Given the current economic conditions and the demise of many print publications, conversations are increasingly taking place online through networks and platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. We recently wrote a blog post about the power of Twitter and the impact of Facebook on companies like Coca-Cola. There’s no doubt social media is a hot topic right now.
As professionals are getting acquainted with the changing digital space they want to know how to leverage these mediums to achieve business and communications objectives. PRWeek recently gathered a roundtable of professionals to discuss the impact of digital media and how companies can leverage it to secure key business objectives. The roundtable discussion outlined best practices for leveraging the various digital media platforms. Here are a few key takeaways from the discussion:
Digital in a down economy
Social media is growing exponentially. However, in a down economy there is added pressure to deliver measurable results. When implementing social media campaigns, it is important to outline anticipated results, how the results will be measured and communicate the strategic value of the campaign – to show how these results align with business and communications objectives.
Impact on traditional journalism
Traditional reporters are also blogging – many of them are gathering information from a variety of sources such as Twitter, Facebook and corporate blogs. During the PRWeek roundtable, Paul Berg with Southwest Airlines commented, “It really changes how PR should be thinking about things as basic as their talking points. It’s not a quote in a story anywhere. You have to go a lot deeper than that.” The way we communicate with journalists and conduct media briefings is changing. Everything is instantaneous now. Before the rise of social media it would take a journalist a couple of days to publish a story, now they can do it in real-time through blog posts and Twitter updates.
Corporate blogging
From company Facebook pages to corporate blogs and Twitter accounts, some executives are finding it hard to differentiate their personal accounts from their corporate accounts. Marc Monseau with Johnson & Johnson commented, “When you’re corporate blogging as well, you still need to have your personal identity in that blog, but it needs to be your professional identity.” We’ve seen examples of this going wrong with the Ketchum employee’s tweet that caused controversy with its clients. Remember, personal is now public and what you say on your personal Twitter account or Facebook page could affect your professional relationships.
Staying up-to-speed
Being versed in the social media landscape is now more important than ever. When Marcy Cohen, a participant of the roundtable discussion and senior PR manager for Sony Electronics was looking to hire another member for his team, he looked at 50 resumes and couldn’t find the word social media or social networking on any of them. We can’t stress this enough. In order to get familiar with the social media landscape, you have to participate, and as the saying goes, “get your hands dirty.”
To learn more about the impact of social media and best practices for leveraging these emerging technologies, read the PRWeek roundtable discussion here.