In Digital PR, Small Numbers Make the Biggest Impact

Digital PR is all about small numbers.

In digit­al PR, we speak fondly about for­ging rela­tion­ships and patiently build­ing trust, but when it comes down to it, we need to reach a crit­ic­al mass of people to keep our jobs.

So, we grav­it­ate toward big num­bers. Size mat­ters, and the big­ger, the better.

At least, that’s what we think.

Here goes:

How We Fear Small Numbers

The inter­net has changed the game of digit­al PR and online mar­ket­ing in pro­found ways, but not when it comes to big num­bers. The web has made us more, not less, focused on big data, ana­lyt­ics, and met­rics — myself included.

In digit­al PR, we fre­quently dis­cuss impress­ive stat­ist­ics, like a video achiev­ing one hun­dred mil­lion views on YouTube. While this may be true for a hit song per­formed by a celebrity, our cor­por­ate con­tent often fails to gain trac­tion, prompt­ing us to move on to the next project.

The inter­net has amp­li­fied our focus on large-scale data, ana­lyt­ics, and met­rics. We feel com­pelled to reach a crit­ic­al mass of people to main­tain our pro­fes­sion­al standing.

But when our cor­por­ate con­tent goes nowhere, we ignore it and move on to big­ger and bet­ter endeavours.

The Mission: Strive for Smaller Numbers

By pay­ing atten­tion to smal­ler num­bers, we can find them all around us and use them to our advant­age in digit­al PR.

For example:

For a piece of con­tent to go vir­al, it needs to con­vert at a decent level, and the pop­u­la­tion size must be able to sus­tain its expos­ure. But from a math­em­at­ic­al per­spect­ive, what mat­ters, is cycle time.

For instance, let’s con­sider num­bers that indic­ate redu­cing time or loss. To make your mes­sage go vir­al, you should optim­ise for short­er cycle times — the time between someone being “infec­ted” with an idea and when that per­son “infects” someone else. Shorter cycle times lead to more vir­al spread.

Shorter cycle times, more vir­al spread.

Similarly to cycle times, drop-off rates for web­sites and fun­nels should be min­im­ised. According to Upflowy, “A good drop-off rate will depend on the industry, product, and oth­er factors. Simply put, your drop-off rate should be as low as possible.”

Read also: How To Build a Viral Loop (Using Maths)

Greatness and Impact In Small Numbers

Rather than allow­ing appre­hen­sion to cloud our judg­ment when faced with small num­bers, we should wel­come their pres­ence and acknow­ledge their vital role in digit­al PR. 

In a land­scape dom­in­ated by the pur­suit of ever-increas­ing num­bers, recog­niz­ing and lever­aging the power of small num­bers can set us apart and pro­pel our digit­al PR efforts to new heights.

But work­ing with both big and small num­bers in digit­al PR has taught me some­thing extraordinary:

We should talk more about small num­bers in digit­al PR. Not less.

By appre­ci­at­ing the impact of these seem­ingly mod­est fig­ures, we can uncov­er new strategies and oppor­tun­it­ies for growth and success. 

A Beautiful Idea: It Always Starts With One

This focus on smal­ler num­bers sug­gests that the most power­ful num­ber in digit­al PR is — one. As French poet Victor Hugo (1802−1885) said, “Nothing is more power­ful than an idea whose time has come.” 

A single per­son or idea has the poten­tial to change everything. One action can cre­ate a but­ter­fly effect, lead­ing to a massive chain of events.

Perhaps our mis­sion as PR pro­fes­sion­als is to dis­cov­er one per­son, idea, or ignit­ing action that can make all the difference.

As a PR pro­fes­sion­al, I believe one per­son or idea can change everything in a world full of big num­bers. I think that one action, a lead dom­ino, can ignite a but­ter­fly effect and set off a mighty chain of events.

Read also: Critical Mass in Social Media: How Many Followers Do You Need?

A Contrarian Approach to Results

As digit­al PR pro­fes­sion­als, we find ourselves drawn to big num­bers — the more views, shares, and likes, the better. 

But we should be look­ing for num­bers that we can make smaller.

PR Resource: Suggested Reading

Berger, J. (2016). Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Simon & Schuster.

Watts, D. J. (2011). Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us. Crown Business.

Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organising Without Organisations. Penguin Books.

PR Resource: Inbound vs Outbound

Inbound vs Outbound

The inbound mind­set is a fun­da­ment­al shift in pub­lic rela­tions.

Instead of focus­ing on try­ing to spawn non-exist­ing audi­ences, PR can do so much more with exist­ing online pub­lics. ¹See also The Publics in Public Relations (Doctor Spin).

If your inbound PR strategy is good enough, you might not even need an out­bound PR strategy.

Read also: The Inbound First PR Strategy: Beauty From Within

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