In the past, those working in PR would give statements on the air, release them in print, or publish them online. Social media has disrupted this field, making public relations faster and more complicated.
Even with the President of the United States using social platforms like Twitter, it’s clear to see that social media is now the main channel for businesses, brands, or celebrities to release official information. Businesses who neglect to utilise social media to manage their reputation may not only lose their influence in the digital world but might not ever be heard amongst all the digital noise.
Evolution of Public Relations
Before digitization, public relations professionals were mainly involved with the public after major changes. They announce new offers, minimize reputation damage, and react to changes in the industry as the face of the organization. With the rise of social media, it’s growing. Now many PR professionals play a far more nuanced role. They can be proactively involved in reputation management activities, advising leadership, and identifying potential problems in business relations with the public.
Social media removes walls between community members and brands, shortens company time to react to relevant stories, and blurs the line between marketing and public relations. Often, the roles of public relations and marketing professionals overlap on social media.
Creating and fostering a positive public face requires a careful balancing act balance of interesting content, careful awareness and reaction to public opinion. For brand reasons, explanations, and crisis responses, modern public relations professionals might view social media as the first line of defence in an increasingly connected world. For a PR Agency Cheltenham to help with your social media campaign, visit targetgroup.co.uk/
How Professional Public Relations Use Social Media
Social media can assist PR professionals in meeting their goals or can damage the process of reputation management, dependent on the situation. The most popular ways that PR teams utilise social media include:
Seeking out influencers – Influencers spread the message for brands that the brands could never do for themselves. Social media influencers have large digital followers that brands can utilize to promote offers and protect reputation. When PR professionals forge relationships between brands and influencers, they really add promotion lines and other defences that brands can use to their advantage.
To identify threats to brands – Listening to what’s going on with social media platforms gives professionals the tools to understand public opinion before turning into a topic that’s trending. They can seek out and overcome possible internet threats and hopefully prevent a crisis of big brand reputation. Start thinking like a PR expert and consider using one of many social listening tools out there to understand what social media users actually think.
To influence the story of a journalist – The public can actually see public relations professionals on social media when they overcome a crisis, but many work behind the scenes to form a brand image. When a hot subject arises, journalists will want to pay attention to social media to see what is being said. PR professionals will join the online discussion to influence journalists to give a certain perspective.
To react quickly to negative press – Social media is one of the first places people look for brand reactions to negative claims. Public relations professionals can use company accounts to compile and publish direct responses and to direct the public to other media for more information.
