The Impact of Social Media on Public Relations
Since the invention of the internet and therefore, the invention of social media, the public relations world has not been the same. Social media has become such an important part of society, it’s hard to imagine doing anything without social media being involved. This is especially relevant in the world of public relations.
On average, consumers spend 2.5 hours a day on social media. This means that when it comes to public relations, the easiest way to reach consumers is usually through some form of social media. While the goal of public relations is to help businesses maintain positive relationships with their consumers, the way this is done has changed drastically in the past decade due to social media. Christina Forrest of Cision states that, “the PR process used to be surprisingly one-dimensional, but the future of PR is now a conglomeration, mainly focused on leveraging new innovations to communicate with the public. In the era of instant Twitter and Instagram feedback, companies now have customer service representatives fielding questions in real-time via social media”. Consumers can now directly connect with companies via social media and give public relations practitioners a more direct understanding of their thoughts and feelings on a certain aspect of the company. This allows for public relations strategists to more easily bridge the gap between companies and their publics
Another new phenomenon that the public relations industry encounters due to social media is influencer marketing. This refers to, “a form of marketing where marketers and brands invest in selected influencers to create and/or promote their branded content to both the influencers’ own followers and to the brands’ target consumers”. Social media influencers of all types on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are approached every day by companies and their PR representatives with the opportunity to receive free product in order to advertise to their thousands of followers, in hopes that this will establish a positive relationship with consumers and the company. Before the internet and social media, public relations professionals did not have this opportunity to readily connect a product or company with a real consumer audience on a daily basis; through influencers, they can.
Additionally, social media has made it easier for public relations professionals to reach out to journalists and media contacts. Before social media, you had to physically find journalists’ contact information to be able to connect with them. Now, as Michelle Mekky of Forbes states, “If you need to find journalists, I recommend Twitter. People are nervous to reach out via social media because they’re afraid of crossing a line, but I guarantee you, journalists are online for the sole purpose of interacting with the public”. Being able to find journalists or media contacts in a specific area quickly and efficiently, thanks to social media, has truly changed the way public relations practitioners work.
Social media has not only become a humungous part of society but of the public relations industry in general. There are many ways that social media has yet to change the industry, as it keeps advancing every single day, especially in the online world we face in today’s current events. It will be exciting to see how social media will impact the industry of public relations in the future.
About Kayla:
Kayla Brown is an aspiring public relations professional at Grand Valley State University studying advertising & public relations. Kayla is an Account Executive in GrandPR, and also works at the Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors on campus. In her free time, you can find her watching true crime documentaries, petting every dog she sees, and listening to records.