Instant Reactions and Statements

Imagine something newsworthy just happened to your company, organization, etc... Good or bad, it doesn't matter for this exercise. As the public relations official you feel a statement needs to be made, so you draw up a press release to send out to the news desks or make phone calls trying to book your CEO or president on a TV or radio station. Your problem? It takes time to issue a press release or book a radio/TV spot (then get on the air). And in all that time, there's still not statement from your office.

Social media has an answer to the problem we've all had at one point or another.

Just as social media platforms created a continuous news cycle for journalists, it also created a platform and news cycle that allows for instant reactions and statements from companies and organizations via the public relations staff. 

If at any time good or bad news breaks, a savvy public relations professional would not need to reach out to the news media to react with a comment, statement or their side of the story. Instead, social media platforms allow for public relations professionals to release their message directly and on their timeline and terms. This development is different from issuing a press release because only the media would receive the message whereas social media platforms are open to the public and media and consumers can receive the message instantaneously and simultaneously.

The same can be said about running promotions: instant, short-term and long-term. To get a promotional message delivered, public relations professionals no longer need to rely on the media to convey it or hope the intended audience visits their website in a timely fashion. Social media platforms allow for instant connections to an audience that is directly interested in the promotion message with results that can be measured just as quickly.

Want Better Measurability?

Any PR pro has been asked this question by a superior or co-worker when presenting or pitching an idea: "How many people are we going to reach?"

You can quote circulation or ratings, but the bottom line is that the ability to measure reach is limited with "traditional" media.

Social media changes that. Social media platforms and measurability are almost synonymous with each other because every platform has some type of count for friends, followers, connections, replies, link forwards, etc.

Now for the first time, public relations professionals have the ability to see in real time how many people are being reached with a specific placement. These “followers” on any social media platform usually have some level of interest in the subject they are following, so not only is placement on a social media platform as good as a specialty publication, the transparency exists of who actually is absorbing the placement.

In a numbers orientated business world, public relations professionals who reach out through social media platforms now have the ability to quickly and accurately measure the audience that is absorbing the information.

This is a new lifeline that PR pros would be foolish to ignore.

Using Social Media to Make Connections

Social media platforms offer an avenue of communication for public relations professionals to make contact with or reach out to journalists in any realm of publication. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace offer the opportunity for these connections to be made in non-pressure situations.

Instead of a potentially uncomfortable or ill-timed introductory conversation via a phone call (we've all had more then we would like to admit), connections between public relations professionals can be made through social media platforms. Then, when the situation presents itself, a public relations professional has a means to contact the journalist they are attempting to reach out to for a particular story or event.

Public relations professionals must be able to use social media platforms as a way of communication. Not only is it simple, quick and direct, it is now becoming a preferred way of communication as opposed to cold-calling.

Advantages of SM (Cont.): Social Media = Increased Contacts

More Outlets to Reach Out

Complementing the advantage of the social media news cycle are the advantages that social media platforms and blogs provide as additional media outlets to pitch products and/or stories to. Public relations professionals have been able to reach out to blogs for at least five years, but every day gives birth to more blogs that are accepted as legitimate sources for news and commentary just as a newspaper would be. As such, public relations professionals must stay on top of new, legitimate blogs as resource to reach out just as they would with new print publications.

As reaching out to bloggers has become a commonplace practice for public relations professionals, contacting Tweeters (a person on/using Twitter) is the next big step for public relations professionals. While Tweeter could be anyone, public relations professionals can concentrate on print/web journalists, bloggers or savvy social media users that have a large following to reach out to with story or product ideas. If pitched successfully, a Tweeter with a large following can deliver a quick news tidbit, opinion and/or website link about a company or organization. Depending on the size of the Tweeters following, this information is directly delivered to consumers as quickly as hard breaking news can be.

My Take: A Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. user makes a conscious decision to follow someone on that service and as such they tend to accept their opinions at face value. So if the Tweeter recommends a website or product, their followers are more likely to, at least, check it out or look at it then if they went to a third party news source that offers less interaction between author and reader.

Even with the limit of 140 characters on Twitter, a well-placed Tweet can provide as much or better exposure then a commentary in a print publication. Pound-for-pound, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms hold their own for product placement.

Advantages of Social Media: Continuous News Cycle

Social media platforms offer many advantages that public relations professionals not only should take advantage, but also must take advantage of in order to stay with the innovation curve of the trade. These range from changes in the new cycle, reaching out to and making new connections with the media and to producing instant statements to the world.

The Continuous News Cycle

One aspect or feature of using any social media platform that stands out among others is the quickness of being able to share and spread information. The information being shared could be personal, opinion based or most importantly for this topic, news worthy.

Here's one take: Any type of service that allows a reporter to deliver breaking news to thousands/millions of people in literally two seconds is going to stick around. Social media platforms such as Twitter - or Facebook with its status updates - has the ability to deliver information to an unlimited amount of people simultaneously.

What makes this different from television or a news website is that social media platforms aggregate information from different sources into one place, meaning, a user on Twitter can be following numerous news reporters and Twitter’s website or a Twitter application or program will continuously compile the Tweets of everyone who they are following and deliver the information in one place. Facebook’s interface or feed is very similar. Instead of watching multiple news channels on television or constantly refreshing or visiting multiple websites, a social media user can view information from several sources at the same time and in one place.

Why is this an advantage to public relations professionals? It is an advantage because social media platforms allow for quick, easy and mass dissemination of news and/or press releases to an audience either through news reporters, fellow followers (through forwarding, ReTweeting) or the company itself. Just as the Internet threw out the traditional 24-hour news cycle, social media is retransforming the Internet news cycle which is no longer limited to the time of how often a website is revisited, but how often any news organization updates one of its social media feeds.

Some Effects of Social Media on PR

The responsibilities for implementing, overseeing and running a companies or organizations social media strategy or set-up are usually assigned to the public relations or marketing departments. One recent study estimated that public relations or marketing departments control about 90 percent of corporate social media platforms with the other ten percent consisting of a department specifically created for social media. Whenever a company or organization makes an official statement of any sort, the public relations staff is usually involved and that’s a big aspect of the overall plan of action. Even in instances where a marketing or new media department generally oversees social media platforms, the public relations staff is involved in some way, shape or form. After all, any message sent across a social medium platform can be interpreted as an official statement.

It wasn’t imperative for public relations professionals to know much about social media ten or even five years ago, let alone be involved in the planning or dissemination of a social media platform initiative. Only recently have public relations professionals been forced to monitor social media platforms for mentions or hits just as they would if their company was mentioned in the New York Times, Time Magazine or on CNN. As similarly to as when e-mailing a press release became an accepted and commonplace practice, a paradigm shift has occurred for public relations professionals with social media. But unlike the shift to e-mailing press releases, the social media phenomenon that has come about in the last few years is multifaceted to the “nth” degree.

In addition to monitoring the various social media platforms for company or organizational mentions and hits, it is just as imperative for a company or organization to be involved in the social media universe. Being directly involved with a Facebook page or a Twitter account presents the ability for a company or organization to have control of all of the benefits that are available in the social media universe. Even in instances where a marketing or new media department oversees or controls the social media platforms, public relations professionals can still use social media to their benefit and growth of the product they are promoting.

While there are many benefits in the social media universe, there are always disadvantages or consequences that public relations professionals must be aware of. These are just the general effects of social media on the public relations industry. The rest of this exploration on the effects that social media has on public relations will investigate the advantages and drawbacks that public relations professionals face everyday in the social media universe. Understanding the general effects of social media is not enough for public relations professionals because a proverbial star-chart of the advantages and drawbacks of the social media universe is needed to stay on course for today’s public relations expedition.