Journal Review 14: PR Practise Smart Social Media

by: Noreena bt Hj Mohd Salleh

Social Media Use Requires a Purpose and Goals

Before social media use can begin to affect communication and public relations, it must encompass fundamental building blocks of social media efforts. What does this mean? Do not start blogging, tweeting or Facebooking without a purpose and an outline of goals. One of the common mistakes people make when they begin exploring and using social media is doing so without a strategic plan. It is important to post meaningful information with confidence, which many users struggle to do. The ability to obtain social media credibility and gain a large audience is accomplished by attacking social media with a well-developed plan.

Social Media Blueprint

Goals:  Maintain and achieve goals with social media. If the original plan is not followed, there is no point in continuing with it. Develop several objectives to always remember while blogging and Tweeting. 

Dashboard:  Be able to measure social media success. Within the defined objectives, clearly state ways to measure and evaluate the success. Without measurements, success rates will not be steady.

Strategies:  Create several strategies that will help accomplish the goals. If they become too specific, turn a couple of them into tactics.

Social Media Values

Listen:  This allows users to obtain data, metrics and material to write about when using social media. It also allows users to understand the audience for which they are writing. 

Read/Consume:  Reading allows users to see other people’s perspectives and to learn about the latest and greatest online tools and trends. Reading and consuming information can never occur too often; there is always time to learn something new.

Why This Matters To PR

When businesses decide to engage in social media, they must do so with a defined outline of goals, strategies and tactics. PR professionals should be involved in this process, as many companies are now looking to the PR folks for advice and guidance with social media—but it has to be the right information. Practitioners should not advise their clients or employers to use social media without first implementing a team of associates to craft overall objectives, strategies and ways to evaluate success. Without these elements, the use of social media for business purposes is pointless. Just like PR professionals use objectives, strategies and tactics with daily projects, they must apply the same ideas for social media. Having an outlined plan is not only practical, but it provides greater opportunity for success.

Social Media Is a PR Must

If traditional PR practitioners are hesitant to use social media when pitching stories to reporters, they better find ways to become comfortable. Social media is here to stay. In a blog post earlier this month, Susan Payton, managing partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an Internet marketing firm, shares with PR professionals how to use social media in a PR pitch plan. In her post, she makes it clear that e-mailing press releases to journalists does not guarantee press coverage these days. Professionals are now contacting media through new channels and are pitching their stories with more creativity to keep up with fast-moving social networking sites. The following tips can help in the pitching process:

1. Find new ways to contact journalists, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs.
2. Use the Internet to learn more about journalists. Read their bios on different Web sites and learn how to connect with them when making the first contact.
3. Interact with journalists in their spaces. Comment on posts, re-tweet their content on Twitter or send brief messages on Facebook.
4. Keep up with journalists’ posts on sites, as they may need quick assistance. Helping them can increase the chances of success for future pitches.
5. Learn how to pitch using Twitter. Follow Payton’s example: @ebolajourn: I love your storu on ebola. I think I've got a good resource for a follow up article in ebole in the US. Can I send the info?
6. Do not allow social media to consume your entire PR pitch plan. Mix in different tools, such as press releases, fact sheets, marketing Web sites, blogs, etc.
7. Remember that learning how to pitch reporters is a process and will not develop in one night. Plan ahead and work for several weeks researching journalists and becoming acquainted with them before pitching specific stories.
8. Following these steps will not only improve a PR professional’s chances of successful pitches with reporters, but it will enhance that practitioner’s social media skills. In business today, professionals cannot afford to not understand social media—its use is becoming necessary for success.

source:  brittwasko