In the wake of this summer’s National Security Agency (NSA) public relations debacle surrounding Edward Snowden revealing operational details of mass surveillance, the American public is quite wary of how, and with whom, their private information is shared.

Following last week’s LinkedIn Intro announcement, security and technology researchers have responded with skepticism and criticism regarding the technology which allows for e-mail account synchronization with LinkedIn profiles in order to tell the recipient more (or less) about the sender. In short, the application allows for a sort of LinkedIn verification, showing mutual connections and other information about the sender with the goal of becoming a more personal, less spam-like exchange.

The possibilities are nearly endless for creating new forms of public outreach.  No one understands this more than 5W Public Relations CEO Ronn Torossian, who has been a PR expert for over 15 years.  With these resources, it will not be long before the entire public relations paradigm shifts and the interconnected worlds of business, the web, and media outlets are able to fully work as one to provide everyone with exactly what they want.

For example, if you Google “airlines” or “flights” multiple times over a few days, you will begin to notice that the ads popping up on your Google searches and YouTube videos tend to be about travel.  This is the way that these sites work with advertisers to try and find those people most likely to use their services.  If you are regularly traveling, an ad telling you about 10% off hotel rooms may be something you genuinely want or need.  It’s called “microtargeting,” and it has proven to be fairly effective.

The work we do as public relations professionals helps to build brands through earned media and at the core of this is content. Every day we are working with our clients on press quotes, byline articles, presentations, and more. All of this is content. And content as they say in today’s day and age is king. There are basic SEO best practices that PR executives can integrate into the work they are already doing to further help their clients drive website traffic and increase brand visibility.

Here’s a quick breakdown of SEO and PR together being the future of the Public Relations industry from our Digital Marketing Director Cary Leibowitz.

Though it is sad to say that this nation has been visited by more than its fair share of tragedy in the last year, both natural and man made, it is an amazing to see how, even in the toughest of times, a nation can come together to help heal from those wounds. We are not strangers to this. In the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Americans mobilized to volunteer their time, their money, and the sweat of their brow to help out however they could.

But with the growth of social media as a tool for volunteers to reach out and organize, those who wish to help now have an even more powerful ally as they try to fix whatever has broken among us. Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations firm, highlights five ways that social media is being used by disaster relief volunteers.

Everyone from Facebook to Reddit, to the Washington Post and NY Daily News is talking about a Scottsdale, Arizona, restaurant, Amy’s Baking Company says Ronn Torossian 5WPR CEO.  However, this is a perfect case of how “bad PR” really can be BAD. There is a cliché in public relations agencies and that all publicity is good publicity. That’s not true.

After a particularly horrendous appearance on the television show, Kitchen Nightmares, the owners of Amy’s Baking Company were enticed into a social media war. The fight quickly got heated and spread across the social media spectrum. So epic was the subsequent PR train wreck that the story was picked up by media outlets from New York to Los Angeles.

Sometimes, when thinking about major corporate public relations, there is a tendency to think big first. Of course, when your target market is regional, national or international, you have to think big. But when it comes to successful corporate public relations, there are several good reasons to “think globally, but act locally.”

As one of many PR agencies in NY, 5WPR works very hard to stay engaged in our community. Not only can we make our neighborhoods better places to live and play, but we can better serve our client by making sure the PR firm they hire knows the hears of their customers.

Times are changing and social media is everywhere you look these days. It is extremely crucial for a PR firm to know the newest social media PR tactics to be able to keep up with the growing population of social media users. While the basics of Public Relations have not changed much, the method and approach to how to use social media and PR work has. Particularly in large, tech-savvy cities like San Francisco and New York, PR Firms must keep up with the latest tactical approach to your social media strategy to ensure success of their campaign.

One of the things that has changed in Public Relations is the tools and the opportunities available for engaging the audience. It is very important to build a social media following in order to be able to engage the rapid and continuous growing numbers of social media platform users. Any good Ad agency or public relations firm has to know and exploit this new form of advertising. Think of how easy it is for a phrase or line to catch on and spread like wildfire via sites such as Twitter, Facebook or one of the many others out there. Case in point is the accelerated number of views a video that spreads through social networks can easily garnish. A vast number of videos on YouTube have acquired 2 to 9 million views in a matter of weeks or months. These numbers can be tied back and attributed to people “Liking” and sharing them on their favorite social media sites.

New York is the understood and unrivaled champion of worldwide communication. PR firms in NY that want to thrive must continue to find new ways to continue that trend. That may seem like a simple task. The Big Apple is the home of television, modeling, corporate PR, beauty PR, advertising, Big Radio and a host of other technology PR-friendly message outlets. But the world is hardly limited by geography anymore. Now that the Internet is readily available nearly everywhere, worldwide communication is both constant and immediate.

In a city famous for its fast pace, this creates a noisy environment where  you have to do so much more to get noticed. Here are 5 essential communication strategies every New York PR firm must follow if they want to stand out and be heard.