Traditional mass media dominated in the 20th century, serving as a communication channel to reach consumers, public and various stakeholders. Due to creating and passing on the content, relations with the media become the key part of public relations. However, the media soon became saturated with press releases – some even predicted that the doors of the media are closed to them and to other communication tools of media relations. Meanwhile, the capital played a major role as it was increasingly dictating the content in the media. The digital era, new technologies and new ways of reaching stakeholders brought the challenges that make the field of public relations change very quickly, and relations with the media become ever-smaller part of the communicators’ work.

More importantly, the digital age has opened the door of mass communication to a wide range of new players. Businesses, organizations, groups, families and individuals began to appear online and become their own medium. Mediatisation happened – and the organizations don’t need classical media to pass the information about them to the extent before the digital age. Now, they can create, control and distribute the content they want.

And how is mediatisation reflected in practice?
These are in fact new practices, adopted by public relations professionals and used to adapt to changes.

Content strategy: One of the new practices is a content strategy; a systematic plan of creating, delivering and editing content across different platforms. Propiar does it primarily by forming the digital strategies, based on which we create posts for social networks of our clients. Among other things, we always take into account who the content is intended for, which channels are used and which content is interesting for our target audience. Therefore, when preparing Facebook posts for one of our clients, we keep in mind that they are intended for Majda, 48, and Bogdan, 45, who have families, are employed, but have different education. We also take into account that Majda and Bogdan don’t want dull posts about the client’s offer, but they want to get something more from the client’s Facebook page – useful tips in connection with the client’s products and services as well as useful information.

Content marketing or so-called storytelling: Another new practice is content marketing or creating a variety of important content that attracts attention and stimulates the enthusiasm of the audience. Have you ever opened a trader’s advertisement leaflet and next to the offer of dairy products found a text about cheeses, letting you know that those cheeses enthuse with their characteristic aroma, make many dishes more tasty, while they go well with fruit and nuts and are therefore a perfect choice for a snack? So if your advertising leaflet ends up in a trash without opening, next time open it and get familiar with content marketing.

Native advertising: The third new practice is native advertising. It means advertising by adapting to the form and function of the platform where it appears – did you ever ‘boost’ a post on Facebook? If yes, you natively advertised, too.

Brand journalism: Did you by any chance read any of the posts on our website under ‘Publishing’? If yes, then you have seen an example of brand journalism, which uses journalistic skills to generate content that promotes a certain brand.

Public relations are changing – the development of information and communication technologies reduced the costs of media production and distribution, so it was only a matter of time before organizations started avoiding traditional media in reaching the stakeholders.