5 Reasons Modern PR effectively utilizes social media to get its message across
Today’s public relations (PR) professionals are required to wear many different hats and carry much responsibility in the world of modern communication. With nonstop media coverage and the speed of social media, PR professionals must consistently act quickly on any given socio-political issue that affects their brands.
Consumers hold their favorite brands to an elevated standard and evaluate their communication closely. The expectations of their brands’ responses to domestic or global events are high. External communication has an even greater impact on brands and their reputations. Communication has to line up with the brands and the customers’ values. Any missteps are costly.
PR now has another tool in its toolbox: the power of social media. It has become part of a modern PR approach strategy, although the approach could not be more different. The speed and reach of social media offer instant gratification compared to a more traditional approach.
Sprout Social, the leading social media management platform, predicted for 2022 that corporate reputation will be the leading area of growth for PR leaders, followed by strategic consulting and corporate social responsibility. Social listening will continue informing not only social media teams but strategic communication teams as well. PR has a greater responsibility on social media now than ever before.
PR and social media, according to Georgetown Magazine, are strong communication tools that benefit from each other. Social media, with its real-time messaging, amplifies that PR message. Overall, social media messaging strengthens PR and elevates its impact. Any PR content has more longevity and further reach at a higher speed with the help of social media.
Here are the top 5 reasons why modern PR should activate social media:
- Reaching further
All target audiences are on social media, including investors, business partners, and shareholders. The reach is expanded compared to traditional PR. The ways in which PR used to reach its target audience have drastically changed with social media. Georgetown Magazine says that “social media has allowed PR to reach a much larger audience.”
PR is often directed specifically at investors, business partners, and industry stakeholders. With such large developments in the social media industry, PR now reaches all persons vital to the success of a business. Any message that needs to get across can now go directly into the audience’s feed.
- Amplifies the message
PR now has instant long-tail marketing through social media. Social media can and should be used as a crisis plan. Twitter is a strong example of how PR uses social media to quickly get any message out in an efficient and deliberate manner.
Paul Bates, a writer for Georgetown Magazine, agrees and says that “Twitter, with its 140-character limit . . . is the best way to send a quick message about a new launch, activity, and promotion or to provide any kind of update.”
The use of hashtags allows businesses to reach their target audience more efficiently. This is also a good tool to use to understand what consumers are saying about a company.
Using social media and PR congruently allows brands to keep all messaging clear and concise. Any message that a brand needs to convey can be told now on a much larger and more efficient scale with the alignment of social media and PR.
- More accessible for your audience
Thanks to social media, PR now has the ability to soften its message, create relationship marketing, and utilize brand voice more efficiently. PR is much less conversational compared to social media. Using social media allows the tone and voice of the brand to be more relatable.
This approach is called “relationship marketing.” “Social media has made PR more ‘friendly’ to all stakeholders of a business, resulting in this new area of marketing,” according to Georgetown Magazine.
This helps companies to be more inviting and approachable, regardless of their type or serious nature. With the connection between social media and PR, brands are able to utilize their voice to connect with their audience while still getting important messages across.
- Influencers to spread the word
Employees, strategic partners, professional influencers, investors, board members, journalists, and publishers can easily share a brand’s messages.
“Social media is perfect for tapping into the ‘public’ part of public relations.” B2B companies use LinkedIn to share milestones and new services. Employees can then share this news with their own connections. This expands companies’ audiences and allows for more like-minded individuals to be aware of their services and reputation.
Having employees, influencers, and strategic partners share and spread news surrounding a company is an essential and highly effective way to build an engaged audience. It is essentially the digital version of word-of-mouth. The more people publicly support a brand, the more new audiences will want to engage.
- Reinventing content into engaging social media posts
Translating press releases into social media posts makes communication easily accessible to a larger audience. Social media takes a more conversational tone and can inform in smaller increments. All PR messages shared on social media have the possibility to dominate the digital space. Social media is such a significant part of today’s culture, that if it is not on social media, it didn’t happen.
“Social media is becoming one of the most dominant external communications channels.” The numbers for social media are only going up. According to a study, 84 percent of brands expect their company’s use of social media for communications to increase over the next three years.
Modern PR is about a lot more than informational emails and press releases. With proper synergy between social media and PR, brands are able to have a more powerful and effective voice. According to Sprout Social, 77 percent of consumers will choose a brand over a competitor after a positive experience with a brand on social media.
Learn more about how to effectively use PR and social media by connecting with our CEO, Veronika Monell, here.
