To Tweet or Not to Tweet…Using Social Media in PR

[Tracey McNerney]

I posted this on my own personal social media blog, but thought it might make for interesting discussion in this group.

Imagine for a moment that you are a Public Relations Manager and are looking to distribute your company’s story about a new product or initiative. Newswire services allow you to reach large groups of traditional media — newspapers, radio and television stations. Email and telephone help you to contact your favorite reporters directly. And of course, you post your information to your website. You hustle to get your message out there, but still wonder: how do you push your story with something new, something unique, something different that will allow you to catch the attention of a new population?

Enter social media.

What is social media?

Wikipedia defines social as “information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences.” In short, social media builds communities, fosters social interaction and enhances communication efforts, all within a technological playing field.

These days, social media is the hottest tool in public relations and marketing. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many more are no longer exclusive to high schoolers; increasingly, older adults are turning to these networking outlets, particularly as the economy worsens. As a result of these new techniques, participants are able to reach others around the world, enhancing their personal and professional networks in the process.

The waters are uncharted when it comes to social media, but why would you ever consider using something so new when it comes to distributing your message? In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the reasons for using this emerging technology (we’ll consider the arguments against in the next posting).

Why use social media?

There are a number of theories out there, but there are a core group of reasons to implement a social media marketing effort:

Social media enhances relationships. Social media is by design is a networking instrument. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter simply would not exist if not for the fact that developing relationships is central to human nature. By developing and working through these relationships, the message can reach a whole new audience.

Social media establishes “the face” of the organization. Social media fosters a transparent, collaborative, and innovative corporate culture, especially if your CEO or another top leader uses it to send personal messages. Those who follow your organization “get to know” the hierarchy, which in turn encourages customers to provide feedback and builds a sense of community. Ultimately, an organization that communicates authentically has an opportunity to learn from customer interaction, developing strategies that boost productivity and facilitate research and development in the process.

Social media helps to manage reputation and establish credibility. Reputation and credibility are important to any business, and these informal, conversational institutions provide an opportunity to educate the public about your company and your culture.

Social media tools help company leaders enhance their own credibility (and by extension, the organization’s reputation as a whole) through direct and genuine conversations with key stakeholders, ultimately portraying them as experts in their field. A credible source combined with accurate information leads increases media coverage and can impact organizational revenue.

Social media “gets the message out.” A key to success is maintaining a consistently solid message in the public forum. Social media sites enhance the distribution of that message, providing a new vehicle for distribution of your story in a meaningful way.

“Re-tweeting”, or RT for short, is a prime example of an innovative way to disseminate information. RT is a Twitter term used when a message, or tweet, is forwarded with appropriate attributions. If the message is interesting, Tweeters will implement an electronic “word-of-mouth” marketing effort by resending the tweet over and over. Including links to the information can also drive traffic to your website and/or bring additional visibility to your blog.

These are just a few of the reasons to use social media in your efforts. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it can’t be ignored (until the next technological advance comes along anyway). Coming up…when you might not want to use social media to spread the word.