A Whopping 93 Percent of Online Users Expect a Social Media Presence: PR Must Tap In — or Tap Out
By Cheryl Gale, Managing Partner, March Communications

The increasing trend of social media is already changing the role of public relations. Goals are shifting from number of magazine article placements to number of Twitter re-tweets—and from TV ad time to YouTube video counts. The number of Twitter followers or Facebook connections someone has might even become more important than newspaper circulation or readership.

This social media surge, however, is not merely a fad. Social media is taking off because of its practicality and business benefits. A recent report by Equation Research predicts that within one year, 82 percent of businesses will be using social media to promote their brand, goods and services. Additionally, Nielsen’s Global Faces & Networked Places 2009 report found that two-thirds of the global Internet population visit social networks—and visiting social sites is now the fourth most popular online activity, even in front of personal email.

So what does this mean for PR agencies? Many will have to abandon, or at least modify, their traditional media tactics to incorporate this lasting trend.

Traditional media channels like TV, radio, newspapers, direct mail and cold calling can continually bang people over the head with their messaging, like a sledgehammer, which is often more expensive and less effective. Companies that are prime examples of this sledgehammer tactic include Visa’s “It’s everywhere you want to be” campaign and Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” promotion, which are seen almost everywhere you turn.

However, as companies are discovering more ways to leverage social media tools, traditional marketing is falling by the wayside. Tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn are like a magnet, rather than a sledgehammer: They draw people and potential customers in. This technique is called inbound marketing, which companies like Microsoft and Google have used particularly well.

Inbound marketing is like a funnel. Proven “magnet” approaches like press, promotions and optimization help funnel people through to the company website or end goal. And these tactics are made all the more successful through tools like content management, blogging, social media, SEO and analytics.

Using social media tools to achieve this magnet effect requires building relationships and trust with clients. With social media, it’s more important to participate than anything else. Simply joining and listening on social media sites won’t cut it. LinkedIn Q&A’s, Yahoo! Answers and Facebook discussions all provide easy outlets for participation. By answering questions and contributing to discussions, you build a reputation and, eventually, relationships with influential community members and prospective clients.

Participation is new for media. When traditional media ruled, people could only listen and observe. But now, with social media taking hold, people cannot merely sit back and listen if they want to make the most of these tools—they have to participate as well.

Cone’s Business in Social Media Study (September 2008) revealed that an overwhelming 93 percent of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media. However, more importantly, they found that 85 percent believe that a company needs to have more than just a presence and should also be interacting with its customers. These results prove that participation is an essential part of social media success.

The combination of talking and listening is difficult when one strategy has been so ingrained for so many years. The “talking” channels have typically been advertising, PR and promotions, whereas things like customer service, research studies and focus groups have traditionally been the “listening” channels.

The strength of social media, however, is in the combination of the two. Companies can use what they glean from listening to these channels in their own promotions and campaigns while also contributing back to the media community—and their contributions are that much better from their listening experience. Once you start listening, it’s only natural that you’ll want to participate, but as soon as you start participating, people will expect you to listen.

The key is to strike a balance. You have to take into account what everyone else is saying in order to make the most of your contributions and get others to take account of what you’re saying. After all, social media is about having a dialogue—not a monologue.

Achieving this balance generates good content—and good content spreads fast. But with social media, you’re not just reaching a select group, like with a traditional ad. You’re reaching a multitude of networks. Worthy contributions not only reach the people associated with your social media accounts. They also reach everyone associated with their accounts—but only if they deem your content good enough to be shared.

Many PR agencies are touting their social media experience and expertise. But with the onslaught of social media tools and the relatively new acceptance of social media, how can agencies differentiate themselves?

It’s often difficult to separate social media from traditional media, but a good campaign isn’t about separating the two: It’s about integrating them. Mike Spataro of Visible Technologies commented at the Social Media Club Boston event back in May that, “social media is the A1 sauce, not the steak. Social media is a supplement, not a substitute.” Agencies need to evolve their practice to incorporate social media on both the client side and the media side. Media often use social media as a means to find sources and expert opinions for their articles, so staying on top of the social media press is important for client campaigns.

Social media is not only useful for finding media opportunities, but also to glean insight on target audiences. With participatory media, people can tailor who they want to hear from and what kind of information they want to receive much more easily than ever before. They no longer have to dig through countless sources to find what they want. Now, people can select what they want and get it to come straight to them. This selection process is helpful, since you’re now able to see who’s following or subscribing to you and your content (or your clients’ content). This provides immediate insight into who is interested in what you have to say—and your audience research is practically done for you.

For example, if you create a Twitter account for your wireless client, but notice that many of the client’s Twitter followers are in the financial sector, now you know a good industry to pitch that’s already interested in what you’re doing. Once you know someone’s interested, it’s a lot easier to influence them.

Companies, especially those in the technology sector, should only consider PR proposals that include social media and how it will be integrated with the rest of the media relations, marketing and lead generation strategy. Social media is here to stay. Its ease and accessibility make it virtually unlimited for PR and marketing opportunities. PR agencies need to stay on top of new media trends to stay competitive and keep their clients competitive in their respective industries.

Cheryl Gale, managing partner and co-founder of March Communications, has nearly 20 years of experience driving and executing global B2B and B2C public relations campaigns. Having spent half of her career in London and the other half in the U.S., Cheryl is well versed in the European and American business landscapes.

For advertising and PR firms to remain effective and show their value, they should adopt performance-based strategies. For it’s not just the understanding of the latest social networking tool that will keep agencies viable, it’s their ability to put their money where their mouth is in doing so. Hence Pay-on-Performance!

What say you all?

PR and advertising are at a crossroads

By Clifford M. Marks
cmarks@MiamiHerald.com

Advertising and public relations stand at a crossroads — at once battered by recession-driven corporate downsizing and confronted with a bevy of new and often untested online platforms. Amid the uncertainty, firms have battled back with disparate strategies: eschewing general advertising to reach smaller target audiences; rushing to integrate the once separate fiefdoms of PR and advertising; and seeking to capitalize on the disintegration of multinational firms by buying up local branch offices.

At the same time, both industries are clambering to embrace social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as cheaper alternatives to print and television that have long been their bread and butter.

But with new media still largely unproven, others express reservations about the online exuberance and have instead bucked conventional wisdom, continuing to invest in traditional platforms.

And regardless of preferred tactics, South Florida leaders in both sectors say the pie is shrinking, and those who don’t evolve will be left behind or bankrupt. Some firms have cut salaries, slashed workforces or renegotiated retainer fees accordingly.

“This is business Darwinism right now,” says Sissy DeMaria, president of Coral Gables public relations firm Kreps DeMaria. “You’re going to see a lot of consolidation in the industry, and only the strongest will survive.”

COMING TOGETHER

For decades, the division of labor was clear. Madison Avenue types took care of the 30-second spots, the billboards and the full-page ad in Sunday’s paper. Their cousins in public relations drafted press releases, networked with reporters to land favorable coverage and helped handle crises that drew negative media attention.

But where in this tidy arrangement does Facebook fall? Or YouTube? Or Twitter? Both groups are rushing to answer that question, and with all the more urgency as their clients seek to slash marketing budgets.

Firms that never would have considered video part of their repertoire a few years ago are staking a claim to the digital outgrowth of TV advertising.

“As a PR firm, creating a video is not something you’d traditionally do for a client,” DeMaria says. “But we see that this is the next wave. . . . We have to embrace this new technology.”

Cash-strapped companies have also begun demanding greater cooperation between the separate firms handling their image in hopeof seeing better returns.

“Public relations and advertising are blending much more than they did in the past,” says Jeff Steinhour, director of content management at Coconut Grove-based advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. “They used to be separate worlds — like church and state. Now you’re seeing them at the same meetings at the same time.”

Cori Rice, who heads the Miami branch of international PR firm Hill & Knowlton, cites a campaign with breakfast chain Denny’s. Seeking to strike a chord with a nation in recession, they promised a free Grand Slam breakfast to all comers. The promotion had a 30-second TV spot, she says, but because her firm and the ad agency worked closely together, she was able to use traditional PR tactics and social media to augment the advertising message, saturating blogs and news sites with buzz about the promotion. They gave away 2 million breakfasts, and sales jumped in the months that followed.

And with less to spend on marketing, PR executives say clients are avoiding expensive general media campaigns in favor of reaching niche audiences more inclined toward their product. “Nobody has the money these days to waste in communicating to the masses,” says Angel Langston, principal of PR firm Langston Mizrachi & Co in Plantation. “Messages must be directed specifically to a defined market.”

Read the rest of the article here.

I was speaking today at the Poway, Calif., Chamber of Commerce‘s Lunch and Learn event today about how small business owners and entrepreneurs can do PR on their own, particularly in social media. During that talk I made a brief mention how companies needed to be their own broadcasters, in part because traditional media outlets were shrinking substantially if not dying out altogether.

This prompted one of the best conversations I’ve had on the subject by one of the audience members who was concerned that online media outlets would not be able to pay for good investigative journalists to cover any political, economic or social issue in great detail. His argument is that the “new media” won’t generate enough income to support it, and instead become repositories for press announcements and spin.

The person’s point is very well taken. However, I believe the likelihood of this is small, and any gap in investigative reporting will be short lived. As online and social media-generated news matures, I predict that we’ll see a strong emphasis on investigative as well as breaking news coverage. I would submit Politico is already there for their niche market. And as more and more people shy away completely from the morning paper and evening network newscast, more money will be made in online news than anywhere else. As that evolves, so too will online investigative reporting.

Keep this in mind – journalism is not only alive, but thriving. I’ve written before how such content is actually growing in popularity. Moreover, online and social outlets are saving the industry, and there will come a time where money will be made in this area — funds that will then go toward quality, in-depth reporting.

That’s my take. What’s yours?