As communication has evolved through the widespread adoption of the internet, so too has Public Relations. In recent years, Public relations seems to have grown at such a rate that many firms are struggling to keep up. To help with these changes, here are four major public relations trends.

In days gone by the traditional press release seemed to have a life of its own. Writing press releases to journalists and media outlets brought the stories to you. Media coverage was seen as a free lunch for companies, where you didn’t have to say too much about your product and the journalist would spin the story. Unless you’re releasing a truly innovative product, or you’re Apple or SpaceX, traditional press releases are a waste of time.

Instead of a press release, try to take advantage of your own outlets such as social media, or even use your relationships with industry leaders to build your profile.

In 2017 we started to see the rise of influencers as a way for brands to showcase their products and reach an audience on an intimate level. It seems that Public Relations has taken the use case for influencers to the next level, birthing the term “thought leadership” as a high-level strategy for showcasing expertise.

Thought leaders are promoting their images and their companies’ messages first and foremost. By bringing up the thought leadership aspect of your companies’ brand, you can project a different side of the company (and one that’s based on evidence rather than spin).

In years gone by, if you were in a key publication like Techcrunch or Forbes, your site would probably crash with all the extra traffic you would be getting. Outside of getting on daytime television, there really isn’t any single media that will drive such huge volumes of traffic to your site.

Nowadays brands are focusing more on quality content to showcase themselves, and amplifying that content to a selected audience. Companies are now using Google paid marketing channels to lead to their content more than directly to their site. It’s a game changing concept to grasp, that amplifying your content matters as much as your actual branded landing page, but when you start you may find a significant uptick in traffic.

As hard as this is to see when the chips are down, branded content can often be used to downplay negative press. Sometimes people can be outspoken towards your company. In PR, every person on social media that brings a negative spin to your brand can be counteracted through positive experience documentation. While it’s important to have adequate training in your team to handle negative PR, the next best thing is to get out there and document when people have had positive experiences. Embrace the negative press and push through it. Put simply by author Jay Baer, hug your haters.

Let 2018 be the year that your brand goes to the next level. By publishing positive content to combat negative press, amplifying that content and building thought leadership into your employees you can be guaranteed 2018 will be your year in branding.