In our current series we are talking to PR experts around the world about the influence of social and digital media in their daily PR work. This week our GCPR Blog team talked to Alice Young of GlobalCom PR Network’s Malaysian partner agency WYSE Communications.*

1. What status do social and digital media have in your daily PR work?

In Malaysia, more companies are increasingly integrating social and digital media into their marketing efforts especially in these industries:

*fast-moving consumer goods

*food & beverage

*tourism & hospitality

*fashion & beauty

*entertainment & lifestyle

While some companies are savvier than others in these new media aspects, social and digital media would only be effective if the company’s idea, product or service is truly compelling for it to draw the selected target audience’s attention and participation.

 

2. Do you use social networking in your PR and communications work?

Yes, we use social networking to conduct market intelligence, gain feedback from selected target groups, monitor public opinion, keep up with industry news and government policies that affect our clients, build up a database of customers who are interested to know more about our clients’ products/services and relevant activities, respond to general queries or complaints, etc.

It all hinges on what objectives our clients want to achieve from their PR/marcomm initiatives using social networking.

 

3. What would you see as most recent innovation in the field of PR?

Social media have certainly revolutionized PR as they have paved the way for greater interaction between two separate parties; whether it’s government to government, government and their citizens, business to business or business to consumers/target markets and vice versa. Now everyone has a ‘voice’ and collectively, the volume can reach such a fervent pitch that it becomes a force to be reckoned with. Every response, reaction and opinion then becomes tangible, measureable data that can be used for different purposes: to determine the status of one’s performance or market presence, to formulate future policies and action plans, etc.

*The series is based on phone or face-to-face interviews and written input, therefore please excuse language mistakes which might reflect foreign language influences.


GlobalCom is an award-winning worldwide alliance of Public Relations specialists and agencies that offers international PR services to organisations looking to launch their products and services simultaneously in multiple countries.