4 Things I Learned About Technology After One Year in Tech PR
March 28 marked my one-year anniversary at Caster. To say I’ve learned a lot as an account coordinator is an understatement, but I’ve narrowed down four takeaways of my first full year in tech PR:
- Twitter never actually went away.
Between 2013 and 2018, I’d thought Twitter was a goner. As it turns out, the platform poses real purpose other than hosting the diaries of Kim K. and our chief of state. In fact, according to Hootsuite, 500 million tweets are sent each day. In PR, we use Twitter for a number of different reasons, from research to outreach, all of which make our work lives a little bit easier. Many of our tech PR colleagues are active on Twitter, as well as the media who we talk to every day. With @ mentions, hashtags, gifs, Twitter chats, and more, it’s how we stay connected in so many tech industries for our clients.
- Home technology isn’t perfect.
Exhibit A: In the most inconvenient of times, technology has been known to take form as the Caster Crew’s public enemy number one. For the record, it’s best to avoid saying “Alexa” anywhere in the Caster office.
Another major smart home issue we hear about all the time is privacy. If you haven’t heard the backlash Facebook, and many other technology companies have gotten as a result of their consumers’ privacy concerns, let me just tell you, it’s pretty bad. Fortunately, tech companies have us! We perform hours of research so that we are able to help our clients in better understanding consumers’ needs and wants, and how they relate to privacy.
- Voice assistants are only the gateway to home automation – who knew?
Before joining Caster, I wasn’t aware of the importance of a voice assistant’s interoperability capabilities. You can actually use voice assistants to control nearly any feature of your smart home, or office. Pre-Caster, I thought voice assistants were just used for ordering pizza, playing music, checking the weather, and silly joke telling. When I joined the Control4 account and become integrated with their business, I quickly became acquainted with the world of home technology, and the role that voice assistants play. Control4 believes everything is better when it works together, which is why their products interoperate with over 13,000 third-party devices. Movie night? Simply cozy up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and say, “Alexa, movie time” to set the lights low, and get the movie up and running. Pretty cool if you ask me!
- PR crisis waits for no one.
Finishing out the work week without a disaster is the ultimate goal, but in tech PR we’re always ready in case a crisis occurs, big or small. In the fast-paced, digital world we live in, news travels fast, and bad news could jeopardize a brand’s reputation. The Caster team is trained to hope for the best but expect the worst, so that we’re always prepared, and never panicked, in the case of a disaster unfolding. In the technology industry, brands run the risk of negative reviews or misrepresentation when launching a new product or making a big announcement. The way a company responds to or handles a crisis can be the determining factor in maintaining their brand’s reputation. Over the past year I’ve only seen a handful of PR crises occur with our clients. Luckily, they don’t happen often but when they do, we approach each crisis gracefully. You can’t predict the future, so it’s best to always have some form of crisis management, everything from proactivity training to keeping your cool, going into any big client launch or event.
Are you new to tech or interested in tech PR? I’d love to chat about the differences and similarities in our job roles. Send me a message on Twitter: @ash_collazo!