How Are You Using Social Media For Your Clients

Kyle Lacy is challenging the public relations establishment in his blog post, "The Failing Marketing and PR World." "I am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of blog writing by public relations, marketing, and advertising firms in the city of Indianapolis and abroad," says Lacy, the owner of Brandswag. "The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least." 

I'm not one to pry into your business. What you do is what you do. And how you do it is probably better than what I could do. You see, we've got a lot of seasoned professionals with long track records of success working in PR. They own agencies, work for non-profits, manage corporate communications. But Lacy isn't convinced we get it. "If there are any industries that should be on the forefront of social media and blogging it is the public relations and marketing worlds," he says.

While there are a few agencies experimenting with social media, I've talked with one agency owner about his effort, I don't see many of us embracing social media as tools of engagement. I wonder why that is?

Sure I see some Tweeting (here's my shout out to @KimJackson, @cdashnaw, @jmregnier and @chuckgose) Less we forget the Hoosier Chapter of PRSA tweets @HoosierPRSA. And @rmpuckett is tweeting too, as well as @Efriedland and @kjbonnell  Yes, there's more of you tweeting, but these were easier to find. 

Although many of us are tweeting among ourselves, how are we incorporating it into communication strategy for our clients? Let's take that and expand on it.

1. How are we using blogging and social media releases?
2. When was the last time we built a social media newsroom a la PitchEngine for a client?
3. What about blogger relations? 
4. How are we developing strategy that incorporates social media into larger communication plans?

Where I work, we're having a blogger summit in July. We're flying in 29 of the top bloggers in our industry. And we're slowly developing a strategy and some rules of engagement.

In his post, Lacy is fixated on blogging, pointing out, "YOU are the communications arm for major brands both large and small. YOU are driving them out of business because of your lack of knowledge pertaining to the changing world."

Is his a fair assessment? I pose the question to you.

Comments

[Elizabeth Friedland]

Our agency is fairly heavy into social media, incorporating it into nearly all of our clients' overall marketing/PR plans. In fact, our work has gained national attention from technology blogs and magazines, as well as PR industry publications, for our use of social media for our clients. Our PR team certainly understands social media -- and we understand that it's just ONE tool we have at our disposal.

I even spoke at a national Vocus conference (a company that specializes in PR software) that explored social media and PR -- and we had more than 3,000 attendees! Pick up any PR trade and you'll see so many social media stories your will spin. Therefore, I'm not quite sure where Lacy's argument even lays.

However, I do think Kyle Lacy fails to understand what exactly PR is. I can't blame him -- it's a tough industry to get your mind around, and even PR veterans have a tough time explaining PR to "lay' people.

We're not about social media for the sake of social media. We don't want to blog just to blog, to tweet just to tweet. We don't want our agencies or our clients to turn into social media vomit. We evaluate social media channels carefully, taking time to decide how and when and if to weave them into a client's campaign. I don't think it's correct to blog on some kind of schedule for the sake of getting your name out there. What Lacy doesn't understand is that social media is not a popularity contest, and, more to the point, being out there the most, or being the "biggest" blogger or tweeter doesn't mean you're achieving any kind of real result. As the old saying goes, quantity is not quality.

Just as Lacy is "concerned about the lack of blogging by public relations firms," I'm concerned about the amount of blogging of social media firms. If you've got a full client load and you're putting in long hours making sure you're delivering the best results possible for them, who has the time to blog, tweet and post so frequently?

Our clients are paying us to make their brands better but utilizing EVERY strategic tool at our disposal -- not just social media. They're not paying us to try to launch ourselves into the social media "digiratti."

[Cindy Dashnaw]

Doug Karr and Compendium Blogware shares "10 Ways to Promote Your Corporate Blog" at http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/social-media-domination/0/0/10-ways-to-promote-your-corporate-blog. Maybe it'll help.

(Thanks for the shout out, Rodger!)

[Gus Pearcy]

Elizabeth's comments are dead on. PR is not about the method; it's about the results.

Why is Lacy so sure that PR firms are not using social media? Firms work for a client. The strategy is not something to brag about.

It's like revealing the secret behind sawing the lady in half. It's clever, but it's no longer magic.

[Rodger D. Johnson]

You know folks, I'm not sure if Lacy is talking about PR agencies using social media for their clients, or social media to eek out thought leadership real estate in cyberspace. Maybe its both. Having as much conversation with Lacy on this topic, I'm guessing both.

Gus you make a good point. Touting what tactics are strategies we employ for our clients is tantamount to "revealing the secret behind sawing the lady in half."

I do think as PR pros it's important that we blog for the industry's sake and to generate new business. To explain best practices and establish that thought leadership real estate I mentioned.

[Theresa Browning]

Perhaps Mr. Lacy would like to attend next week's Pinnacle Awards luncheon and observe the social media category. It may prove or disprove the allegations he has made about PR people.

[Erik Deckers]

Actually social media IS about being the most popular, because being the most popular blogger or Twitterer in your industry leads to improved search engine rankings. Improved rankings leads to more web traffic. More web traffic leads to more customers. More customers lead to more sales.

[Ryan Puckett]

First of all, yes, many PR and marcom professionals are not using social media enough. However, I am SICK of digital professionals and social media advocates thinking it’s the end-all-be-all or a separate function from the communications professional’s bag of tricks.

Traditional media still matters. It’s where people go for confirmation and more details. When Steve McNair was shot this past weekend, I was with a group of friends. My wife read it on Twitter (on her phone) and the crowd started pontificating if it was a hoax (a la Jeff Goldblum’s rumored death) or not. Then she went to CNN’s site and was like “Yep, it’s on CNN. It’s official,” and everyone agreed.

Today, Kyle tweets: "The battle between PR and Social Media rages on..." linking you here. Hey Kyle, there is no battle! The only battle I’m witnessing is the verbal battle precipitated by social media advocates that they are the only one’s best-equipped for the job or that you NEED a digital-focused company to properly execute a social media campaign.

Any thoughts like this are akin to a company web site being the domain of the tech department versus the marcom dept. I think we’ve all come to realize that communications professionals are best equipped to supply content to a web site. We still need tech professionals to do the heavy lifting behind the scenes, creating graphics, etc. We still need people to help us figure out social media measurement, things like API and why it’s important. We still need people to seek out new digital tools, trends, etc.

The other thing I’d like to say is that Kyle is the Public Relations (PR) business whether he likes it or not. Why do I say that? Because social media is about relationships and PR is about relationships (the R part of PR). The "publics" are your different audiences and the online audience, whether employees, consumers, friends, investors or whomever is just one of many “publics” a company, brand or person has.

Lacy also says, "The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least."

Ummm… hey Kyle, have you not noticed the tremendous interest in our chapter in all topics related to social media? Have you not noticed the hundreds of webinars, conferences, boot camps, etc., hosted by PRSA and other marcom-related organizations like Ragan, Vocus, IABC, Bulldog Reporter and others? I agree with this statement by Elizabeth: “I'm not quite sure where Lacy's argument even lays.”

The fact of the matter is social media tools should absolutely be part of a PR or marcom pro’s arsenal. It may not be right for every client, company or brand, but it’s more than likely got some value. We should all be dipping our toes in the social media waters just like the first pros who used email to send news releases and the pro who followed up with a reporter by email instead of phone.

One other thing… if you do start using social media, know why you are doing it and what you are trying to achieve.

[Kyle Lacy]

Well I had a sweet comment but for some reason it was lost in the fray.

I have always been an advocate of an integrated approach when it comes to marketing. If you can use traditional media with new media (digital media) more power to you! You should be doing this every chance you get.

I am also pretty fed up with social media "experts" talking about social media being the only way to reach your consumer. This is truly not the case.

@Ryan: I am basing my argument off of what I see in the industry. This has nothing to do with the educational opportunities that PRSA implements. This has to do with the amount of people I have talked to that ARE not getting social media education or support from their PR firms. Maybe I should send those clients to a Ditto or a TrendyMinds. Because yes they are doing ti right despite the fact Elizabeth has an online vendetta against me. :-)

One quick note: If anyone truly believes that we do not take care of our clients because we tweet and blog so often... i had to laugh because that is ridiculous. This business is my life and there is a reason I make time to write once or twice a day. We wouldn't be a company if we didn't take care of our clients.

It is about firms actually implementing social media into their strategy.

Do you want an example? KSM. We all know the firm. They do not have a clue what is being said about them in the online environment. There are countless banks that would be stunned if you said something bad about them online. Online reputation management should be a service every PR firm offers as a strategy package.

I love this blog and I hope that it makes a difference in the PR community. And to the comment about lunch on Wednesday.. I unfortunately will not be available because of a previously scheduled lunch meeting with a client. I will be there soon.

[Robby Slaughter]

As someone outside the public relations business, I'm most interested in the PR of PR. Elizabeth Friedland says above that PR is "a tough industry to get your mind around", and that even "PR veterans have a tough time explaining PR to "lay' people." That's a surprising statement: aren't PR people supposed to be some of the best at communicating ideas to the general public?

Gus Pearcy notes that: "PR is not about the method; it's about the results." and goes on to compare PR to the magic act of sawing someone in half. That seems a little disturbing too: is PR merely analogous to a complex illusion designed to fool people? This seems especially poignant given then emphasis of authenticity in social media circles.

Ryan Puckett complains that "Hey Kyle, there is no battle! The only battle I’m witnessing is the verbal battle precipitated by social media advocates that they are the only one’s best-equipped for the job or that you NEED a digital-focused company to properly execute a social media campaign."

Perhaps there is no *actual* battle between PR and social media, but there is certainly a *perceived* battle from outside. To us non-PR folks, it seems like PR is mostly about about small numbers of people using mass media to sway public opinion, whereas social media is mostly about denying the authority of mass media.

Ryan Puckett is right in saying that "Traditional media still matters." But I wonder how much longer that will be the case. Already, all of the major media sources reference social media. Will traditional media become a memory?

As for Kyle Lacy's original post, I think his concern is that if you look around, many---if not most---people who wear the PR hat are not really leveraging social media. In fact most of the people in this thread seem to think social media is just another tool in the PR toolbox.

But again, from the outside, it looks like a sea change. Social media appears to be a fundamental shift to re-engage individual empowerment over the conversation. We are looking for the example where one angry anonymous blogger takes down a corporation; how a revolting nation full of cellphone cameras can inspire outcry and response. Social media will either be the most important phenomena in the history of media, or, just another communications technology along the line.

We shall see.

[Josh]

As a person who is NOT a PR professional but does work in marketing, it seems like the adoption rate might be slower in these org's for several reasons. Time to adopt, approve, strategize and do it all correctly is much higher than if you jump in head first. And, realistically, traditional agencies may find that social media doesn't fit their current strategy. It seems awkward to work at it for a year and then have to back out. That makes you look pretty ridiculous. And maybe it's manpower or budget. These things to take time, money and willpower to work. Without those commitments ahead of time, you're looking at another embarrassing failure. Perhaps companies choose to delay until those resources can be confirmed. And maybe, it's that the agencies who are represented by PR firms don't have message or content that would be effectively spread via social media. Likewise, DM may not be the best for an org. It's a matter of choosing the correct medium to send the message.

I'm not saying it's not a great thing (you'll note that I use it as well...) but that doesn't mean that there aren't ample reasons for it not to be a ubiquitous as some believe it should (not saying that Kyle suggested that). If we, in the PR and marketing professions, take this seriously, we know that there are plenty of reasons to NOT use a medium or to take longer and have a solid strategy. Adoption rate doesn't necessarily correlate to ability.

[Douglas Karr]

This is the perfect conversation to be happening on a blog for advancing the PR profession. To some extent, the comments above actually provide proof that there 'is a battle'. It's playing out right here in these comments.

My two cents is that, as I look at social media and reputation management, there's one single sector of the marketing industry that's poised to adopt these mediums... and that's PR professionals. However, as also mentioned above, I see many working within their comfort zone rather than adopting these new technologies.

For the PR pros who are here touting their social media usage - that's fantastic! But there are so many more out there (I won't mention some of the largest, national PR agencies here in Indy) who are NOT adopting these technologies. Even worse, they're 'poo-pooing' social media to their clients. That's who I believe Kyle is speaking about.

It's a similar arrogance that I saw in the newspaper industry as online media was on the rise. We did not invest, we did not adopt the technologies, and - as a result - the newspaper industry is now dying a quick death. The irony is that they had the professionals, the capital, and the reach to drive innovation. Instead, they never thought their Titanic would go down.

I think Kyle is right - PR professionals who don't take the time to understand Twitter, Facebook, RSS, blogging, social networking, etc. are doing their clients a disservice. These are all fantastic mediums to gain exposure and build public relations. That's not to say ALL PR professionals aren't doing it, but there's enough that it's a concern.

For those of you who HAVE adopted these technologies and mediums, I guarantee you'll be getting much more business as traditional PR agencies fade away.

Great conversation!

[Ryan Puckett]

This has been a great thread, full of smart observations (mine excluded) and thought provoking arguments.

I should admit that I think I was a little unfair to Kyle in my original post. I was speaking as much in response to his post as I was commenting on statements from social media advocates in general and others in related industries.

I should also point out that Kyle himself shrugged off the social media "expert" title at the PRSA Social Media Bootcamp a few months ago and he said something like "If anybody claims to be a social media expert, run as far away from them as possible." (paraphrased)

Kyle isn't pointing a finger at PRSA or the local Hoosier Chapter at all, but he is right that some organizations and agencies aren't taking advantage of the learning opportunities out there or simply trying to get their feet wet with social media.

[Chuck Gose]

This is a great dialog that just further proves that the lines are blurring between marketing, PR and social media. Each is now a part of another. . . most of the time.

The best way to learn a game is to play it. If I were hiring an agency, I'd like to see how they are using it to grow their own business. I think it would provide insight into their potential strategy for clients.

[Shawn Neal]

A lot of good points are being made here. I, for one, employ social media as a tool- when appropriate.

With that being said, I have to disagree with Erik Deckers. If you think that social media is just a popularity contest, then you are missing the big picture.

SM isn't about popularity- not in the traditional sense anyway. True, you can ride the wave of popularity for a short term, however a true SM campaign should be built on establishing trust and dialogue between a client and their public.

I think it is foolish to use social media in every situation just because it is trendy. We must always look at our clients as individuals who have individual needs. We need to understand and employ strategies based on those needs.

As a final thought, I have to agree that if you don't look at social media as a viable option, then you are missing the boat. GM has coined the term "Re:Invention". Isn't that what is going on in many professions all across the globe?

[Duncan Alney]

I'm not sure I can match visceral reactions of Elizabeth or the I'm in my own paradign reaction of Gus or the poignant points that Robbie makes. But this is I know: Chuck Ghose - you're a genius. Thats a crisp clear statement: "The best way to learn a game is to play it. If I were hiring an agency, I'd like to see how they are using it to grow their own business. I think it would provide insight into their potential strategy for clients."

Regardless if you're PR, advertising, integrated marketing, branding, social media practitioner - freelance, agency or corporate - you have to practice what you preach. If you're involved with marketing - there is NO way you can avoid social media. So you didn't need an ad or a story every week - but social is different. On a side note - you also better be diligent about what you say on your personal blog/twitter/facebook etc. Once its out there - its in the public domain. There are certainly some (euphemistically speaking) stark dichotomies out there. And lets just say its mostly not interesting. If you represent a firm - best be careful what you put out there.

I've been saying this for over 2 years. PR firms are perfectly poised for social media adoption. Yet other than Trendy Minds and Hetrick, I've yet to see open adoption. Perhaps that my fault for not looking deeper. Clearly it takes buy in from the top and Trevor and Bruce are hip to social.

BUT - In the brave new world that we all live in - I wouldn't be to sure about social media being integrated into PR firms. Perhaps its time to ask - "is it time for social media firms to integrate PR". After all there is only so long clients will wait.

On a separate note - I will address this issue locally and nationally on our blog - http://firebellydigital.com - this week and next, respectively.

BTW Kyle - perhaps you should share with those that don't know - how you balance client and your own social media interactions. I know how you do it (now) but clearly - there are others that are dying to know ;)

[Duncan Alney]

http://blog.firebellydigital.com/2009/08/practice-what-you-preach-how-come-its-so-hard.html