Leveraging Social Media for Your PR and Marketing

Just as print media has been hammered by the onslaught of new media marketing, so have the methods for disseminating information changed. Public Relations, getting the right message to the right people, has become a fast changing game. Markets have become affinity groups, communities and forums. The result: limiting PR exposure to conventional tactics yields increasingly diminishing returns.

The rising star of information dissemination, social media, began with college students: Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Bebo. There were blogs, forums, chat rooms and SMS (text messaging). In the beginning, these were viewed by many in the marketing/PR establishment as peripheral to 'real' marketing... just friendly banter among kids. There was no real connection to business, unless, maybe, you were selling music or t-shirts. Now, it's clear that social media can be a significant driver of brand awareness, preference, Web traffic and customer loyalty. Here's a summary of four of the most common social media and how they're transforming 'real' business marketing and PR.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn, the networking platform used by millions of professionals, is now being used by reporters and editors to find experts, sources and stories. Your profiles provide the background that editors need. Instead of waiting for them to reach out to you, savvy marketers are searching out the editors, writers and influencers and inviting them to join their networks. There are now groups for media associations and professional groups, so it's important to make sure you are doing your research and connecting with groups that are going to directly serve your purposes, and can benefit from what you are bringing into the group.

MySpace and Facebook
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have become integrated communities of people with similar interests. These include both opt-in communities, that help you build a strong base of potential clients, customers, or feeders for your placements. They want to be there, chose to be there, and are going to be much more inclined to purchase your goods, use your services or publish your stories, online and off.

Blogs
While your Web site remains an important component of your business, blogs have become a vital tool for search engine optimization (SEO), and building your thought leadership. Just like Web sites put everyone in the media business, blogs have democratized publishing. Now you can publish and disseminate your own content, well beyond the press release. Although, by virtue of their self-referential nature, blogs often imply less credibility than 'traditional' media, the ones with valuable content have become important sources of information for customers, influencers and other content providers and establish your credibility as an expert that leads to placements beyond your own blog.

Twitter
A social media with growing B2B and public relations potential, Twitter is a cross between instant messenger and micro-blogging. Twitter allows you to build a customized page and start 'following' people, hoping they 'follow' you back. In this way, you build your community. You can use your Twitters (or tweets) to let people know what you are doing, blast out your latest blog post via twitterfeed, advertise a special, request an expert, preview a product line or let them in on your latest discovery or accomplishments. Several companies have been using this with great success, including JetBlue, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. It works just as well for smaller companies, and is a great way to get the word out for service professionals.

Twitter is also fast becoming a must for PR professionals. Peter Shankman runs a little service called Help A Reporter Out (HARO). He has over 40,000 members and sends out requests from top-notch publications and productions in three e-mail blasts a day. When there is an urgent request, he hits Twitter. You can get an urgent HARO tweet, and have a placement for your client within 15 minutes.

Put Them All Together
Of course, you get the best bang when you integrate social media. Your Twitter can be on your blog, your MySpace, and your Facebook. You never know where someone is going to find you, so make sure that they have easy access to the best you have to offer.

It all can seem like information overload at times, so it's important to find one or two people whose work you really respect, and try to learn from them. You simply cannot be everywhere on the Web at all times, so it's good to have a solid foundation from which to begin your exploration.

By navigating the new technology as a marketing and public relations professionals, we're helping clients use technologies that are appropriate to their industries. We can boost profits, greatly increase placements, and build a Web presence that exudes authority.

Sure, it can be confusing and exhausting to try to stay on top of everything, but at the end of the day, great placements and happy clients make it worthwhile every time.

For more information on PR 2.0, contact Bethany Ruhe, director of public relations for DROZ, at 412.338.1818 or bruhe@droz.com.