The 2007 Media, Myths & Realities of media usage among consumers and communications professionals conducted by global public relations firm Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center shows just how out of sync communicators are with their audiences.

• Consumers turn to family and friends as their No. 1 source when making a variety of decisions – ranging from purchasing consumer electronics to planning a vacation
• Advice from an expert rates highest when making medical decisions and purchases based on a product’s environmental impact
• Only 24% of communicators surveyed have a word of mouth campaign in place
• Communicators rank their companies’ own Web sites as the most effective way to share corporate news or issue a response to a crisis
• Consumers rank company Web sites sixth and seventh among places they turn to for corporate news and crisis response
• U.S. consumers are using more media sources than ever before, but they are less likely than they were a year ago to take the information they receive at face value.
• Media preferences are more personalized than ever. 22 percent of U.S. consumers use social networking sites, up from 17 percent in 2006, and 19 percent of consumers use blogs, up from 13 percent. Among consumers over the age of 55, use of blogs and social networking sites more than doubled. Use of most other media outlets slipped from a year earlier.
• Search engines continue to be a gateway to consumer choice in information, with 60 percent of U.S. consumers using them to find and select the news and other information they want to receive.
• Personalized media use is even stronger among “influencers” – the 10 to 15 percent of the population who initiate changes in their community or society through a variety of activities – with 35 percent using both social networking sites and blogs and 72 percent using search engines. 
   

What does this mean for PR?

Rather than rely on the reputation of a media outlet to carry your message, create content that is relevant, authentic, and engaging.  Make it easy to share. Syndicate the content in RSS feeds.  Add social media buttons. Motivate consumers to share information with like-minded people.

Learn how to add search engine optimization strategies to your news content or you'll miss out on tremendous potential for audience reach and sales.

Don't rely only on your website to get the message out. Consumers often turn elsewhere for information.  Get your content seen in the places where your audience gathers and communicates.

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