Catherine Teimoori
While exploring the ‘Social Media Marketing’ page, a
specific article grabbed my attention. “Here's How Facebook Has Reduced the
Need to Pay for PR”. In this article the author, Greg Shugar, believes that PR
media placements no longer have the powerful effect they once had. He argues
that the use of social media has fundamentally changed how people communicate
and share information.
So how is Facebook taking over the PR world?
According to Shugar, depending on the PR campaign, it could
cost clients $3,000 - $10,000 per month in PR fees. “However, for the same
amount of money, a brand can launch numerous Facebook campaigns to reach
the same (or even greater) number of consumers. And not just any consumers
- consumers that the brand chooses to target.”(Shugar) After reading “Users of
the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media” by Kaplan
and Haelein, I agree with Shugar, this is because according to Kaplan and
Haelein, “As of January 2009, the online social networking application Facebook
registered more than 175million active users”- that is twice the population of
Germany! Jeez. Although I agree with Shugar in that aspect of Facebook, I don’t
believe that Facebook is necessarily taking over the PR world. In one section
of Kaplan and Haeleins reading, they discuss the challenges and opportunities
of Social Media. “Many companies are already using blogs to update employees,
customers, and shareholders on developments they consider to be important.”
(Kaplan & Haelein). Therefore, my suggestion is don’t fight your
competitors but join them.
Here are my tips:
1) Take Your PR Profession to Social Media- less people are
using magazines, newspapers and even TV. However more people are using
different social media outlets. Even though users are able to expose themselves
to large audiences, they still need the expertise of a PR professional to
standout in the social media world.
2) Gather Information- In today’s time, collecting information
has never been faster or easier. By searching a simple keyword on Instagram,
you can now connect companies with people as a helpful resource. By doing this consistently,
PR professionals can create new opportunities to create a favorable brand impression
which can lead to the beginning of a social media relationship and a potential
business relationship.
3) Learn How to Search Engine Optimize- SEO is another way
to help your brand to grab attention, which is your goal as a PR professional.
Anything that helps your Google Rank will raise the probability that someone
will visit your page.
4) Personalize Your Service- with social media growing more
and more everyday, it can be difficult to tailor your communication tactic to
the users preference. Facebook may have developed an algorithm that targets
different brands for different customers, however they still haven’t
personalized it. If there is a customer complaint, Facebook can’t automate
personalized response.
5) Understand How to Represent Content For Each Platform-
Every social media outlet is different from one another. There are differences in how you should
communicate and the content that you should post. For example, Instagram is
strictly photos; therefore there shouldn’t be a lot of text when talking about
a brand. Facebook on the other hand is more flexible where you can post videos,
images and text.
6) Don’t Give A Speech; But Start A Conversation- By PR
professionals placing companies in magazines, there is no possible way the
company can receive feedback. When there are human connections made by PR teams
listening and replying through social media it brings the audience closer to
the brand.
Sources:
Shugar, Greg.
"Here's How Facebook Has Reduced the Need to Pay for PR." Entrepreneur.
N.p., 19 Jan. 2017. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
<https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/286342>.
Kaplan, Andreas, and
Michael Haenlein. "Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and
Opportunities of Social Media." (n.d.): 59-68. Print.
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