Why is Social Media Important for PR?

Public Relations and Social Media: A perfect pair

Does PR Include Social Media?

An integrated public relations campaign should always include PR as a component of it. To run a successful marketing campaign, social media must be integrated within a larger Public Relations and marketing strategy. Social media cannot stand in a silo.

Social Media and Public Relations go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. Public Relations fuels Social Media with content and press coverage for posting, and social media fuels Public Relations with larger opportunities to form direct relationships with journalists, media outlets and print publications.

A social media campaign without PR would lack rich content for continuous posting, and a PR campaign without social media would lack a primary vehicle in which to share earned media coverage with a larger fan base. Social media and PR are critical for personal brand building as well.

The Evolution of Social Media and PR

Three years ago, social media was all the rage.  As businesses struggled to stay afloat in tough economic times, they slashed traditional advertising budgets and put public relations and marketing on hold. Then came social media.

“What’s your Twitter handle?” and “Friend me” were the new buzzwords. Everyone wanted in on the hottest trend in marketing. People soon jumped on the social media bandwagon, not fully understanding what social media was or entailed, but knew they needed to be a part of it.

Companies who had put all traditional media buying on hold began pouring this money into social media, expecting the same sales driven results as traditional media. Social Media managers were expected to show the results of traditional advertising, marketing and PR initiatives, all through social channels and with smaller budgets.

Why Social Media is Not a Magic Bullet

Social media is supposed to be social. Social media marketing entails engaging with fans, opening up the channel of communication from 1 way to 2-way communication, and building a community. While sales are an outcome of strategical social media, direct sales is not the way to get there when you first introduce your business online.

As companies re-allocated traditional marketing and PR budgets solely for social media, many CMOs became unsatisfied with the results. They were looking for social media to be the magic bullet to fix their business, to drive sales, and to provide something it was never meant to give (at the start). In an effort to stretch dollars put into social media, companies began pushing harder to drive sales through the social channels they set up. The more they pushed the sale, the further away the fans went.

As the economy picks up, traditional media budgets are slowly coming back into the marketing communication mix, and companies are integrating traditional media vehicles with social media first digital strategies. The result is a fully integrated marketing approach with increased opportunities for the end user to engage with the brand through several touch points.

Social Media PR Campaign Example 

To be successful, a digital marketing campaign must be seamlessly integrated with the rest of your marketing communications strategy for the best results. This will result in a positive customer experience, raving fans, social media growth, and increased conversion rates.

For example, a Westchester County New York fashion boutique was looking to build buzz on their new store opening in Rye. This particular retailer is a perfect example of a company using social media and PR interchangeably.

Traditional public relations: Traditional press releases were written for the grand opening, and social media pitches and news releases were distributed to regional bloggers. A local celebrity spokesperson modeled clothes at the Grand Opening and was utilized in the preliminary advertising campaigns. For influencer marketing, we tapped into the Celebrities follower base on Instagram. The spokesperson leveraged their expansive reach on social media channels to get the word out about the store opening.

Local PR activation: To take the conversation offline and meet fans in person, the retailer participated in event sponsorships such as The WAG’s Ageless Forever Event, or A Taste of The Towns at The Gym in Armonk, New York.

Branded Photography: They also shoot all of their own advertising campaigns, and reward their Facebook fans with teasers of behind the scenes footage from shoots to create a unique experience that can only be found on social media. For Valentine’s Day, a digital wish list was created in print for customers to track their favorite items in the store. We combined this in the digital realm by creating a digital wish list. Users could get a similar experience at home on their laptops if they didn’t want to fill out the list at the store.

Social Media Marketing for Business

The role of social media for businesses in Westchester County, New York has drastically changed and will continue to evolve. As companies learn how to adopt and embrace the emerging technology, they can expect to see outpaced financial output, business growth, and promotional leverage vs. competitors who are late to the digital party.

It is no longer a question of “Should my business be active in social media?” but rather, “What social media strategy is my business implementing this year?”

As companies continue to put money back into traditional advertising and PR campaigns, social media will become a pivotal feedback mechanism to gauge response rate. Facebook, in particular, will serve as a powerful and free focus group to A/B test new ad campaigns. Company’s looking to place media buys in traditional print are now taking advantage of Facebook’s advertising platform to test ad concepts to determine which ad gains the highest response rate from a loyal fan base. Impression rates, social reach and click-through conversions can then be used to create PR and marketing campaigns.

Businesses that are most successful with social media are those who see it for what it is; not a direct sales tool, but rather, a new form of selling through the art of ‘not selling.’  Social Media fans are coming to your Facebook business fan page to get an entirely unique experience, one that cannot be found in print, email newsletters, or even your website.

Companies that embrace this form of brand-building within their larger marketing budgets will be reap the benefits of early adoption. Expect to see increased satisfaction with the results and ROI of the spend.

Social Media is only one component of a comprehensive marketing strategy.  The most innovative companies with successful marketing campaigns today are combining social media, public relations, marketing communications, event sponsorship, and corporate social responsibility initiatives into their marketing plans. They leverage all of these emerging marketing opportunities to cross-promote and further build their brand.

Kris Ruby is President of Ruby Media Group, a premiere Public Relations and Social Media Marketing Agency serving Westchester and Fairfield County. For more information, please visit https://rubymediagroup.com

Date of publication: Westchester County Business Journal, February 21, 2012

Kris Ruby( CEO & Founder | Ruby Media Group )

KRIS RUBY is the CEO of Ruby Media Group, an award-winning public relations and media relations agency in Westchester County, New York. Kris Ruby has more than 15 years of experience in the Media industry. She is a sought-after media relations strategist, content creator and public relations consultant. Kris Ruby is also a national television commentator and political pundit and she has appeared on national TV programs over 200 times covering big tech bias, politics and social media. She is a trusted media source and frequent on-air commentator on social media, tech trends and crisis communications and frequently speaks on FOX News and other TV networks. She has been featured as a published author in OBSERVER, ADWEEK, and countless other industry publications. Her research on brand activism and cancel culture is widely distributed and referenced. She graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a major in public relations and is a founding member of The Young Entrepreneurs Council.  She is also the host of The Kris Ruby Podcast Show, a show focusing on the politics of big tech and the social media industry. Kris is focused on PR for SEO and leveraging content marketing strategies to help clients get the most out of their media coverage.