Once upon a time, social media and PR existed entirely separately. But with an increasing focus on generating original and interesting content along with the evolving digital landscape, the two have now had to learn how to co-exist together.
When asking about the connection between social media and PR there are generally two types of responses. There’s those who believe it’s pretty much the same thing, ignoring the distinctions between the two, and others who put the two in totally separate categories without considering the option of them working together.
We think that in order to create successful campaigns for our clients, PR and social media need to blend harmoniously by combining their skill sets and techniques. PR can help generate online content and coverage, whilst social media can highlight PR efforts by reaching a wider target audience at a much faster pace.
Social media helps to enable a conversation to take place between a brand and its consumers. This is often interactive and can include comments, links, images and videos – something that isn’t possible through the printed press.
PR and social media can tell different parts of a story. They share many qualities and overall goals and therefore work naturally well together, allowing content and messaging to complement each other.
PR and social media shared goals include:
– Both focussed on brand awareness and image enhancement
– Both are essential for dealing with crisis situations
– Both are critical for reputation management
– Both rely on the ability to tell an interesting story
– Both help manage client relationships
Here’s some examples where PR and social media have teamed up and created something great:
– The NHS (link: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/missing-letters-revealed-part-blood-donation-campaign/1350174 text: Missing type) campaign – this worked extremely well using a combination of PR stunts in London and press coverage backed up with a social media campaigns asking people to get involved on their social profiles using the hashtag #missingtype. This was previously discussed by our SEO expert, you can read it (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/superdre-m-views-the-missingtype-campaign/ text: here)
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/open-graph-banner-1024×538.jpg alt: missing type)
– The (link: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/summer-of-sharing-share-a-coke-campaign-rolls-out-in-the-us text: Share a Coke) campaign -Coke swapped its iconic logo for the most popular first names and invited their fans to find their names on a coke bottle. This was one of the broadest communication campaigns ever and with the use of social media and the hashtag #ShareaCoke the campaign got PR hits worldwide with millions of mentions and shares.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/share-a-coke-its-coming-1200xx1440-811-0-0-1024×576.jpg alt: share a coke)
– The ALS associations PR campaign – The (link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/virals/11040688/Ice-bucket-challenge-40-of-the-best-videos-so-far.html text: #IceBucketChallenge) was one of the most profitable campaigns last year thanks to the use of social media. The campaign went viral and had the participation of millions of people, including high-profile celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and David Beckham.
PR and social media have become natural allies and here at Superdream we have fully embraced this. Our PR and social media efforts are fully integrated to create one well-oiled machine.