The argument used to be look no further than the U.S. for the best examples of digital Public Relations. And while innovation and ideas continue to proliferate within the fifty states, two years spent abroad taught me one simple fact: this is no longer the case. The world has caught up and if U.S. organizations don't approach digital strategy using a global lens, they'll get lapped.
The U.S. undoubtedly had a head-start in establishing digital media best-practices given the simple fact that three of the biggest social networks began here as did the rise in popularity of bloggers and shared media. And it was only a matter of time before different communities leveraged these platforms and strategies, tinkered a bit and began to establish their own best-practices.
From story-telling to brand engagement, some of the best digital campaigns and innovation take place outside of the U.S.
Whether you're in Barcelona or Boston, one critical factor defines how people choose to engage online: culture. People engage online in ways that are synchronous with how they prefer to communicate offline. It's critical for organizations to recognize such preferences and be cognizant of their evolution over time. This includes social, professional and even alternative cultures. It's an easy assumption for marketers to make that a successful digital campaign in one region can easily be duplicated in another. This simply isn't true. Ignoring critical cultural cues is often where marketing campaigns fall flat as they don't realize these cues translate into online behavior.
I witnessed this first-hand working with "mum bloggers" in the UK. I learned very quickly that these mums weren't "moms" and were more skeptical about brand engagement and working with PR firms vs. their American counterparts. Mums simply don't talk about parenting in the same way as moms do in the U.S, and this translates to how and when they choose to advocate for a brand - even ones they love. It was only by getting to know my audience - tapping into British colleagues, mums and British culture - that allowed me to augment my strategies and build successful campaigns.
Successful digital PR relies on the same axiom as traditional PR: "know your audience." Digital is simply the channel by which communication and engagement happens, but they follow the same emphasis on the importance of culture. Nailing this can make or break the success of a PR campaign, whether off- or online.