3 Ways Social Media Disrupts Public Relations

This is PR….                                                  This is PR on social media…

Any questions?

Social media, global, instantaneous and virtually cost free, has the ability to reach a substantial number of people.  Facebook tells us there are more than 750 million users, Forbes.com reports Twitter has reached “200 million registered accounts with 110 million tweets per day” and YouTube shares “more than 48 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute.”  Statistics don’t lie and these are impressive.  Social Media is not something to be ignored nor is it a slowing trend.  The question is – is it worth it?

We, as PR professionals, were among the first to embrace social media.  The explosion did not and will not change our role as practitioners but rather the way we digest and pitch media.  We must still communicate credible, newsworthy content but the manner in which we communicate this content has changed. 

Here are three reasons why social media disrupts public relations and corporate communications practices and one persons view on how to avoid them.

1.    Personal Relationships – Social media helps strengthen relationships with the media but is not the sole basis on which relationships should lie.  We need personal, one-to-one, face-to-face interaction.  In a recent article for Comprehension, the Public Relations Society of America’s blog, the author, Nancy Hughes states that “social media can’t replace the human factor.”  She goes on to say, “let’s honor human beings and human relationships by taking the time to personally engage the reporters and editors who can help us.”

I could not agree more – social media tools are a great resource; they are tools that should be used to enhance and build personal relationships, not create them.

2.    Writing – Social media is an amazing channel for communication but it oftentimes has the potential to add to poor writing skills exhibited by today’s PR Professionals.  Social media calls for less copy but the copy is generally sloppy and grammatically flawed.  When we create shortcuts to language, which social media encourages, we threaten the structure of grammatically correct prose.  The need for quicker thinking and tailoring our messages for different outlets should not act as a detriment to our writing.

3.    Authority – A big concern with the explosion of social media as a vehicle for communication is that technicians dominate the medium and these people are skilled in the technical function of the medium but are not trained communicators.  Therefore, social media has become a haven for poorly structured communication.  Years ago trained public relations professionals created print materials for their companies.  These brochures, newsletters and company publications were well written and designed.  The cost was high to produce them so the projects were put in the hands of trained professionals.  Now, desktop publishing systems are so readily available that anyone can produce print materials.  Unfortunately many of these publications are poorly written and lacking in newsworthy value.  Social media has enabled everyone access to a large audience regardless of the value of the message.  This, therefore, can cheapen the value of the corporate communicator and the value of the profession.

Social media is a valuable tool if utilized purposefully and strategically – the 2010 Old Spice campaign is a prime example of an effective and successful campaign that helped reinvent a brand.

Old Spice and the brand’s mascot, The Old Spice guy (Isaiah Mustafa) brilliantly strung together old and new media, creating an engaging and purposeful conversation with its audience.  In a three day online campaign, the brand launched over 180 YouTube videos and responded to questions on Facebook and Twitter.

Mashable gives more details and Visible Measure rates it as "one of the fastest-growing online video campaigns of all time."

And in case you’d like to check it out for yourself…

The correct use of social media takes professionals who know what they are doing and in the case of Old Spice – they knew what they were doing.  We live in a culture where speed rules and oftentimes takes precedence over content.  Effective communication enhances and maintains reputation – do your homework, apply social media where it counts and you will prove successful.