Public relations has come a long way since Edward Bernays got women to commence smoking cigarettes by co-opting the nascent feminist movement to declare that woman deserve the right to use tobacco in public in an orchestrated “freedom march” in the 1920′s. If a company were to try that today, somebody on Twitter or Facebook would call foul and organize a nasty campaign against them. And woe be unto anyone who gets on the wrong side of a social media agency or online marketing firm.
Clearly, social media is a game changer, but for traditional PR professionals, learning the uses of social media marketing can seem a bit intimidating, which is why so many people hire social media agencies and online marketing firms. So here’s a little primer on how a PR agency can use social media to further their brands and get more visitors to their websites. This series will cover beginning a social media account, the basics of social media approach, the time sensitivity of social media, and successful social media synergy.
The first stage to starting a social media marketing campaign is to set up social media accounts for your clients so their websites can get more visitors. If you are concerned about cutting your teeth on your own clients, you can try establishing one for your own company, in which case they only people you’ll have to worry about are yourselves. You should get to know the most popular social media platforms. Here are some examples:
Social Slideshow Sharing: This is Slideshare. This enables you to share your PowerPoint files and is a efficient way to share your work.
Social Bookmarking: This is comprised of sites like Del.icio.us, Simpy, and Blinklist. Here members network by surfing through websites bookmarked by other members as well as bookmarking their own websites for other people to share.
Social Video and Photo Sharing: This is comprised of sites like YouTube, Google Video, and Flickr. Here people upload and comment on videos or photos. This is especially great for creating videos to impart with friends.
Social Networking: The biggest one in the US is Facebook, but there really are many. Chances are if you think “social media” you’ll be thinking of social networking.
Wikis: A lot of people have heard of Wikipedia, but not too many think of it as a social media site. Since it involves client created information and a collaborative community, it actually does fit the bill.
Is there anything else you want to know about social media? Do you think it’s a fad or do you think it’s the next phase in marketing? Check us out at Fishbat.com and we can talk about it!. This article, Social Media PR: A Beginner’s Guide Part Four: Effective Social Media Marketing Synergy is available for free reprint.
