Google It

In Class, we began reading “Share This” by The Chartered Institute of Public Relations. The book describes itself as, “the social media handbook for PR professionals.” I think this is an accurate description because there is a vast amount of knowledge that is useful for a Public Relations person.

Chapter 3 of “Share This” is about Google and more specifically how Google can benefit PR. On several occasions I have been guilty of searching my name in Google to see what results would come up. My name is unusual, so basically all of the results are about me. Luckily, it is all positive things or things I have pinned on Pinterest.

What I never realized is that companies do the same thing, they search to see what the public is saying about them. Google came up with Google Alerts, which allows PR teams to have a cheap way of brand monitoring by alerting them when anything about the brand is mentioned.  This may be the most simplistic tool Google has, but I think it is the coolest.

Another neat aspect that I was unaware of is Search Engine Optimization (SE0), which is more complex then I will ever understand, but in simple terms it is the process of effecting the visibility of a website in the Google results. The book says that the PR industry has been slow to figure out SEO and may be “PR’s lost opportunity.”

Who knew that Google could be so beneficial to PR? However, Google and SEO are not the only tools that will aid Public Relations practitioners with clients. It is not only about what is happening online, but in the real world too. I think sometimes some PR practitioners get so caught up with what is happening online and neglect the public in everyday life.