Reading Dominik Ruisinger’s “Online Relations. Leitfaden für moderne PR im Netz” (= Guidelines for modern PR on the web) one can get a good idea about the possibilities in Online PR.
The author is right if he says that nowadays it is not enough to just have a website where you present your content like in an offline catalogue or flyer. Modern websites should be interactive, networking with social media and provide more than just static text and photos.
The texts on a website should be optimized for the web (remember: web is not paper) and websites should be coded in a way that users and search engines can understand easily. Respect usability and accessibility if you don’t want to exclude a continuously growing percentage of the public (readers, customers etc.).
Your activities on the web cannot be separated but should be coordinated with your communication offline. List your website or blog on your visiting card, letters, flyers, catalogues. Make sure your web activities are always update with what is going on with you offline.
Provide a newsletter, competitions and surveys to find out what people think about your activities. This can help you to ammend things (which you should be interested in).
Public relations are no static thing. Communication is a continuous process that needs a close collaboration between client and PR agency if you want to achieve a sustained success in what you do.
More about that in Ruisinger’s book:
Dominik Ruisinger
Online Relations
Leitfaden für moderne PR im Netz
Schäffer/Poeschel 2007
