Social media's going to kill PR? Come on
Have the rules for PR changed so radically from the days when the IBM Selectric typewriter was state of the art?
The conventional wisdom says yes, though I'm less convinced.
In fact, many public relations folks are still trying to gauge the import of new tools like Twitter and FriendFeed. But they remain unclear about what it means to their profession and what's the best way to approach this new community. That ambivalence was on display at the Horn Group's downtown San Francisco offices Wednesday evening, where an overflow audience gathered to attend a panel discussion with the over-the-top title, "Is social media killing PR?"
A better title would have been "Is PR killing PR?"
Seriously.
As a tool for communications, social media obviously is of keen interest to public relations types. But let's dispense with the nonsense about it being a paradigm changer. Maybe that day will arrive, but to date, the cheerleaders have overstated the results. So it is that many PR professionals have drunk the Kool-Aid to the point where they believe that engaging the community emerging around social media should be their top priority. At the same time, they remain unsure how best to communicate their companies' message in an unfamiliar and often unwieldy new medium.
What's more, they are scared stiff of antagonizing the "influencers." Especially when one or another bloviator from the blogosphere wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and issues a fatwa. But does a relatively small circle of (mostly California-based) bloggers still command the same influence it did a year ago? Ultimately, people listen to trusted voices though, unfortunately, the deepening recession leaves fewer of them all the time.
As I listened to the panelists debate the question, I began to fidget as Forrester Research's Jeremiah Oywang offered a marketing-heavy spiel on the central role social media should occupy in any effective PR strategy. Oywang is earnest about this stuff so I can't come down too hard, and yes, social media has its place. Still, it sounded like so much gobbledygook to me.
Then the predictably prescient Kara Swisher from The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital cut to the core question which--I believe--outweighs all others: If the message is empty, why bother? There is little point in trying to push a lame product or marketing idea. That's a message some sales and marketing departments don't want to hear. But in the end, doesn't everything come back to value?
That's not a social media idea. It's an old school idea.
Update: You can check out what Sam Whitmore, who moderated last night's panel, had to say about the event.
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 
Communications mediums are always changing, of course, and technology has always been the catalyst for that change from the first time someone painted a message on a cave wall with mammoth blood. Good PR is about using every available medium to communicate, but in the end it is all about what you communicate for your clients, period, not about the medium.
One of my favorite analogies applies to the PR panic around social media. When you point your finger to show a dog something, the dog will always, always look at your finger, and not where your finger is pointing. Too many PR people are obsessed with the finger, and very few have had the wisdom to recognize that the finger is pointing, as always, at communicating the right message to the right audience in the right context and with credible relevance.
Steve
I know it is an old expression, but let's now throw out the baby with the bath water! At the same time, let's be open to trying new things, when they make sense for the audience and the communication goals.
Becky
As you pointed out, it all comes down to value. Just because you're on every social network known to man, pummeling users with your message, if it's not relevant to the audience, it doesn't matter because it will never produce results. And just because you have a million followers on Twitter doesn't mean it will translate into a million hits to your website or a million new sales of your product.
Engage relevant users in a social media environment, yes. Use the tools to support your PR and Marketing efforts, definitely. Build relationships that cultivate positive brand association and create tangible value for your customers, absolutely. But communicating the right message to the right audience at the right time still applies. As does actually delivering on the hype you create via social media. Because when the buzz has died down, if there's not a quality product, service or concept in place, all that's left is a bunch of empty words on a page. Words that would have been better used as part of a well thought out, fully integrated, cohesive Marketing/PR plan. Flavor of the month marketing only works if you're Baskin Robbins.
There's an important historical context to how this situation arose, which belies the notion that this is just a passing trend. I wrote about it in detail here: http://is.gd/7pTl-- but the general notion is that we've all grown up in a media bubble, a world in which the huge expense of mass communications ensured the message was controlled by those few that could afford it. Advertising and PR evolved in this environment, not to build relationships with consumers, but to maximize relationships with the power brokers who control media. Social media is democratizing access to mass communications, which is a direct challenge to the control of the message. PR won't be killed--companies will always need to shape and advocate their own value propositions. But they need to recognize that the balance of power is shifting, and that "influencing the influencers" is not going to be a sufficient hedge against companies who are able to build meaningful relationships directly with consumers and customer communities. Again, I wrote about this more thoroughly here http://is.gd/7pTl
--Mike
Thank you for your perspective. I think that you have a point about value - yes, sharing empty messages will result in nothing good regardless of what channel is used. Social media doesn't change that. What it does change is PR's role within - or on behalf of - an organization. We have an opportunity to participate and learn from not only the influencers in these communities but also industry colleagues, our clients' customers, consumers and others - social media gives us direct access like never before. But PR has to learn how to participate in the right way, and many in the industry aren't doing that.
Social media won't kill PR. Maybe it will help our industry to right itself - exposing blanket pitches, spam practices, empty messages and so on. PR executives have the opportunity to learn from social media - but only if they tak the time to understand it in the first place. Which takes time to participate, which leads me to a point I made on another blog post about this topic - slow adoption of social media by PR agencies comes down to three things: fear of losing control, lack of interest in investing the time it takes to participate and therefore, lack of understanding.
It won't kill PR - in fact it will make it better for those who are willing to learn.
Christine Perkett
Founder & CEO, PerkettPR
Twitter: @missusP and @PerkettPR
I happen to be the one on the far side of the moon who believes that social media and PR are both one and the same, the major difference being that one is more exotic than the other. It's like trying to compare my old 1969 Ford Ltd with a 2008 Rolls-Royce. They are both "cars", however, the exotic gadgets and widgets, technological marvel, luxury and enhanced driving experience of a Rolls-Royce leave the Ford Ltd driver at a complete disadvantage.
Although they can both get you to the same destination, which one would you, as the driver or passenger, rather be in?
- by corpcross April 23, 2009 1:34 PM PDT
- Social Media is only going to enhance it.
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