Social media has become a new battlefield for marketing. Its characteristic of rapid information dissemination is constantly testing the ability of public relations (PR) practitioners to respond to any situation. Any little, unintended mistake may lead to a “PR crisis”. To avoid such a blunder, PR practitioners must be prepared in terms of mindset and skill set.
Social media’s popularity has led to tremendous changes to the traditional PR model, One development is the emergence of “online PR”, which uses the Internet to build a corporate image to increase awareness of the business or organization among the public and netizens in order to maintain good relations and interaction, with the ultimate goal of creating more business opportunities.
Social media offer more opportunities than challenges
This trend influences many business organizations, government departments, as well as well-known public figures who have jumped on the bandwagon and are using social media to communicate with the public. Nevertheless, many people misunderstand that social media bring more challenges than opportunities to the PR industry. Some veteran PR practitioners even believe that it is best to stay away from social media where one is apt to get into trouble.
However, Pamela Leung, President of the Hong Kong Public Relations Professionals’ Association, believes that the emergence of social media offers more opportunities than challenges: “It is hard to deny the fact that social media’s reach is more direct and broader than traditional mass media if PR practitioners know how to use them effectively.”
Identify the target audience and choose the right platform
Leung said that businesses need to clearly identify the audience before using social media: “The same comment will have different effects to different audiences, so the choice of words and approach of expression must cater to their preferences.”
Leung also reminded that to use social media, corporate PR practitioners must identify the platform where the audience most often receives information and understand the usefulness and characteristics of each of the different platforms. At present, the social platform most commonly used by Hong Kong’s PR practitioners is Facebook while those in the Mainland prefer WeChat Official Account, with Instagram and Twitter also having different audiences. Furthermore, establishing a common language with the audience and knowing when to release appropriate content at the right time are also some of the key success factors in using social media for PR.
Good PR must know how to tell story
Leung pays particular attention to information on non-profit groups and social welfare. “Recently I came across a promotional video of a social enterprise engaged in food recycling. Through community visits by well-known public figures with a positive image, the video told touching stories about some ordinary folks, which resonated with the viewers.”
The above example shows that a good PR must know how to tell a good story to stimulate the imagination or even inspire the heart and soul of the audience, rather than merely presenting an excerpt from a press release or hard, cold data. When necessary, the PR must act as a storyteller. On the Internet, this role has a special title: social media editor.
Empower young employees to use creativity
The organization where Leung works is a case in point. It employs young employees who are exclusively responsible for social media. When it comes to working together with these members of the new online generation, she stressed that there is an important principle to follow: “Even veteran PR executives have to keep an open mind to allow subordinates to use their creativity on social media.”
She suggested that veteran PR executives should mainly play the role of a gate keeper and establish an internal communication mechanism to filter out sensitive issues without interfering with creativity.
Every second counts when defusing a “PR crisis”
In the new Internet era, how can PR effectively harness the rapidly changing social media? Leung summed it up in one sentence: Mindset is more important than knowledge. “Veteran PR executives, no matter how experienced they are, must keep pace with the times. In addition, they must remember that ‘content is king’ and information on the Internet can expand rapidly. Online PR content must not merely reproduce verbatim press releases. Instead, they must use the appropriate language and approach to propel netizens to click and like, and most importantly, share and leave a message.”
If a “PR crisis” unfortunately occurs, the PR practitioner must run against the clock to immediately contact the various parties to find out the facts, and respond and deal with the crisis quickly through social media. Leung said: “When dealing with a PR crisis, the most important thing is to respond quickly. In the era when new media were not yet invented, it took days to deal with a crisis. However, now in the era when negative comments can spread very swiftly, PR practitioners must respond in hours or even minutes. In short, the sooner the better.”
