The Impact of Social Media on Public Relations
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Social media provides new avenues for PR professionals to pursue organizational goals like creating interested prospects, providing quick updates, and allowing customers to promote businesses. Goals can include engaging customers, building relationships, targeting demographics, and communicating with internal and external groups. Professionals must combine social media with overall communication strategies, monitor and respond to publics, follow best practices, and quantify returns on campaigns through metrics. Social media expands PR's reach and roles into new areas while continuing to evolve the industry.
The Impact of Social Media on Public Relations
- 1. The?impact?of?Social?Media?on?Public?Relations:? New?communication?mediums?for?internal?and?external?publics? ? ? The?use?of?social?media?is?immediately?tied?to?PR?goals?? i. Moving?the?traditional?definition?of?WOM?forward?giving?avenues?for?controlled?word?of?mouth,?immediate?reach? with?messages,?targeted?subjects,?etc.? ii. Two©\way?communication? iii. Instant?reach?to?publics?and?specific?target?demographics? iv. Reaching?both?internal?and?external?publics? ? PR?Goal?#1?¨C?creating?a?community?of?interested?prospects?with?an?economic?goal? Example?1:?Alicia?Keys?(creative?marketing?director)?and?Blackberry?Twitter? 1. Over?11?million?followers?at?start?of?campaign?¨C?today?over?13?million?and?over?3,000?tweets? 2. Fans?learn?about?Blackberry?and?apps?specific?to?the?phone?that?emphasize?music?and?video?content?¨C?Receive? pictures,?videos? 3. Fans?and?friends?engage?in?conversation?and?spread?message?about?BlackBerry?10? 4. Reaching?very?specific?target?audience?and?demographic?with?instant?access? 5. Controlled?word?of?mouth?from?a?credible?source? 6. Getting?access?to?potentially?new?customers,?using?a?celebrity?to?reach?an?audience?that?has?a?target? demographic,?spokeswoman?that?people?listen?and?value?her?opinion?and?generate?word?of?mouth?¨C?? 7. Campaign?has?proven?successful?in?sales? Example?2:??McDonalds?Lunch?Break? ? Company?partnered?with?Facebook?to?quantify?ROI?©\?saw an increase in sales and guest counts after its social media campaign and encouraged people to take their lunch hour back and enjoy it at McDonald¡¯s. The campaign¡¯s return was up to four times the company¡¯s initial investment.? ? PR?Goal?#2?¨C?Provide?quick?updates?to?a?specific?group? Example?1:?Boston?Marathon?Suspects?(internal?&?external?publics)?¨C?Boston?Police?&?FBI?using?twitter?instant? communication?with?media?sources? ? Constantly?¡°tweeted¡±?the?news?media?as?they?had?new?developments?in?the?hunt?for?the?suspects.?Journalists? reporting?on?CNN,?Fox?News?often?said,?"we?just?got?a?tweet?from..."?And,?law?enforcement?credited?the?public?for? helping?to?identify?the?two?suspects?through?all?their?cell?phone?photos,?text?messages?and?tweets?that?they?sent?to? officials.?? ? A?community?effort?via?social?media?to?find?the?suspects? Example?2:?Arab?Spring?(Egypt?and?Arab?countries)?¨C?sparked?and?accelerated?by?twitter?and?Facebook? PR?Goal?#3?¨C?give?satisfied?customers?and?fans?a?way?to?promote?your?business? Example?1:?Lay¡¯s?Potato?Chips:?Do?Us?A?Flavor?? ? Two©\way?¨C?provides?venue?for?discussion?and?interaction?? ? Lay¡¯s?Facebook?site?has?over?6?million?likes,?over?140,000?PTAT¡¯s? ? Twitter?¨C?over?1,00?tweets?and?33,000?followers?(as?of?Wednesday)? ? First?encouraged?fans?to?submit?ideas?for?new?potato?chips?flavors?and?received?about?3.8?million?submissions.?The? company?then?whittled?down?the?suggestions?to?20?flavors,?and?a?panel?picked?the?final?three.? ? Success?in?UK,?India?and?other?countries.?First?time?in?US?
- 2. PR?Goal?#4?¨C?Be?seen?as?an?expert?and?be?a?source?of?important?information? Example?1:?Whole?Foods?¨C?6?years?using?social?media.?Claim?social?media?strategies?has?made?impact?on?their?growth? ? Over?1500?employees?manage?a?network?of?600?pages?©\?divided?by?regions?and?specialties? ? Social media strategy is built around the company web site and 6 additional social platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, their blog, and recent additions of Foursquare and Pinterest.? ? Various departments are involved including customer service (manage twitter), marketing and public relations? ? promote more of their product information, health, recipes, and cooking tip content ¡ engaging as well as educating? The?Social?Media?Campaign? Using?social?media?should?be?combined?with?your?campaign?goals?or?over©\all?communication?strategy.??Social?media? goals?can?focus?on:? ? engaging?customers?and?keeping?customers? ? building?relationships? ? bringing?in?new?customers?of?specific?demographics? ? communicating?with?specific?publics?¨C?internal/external?through?use?of?groups?and?other?resources? ? should?always?involve?monitoring?and?responding?to?your?publics? ? follow?etiquette?rules?(now?in?the?making)? ? find?ways?to?quantify?your?return?on?investment?¨C?specific?strategies?to?research?the?impact?of?your?campaign? o challenge?of?today? o Facebook?insights? o McDonalds?lunch?campaign?? o Example:?Yahoo?measures?by?how?many?people?click?on?yahoo?articles,?which?is?how?they?profit.? A?Like/Fan?will?click?on?an?article?approximately?7?times?a?month? RECAP? o Social?media?is?expanding?the?reach?of?the?PR?practitioners?job? o expanding?PR?jobs?into?various?fields?¨C?customer?service,?multi©\media/internet?companies? o opening?new?avenues?of?research? o new?communication?mediums? YOU?will?be?the?ones?moving?this?new?industry?forward? Has?a?long?way?to?grow? QUESTIONS¡? ?