Tabitha Jean Naylor — August 11, 2017 — August 11, 2017
LoboStudioHamburg / Pixabay
Virtually everyone – from the teenager down the street to your grandmother in Omaha – is on social media. It’s literally transformed the way we communicate in ways we never even thought possible 10 to 20 years ago. And since social media is such a central focal point in the daily lives of most of your customers, it should come as no surprise that it will probably play a critical role in the success (or failure) of your PR initiatives as well.
When you break it all down, it’s really not complicated: your customers are on social media, so you should be too. But in order to build out a successful PR campaign for your business, you need to first understand exactly how social media can – and will – impact your PR efforts.
1. You Develop A Larger Scale Audience (which means increased visibility)
Social media is a vast ocean of images, content, ideas and posts, all moving along with a fast flowing current. You can either paddle ferociously against the current or jump on the next wave and ride it to success. What social media has done is open up this huge ocean, so that you can reach a growing audience.
If you jump on the next wave and ride it just right, you can increase your brand awareness and visibility, and build some good-will in the process, including:
- Generating more consumer interaction. Social media makes it easier for you to talk to your customers and prospective customers so that you get a better sense of who they truly are. By using market surveys, you can track the success of your current PR efforts. You can also do things like monitor mentions and shares, as well as see what conversations taking place about your brand. Not only will this information help you discover what PR strategies are most effective, but you’ll begin to build a more trusting relationship with your customers and online “fan-base.”
- Delivering better customer service: Opening the bridge of communication with your customers allows them to see that your company isn’t just a machine, but that it has a human element to it too. Research has shown that great customer service results in much higher customer retention rates. In fact, a report published by New Voice Media found that 50% of customers are more willing to return to a company after they’ve experienced amazing customer service.
2. You Better Understand Your Target Audience (which means more effective communication)
Social media allows you to go straight to the source: your audience.
And because you have such easy access to your target audience through social media, you’ll be able to gain much more valuable insight into their online behaviors.
As a result:
- You’ll be able to start developing more effective communication that truly resonates with them
- You can adjust your PR and marketing strategies so that your efforts focus on what your target audience feels is most important
- You’ll be able to create more compelling content that will generate an increase in customer engagement
- You’ll “humanize” your brand through better customer interaction
3. Your PR Machine Runs 24/7 (which means ongoing engagement)
Social media provides the instant gratification that people yearn for, which has its pros and cons. At the end of the day, what this means you is that you must be proactive and reactive, all at the same time.
The good news is that this:
- Grants you the ability to stay on top of things
- Gives you the opportunity to respond to your customers in real-time
- Means you can deal with a crisis before it goes mainstream
It’s important to remember, however, that this can be a double-edged sword. Even professionally trained PR professionals have been blindsided by a crisis that starts out on social media and quickly escalates to something that goes viral in a matter of minutes. The key to controlling these types of situations is simple: listen and communicate. You might also want to consider creating a crisis plan ahead of time so that you can react if and/or when things don’t go quite as planned.
Conclusion
Social media can play an extremely powerful role in your PR efforts IF you understand the intricacies of how it fits into the overall puzzle. The key is to harness the power of the “social” aspect of it to your advantage.
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