The advent of the Internet has been no less revolutionary for the way people relate with the world around them, than the discovery of the use of fire or the invention of wheel was for early man. Among the most important advancements in communication technology that was spawned by the Internet revolution is the introduction of social media channels of communications.
While on the one hand these have diminished the importance of traditional media to communicate on behalf of brands; they have on the other hand provided communicators with a very powerful medium to reach out one's message in quick time to an extremely focused and targeted social media. What's more the effectiveness of the message can be measured on the basis of real time feedback from the recipients.
This has caused a paradigm shift in the way PR or Public Relations professionals have begun to practice outreach on behalf of their clients. The traditional rigmarole of shooting out press releases, holding press conferences, organising interactions and an occasional Op-Ed will no longer do. In an era where newspapers and TV channels struggle to survive and assorted bloggers, online news portals, and social media messaging redefine the rules of the game all the time, up-skilling is the need of the hour for communication and PR professionals.
The last Indian General Elections saw the now Prime Minister Narendra Modi leverage the power of social media to communicate directly with his target audience-young aspirational India and blow into smithereens the reputation and electoral chances of the more than a century old Congress party which had lorded over the country for more than sixty years. Modi continues to see no use for the cantankerous and noisy traditional media and treats them with the contempt they probably deserve. No more do you hear of expensive overseas junkets to self important journalist who think no end of themselves. Instead he would rather engage with the government owned Doordarshan or wires like PTI and ANI. Above all he continues to rely on social media, which keep him in direct and daily touch with millions of his followers in India and abroad.
There are a number of advantages that accrue to a communications professional, PR consultant or marketer by leveraging the use of social media-
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1. You can publicly address an issue on an immediate basis:
If a car company has noticed that a lot of complaints have been coming in pertaining to issues with the brakes on a certain model of car, they can immediately address the owners of that particular model on social media, advising them to suspend the use of their car, and wait for the company to contact them for carrying out a rectification of the problem.
This could prevent a crisis in the making and forestall the necessity of an expensive recall across several models.
2. Mass sharing of information:
A company or for that matter a politician can show their concern for their constituency by sending them updates that concern them. A mobile phone manufacturer can let its customers know about upgrades that they can download or new models they can purchase online.
A politician can let the people know of the initiatives they have taken, and what else to expect going forward.
3. Direct and interactive access:
I was once informed about the cancellation of my flight a mere three hours before departure and it took a great deal of effort to somehow get myself a ticket on another airline to make it back home in time. As I wasn't too happy with the way the cancelling airline handled the issue I tweeted about it.
By the time I landed, I had received a response from the airline's customer services department apologising for the inconvenience caused and expressing their desire to speak to me about it and assuage my feelings!
4.Inexpensive:
If you are a self published author who know that you have a masterpiece on your hands, yet don;t have the monetary muscle to publicise your work, get on board the social media marketing and PR express and see how with a relatively small sum of investment you can reach out to hundreds and thousands of prospective buyers.
PR practitioners have to master the art of creating engaging social media posts for their customers, Tools like Hootsuite enable one to post across multiple channels in a manner of minutes, thereby granting the ability to manage the social media campaigns of a large number of clients. What's more one no longer has to pitch to the mighty mandarins of traditional media hoping that the powers that be see merit in the message you want them to carry.
Social Media give you the wherewithal to send out the message that you want without having to worry about journalist oversight. Any tempering that your content might need will come from your intended target audience and not some self appointed arbiters of the kind of messaging that is right for your target audience.
