Social media - don’t get cut on the bleeding edge

Lots of companies without social media PR experience are feeling under intense pressure to try it out.

They quite reasonably don’t want to be left behind by competitors whose online engagement appears to be growing.

The explosion in popularity of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook might make it seem compulsory for a company to start a social media presence.

Certainly, persuasive marketers have been keen to advocate social media tools, but do you really need them as part of your communications strategy?

I’ve come across some wise words from both the Chartered Institute of Public Relations here in the UK and the President of SiteLogic.com, Matt Bailey, in a video interview on WebProNews in the US.

The CIPR say that there is no single magic wand that can fully evaluate the effectiveness of social media – there are a number of ways based on analytics, trends, traffic and so on.

Key to it as always is defining clear objectives at the start of your activity and what success will look like at the end. Any activity has to be set against your business strategy and demonstrate value as with other parts of the PR and marketing mix.

The CIPR reminds members and their clients that openness and transparency are key elements to being successful and that, used correctly, social media can have a real and positive impact on business.

Matt Bailey also talks about using social media correctly and counsels against throwing your brand onto Twitter just for the sake of it.

Speaking to technology correspondent Abby Johnson on Web Pro News, he describes delving into social media without a proper plan as “surgery without diagnosis”.

He says the underlying business strategy is always key and that you have to choose the medium that suits your company. “It’s very easy to get distracted from your message by focusing too much on the medium,” he says.

Good points. Social media provide a direct, personal and global way to communicate, and PR pros ought to be up to speed.

But for companies who don’t have to be at the bleeding edge of technology trends, there are plenty of other PR tactics and strategies to pursue. They can engage when it is right to do so but should also not be afraid to say no.