Social Media and Public Relations: A match made in heaven

When I first began studying Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Centennial College I was a complete social media virgin. This is embarrassing to admit, but quite honestly, I don’t think I had ever even heard the term used. Of course I had my Facebook account, but I simply looked at that as a way to keep in touch with friends and creep on unsuspecting people’s photos to see what they had done the previous weekend.

I think back to that time oh so long ago (not even seven months ago) and I wonder how I could have been so blind and clueless.

When I began studying PR my world became completely saturated with social media. Twitter, blogs, RSS feeds, delicious accounts; I felt like I was living my entire life online. Social media became an integral part of my PR life. I was hooked.

However, not everyone believes that PR and social media belong together. There is a ongoing debate about whether social media belongs in the hands of PR professionals. To this, I say YES!

The reason is simple. And since someone already said it better then I could have first, I’ll quote him. In his blog, Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls states that social media belongs in the hands of PR people because, “Social media is a method of communications. Social media tools facilitate these communications. To be effective in social media, whether as a marketer or just an ordinary participant, you must, first and foremost, communicate well”.

While many larger organizations are finally realizing the value of social media when it comes to communicating with customers and consumers on a whole new level, often they have no idea which department within the organization should handle the responsibility of creating and maintaining social media sites. To this Falls say, “Yes, social media tools are mostly driven by technology. But they are driven by technology to deliver a message or messages. You don’t trust your IT department to layout your print ad. Why would you trust them to run your blog?”

Social media is used mainly to COMMUNICATE with consumers. To engage them in conversation in ways that we couldn’t before. It boggles my mind to think that organizations would consider anyone other then PR professionals to carry out this important task – after all, that’s what were here for.

From my experiences with social media, it seems that it is almost primarily a domain for PR practitioners. Take twitter for instance, all of the individuals I follow, minus the few ghostwriters posing as celebs, come from the PR world. While other professions and individuals are rapidly jumping on the twitter band wagon, I believe it was PR professionals who first welcome twitter with open arms and made it a part of their daily, and in some O.C.T.D (obsessive compulsive twitter disorder) cases, a part of their hourly lives.

In my final attempt to prove that social media truly does belong in the hands of PR practitioners, I once again use Jason Fall’s wise words to make my case. He write, “Assuming we can trim away the corporate speak and manage transparent communications efforts in years to come, public relations representatives are the least likely to sell and most capable of speaking as humans to humans, rather than up-selling hucksters to “consumers.””

And after all, isn’t that one of the things that social media is all about? Creating communities where people are free to communicate, share opinions or join discussions in a setting free from blatant consumer pressures?