A Modest Proposal To Combine Social Media and Public Relations Into Social Relations
First, a confession.
I’m a PR guy and have been for years.
When I started my career in public relations in the late ‘80s, I imagine the profession was a lot like it was when pioneers like Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee got things started at the turn of the 20th century. Which is to say, it hadn’t advanced all that much. Most people I talk to still associate PR with the same thing they did in the ‘80s: media relations. And the chief weapon in the PR person’s quiver remains the anachronistic press release.
The Century-Old Challenge For Public Relations
It took decades for public relations as a discipline to earn the respect of corporations, namely corporate management. Along the way, PR professionals worked hard to demonstrate the value of comprehensive initiatives aimed at building trust among companies and the “publics” they depend on.
Yet those same pros have remained Rodney Dangerfields within the communications suite, constantly seeking respect among their colleagues. While that respect has largely been earned, the profession as a whole continues to suffer from a lack of understanding and disagreement about what exactly PR is, both among its practitioners and the public at large. Nevertheless, in spite of these issues, public relations is an established, accepted practice.
Social Media: The New Kid On The Block
Now, just when PR people thought they didn’t have enough to contend with, along comes the greatest revolution since the dawn of the Internet: social media. In just a few short years, social media has achieved an unrivaled level of excitement and demand. Social media is suddenly the hottest thing going. And it is both challenging and reinvigorating an industry that, by many accounts, had become moribund next to Web marketing. Authors Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge sum up what’s happening in the title of their bestselling book: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR.
They got it half right, I think. Social media is certainly putting the public back in public relations—along with a lot of other disciplines (sales, marketing, advertising and customer service). However, I’m not sure social media is reinventing the PR business. More likely, social media is gaining traction because smart PR people recognize that, number one, it falls under the public relations umbrella and, two, it provides a fantastic opportunity to use technology to connect with audiences like never before. Particularly since the linchpins of the PR trade—media relations and the press release—are quickly working their way to the communications morgue.
Of course, marketing, advertising and IT folks can argue that they should “control” social media. But social media needs surpass those areas. And those other disciplines haven’t mastered the crucial skills of empathy, constituency building and comprehensive communications strategy and execution as PR professionals have. (The good ones, anyway.)
Public relations is entitled to be the ring leader for social media activities, as Jason Falls, Jason Keath and other social media pundits have observed. It’s already happening—because public relations has a proven track record in serving as a management function that establishes and maintains the relationships necessary for an organization’s survival. At the same time, a lot of social media experts are running circles around PR people, who haven’t grasped some of the fundamental differences needed for social media vs. traditional public relations.
The Challenge For Social Media
Social media matches up well with the standard definition of PR. It’s also easy for people to grasp the underlying principles behind social media, which boil down to the three T’s: Trust, Transparency and Two-Way Communications. Yet social media faces huge hurdles: convincing management of its overall value, and establishing a seat at the boardroom table.
While some companies have embraced social media, the vast majority are taking a more cautious approach. They are asking whether social media is a fad, or if it’s here to stay—and in the meantime relying in large part on time-tested techniques for gaining awareness and responding to customers and prospects. Social media frankly scares the bejesus out of many companies, and for good reasons—lack of control, unknown ROI, insufficient manpower and legal risks, to name a few.
So now we’re at this odd but exciting crossroads. In this direction is public relations, a known and proven entity, albeit dusty and boring and in need of a shot of adrenaline. Over here, we have this shiny new contender, social media. Seemingly the Holy Grail of Communications, it is fueled by constant barrage of messages, tools that primarily belong to someone else and mostly younger people without the scars to prove their worth. It feels a whole lot like the mid-to-late ‘90s, when crazy young bucks (like me) were starting web design firms and ranting like street preachers about how the Internet would change everything. It’s irrational exuberance all over again.
Do All Roads Lead To…Social Relations?
Where is all this headed?
Like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, public relations and social media seem destined to join forces. They are two great things that work even better together. PR desperately needed a hero, and social media swooped in like Superwoman at just the right moment—offering cheap, ubiquitous, direct communications tools to battle the Great Recession.
Ironically, the savvy new social media experts realized they needed PR to broaden their appeal beyond Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs (the social media equivalents of press releases). They are now seeking the maturity and wisdom of PR practitioners, as well as pursuing broad acceptance by people who control the communications’ purse strings.
PR and social media are in a virtual online horse race, without a clear winner. Google “public relations” and you get 35,000,000 results. “Social media” is close behind with 31,000,000 results. Note that the latter results were garnered in the last 2-3 years, compared to PR’s 100+. Granted, the web as we know it has been around since about 1996—which should still give PR a much larger lead than it currently enjoys.
My solution is for public relations and social media to walk down the aisle and join in holy matrimony as social relations. Google search results for “social relations”: 4,170,000
I predict that both of these professions can’t co-exist forever. Recall that social media started its short life as “social marketing.” Since those golden days of yesteryear, circa 2008, it has already had an identity crisis.
Both of these crafts/professions/disciplines would benefit and profit from a more unified moniker. Public relations is too stodgy to carry the flag for both, in my opinion. Hey kids, what would you rather study in college—social media or PR?
On the other hand, social media is too self-referential to tools (online media properties) vs. the actual usage of the tools and the holistic approach to “social media” as an evolutionary communications practice.
Social relations has a nice ring to it. Public media? Not so much. Ditto for social media relations.
Social should move to the forefront, replacing public and representing the new overarching framework for creating ongoing dialogues between companies and consumers.
Convincing proponents in either camp to accept a combined term will be challenging. PR will argue that it’s the proven profession. Social media will claim it is usurping the “old man.” But both can’t continue without forfeiting certain bragging rights and revenue to the opposing side. Years ago, integrated marketing was all the rage, then vanished when the Internet showed up. Suddenly everything splintered, with web design and later SEO firms and other specialists taking away big chunks of creativity, production and money from advertising, PR and marketing agencies.
If PR firms aren’t careful, they stand to lose out to social media experts. Likewise, social media professionals are at risk for becoming niche players.
Social relations would be the start of a beautiful new partnership, with companies and consumers as the real winners in a new era of open communications.
