Public Relations Taking Lead in Social Media

In a recent blog, Michael Cherenson, chairman and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America wrote: Public relations isn’t declining at the hands of social media; it’s gaining, as social media provides opportunities to build relationships in new ways, and as companies seek guidance on effective and credible ways to leverage the new tools.

He bases his point of view on a study, the 2009 Digital Readiness Report, conducted by iPressroom with support from the Public Relations Society of America, which found that public relations professionals are firmly in the lead when it comes to managing an organization’s use of social media communications channels.

What’s the driving force behind all of this? The numbers… Social media dominates the online space. According to Nielsen Online, social networks and blogs are the fourth most popular activity people engage in online – even beating personal e-mail. In terms of blogs alone, there are nearly 140 million, by some counts.

Of course, the Public Relations New York world and beyond has been all atwitter (pardon the intended pun) about the power of social media for quite some time now. While those Public Relations New York firms were fairly quick to embrace new technologies, the rest of the world has quickly caught up.

While the earliest uses of social media focused on consumer applications, we at Makovsky + Company, a leading Public Relations New York firm, we were quick to recognize the value of applying social media to campaigns on behalf of our B2B clients. Social media offers businesses a dedicated channel that can prove invaluable for sharing, refining, and evaluating messages and can be critically important in the event of a crisis.

Where does social media fit in the communications arsenal? Some claim it belongs in marketing while public relations New York firms (and others) claim that it is really just another medium, one that is as uncontrollable as traditional media, and, as such belongs in the PR basket. In his blog, Cherenson of the Public Relations Society of America, notes: There are a number of reasons why organizations are looking to public relations professionals to lead their social media efforts. Social media puts the consumer in control, and public relations professionals are accustomed to operating in an environment that cedes control to others. Too, public relations has always been about engaging with key audiences to establish mutually beneficial relationships. Plus, public relations is a two-way discipline; it disseminates information about an organization and brings back information for analysis and response.