Social Media started flourishing around 2005. Companies started exploiting these social media networks when they realised that they could establish effective customer relationships through the use of them. Public relations has made a huge progress in the way it functions due to the fact that it has adopted the use of digital media.
PR is all about creating a mutual beneficial understanding between an organisation and its publics and now companies and organisations are actually trying to succeed that through the use of technology.
For instance, there are a lot of fashion companies which take advantage of digital media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, My Space, Linkedin and many more in order to promote a specific product, organise a campaign or inform customers about upcoming events. According to SocialBakers below is the list with the the top 10 fashion companies operating in Facebook with a great success:
Another example of companies that use social media is the famous food industry, called Taco Bell, which recently launched a PR campaign in Facebook. The purpose of this campaign was to promote the different variety of Mexican food it provides and build a trusty relationship as well as a loyal customer base by specifically providing free coupons for a free crunchy seasoned beef taco. This approach would further improve its image to its customers.
Companies all over the world have trusted and used the social media tools and they have showed to us that if used correctly, they can be a powerful tool for the promotion of a company. According to Gartner Information Research Technology on Using Social Media to Strengthen Customer Relations, companies that use social media should consider first the role and purpose of it as far as the control and the rewards that they are planning to provide to its publics in order to be effective.
Digital media provides many advantages for PR professionals and I think the most important is that they have the chance to establish a continuous and a long-term relationship with their publics. Social networks is the future for organisations and companies. Based on Adam Singer, traditional and digital PR will merge in the future.
A quote that really stimulated me is by Willian Gibson: "One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintaist about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real...In the future, that will become literally impossible."
Nowadays, people spend most of their time using social networks as a tool to get more information and the usage of news sites has declined dramatically. People are exposed to more and more information everyday. Hence, PR companies have the chance to distribute, promote through a selected content and engage with their audiences.
If the use of this newly founded trend is used correctly I think that PR will have the chance to flourish even more. Combining PR and Social Media is a fascinating approach and will benefit both of them. PR through social networks modernises PR and PR steps away from traditional PR techniques. Finally online PR campaigns have a great advantage since the campaigns can run for a longer time and be viewed from a wide audience at any time.
Sources and photos are taken from:
http://jonnewman12.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/pr-firms-the-socialdigital-line-no-longer-exists/
http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/51-top-10-fashion-companies-on-facebook/
http://www.examiner.com/restaurant-in-albany/taco-bell-pr-campaign-has-facebook-freebie
http://business.ezinemark.com/using-social-media-to-strengthen-customer-relations-16fbde4aa41.html?act=articles&hex=16fbde4aa41
http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/11/social-media-pr/
I agree that socail media is a great tool for PR practioners as it provides a medium that allows direct communications. However, It will not completely replace all other meduims as people use teh internet in very different ways and that there is still a digital divide. This means that PR Practioner still need to uses channels that fit the target publics.
ReplyDeleteOf course I agree with you. Social Media is a very powerful tool for PR practitioners, but, it cannot substitute all other channels of communication. Yes, i think there is still a digital divide. PR practitioners have to address peoples' needs through all possible ways. Social Media is just one way of doing this.
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