CorpComms Magazine

Using the Internet to achieve communications objectives is now second nature. So why the wonder/ awe/ panic/ mystery (delete as appropriate) about social media? Because if you think about it, social media are just the Internet and you've all been using social media principles for longer than you realise.

Firstly, let me state upfront, that I am a fully paid-up member of the social media fan club. 'I heart social media'. But social media platforms are not magic; they are just websites. I've been knocking round this idea for a while and as soon as I started to develop the theory, the more I realised I could help people feel more comfortable and confident using social media.

PRs are used to creating stories that get spread by word of mouth. The most basic example is getting an article on the front page in a newspaper that then gets talked about at the coffee machine or on the bus. In the digital age, that core principle is still exactly the same; it's just that your message can spread faster and wider than ever before.

Ten years ago, I was fascinated by viral marketing, and the way that you could create something that then gets shared by likeminded individuals to potentially reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, through the power of email and the web. Social media is merely the next step on that road. The basics of 'shareability' are the same; it's just that social media now has the element of interaction. That's why I almost prefer to use the term 'digital media' rather than 'social media'. I think the hype will die down in a few years and we'll stop treating social media platforms as something 'other-worldly'.

News can spread fast on social media platforms (I'll continue to use this term for the sake of simplicity) and links can be shared around the world in the blink of an eye. The biggest difference between the 'old Internet' and the 'new Internet' is that now the people are in control of the content, not the originators. Companies and their communication functions are now merely participants rather than broadcasters.

Before social media platforms went mainstream, people used to visit websites and read or view content. If they didn't like what they saw, they moved on. Now, however, people can comment on blogs, rate pages, write side-wikis, share links, post on chat forums, share photos, become fans, rate videos, tweet news etc etc. It's what the Internet was meant to be all along.

Sound scary? It shouldn't do, because, it is all just the Internet and you've been using the Internet for ages! So, the principles are: be transparent, be creative, be helpful and be there. Accept that you cannot control how your output is eventually used (or whether it is used at all!). This should sound very familiar to your traditional media relations approach, right? When you create strategies, think about how social media can enhance (rather than replace) your existing PR activity. When you create stories and issue news think about 'shareability' and make it easy for people to spread your message.

Building relationships

In-house PR teams must take social media seriously. Media monitoring has to include social media otherwise you've got a case of selective hearing. I'm not saying that everyone needs to rush out setting up company Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and replacing press releases with social media news releases. Far from it. You've got to investigate what is right for your brand. I wouldn't want to engage with my bank or insurer on Facebook; I just want to share photos and news with friends. Think about your audience and what their media habits are, same ss you would do for print or broadcast.

I wouldn't advocate diverting significant resources away from traditional PR (unless you think you are currently spending too much on it) because social media is not replacing traditional media. But then again I don't see social media as optional. It's not like everyone stopped selling in stories to newspapers when the Internet came along and the same should go for social media too. For a long time, I have been treating key influencers almost in the same way as journalists because I know that they have significant reach. The same principle should apply to bloggers and influential social media users.

Do your research and spend time on profiling who you are targeting - same as you do with journalists. Contact them in a style of language and a format that is accessible and appropriate, via a medium that will get their attention - same as you do with journalists. Focus on your top influencers - same as you do with journalists. See the pattern here again? Social media is just the Internet, and media relations is still media relations. We've just moved on a bit.

No-one can really claim to be an expert on social media (certainly not me), because it is still such a new field. There are simply different levels of experience. But my point is that the principles of good communication have never, and will never, change, it's just that the technological capabilities have become more advanced. PR is still about building relationships and it is still about people. If anything, social media is actually putting the 'public' back into public relations, and moving it away from simply media relations.

So go forth and engage with your audiences in a carefully considered way. Work out what you want to achieve first, how you will measure success and how (social) media activity aligns to commercial objectives - just as you always have done.

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