CISION Global Comms 2021 Report [Ebook]

Matthew Gates https://www.cision.com 2m 557 #cision

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

Paying And Earning Attention

The role of communications is important in establishing a connection and understanding with an audience about any type of news you may have. Getting news out to the proper target audience and in front of the eyes of those interested in reading it is still a top priority. The counsel of media communications has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 64% of respondents to the survey still prefer traditional media in the form of the traditional press release over the newer media outlets (blogs, influencers, social media, etc.), with the United States being the top country with this preference, while Sweden prefers the newer method. Public Relations professionals are looking to make this function even more relevant, efficient and, in turn, more valued.

As the fifth annual Global Comms Report reveals, new and amplified strategies, tactics and priorities are allowing PR to do its job – and tell its story – more effectively than ever. Almost eight in 10 PR pros (79%) say their PR campaigns focus on engaging the end user/target audience, while only 21% said it is about getting as many stories placed as possible. The preference generally favors more engagement over just “being out there” on top media news websites.

Several key highlights from the Ebook:

• 44% of this year’s respondents placed tightening budgets among their top three biggest comms challenges. That is notably down from 57% in 2019.
• 83% of respondents this year answered affirmatively when asked if comms can effectively measure and prove the impact of its work on business objectives. That’s up from 76% two years ago.
• 28% of pros this year said “very much” when asked if they are able to identify the business impact of specific outlets where they’ve received coverage. That’s up from 23% in 2019.
• 26% of this year’s respondents prioritize the acquisition of real-time alerts for high-priority mentions as their key earned media goal. In 2019, 18% said so.

Engagement seems to be a top priority with respondents focusing on their own data:

• 61% of respondents said that at least one link was clicked within their content
• 52% believe their audience is actually reading their content
• 44% said yes to being able to track extensive data about their user audience from engagement

As far as the social media platforms that companies prefer to focus on most when it comes to engaging with their audience and creating content:

• Facebook is #1
• Instagram is #2
• LinkedIn is #3
• YouTube is #4
• Twitter is #5

Oddly enough, celebrity influence still remains on the list, but is less impactful. When it comes to the most influence, respondents did not hesitate on who has the true power of control:

• #1 is still the mainstream journalist
• #2 is the everyday consumer, who share it with friends and family
• #3 are the micro-influencers
• #4 are employees
• #5 are bloggers

There is a lot more in this Ebook that cannot all possibly be covered here including:

• Full data for each country on channel choices, people of persuasion, and platforms of persuasion
• Full data for understanding the impact of user engagement
• Full data on the communication challenges of respondents
• Full data on the most important type of content to publish in your country
• Additional communications data on the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific countries

For more in-depth information about this Ebook, download the CISION Comms 2021 Report.

You may also be interested in another report from CISION, The 2021 State Of The Press Release [Ebook].

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