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    Social Media & PR—the golden relationship?

    December 22nd, 2008 · Comments · Insight, Marketing

    Written by: Kristin Maverick

    I’ve had some discussions lately about the changing landscape and the need for social media for brands as well as who is the “right person” for the job of managing the social media campaign. Is it the advertising agency? The PR agency? A whole new type of agency or specialist that has yet to emerge?

    Andy Sernovitz, contributing writer for the Smart Blog on Social Media has a great take on this and who he think should be running the social media world: PR executives. As Andy says, “PR executives make the best social media executives. There is a similar mindset. Traditional media relations requires finding the right influencers, building trust, and sharing credible, relevant stories. Translating those actions to social media — replacing reporters with the bigger community — is exactly how to run a great social media program.”

    In one way, I obviously agree with Andy. Yes, I am a PR person now working on social media campaigns so it’s definitely refreshing to see the industry encouraging PR to manage these new objectives. In my opinion, PR people have the upper hand when it comes to getting social media. We’re ahead of the game (disclosure: this is for some PR folks, obviously there are the strays that don’t do this well.) We follow (or try to follow) the rules that make social media successful. And we listen to what is going on around us.

    We also fit into the overall scheme of social media methodology:

    -Conversation- We have them all day every day. With reporters. Clients. You name it. It’s how we work. With social media, the key to a successful campaign is continuing the conversation. For us, it’s just an extension of what we do.

    -Community- Like Andy says, we’re used to finding the right influencers and building a trust with them. We choose wisely who should hear the news and determine how best to announce an important newsworthy piece to the public. We create our own level of influencers within this community.

    -Collaboration- We work together to form relationships. While many think that PR people just pitch out a story and hope for the best, many of the talented flacks actually take the time to feedback ideas with a reporter and collaborate on their needs to determine what story angle will work.

    But, as social media has changed the way we think, the traditional PR agency will also need to adapt to the new ways of handling these social media requests. While PR may be the right man for the job right now, it’s also important for PR to include others to help get it done. From partnerships with other specialists to new technologies and advancements emerging everyday,  the acceptance of all things changing will only help create successful outcomes and ensure social media success.

    So there is my take. Will this change? Like everything else lately, of course. It will evolve. There’s an opportunity for many people to get involved in social media. What do you think???

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    Comments

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    Viewing 4 Comments

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      Nice post, Kristin!

      One key thing to avoid: heavy-handed social marketing efforts that blow up in your face, e.g. this one: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/22/f... . Community operators are usually savvy people, not to mention a portion of the membership in any community or social network. Sneaky strategies are almost always outed eventually, and any gain is short-lived.

      Roger
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      As the need for social media for success increases, I think PR agency will be best suited to bring on people who can focus on it exclusively. As you pointed out with pitches just "hoping for the best", people have to actually care about the media they are involved with. Bring people on who live social media, not just read about the benefits of twitter in the latest magazine subscription and repeat it to a client inquiring.
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      Totally agree Zach. These "evangelists" offer new perspective to traditional PR methods that many agencies engage with on a daily basis. This year will be interesting as more people realize this point and hire these so-called "experts."
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      I think the role of a voice or a brand in terms of social media can be owned by a number of different people. When I helped to start the JetBlue Twitter a year or so ago, I came from a technology background, but had an emphasis on communicating what was necessary. Morgan (@MHJohnston) had even less of a PR background, but he focused on managing the customer (which he continues to do today). The absolute definition of PR and CRM is changing, and morphing as the needs of the customer and their communication channels continue to evolve. For now, I think people who speak on behalf of a brand, PR or otherwise, need to understand their brand, understand the always morphing "rules of social media", but do not necessarily need from a PR background. With the risk of "oversimplifying", I just look for people who "get it." Doing the right thing for a brand is much different than doing the right thing for an individual.
     

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