How Social Media Can Benefit Public Relations
There are over 3.2 billion active users on social media around the world, spending 2.5hrs/day on average on social media sites.
Now, more than ever, people are leveraging social media to share news and timely information. Public relations relies on social media to share this information.
Here are five ways to leverage social media for public relations:
1. Competitor research
Keep an eye on the competition, learn from them and collect valuable insights by evaluating their accounts. Learn how your client compares to competitors, and monitor the competition. Hashtags tell you a lot about your competitors’ SEO and content strategy. They’re a window into SEO keywords, media placements and Influencer partnerships.
2. Relationship-building with media
Sending a pitch to the wrong person, is often worse than sending no pitch at all. Social media can be used to stay up-to-date on a journalist’s current beat, and build relationships with them prior to pitching.
3. Influencer discovery
Social media can be used as an Influencer discovery tool. To be most effective Influencers should appeal to a specific audience, on a specific platform, about a specific topic. What works for one brand, is going to be much different for another, and social media can be used to figure out what’s best for you.
4. Content insights
Determine what content matters most to your target audience. Social data can be leveraged for content strategy. You can tell a story in a lot of different ways, and your content type (photo, video, infographic, GIF, etc) should reflect what your audience wants to consume. Content can also appeal to the media, as well as prospective customers.
5. Social listening
Social media is your first line of defence in mitigating crisis. Social listening - whether done manually, or using social listening tools - provides an opportunity to understand the public’s opinion before it turns into a trending topic. The smallest situation can turn into a firestorm if not managed properly. Above and beyond protection, social data shows key watering holes, topics and trends that assist with brand promotion. Through daily monitoring and engagement you can earn valuable category knowledge.
