If you are a PR professional today, you can no longer avoid the significant impact social media has had on the industry. There are over 3.2 billion people active on social media around the world today, on average spending 2.5 hours a day on social sites.
So, social media for PR should be a no brainer, right? Well you’d be surprised to find out that some PR professionals still don’t see the value in social media. Traditional media outlets are no longer enough and PR professionals need to start utilizing social media more.
Here are a few ways social media can help PR now.
1. Social media can help public relations professionals meet their goals.
How can social media help the PR professional? Public relations is no longer just about traditional media. The days of just sending out a press release are long gone. Today PR has evolved, and so has the process. Finding influencers, making announcements and identifying threats are all part of the PR process, and social media can help achieve those goals.
For example, Influencers alone can help promote a brand at the digital level. By utilizing social media, a PR professional can start building that relationship between the influencer and the brand by just a few clicks.
2. Social media eliminates the walls between the public and a brand
Because of social media, we now have direct contact with our public. What used to be one-dimensional can now be seen as two-way conversation. Social sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram allow instant feedback for real-time questions, completely eliminating the walls between the public and the brand that stood just a few years ago.
Today, PR professionals should be looking at social media as their first line of defense when it comes to brand reasoning, explanations, and crisis response.
3. Social media can help protect and promote the company’s reputations
Social media is a beast and can turn the smallest situation into a firestorm if handled poorly. Word travels fast on the internet, so PR professionals can use social media to reach a much wider audience rather than traditional outlets.
No matter what your company is in the news for, tapping into social media can help you protect and promote your brand in a quick, responsive matter. Understanding public opinion by social listening is now a huge part of the PR professional’s day-to-day.
Social listening gives professionals the background to understand the public’s opinion before it turns into a trending topic.
The bottom line
Starting the see the value in social media now? Traditional media outlets are no longer enough for PR professionals and implanting social in your strategy plan will help you in the long run. To all the PR professionals; start utilizing social media more or get left behind.