5 Ways to Use Social Media as a PR Tool
Creating a successful Public Relations strategy requires incorporating every avenue of communication. The goal is to create a good public opinion and to do that, you need to take advantage of every opportunity to get your brand out there. It’s how you maintain your brand image, prove your credibility, and reach your customers or clients on a personal level.
One of the best ways to accomplish those things quickly and efficiently is to use social media. Social media gives us tons of insight into the lives of our customer/client base as well as providing a direct line of communication. So here are 5 ways you can use social media to your advantage when it comes to PR.
Stay Up to Date With Trends
Things change, and they change fast! If you want to stay relevant, you have to go with the flow. Social Media is the perfect place to monitor trends as they come and go. When it comes to how people are talking, what they are liking, and even how they do things in their everyday life, it’s all portrayed in social media.
This gives you key insight into your customers’/clients’ minds. Think of it as a crystal ball. By keeping track of these trends and incorporating your findings into your content and engagement strategies, you’re better able to relate to your audience.
For example, visual content is huge right now. So with that in mind, you know you need to create content with lots of interesting visuals to capture your audience and keep them coming back!
Interact With Journalists
Interacting with journalists is a great way to get more coverage on your products or services. But instead of starting a long email thread where you are trying to build a relationship, you can do all of that much faster on social media. Likes, comments, and retweets are great ways to build a rapport with journalists.
However, it’s important to remember that you still need to be tactful. Journalists will see your business intentions if you overdo it. You need to build trust before you pitch to them. Go to their page, find out what their interests are just like you would a customer.
Press Releases
Gone are the days when your only option to make an announcement about your business, is to send a press release to a newspaper and wait for them to print it. By using social media, you’re able to get the message out there almost instantly and create the potential to have it shared across the internet in just seconds.
You’ll also be able to control the narrative. By creating a post on social media, you will be able to word your announcement how you like, without a journalist potentially misrepresenting your message.
But be sure to make your press releases social media-friendly! You’ll want to incorporate social sharing buttons, include unique visuals to grab your audience’s attention, and possibly link the announcement to a blog if there are a lot of details.
Influencer Marketing
Businesses have started using influencer marketing to boost sales and bring in new customers, but it builds confidence in your brand and your products/services. There is no better way to boost your image than to have someone people trust endorse your products/services. Just having someone say “This is so great!” will make people see that this influencer trusts you, so they can trust you too!
Crisis Management
Everyone makes mistakes. At some point, your business may do something that will receive negative press and/or dampen your relationship with your audience. Just like with an announcement, using social media for a PR crisis is a quick opportunity to address it and make an effort to repair the damage.
With social media taking up so much of our lives it’s a valuable tool to help businesses create and maintain their image. It’s become the forefront of PR strategies and a game-changer when it comes to the relationship between a business and its audience.