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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PR AND SOCIAL MEDIA?

The diversification of the media landscape, driven by consumer empowerment in the internet age, has significantly expanded media choices. A prominent outcome of this shift is social media, where people can both select and create their media content, revolutionizing the way information is shared.

Social media primarily consists of tools that enable the public to participate in online communities, exchanging information, ideas, personal messages, and multimedia content. This “new media” is distinct from traditional newspapers and broadcast media; it is fast-moving and often ahead of conventional news, providing real-time updates directly from the source. As such, it is best for PR professionals to approach social media with the same strategic importance as traditional media relations.

Effective Social Media Strategies

One prime Dubai example of an effective social media engagement strategy was during ‘The Address Downtown Dubai’ New Year’s Eve hotel fire. A crisis management operation was launched by the hotel’s media office in response to this on social media, with a negative event turned around into a positive opportunity to engage with the public.

Such real-time responses can also be utilised on apps like Instagram, where fun and engaging photos can be tagged with hashtags, to feed into and capitalise on the latest trending topics. These approaches provide opportunities for the more savvy PR plans, which can employ social media apps and websites, to go directly to the consumer and engage with them on their terms. This live real-time coverage of events has been widely used by new apps in recent years, such as Periscope and Facebook Live. Both of these provide a real-time ability to interact with viewers using cameras on smartphones, answering questions and obtaining feedback on live broadcasts.

A Synthesized Approach

The approaches outlined see social teams responsible for tweeting, live streaming and sharing content across different channels in real-time. In this case, social media becomes the media­ – specialist social media teams have full control of the content they share with the public, when they share it and how it is shared. This content should provide a synthesis between social media expertise and the wider PR strategy, which springs from a partnership between the PR and media experts.

Social Media and Reputations

Social media has become inextricably linked with company reputation and can impact brand reputation through symbiotic flows. The public feeds into digital reputation and in turn, digital reputation feeds into public reputation. Therefore to communicate with your public it is important to engage with them where they choose to interact with each other, share stories and share their lives.

By facilitating interactions that align with the PRSA’s definition of PR as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics,” social media becomes a vital component of any effective communication strategy.