Public Relations Presence in Social Media

Public relations practitioners have seen the impact of social media for a company and the importance it has as a channel of communication. (Phillips, 2009, p33) Social media are online mediums in which companies and consumers are able to communicate, or socialise online, with one another. Traditional styles of communication such as information in print were a lot slower and due to social soon as something has happened or if news needs to be released. Through having a social media account such as Facebook or Twitter, publics are able to follow these business’s accounts and receive updates as soon as they happen.

A new age important public relations tactic is running a social media account. Accounts such as these allow their publics to remain updated on new things happening in a company and also give their feedback. Al-Deen and Hendricks state “if utilized with forethought, Twitter can be a valuable and useful resource in the social media stratosphere.” This medium of social media is ideal for shorter messages to be sent out to publics such as information regarding new deals or responding to customers who contact the company in this way. An example of this is the brand Office who have their own account on twitter specifically set up to assist their customers with any queries they may have (@OFFICEshoeshelp). Through doing this it gives a very personal response to their customers and shows that they value their customers and want to make sure they have the best experience possible. Using Twitter as a way of releasing information may not always be the best public relations choice for a company because there is a restriction of 140 characters per tweet. It is essential that a company use the most effect source of social media, through blogging a company does not have a restriction on the length of a message they send out.  This would allow for a longer message, such as a press release, to be released while still allowing their audience to post comments in response and interact with the company.

Gattiker (2013) suggest that while social media is a good public relations tactic to use it must be used with a solid plan behind it, if it is created with no clear goal then it has a strong possibility to be a hindrance rather than help to a company. Any tactic that is attempted will not work without a clear direction though with social media it is sure to fail without guidance. If a company set up a social media account and their customers used it as a form of contact to discuss issues and the company didn’t have a designated member of staff running the account problems could occur. The customers would feel they were being ignored and no longer trust that company.  Social media is a brilliant way for companies to relate to their publics but it is essential they monitor it and know what their aims are through it.

 

Bibliography

 

Al-Deen, H and Hendricks, J (2012) Social Media Usage and Impact. Lexington Books: Plymouth

Gattiker, U (2013) Social Media Audit Measure for Impact. London: Springer
[online] DawsonEra
Available through https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9781461436034
[Assessed: 15^th January 2014

Office Shoes (2013) www.twitter.com/OFFICEshoeshelp
Assessed on [15^th January 2014]

 

Phillips, David. (2009). Online PR: a practical way to developing an online strategy in the world of social media. 2nd Ed. CIPR.