PR? Or Just Social Media?
April 9, 2009 – 8:01 am
People may see me and my employer, SHIFT Communications, as social media entities because that’s the most visible part of what we do. It’s also what I write and talk about more, because it is new and we have been able to assimilate social media expertise into an overall PR program.
I don’t know if SHIFT and I get pigeon-holed as strictly "social media" rather than PR, but the thought sometimes occurs to me.
There is another side. Should I/we make more of an effort to show it?
To put it another way- is a well-rounded PR agency/person better off being known for social media leadership or should we push knowledge of "the basics" forward more?
Or, to use one of Duke Ellington;s favorite phrases: should we all be “beyond category?”
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17 Responses to “PR? Or Just Social Media?”
I think that you definitely should integrate some “original g” pr into your blog Doug. I think a lot of people who trend more social media oriented/community oriented would greatly benefit by some interesting articles on PR.
I personally love hearing about PR and try to incorporate it into my blog. Do I do it with an SM spin? Absolutely, but it’s the main thing that separates me from my competitors. So…would love to read more PR stuff :).
By Stuart Foster on Apr 9, 2009
Stuart– thanks– I guess the next challenge is not to write what everyone else is writing– but I suppose that’s even harder pertaining to social media at this point.
By Doug Haslam on Apr 9, 2009
I feel your pain. I’m frequently introduced as a “social media expert” or, worse, “guru,” and feel compelled to point out that I’m a communications consultant and have been at it for 32 years. I’ve been focused on online communication since around 1985 and social media is a logical, natural continuum. But, it’s what everyone’s interested in.
Categories are useful. I’ve commented to Steve Rubel several times that while it may all just be “media,” distinguishing social media helps, since not all media are social. I use the analogy of books — there’s a big difference between, say, “100 Years of Solitude,” “The Bible,” “What Would Google Do,” “John Adams,” and “Valley of the Dolls.” All books, but it helps to separate literature, fiction, history, non-fiction, mystery, romance, and so on. Otherwise, finding what you want would be torture.
I was thrilled to get a call today asking me to draft a proposal for consulting services that would incorporate social media into a broader public affairs effort. But does everyone know I do that? Nope. So I think you’re right. While categories matter, we need to work on branding so we’re recognized for everything we can do, not just one dimension of it.
By Shel Holtz on Apr 9, 2009
I feel like there’s a battle to brand “social media guys” right now. On one side, you have people who champion social and new media, labeling themselves as PR professionals or perhaps PR 2.0 professionals. On the other side, you have people clinging to traditionalism and labeling “social media guys” as vagrants and scam artists, bent on undermining PR and traditional media outlets.
A well-rounded PR agency should be known for what it does best, so it would probably benefit the brand more to show knowledge of the “basics” more. But to communications students like me, Shift social media guys are just more awesome than some of the PR guys we study. From where I sit, the lines between PR and social media are getting thin. I’d be interested to see you explore how closely related social media and PR are, so people know that by being “social media guys,” you are also talented PR guys.
By Bobby Pens on Apr 9, 2009
Not trying to write what everyone else is writing is always a challenge. Social Media has the particular issue of being a highly connected community…so you have an echo post or 500 for every great thought.
My only hope? Keep trying and thinking. I try and randomly come up with something everyday, it’s usually spur of the moment. I think that helps keep my blog fresh. I wish I was doing more actual pitching of brands at the moment…so I could incorporate that into the Lost Jacket.
By Stuart Foster on Apr 9, 2009
You touch on a lot of great points. We should all work to make sure all of our clients are fluent so they don’t rely on the in-house/agency ‘guru’ or ‘expert.’ Every agency needs to have a very robust education program. The walls are coming down as each new group of interns grew up on Facebook …
By David Weiner, PR Newswire on Apr 9, 2009
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By hrouda (Vlad Hrouda) on Apr 10, 2009
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By hrouda (Vlad Hrouda) on Apr 10, 2009
This conundrum haunts my waking hours.
By Todd Defren on Apr 10, 2009
Very interesting.Glad you had a good experience. Any recommendations for great PR / Marketing Books? I recently read an advertising book called "Positioning: The Battle for your mind" Good traditional Ad, promotion stuff.
This comment was originally posted on http://thelostjacket.com/)“>The Lost Jacket
By Amy Bernstein on Apr 13, 2009
Brian Solis’ book is fantastic, as are any of Seth Godin’s (I’m partial to the Purple Cow one). Reading more of David Meerman Scott recently as well. (Best part of all three of these guys: they have blogs as well.
This comment was originally posted on http://thelostjacket.com/)“>The Lost Jacket
By Stuartfoster on Apr 13, 2009
Hi John thanks for the link and the thoughts. You know when I read your post and hear the “I have a blogger database” statement, I can totally see agencies using that during a pitch to win or “con” (I use the word lightly) clients, because very few clients out there would know that a blogger database is just a small (though important) part of the pie.
To draw a bad parallel, it’s like the greedy financial people who sold stuff that normal people didn’t particularly understand and didn’t know better to realise it’s a scam, used it to grab a quick buck, and look where we are now.
This comment was originally posted on http://dconsortium.wordpress.com/)“>d-Consortium
By Daryl Tay on Apr 17, 2009
Yup Daryl – it’s a real shame that it requires companies to filter the shill and snake oil from the sanity, but guess that’s the way it’s always been.
For the first time however, I think there’s a desire from within to arm people with the tools, in order not to destroy the credibility of those who might know what they’re doing.
This comment was originally posted on http://dconsortium.wordpress.com/)“>d-Consortium
By johnkerrnz on Apr 17, 2009