Earlier this week I had the great pleasure of being interviewed for Cincom’s Expert Access by friend and publicist Nettie Hartsock. The focus was on Now Is Gone. Here’s a snippet:
But what does PR need to be in terms of an interconnected world?
Livingston says, “Public relations needs to become a mechanism for organizations to build goodwill between themselves and their communities. Unfortunately, this means that it must realize its roots because this is the classic textbook definition of PR.
“PR has moved from community relationships to spinning truth, dictating messages, yielding media and blogger impressions, and trying to command brand perception. This inherently mass communications approach does not work in a two-way conversational media form. Audiences, viewers and readers talk back now. And they call out companies, governments and other organizations on their perceived propaganda and stretched truths.”
And lo is the company who aims to just spit out marketing drivel, or inauthentic messaging. According to Livingston, social media communities — that is, people — want more than just bunk; they want truth, transparency and authenticity in their conversations.
“In a digital era when identity can be compromised so easily, it’s even more important to focus on building honest conversations to foster relationships. Trust is hard to come by and easily lost in social media communities.”
You can read the whole interview on Cincom.