Let's call it influencer relations

I was looking at a marketing resume the other day and there, nestled among the traditional marketing duties, I saw "influencer relations." Apparently, those duties included working with industry analyst, traditional media and independent consultants, the latter I assume to be bloggers or other social media influencers.

Influencer relations -- I think that hits the nail squarely on the head. In the minds of many, public relations is media relations, but PR has changed so much in the past year. Even looking at traditional PR offerings, most PR shops provide analyst relations, either as an additional module or in some cases built into the PR plan.

All PR shops now include blogger relations as part of their core media relations strategy, especially as many publications run their own blogs. Much of the rest of the social media bucket seems to fall to public relations pros, although that varies depending on a company's goal.

Public relations is evolving because technology has changed the job responsibilities. Most successful working PR professionals realize it's no longer about the old PR -- media relations -- it's now about reaching the influencer. If that's the case, let's just call it influencer relations.