Social Media? NO WAY!

In week 8 we discussed how Social Media in Public Relations is a necessary tool and tactic that is here to stay. This isn't just a way for clients to increase website traffic and generate exposure, but it can be monitored as well. What people think, how they respond, and how they connect is social media. This is how PR practitioners can understand their publics behaviors and how it can benefit their represented organization. 

You know...sharing, and liking, and tweeting, and posting, hashtagging, blogging and vlogging and monitoring...But do you recall the ones who said social media was going to fall? 
  1.  Three in four companies have a dedicated social media team. (Altimeter)
  2.  Executives are more likely to consider CEOs who use social media to be good listeners. (Weber/Shandwick, KRC Research)
  3.  More than 50 percent of executives say engaging with customers online is one of their companies' top 10 priorities. (Mckinsey & Company)
  4. Forty-two percent of online adults use more than one social network. Facebook is the most popular. (Pew Research Center) 
Social Media is not just for businesses, it's also for consumers and clients to stay in the loop while we gain valuable knowledge of local news and community events to even gaining information on an international scale. It's how we consume content easily at our fingertips (thanks to short attention spans). 

Being a Social Media Specialist in PR involves:
  1. Analyzing data
  2. Creating short, digestible content (video or posts)
  3. Creating media calendars & media lists
  4. Listening/Engaging/Building a network 
  5. Interjecting publics view into the two-way communication process
Public Relations professionals can use social media to tell the stories that traditionally had been told through the media. However, creating credible news is one of the challenges we face as 'fake news' is now a big issue. Heres a quote from an article titled The biggest and most important media and PR trends for 2018. "There's an emerging imperative for brands to get back to the fundamentals of relationship building, trust, and transparency in communications." Frank Strong, Founder & President, Sword and the Script Media. http://bit.ly/2jbN6zc 

We have experienced media fragmentation and loss of trust. PR practitioners have to be ready to educate clients, capture their voice and break out to promote campaigns to be measured. Cision, Google Analytics Meltwater, Sprout Social and HootSuite are just some of the social media monitoring tools. Chris Penn, Shift Communications states, "Every industry will need data scientists; every company will need access to data scientists or data science tools in order to remain competitive." 

Results from Social Media monitoring tell businesses what they need, when and where. The data highlights your ups and downs, rights and wrongs and how your image is perceived by the public. Being a Social Media Specialist allows you to analyze visitor traffic, see what tools reach the right audience and understand the importance of aligning social media strategies with business or organizational goals.

Social Media has changed public relations but for the better in my opinion and there are plenty of opportunities out there for us to take after we graduate. I was inspired by the information given by the video showed in class so here it is again if you forgot some stats! Thanks for reading.


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