A Voice to Defend

Social media platforms give organizations (and public relations professionals) a quick and direct voice to the world and that voice could be used to communicate with and to the media.

In the old paradigm, an organization would have to place an opinion-editorial column in a newspaper if they needed to voice their opinion on a subject or defend themselves, usually written by public relations professionals. Today, social media platforms allow organizations to directly and instantly communicate their desires. An important aspect of this is communicating directly with the media, especially if the specific media in question is the intended direction of defense.

In the sports Twitterverse (Twitter Universe), I have seen a more then a few teams defend themselves to journalists on Twitter or Facebook after a story or column ran that they felt was incorrect or inappropriate. Social media platforms give teams a voice to fight back and this is something that journalists didn’t have to deal with as frequently in the past. This isn’t an action I would recommend a team’s public relations staff take regularly, but if appropriate, it can be a great tool for them.

Social media platforms allow for public relations professionals to fight back when they receive media coverage that they believe is in error. This is a dangerous method to use because it is usually public for everyone to see (as oppose to a private phone call, e-mail or letter), but if the timing is correct it is an advantageous tool to use, although one that should be used extremely carefully, selectively and seldom.

Update: April 1, 2011
Along the same lines as the blog post above, social media platforms allow for an immediate avenue of access for crisis communication plans. As part of the old news cycle, responses driven by public relations professionals were at the mercy of the news cycle. With social media, a crisis communication plan can start immediately with your side/response at the forefront of the news. Social media should be part of every crisis communication plan.

Interactions on Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms have created additional direct methods of communications between many groups of individuals that public relations professionals must be aware of. They consist of (in no particular order or terminology): Consumer/Brand, Consumer/Media and Brand/Media.

In these models, public relations professionals are a part of the “brand” and even in the model that features only the “consumer” and “media”, the “brand” (PR professionals) must follow their communication because the feedback going back and forth is important. The image or perception of the brand can also be affected and needs to be monitored as well.

Since the media are on multiple social media platforms, communication directed to and from journalists is increasing due to the simplistic methods social media provides. This pattern shift shows that journalists are not only speaking to their followers and/or fans through their traditional publication medium, but also through social media platforms.

Social media platforms allow journalists to voice their opinion - or additional opinions - on subjects or events they have covered, opined or even have no direct relation to. That last part adds to the monitoring that public relations professionals are responsible for.

Jeremy Porter from Journalistics.com commented in an Internet article:

“What has changed is the direction of the arrows in traditional mass communications model. Back in the day, you had your message, the medium and the mass. Rip that page out of the book and throw it away. Today, you have people interacting with people. It’s two-way, with a lot more listening going on. You still rely on a medium to communicate your message – but you use it to listen now, and there are a lot of media options.”

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.

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.