day! I was recently at a conference where I had done some work on mobile applications and devices, and I realized that I had to do some additional research ahead of time to make sure that I was aware of the latest developments happening in this area. Mobile technology is rapidly changing, so we have to make sure that we spend the time each day to see what is going on, and how we can implement this into our communication and business best practices. The best thing that you can do to fully understand mobile technology is to live it – make it part of your daily routine and business practices, keep up to date on what people are saying in the industry, and think creatively and strategically on how to use these into public relations. In many ways, it is like a jigsaw puzzle – some things work perfectly well together and fit, while others take some tweaking and adjusting to make them fit accordingly.
Anyway, these are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. Hope you all are having a great day! By the way – I wish both Tennessee and Florida all of the best during their football game today – Go Vols and Go Gators! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
0 Comments