We could all use a win,
don’t you agree? Lockdown has made it difficult to look on the bright side of things. But people are resilient and
choose to actively seek out positive news.
They are looking for any information that gives them hope. Take, for instance, the fact that
nearly 70% of users who responded to a survey by Channel Factory indicated that they go to YouTube to find inspirational content amidst Covid-19.
However, this is not a new phenomenon.
Humans have the ingrained belief that sharing the good makes the bad seem
less bad.
So what does this mean for public relations (PR)? Clever PR professionals can capitalise on this fact and help their clients grow relationships with their audiences.
Here,
media update’s Maryna Steyn looks at the benefits of good news.
Sharing successes benefit your client
The most obvious benefit is that the public starts to take a positive view of the brand. Celebrating milestones or events have a
reported effect of increasing the perceived value of that event — especially if it is received well.
If you share, for example, the uplifting story of a business achievement, the brand is actually initiating contact with members of the public. This makes them feel good and remember the positive interaction. Thus, you create a more meaningful brand and user experience.
Take note that when employees are aware that customers have good perceptions about the company they work for, their pride and job satisfaction also increases.
Furthermore, if the news you are celebrating is related to giving back to the community, customers feel more connected to the brand and are more likely to do business with them or join their online communities.
It uplifts the overall mood of the public
As a PR pro, it is your job to ensure the public knows about the wins your client achieves. But it has more benefits than
just creating awareness.
Positive and meaningful brand experiences — even just through publicity — aids in relationship building by increasing brand trust and loyalty.
More than this, there are also
significant health benefits related to hearing uplifting stories. Therefore, celebrating a business’s win can serve as ‘news for the public good’. When someone acknowledges that they are happy or celebrate with your brand,
it puts them in a better mood.
It helps you build a good reputation
The audience and the client aren’t the only ones that can benefit from positive PR. Sharing this kind of news makes it memorable, evokes emotion and action from the public.
For instance, a story can even be used to encourage social media interaction and start a dialogue online.
This kind of news also builds the relationship between the company and the client. Why? Well, for exactly the same reason it makes employees feel more invested; it creates trust and loyalty.
This is because the relationship between the PR practitioner and the client proves to be symbiotic as both develop a sense of purpose and meaning in their work.
The individual PR pro and the agency that they work for also experience a boost in morale when working with uplifting news.
Do you know of any other benefits that sharing uplifting PR news can have? Let us know in the comments below.
Do you want to find out how you can identify wins to share with your audience? Then check out these Five proven PR tactics to generate free publicity.
*Image courtesy of Canva