February 4, 2013
Before I started working at Moxley Carmichael, I felt that public relations was becoming more important as the online world became increasingly social by the day. Now here we are several years down the road, and it seems PR professionals are generally accepted as the best for social media projects.
None other than top social media expert Jay Baer agrees. Cynthia and Alan have attended several presentations by Baer at conferences of the Public Relations Society of America’s Counselor’s Academy. Whether internally or externally, Baer says the social media function should be handled by public relations professionals.
I think the words ‘Public’ and ‘Relations’ show us why.
Public
By its very nature social media is public, right? You can’t be social all by yourself. So much of social media success is sharing and that has to be public. The holy grail of anything social media is to go viral, and there is nothing more public than that.
Relations
The best social media campaigns build relationships. We hear all the time to “be more human” or “don’t talk like a company”. People are trying to say, “Build a relationship with me.” Public Relations professionals are perfect for this because they do it in so many other areas already:
- Compelling stories are proven to be the best way to get attention. Public relations pros excel at taking the facts and packaging them in creative and interesting ways.
- What they say is never boring or outdated. Staying relevant is critical.
- They’re great writers delivering messages quickly and with impact.
These are but a few of the talents public relations pros bring to a social media campaign. What has your experience been?
