Article Written By: kevinwaddel
The myth that social media makes PR obsolete will be crushed. One of the biggest myths in the last year is that social media experts – however you define them – make PR obsolete and unnecessary. Many professionals have bought into the belief that anyone who can use a Flip camera, build a Facebook page or make a few Twitter updates a day can now do PR.Sure, social media makes communication and promotions easier in some ways, but it doesn t negate the need for professional public relations experts. Did the ability to dial a phone or send an email make everyone good at PR? No. And neither does social media.PR professionals who are good at what they do still have a special knack for understanding psychologies of effective messaging and relationship building, the intricacies of good timing and the difference between effective promotion and positioning and outright spamming. If the marketing activity on Twitter is any indicator, good PR is certainly still needed.Transparency in business communications will weed the great PR executives from the bad. One of the traditional complaints about PR is that it s a lot of fluff, spin… or given other negative connotations otherwise implying BS. Another top complaint – by journalists, mostly – is that PR executives don t understand who they re pitching, what to pitch or why.With the advent of transparency, open communication and the integration of social media into everything that we do, our industry can t help but weed out the good from the bad. It will become very obvious in 2010 who the truly talented communicators and messaging mavens are. The rest will be finding new jobs.With the ability to easily measure influence, traffic and PR campaigns today, businesses will see that PR is easier to measure than ever before. As PR is no longer just about media placements – but rather, driving action from influencers directly – businesses can easily see (and rather quickly, too), if the money they pay for effective PR and marketing is working.With all the great measurement tools available today, any good PR executive or agency should be able to show a monthly list of results – whether it s brand mentions, media placements, site traffic, social media campaign participation, direct sales or otherwise. Any good communications professional today should be able to measure their efforts for you and ensure that your money is being spent more wisely than ever – positively impacting your bottom line.Good PR will be easier to identify, meaning businesses such as yours can spend marketing dollars more wisely than ever. It s easy to see if the PR professionals you hire or work with are respected, listened to and influential, making PR more honest, real and effective for your business.
This Article Has Been Published on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 and Read 185 Times