PR and Social Media
I’ve had many conversations about PR and its use of social media. It’s been discussed in various chats on Twitter as well as at conferences. On a few occasions now I’ve heard people talk about the PR work that they do managing a client’s social media account. I do believe wholeheartedly that managing a social media account for an organization should be under the direction of the public relations discipline.
The social media engagement, however, should not constitute an organization’s complete PR program. Perhaps there are a few organizations out there that can get away with that, but to create a mutually beneficial experience for an organization and its target publics, more than tweeting will be necessary. Meanwhile, people who haven’t been trained in public relations and really don’t fully comprehend what PR is shouldn’t claim to fulfill an organization’s PR needs simply because they track friends and fans and followers in Facebook and Twitter.
Some of this was part of what Jenny Luth and I talked about at the Grand Rapids Social Media (GRSM) lunch event yesterday. A good group joined us for the excellent dialog about roles and responsibilities in social media and what constitutes effective PR for an organization.
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Lindsay B on 06.26.2010
I feel like this blog post could have come straight from my brain! I’m glad you brought up this concept of the blended social media job description. I feel like social media managers and professionals who deal with community management spend almost half of their time practicing PR skills.
I recently wrote a guest blog post about my own experiences with this very topic for SPECK Media. In that post, I mentioned that I think employers do not put enough emphasis on seeking social media professionals who understand PR or have strong PR abilities. Thanks for bringing light to this often overlooked subject in social media!