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Iowa Journal of Communication, Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 2011
The Affects of Social Media on Practice
of Public Relations
Gayle M. Pohl, Ph.D.,
APR University of Northern Iowa
Abstract
The public relations industry has shifted towards social media.
Services like PitchEngine, PressLift, PRX Builder, and Mind Touch
are bringing the press release into the new millennium with embedded
multimedia and easy distribution through various channels, including
social media and e-mail. The methods of distributing information are
driven by social media. Rather than e-mailing a press release, public
relations people are sending journalists to custom landing pages created just for that specic announcement, contacting them via Twitter
with a BUDurllink to the release, or even directing them to a YouTube
video with a message from the CEO making the announcement. A
survey conducted by Regus shows that Social Media Marketing is on
the increase with 7% more rms using it gain a rmer foothold in the
market than 2010. The survey results show that businesses are sensitive to cost factors.
Introduction
Public relations specialists were some of the professionals to
embrace social media, and as a result they are often the ones leading
the way in the social space, whether they are consulting with clients
from an agency point of view or strategizing on an in-house PR team.
The rst press release was created in 1906 by Ivy Lee, known
by some as the founder of modern public relations. For much of its
proceeding history, the press release was unchanged from its original form. It wasn’t until the ’90s when online newswire services like
BusinessWire’s Smart News Release and PRNewswire’s MultiVu
multimedia release (MMR) service began to appear, decreasing reliance on fax machines and e-mail for disseminating news releases
(Swallow, 2010).
During the past few years, the public relations industry has witnessed a shift towards the social media release. Services like PitchEngine, PressLift, PRX Builder, and Mind Touch are bringing the press
release into the new millennium with embedded multimedia and easy
distribution through various channels, including social media and email. Public Relations experts have been asked about the future of the
traditional long form press release, and they have said that feedback
The Affects of Social Media on Practice of Public Relations
75
that while it is here to stay, it will continue to be inuenced by brevity
and accessibility of social media (Swallow, 2010).
“The methods of distributing information today are driven by
social media. Rather than e-mailing a press release, public relations
people are sending journalists to custom landing pages created just
for that specic announcement, contacting them via Twitter with a
BUDurllink to the release, or even directing them to a YouTube video
with a message from the CEO making the announcement.”
Public relations professionals are now experimenting with these
new distribution channels. Likewise, many are nding that the form
of the press release isn’t a one-size-ts-all solution for every channel.
It is possible that the press release will continue to evolve into multiple iterations for various audiences, channels, and situations.
Press Releases
Press release may take multiple formats in the next few years.
“The rst is in a video format where there will be a short description
followed by a link to a video giving information on the news from a
company source, hitting on the ve W’s and also offering sound-bites
that can be used for stories or added to a news story. The second format will be a further evolution of the social press release that is being
used today, except more brief and more focused. The nal is similar
to what we see now with company boiler plates, stock quotes and additional information.”
Overall, though the press release will be shorter; link to more
sources; be focused on simplication and explanation; and be translated into more venues such as videos, microblogs, and podcasts.
Social Media Platforms
The social media platforms with the most value must be used by
a client’s target audience and be a meaningful place for brands to connect with consumers and journalists. Our PR experts said that mass
social platforms, like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, will continue
to be important on some level, but niche, industry-specic networks
will be of greater value in the future (Swallow, 2010).”
Broadcasting vs. Listening: Our experts pointed out that a vast
majority of the public relations people are using social media as a
broadcasting tool for sending out press releases and recent client
news. The next generations of public relations pros will use social
media as a listening and communicating tool. It will be a tool to build
real time trust and credibility with a brand.
Finding the Right Audience: Mass social platforms, like Twitter
and Facebook, are useful, however, the niche, industry-specic com-
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Iowa Journal of Communication, Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 2011
munities provide just as much, and sometimes more, value for clients.
The current issue, though, is that nding these communities is quite
tough and involves a lot of scattered research across the Web. In the
future, directories with the ability to search for target demographics
across a broad range of social networks make the process of nding
the best platforms with the right audiences much easier.
Client Buy-In: Public relations professionals often nd it difcult to obtain client buy-in for investment in social media. Currently, a large part of a professional’s job involving social media is
educating clients of its use and benets. The solution here is data.
As success measurements continue to improve, the case for social
media will become much clearer. Social media has the ability to save
companies lots of money through enhancing traditional and online
campaigns. INgage Networks‘ Corporate Communications Manager
Kathy Saenz explained how her company saved $270K in expenses
via social media. They had previously paid $250K annually for an external PR agency, and $20K in events budgeting for venue, traveling
and promotions expenses. They saved all of that money by bringing
their PR in-house and focusing on social media. Instead of running
large events at expensive venues, they now run webinars. Of their latest webinar, Saenz said, “It was a targeted B2B audience we wanted
to reach; [we] broke record attendance numbers. We didn’t have to
pay for anything as a result. Great exposure and big money saved.”
For PR professionals, social media also saves time and money
by yielding higher response rates to pitches. VanScoten explained:
“It’s amazing to me that I get a MUCH higher response rate when
pitching reporters via Twitter than e-mail. I would actually go as far
as to say that every time I’ve pitched a reporter via Twitter, I have gotten some sort of response (often resulting in a story for my client). Via
e- mail, I have maybe a 50% response rate. The phone call response
rate would be my lowest.”As these success stories become more publicized and the PR industry begins to see the cost savings behind social
media, it’s inevitable that the stragglers will jump on the bandwagon
(Swallow, 2010).”
The Human Factor: No matter which tools public relations
professionals use to connect with media members, the most important factor is the human factor. Public relations and social media are
both about creating and fostering relationships. Our public relations
experts agreed and emphasized the fact that personal relationships
will continue to propel the bond between social media and PR. Dave
Delaney, social media coordinator at Grifn Technology explained,
“Today, not only can we send a press release to a valuable group of
media contacts, but we can now take that message wider using social
media. Whether our communication is a press release, blog post, or
The Affects of Social Media on Practice of Public Relations
77
a tweet, the important thing is remaining relevant and engaging our
friends, fans and followers.” Emphasizing relationships, Hoffman
also discussed his agency’s use of social media: “We’re denitely using social media to connect with journalists and customers, but this
outreach involves a news release maybe 20% of the time tops. The
other 80% of the time we’re talking with journalists, bloggers and
other inuencers about issues and macro topics. In short, we devote
most of our outreach to helping our clients serve as industry and business sources, as opposed to promoting their products.” McAlearney
reiterated the importance of building relationships with inuencers.
“Regardless of how an announcement is shared – via wire, blog post,
tweet, or otherwise –- the critical step has historically been, and will
remain, the human element. By directly reaching out to key media
and inuencers with whom we maintain relationships, we’re able to
ensure their timely awareness of the news.” Groepper backed up that
point in saying that “Despite the changing landscape of press release
distribution, the most effective communication for a public relations
person still remains unchanged: Building relationships with the most
inuential press in your space. Having key relationships is what helps
drive the type of media the client is seeking, and no press release can
accomplish that in its place.” “In truth we’re talking about the same
positive PR practices that good PR people have been doing for decades,” Tanowitz concluded, “They read and understand their target
audience, then help craft stories that speak to and with that audience
(Swallow, 2010).”
Blogs
Blogs are a critical component of any public relations campaign.
All professionals and clients need to be associated with blog monitoring & commenting campaign helps support the predetermined goals
and objectives. If your company sees an article in a major media outlet
that mentions your organization and comments on it in a blog then
others may make similar comments. It is a form of spreading word-of
mouth comments via technology. As a public relations practitioner, it
is your job to either monitor the social media communication or assign someone to do so.
A blog is also an effective means of building and maintaining
ongoing relationships with the media. It keeps your organization top
of mind for future articles. If your organization was mention in an
article in a negative light, a blog is an easy way to insert positive information about the company (Affect Strategies, 2010).
While answering patrons and targeted publics queries, public
relations experts are given a platform to respond directly. This is an
opportunity for the public relations professional to highlight informa-
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Iowa Journal of Communication, Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 2011
tion on a particular organizational subject matter or designated key
executives. You can also use this occasion to encourage the public to
link to other relevant sites such as the organization’s Web page (Affect Strategies, 2010).
Facebook
Facebook allows companies to directly interact with their target
audience to increase brand awareness, conduct research and promote
a product or service. However, the simple act of creating a Facebook
Page for your company will not generate results. It is important for organizational pages to be appealing, attention-getting, linked to other
pages and have a call to action (Affect Strategies, 2010).
Some strategies to make a Facebook page effective for your organization include:
* Upload photos and videos of your employees, products and/
or services to the organizational Web site
* Post information and/or invitation to organizational events
* Join relevant Internet groups related to your organization’s
industry
* Link your Web site with other social media sites such as
Twitter and Linkedin
* Consider starting an organizational Blog—that will be
monitored
* Develop Facebook Ads
* Consider hosting an online contest to engage Internet users
* Monitor all Discussion Boards that are relevant to your
organization and respond to any comment about your
company
* Ask the reader for a call to action
Twitter
According to Affect Strategies (2010), an agency that fuses the
disciplines of public relations, marketing and social media into a communications program, Twitter has 75 million users with the most active users being in the 45-54 age range.
Companies need to be on Twitter and to monitor what other are
saying about the respective company. Any negative comments need to
be addressed. Not responding can anger a customer and may cause irreparable damage to a brand. It can also image the company apathetic.
The Affects of Social Media on Practice of Public Relations
79
There are negative situations that do not need an online response because it can escalate a public discussion that is best taken ofine. It
is best to carefully evaluate each situation on its own merit and make
strategic and informed decisions before acting
Whenever dealing with the public and communication it is always best to have a well-developed crisis communication plan for
Twitter. When it comes to responding to a crisis situation, timing is
key and it needs to be done as quickly as possible in order to prevent
further damage to a brand. This plan should outline the types of situations that are considered a crisis, who is authorized to respond on
the company’s behalf and what the process will be for getting Tweets
written and approved.
YouTube
You Tube is the second largest search engine is the world
(Google is the rst). Many organizations produce videos to engage
their publics and post them on video sharing sites such as YouTube.
With YouTube streaming over 2 million videos daily, how do you capture your target public’s attention? Some strategies include:
* Promote Key Words- The title of your video is important. It
should include words that your public will use to search
for your organization’s product and/or service.
* Video Description – The description of the video should
align with the keywords in your title, making it easier for
people to nd the video.
* Tagging – YouTube allows you to tag your videos with
descriptors so that your videos will come up in search
engine searches. Make sure these descriptors are in line
with the title and descriptions.
* Link Back - Include the link to your YouTube video or
video channel on other social media outlets such Twitter,
LinkedIn, Facebook or a company blog.
* Give Feedback - YouTube allows users to upload a relevant
response video to existing videos through Video
Response. Companies can use this feature to search videos
that relate to the company’s message and keywords and
then post their video as a response. This is a quick way to
instantly expose your video to new viewers in your target
audience.
* Gain Insight - YouTube Insight is a free tool that enables
account users to view detailed statistics about the videos
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they upload, such as demographic information about the
viewers and at what point in they stopped watching the
video. These statistics are extremely helpful in gauging
whether your videos are achieving the intended goal as
well as in identifying areas that need improvement.
* Promoted Videos – YouTube allows you to promote your
videos through keyword searches on YouTube as well as
content partner sites.
Social Media Marketing
Public relations professionals use social media every single day
to get the word out about clients, to communicate with customers and
to respond to questions or problems. There are many uses for social
media marketing. One of the uses is conversational marketing --- public relations practitioners participating in conversations and answering questions, being a support system for clients and companies, as
well as empowering customers and power users to be a de facto resource for your company, a champion for consumer products (Warren, 2010).
Social media is a great tool for public relations people, especially if it is aligned to both public relations goals and what the return
on investment (ROI) is for the client or the company. For example a
company goal may be to focus on customer relationship building, so
Twittering will help the company reach that goal and give the busines
business a ROI of company name recognition. Twittering, gathering
groups on Linkedin creates brand loyalty.
With today’s changing technology and economy businesses
need to be sensitive to spending money and the widespread adoption
of social networks and instant messaging channels, like Twitter. A
survey conducted by Regus shows that Social Media Marketing is
on the increase with 7% more rms using it gain a rmer foothold
in the market than 2010. The survey results show that businesses are
sensitive to cost factors. As they are emerging from the global credit
crunch and the underlying recession that followed it they are looking
at ways to better leverage their existing manpower and online connections to increase the effectiveness, reach and impact of their online
marketing (Amerand, 2011).
In the US ve out of ten rms surveyed said they used sites such
as Twitter to engage customers and more than half of those companies
also encourage employees to join professional social media sites such
as LinkedIn.
Customers no longer trust a faceless corporation or even a remote business with a website. Today, those who are online want to
The Affects of Social Media on Practice of Public Relations
81
make a value-judgement about a business based on what they can assess from what they see. A lack of social media marketing is often
deemed to be a negative mark against a business as it makes it difcult to connect with (Amerand, 2011).
The report says that approximately 43% of US rms (vs. 35%
a year earlier) use social media to gain customers. In just one short
year that is a tremendous increase in adoption, but it also means that
nearly60% of US rms don’t and the gure may be just as high globally. However difcult it may be to get to grips with the ‘New Media’
of social marketing, to not do so is to risk getting stuck in the past and
being overtaken by competitors (Amerand, 2011).
Overall
“PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It’s
about your buyers seeing your company on the Web.” (Scott, 2010,
p.25)
“…You will be much more successful if you forget about trying
to get the huge article. Big yields come from cultivating many small
relationships rather than a focus on trying to get that one mega- success.” (Scott, 2010, p. 30)
“Instead of just directly selling something, a great site, blog, or
podcast series tells the world that you are smart, that you understand
the market very well, and that you might be a person or organization that would be valuable to do business with. Web content directly
contributes to an organization’s online reputation by showing thought
leadership in the marketplace.” (Scott, 2010, p. 38-39)
“The Internet is like a massive focus group with uninhibited
customers offering up their thoughts for free! … Just having a presence on the blogs, forums, and chat rooms that your customers frequent shows that you care about the people who spend money with
your organization.” (Scott, 2010,p. 81)
References
Affect Strategies (2010) 7 Simple Ways to Drive Trafc to
Your Company’s YouTube Videos. Social Media Success
Series, NY. http://www.affectstrategies.com/les/AFT_
SocialMediaSuccess_Twitter.pdf
Affect Strategies (2010). 10 Ways to Enrich Your Company’s
Facebook Page, Social Media Success Series, NY. http://www.
affectstrategies.com/les/AFT_SocialMediaSuccess_Facebook.
pdf
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Affect Strategies (2010). 8 Ways Blog Commenting can Boost
Your Reputation and Blog Trafcing, Social Media Success
Series, NY. http://www.affectstrategies.com/les/AFT_
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Amerland, D. (2011). Social media marketing is crucial to your
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Scott, D. (2010). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use
Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral
Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, 2nd Ed. Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley Publishing.
Swallow, E (2010). The Future of Public Relations and Social Media,
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Warren, C. (2010). How PR pros are using social media for real
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public-relations-social-media-results
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