Social media has evolutionized the way public relations and marketing professionals network with others, communicate to stakeholders, and has also influenced their daily practices. In many ways, social media has forced both public relations and marketing professionals to integrate more and combine their efforts. From engaging customers with comments through a blog or a Twitter account to responding to their inquiries immediately through multiple channels – both PR and Marketing professionals have to work together to make sure that they are all on the same page when it comes to working and operating with social media.
When you think about it – the disciplines are similar, but they have their unique characteristics. Public relations is focused on communicating specific messages to audiences while establishing long-term relationships that benefit both parties, whereas Marketing focuses on the larger picture of the business community. In other words, Marketing not only focuses on getting the right message out to a specific audience group like what Public relations does, but it also involves the promotion, the selling, and the distribution of a brand product or service.
There have been some successful social media campaigns that have combined both public relations and marketing perspectives. One example has been Ford – they are actively one of the most engaged brands on Twitter, thanks to their social media director Scott Monty. Another example of a highly involved corporation that wants to engage with their customers has been the pizza chain Papa John’s. Papa John’s has been very engaged with their corporate page on Facebook, and has reaped the benefits from their interactions with their customers as well as strategically promoting their brand on this well-known social networking site.
However, even with these successful case studies that incorporate social media into their strategies and tactics for their public relations and marketing campaigns – there are still those corporations that are hesitate to use this popular medium to reach their audiences. I have seen this even in the classroom and with discussions with other PR professionals in academia – these individuals argue that social media is a tool / new technology, but that students have to make sure that they understand how to use it strategically.
I completely agree – social media does not work for all audiences or all corporations – however, it is important to recognize that it is key to be aware of what these new forms of technologies are and how they are used to communicate with others. PR and Marketing professionals right now have to get into the mindset of being life-long learners – we have to constantly be aware of what is out there in the business community, what are the latest trends, and how to strategically use them for our client as well as for ourselves. If we don’t, then there is a possibility that our client may run into a situation where they have to use social media to address a situation that they did not plan for. One example of this is Domino’s and the YouTube crisis, or how about Amazon and the #amazonfail situation? These are just two to mention of corporations that had to learn the hard way of not being up to date with social media, but at the end, both learned from the experience and are now engaged in this new medium.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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