It appears with the current tough economy and the job cuts that are impacting large corporations, the separate roles of public relations professionals and marketing professionals are blending together to form one multidisciplinary professional of the new 21st century. Those PR professionals that are not only knowledgeable about how to effectively work in PR, but also in other business professions, will be successful. This seems to be in effect since more PR professionals are moving towards working in Marketing positions. In other words – PR and Marketing practices online have transformed into being Social Media Marketing Strategies.
Graphic of Social Media Marketing form http://www.awarenessnetworks.com, September, 20, 2009
Unisfair just announced their latest research findings on how much marketing professionals will be using social media. According to their research, it appears that marketing professionals will increase their overall use of social media to be at 75 percent. The top four social media platforms that will be used more by marketing professionals (according to this study) includes LinkedIn, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization, and Email. LinkedIn and Facebook are social networking sites that are heavily used by professionals and corporations presently, so this is an interesting finding to see that marketing professionals are finally recognizing the impact that these social media sites have on establishing relationships and network opportunities with customers online. CEO Hoang Vuong commented on this new development by stating,
“Marketers today are looking to squeeze as much value as possible out of every budget dollar. As a result, they are relying on marketing programs that increase reach and drive pipeline. Our platform meets this requirement by allowing the impact of any virtual event to be amplified with social media tools.”
This shouldn’t come to be much of a surprise. We have been telling our future PR professionals all the time that it is important to be aware of what is going on in other professions. Plus, we are encouraged to learn about different cultures and languages since we are in a global society. Well – this is no different. Today, public relations professionals have to learn the new culture and language of other professions – this means that some may go back to school to get their MBA, or a Master’s Degree in another discipline that is in demand. In other words – we have to continue to evolve along with the business environment and be aware that we have to be life-long learners.
What has happened is that the increase of use with social media and the current economy has placed a microscope on an underlying issue that has not been addressed until now. The role of the specialist is over – the PR professional that can serve as a manager and technician in both PR and in other disciplines will survive. So, if the professional that can look at the big picture across multiple disciplines and industries, they will reign supreme.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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