Social Media Relations
by Curtis Hougland
As information moves more rapidly, and conversations percolate across the blogosphere by the [insert large number], lexicon swings in and out of vogue more quickly. Terms such as “new media,” “social media,” and for that matter “media,” are neutered as a result of adoption then overuse by newbie marketers. We are all wary of new and improved. So, it is with some humility that I am part of the movement to bring Attention front and center in communications. A corruption to some of my tech friends perhaps, but I think that Michael Goldhaber sees the “alignment,” although he may chafe at my belief that PR is one of purest markets for attention we have. We now transact in a world in which attention is becoming the primary currency. Increasingly, wealth will follow attention, and the world will increasingly be divided into stars and fans. Publish or perish has a distinctly non-academic ring to it.Our solution, social media relations, is based partly on the problem with PR today, and partly on why PR is ascendant. Since I am asked about the relevance of media relations almost every day, let’s tackle that first. IT IS ALL MEDIA RELATIONS. After all, it is media whether a user, a marketer or a journalist crafts it. So, yes, it is exceptionally important, but it may not even be the right question.
Traditional media relations, pitching journalists to convince them to write what we want them to, for most companies is a classic bell curve. It inevitably starts strong, peaks and falls to maintenance and manufacture, especially true of newcos. Traditional media relations is important, and outreach to mainstream media journalists remains one of the most influential communities responsible for word-of-mouth. But it is only one community. Social media relations attempts to place traditional media relations in its proper scale-that social media relations encompasses media relations, but goes beyond it. We now have the opportunity engage customers directly-all sorts of communities of interest-and to encompass the media as but one of the communities that exert influence. While there is some rhetoric in PR regarding social media and some lip service to the blogosphere, these skills are at a deficit. Increasingly, clients will realize that the emperor has no clothes in PR as they witness change after change spurred by the Internet. Page 6 is not a strategy.