Social Media’s Influence Over PR…

The old chicken and egg conundrum

There is not a moment in my professional life these days that I am not faced with how important social media now is to the planning and execution of any program that dares to call itself, public relations. While that may well be true given that both clients and practitioners are demanding its inclusion in all RFP’s and resulting proposals, it’s being done so with or without much knowledge as to exactly what it is, how it works, or most importantly…what it accomplishes.

Well ok, if that’s what the clients want then those of us on the agency side will be happy to oblige. After all, we’ve heard about it for at least nine months now and it’s been covered in hundreds of “how to” books, and corporate CEO’s refer to it almost offhandedly as an extension of their dependence on their Blackberries. It’s not only the flavor of the year, but apparently may linger now that Oprah, Ashton, and even the Obama administration is utilizing it to readjust our dependence on prosperity to, well…less prosperity.

And while I find it amazing that this demand and fulfillment (at least in the proposal stage) continues to expand at cyber-speed it seems, I also am curious as to how this all started to have such industry significance in such a short period of time. Was it literally someone in the media, a young reporter perhaps used to conversing over the internet rather than over a water cooler or expensive lunch, that first suggested he be pitched via a crowd of his ‘friends and followers’ instead of directly. Or was it some industrious agency type that first realized that this same reporter is probably joining some of these online social communities for personal reasons, and therefore a wandering, open, and vulnerable target for his pitch. Or perhaps it was nothing more a chance meeting online between like minded souls…the reporter doing research, the PR person fishing, and a couple of shareholders and customers ranting or praising, finding themselves in a room together, all listening and talking at the same time… eureka, a new form of communication is born.

And of course, once it was determined that not only reporters and producers communicate and socialize on the Net, but our clients’ customers and stakeholders do the same, often at the same time, that “social media relations” as a brand new PR practice was born. Like much of PR, it’s a little subjective and usually difficult to describe why it’s important beyond, “everyone is doing it.” That’s ok as well. We’ll soon enough all get around to thoroughly understanding social media and its execution in a well structured public relations program. However, measuring its tangible benefits and developing fair compensation may take a little longer. Let’s hope this happens before we aging PR types have to face the next all important thing.