How effective is the use of social media in public relations.

In the previous post I discussed a basic introduction of Public Relations and about its history, and some of tools used by practioners today. Many of tools they use like press releases and public events prove to be quite effective to achieve the reactions they desire for the messages they release to the public.

But now as the years roll on and technology advances at an enormous rate.

 Public Relations has now taken the leap into the digital world, more specifically the social media world. It is now very common for PR practioners to take their campaigns online, to gauge how the public react to them.

In this blog post I will delve deeper into the relationship between PR and social media, and find out  how effective social media (if it even is at all) is on public relation campaigns, or does the traditional methods of  pen to paper and face to face communication still reign supreme today.

Media Vs  Social Media:

Social media websites since there birth have become more and more popular, with many businesses adding their company to this new digital world.

 The reason for this, to reach out and connect to more people in more location, 24/7 with less costs.

The main focus in Public Relations is to build a trusted image for its client to its clients publics, and to create and monitor good publicity while tackling bad publicity before it snowballs.

Through the regular media tools used by practioners like publicity campaigns ,event/product launches, press release and editorials ,PR campaigners can get their message across to a wide enough audience who would be have a similar values or intrust as the practioners client. E.G Ford releases a new car and has a launching event for the car. The press release would  be sent into car trader magazines and  tabloid newspapers to attract a specific audience suitable for the campain. 

That would be anyone with an interest in cars, looking to upgrade their own, who enjoy the Ford brand. From the attendees at the event , you can see effective the campaign was, buy conducting survey’s on the day or asking  the newspapers and magazines who featured your press release how many where sold from this you can see how many have people may have viewed your press release .  This can be effective, but costly, you also cannot be sure if  readers of the publications have actually read your press release.This method is fine but can be unreliable if used by itself.

When PR Practioners choose to use social media platforms, like Twitter or Facebook, they can reach a bigger wider audience as well as their target market. This in turn can create a better buzz for your campaign, by the ability of sharing your message with other people and getting your audience to like and share your message making it hit a wider audience.

When creating a press release and putting it on social media, it’s a free an easy way to get your stories picked up by journalists, it is a well-known fact that journalist today find a lot of their information and stories on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  This in turn will  cut vital funds for your campaign and also you will be getting a good name/image  from a journalist to boost your campaign at the same time. (Social Media Examiner,2014)

Another good way social media has positive effect on Public Relations that fact the social media is 24/7 open platform, not only can you monitor your campaign at any time, you can also be quick to see attitude shifts about your campaign and be able to fix any problems before it snowballs.

You could say the down side to social media is the fact that once something becomes big, it can be harder to control and monitor if it snowballs too fast.

 It would be recommended to watch your campaign regularly to avoid this problem.

As you can see there are many positives to using social media in Public Relations, more specifically when creating and monitoring a campaign for a client.

With that being said while researching this topic it could be fair to say that old style media and new style media are both equally effective in Public Relations, when they are used hand in hand.

The world is constantly changing, but there are some who  still keep in with tradition and buy newspapers every day and listen to radio or watch television. These are still regularly used platforms that can still have an effective outcome when used in Public Relations, But it is also good to note that because the world is changing more and more, this generation and the next are based online, It would be foolish not to utilize these tools given, especially when they are less time consuming and have less of a cost.

So friends, the next time you decided to create a PR campaign or simply want to know the most effective way to execute one, then let this blog post be your guide.

If there’s any readers with questions on Public Relations or any other comments on any of the blogs posted , feel free to comment and I will reply to you a.s.a.p.,

Just to say thank you for visiting my blog, Here's a catatsic high five .

 Until Next Time Friends,
 Stay Fun, Stay Classy,
Stay Social Media Minded.

Sources:

Sign Post http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/files/shutterstock_102143884.jpg

4 ways social media helps Public Relations

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-in-public-reations/

High Five  https://www.google.ie/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwii-aqzibrQAhWKAcAKHVGLDYAQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.memecenter.com%2Ffun%2F501449%2Fhigh-five-human%2Fcomments&psig=AFQjCNH67KEdBy4DEeLusiJ1030BxsGwJA&ust=1479825296065286