Remember a time before #hashtags, social media managers, and teams dedicated to real-time marketing during major sporting events like the Super Bowl? As more and more consumers are heading online during big cultural moments – whether they be awards shows, large-scale sporting events or major political forums like presidential debates – social media has become a real-time battlefield of public opinion. From the Oreo Super Bowl ”Dunk in the Dark” ad campaign to Miley Cyrus’ shocking performance at the Grammys, instantaneous communications between brands and consumers are becoming the norm, placing more and more demands on 24/7 PR teams around the globe.
OK, so I’m a bit nostalgic. While I’m definitely a tech-geek who loves social media, I do remember only a decade ago when things moved just a wee bit slower, when people logged their disapproval toward a company not through Tweets and Facebook posts but through meticulously crafted letters and irate phone calls to customer service agents (I’m sure you caught this recent customer service call that resulted in a crazy amount of negative press for Comcast).
Sure, some unhappy customers still take this old-school approach but in today’s technologically infused, short-attention-span-is-acceptable society, it’s so much easier for people to hide behind their keyboards and share their beef with the entire world through 140-characters or less, cute emoticons, and a safety-in-numbers mentality. But what this new paradigm highlights is a growing need for real-time PR professionals to respond quickly to breaking news and situations that may arise through these channels.
It goes without saying that real-time customer engagement demands instantaneous PR and crisis management approaches to address issues quickly for brands and corporations. Do you remember the communications executive who sent a grossly inappropriate tweet before her business trip to Africa, setting off a firestorm of negative publicity? While she was on the plane without Internet access, the digital realm exploded with tweets calling for her removal, with news outlet after news outlet covering the story to exhaustion.
While this situation was extremely unfortunate for everyone involved, the executive’s controversial tweet presented an opportunity for her company’s PR team to quickly and diplomatically address the situation, highlighting the importance of real-time PR monitoring and response. Within hours, her employer issued a statement about her termination, acting as a reminder to us all that real-time communications demand us to be both mindful and accountable for our online behavior.
While I reminisce about a time when PR moved a bit more slowly in the days before social media – when there was an inherent beauty in having enough time to mindfully respond to each individual complaint – I wouldn’t turn back the clock. The integration of social media into our daily lives means that everyone has a voice in shaping brand conversations and perceptions. Real-time communication channels also mean PR pros get to be a lot more creative and selective about what and how they respond.
With information constantly flowing forward via newsfeeds and Tweets, it’s only a matter of time before another news cycle ignites that will consume people’s online attention.