JAKARTA, PRINDONESIA.CO – One of the easy to build more creative interactions virtually is by actively holding press conferences to virtual product launches. As experienced by  Harry Deje, the Managing Director of H + K Strategies Indonesia. As a speaker at the event Telum Media Webinar titled "New Normalcy: What are the Strategies for Media and PR?" on Wednesday (8/5/2020), he shared the story about the new challenges in holding various activities that are usually done off-line.  

According to Deje, when everyone and attention turn to virtual, the challenge is to hold similar, outstanding, and interesting activities. "In fact, if possible, provide new experiences to journalists. Especially, television media that need images/visuals" he said. 

The key, Deje said, lies in how PR builds interaction virtually. Starting from creating visually appealing content, presenting camera angles/points of view from different sides, to adding entertainment elements such as music. In order not to seem monotonous, there's nothing wrong with being interspersed with quizzes, while the question and answer session is made separately, or adds an infographic element. 

Another equally important thing is to ensure that all the needs of media partners are met. For example, PR must be able to accommodate the needs of journalists to get the opportunity to conduct interviews exclusively with the speakers. PR must also prepare press releases according to media needs, starting from press releases in written, video, to audio/voice form.  

Building a relationship with the media is different. "PR must sacrifice more time, one of which is building closeness through WhatsApp and video calls," he said. This is because the opportunity to meet face-to-face is not as comfortable as before the pandemic.   

Sensitive 

Evi Mariani, Managing Editor of The Jakarta Post, gave several notes to PR. PR must be good at building communication with journalists, sensitive to issues that are currently circulating or related media agendas that are dynamic in nature, and able to read issues that are developing in the public. For example, mental health issues, educational equality, health, and the environment. 

Speaking of media, Evi admitted that the pandemic has also changed the way journalists work and affect the media business. Apart from having to collect information from the house, the number of pages has also decreased. 

Even so, the public's enthusiasm for reading news from conventional media has skyrocketed during the pandemic. In fact, specifically for The Jakarta Post, the increase has reached 600 percent. “The public realizes that credibility is very important, especially during a pandemic like now. Field verification is irreplaceable," she concluded. (ais)