CONVERGENCE: Social Media & PR

Robyn Stewart
Jun 11, 2014
2 min read

As any PR pro knows, social media is key. Jeff Barrett, CEO of Status Creative, explains how social media and public relations relate in this article.

“Social media is not a billboard, it’s a conversation”. Think about that for a second. Let it sink in...I think I can say with confidence that we have all been guilty of treating social media as a giant billboard at some point.

According to Barrett, we as PR pros need to use social media to strategically position conversations instead of posting content and hoping it goes viral.

We need to engage with our audiences. We need to get people talking instead of talking at them. We need to build relationships with our audiences and, more importantly, the decision makers at different media outlets. Barrett explains that THIS is public relations.

With social media we can easily identify trending stories and let’s face it, we need to be where the people want us to be. Social media can help extend the life cycle of a story. So, there’s no shame jumping on the bandwagon in this situation.

Now you know that there is in fact a method to this madness. But, what is the method? I’m glad you asked! Barrett gives his secret formula for using social media in PR.

Know your release date. He suggests keeping the information relevant and timely (one of the seven news values btw!).
Stay flexible. Sometimes trending topics come out of know where. Barrett explains that this is where creativity and being able to keep that tweet under 140 characters comes in!
Know who the influencers are. Barrett suggests “bribing” influencers with exclusive access to products or contents first. These people often have large reaches and building relationships with them is key!
Have an intriguing story that easily translates to traditional media. Most of the time the story will be picked up by traditional media and it is important to have additional content ready!

So remember, build relationships and engage with audiences on social media. It is not enough for us to simply throw the news at people anymore. They want to be involved.