Previously, I explored the intersection of social media and PR and explained why it is so important communications professionals leverage digital channels. In that post I touched on the following key points:
- Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it
- It scales – popular brands just get more popular
- Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset
- Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing
- Intersection with SEO – links are by-product
- PR has changed – pull is now more effective
Next I’d like to explore a brief outline of how you can effectively use social media to accomplish your PR objectives. I’ll run through 3 key steps as a primer, however I challenge you to consider a unique entry point for your own brand. The social web is as flexible as you want it to be, and there is no single “right answer”. The following are learnings for how you could potentially approach a social media PR strategy.
1. Go platform agnostic
Social media is more than just Twitter
Everyone is buzzing about Twitter and it is without question the network du jour among PR and marketing professionals. And while we’re fond of Twitter as well, (follow us @TopRank) social media is far more than just Twitter. If Twitter is the extent of your participation you’re missing out with a myopic approach. Besides, you don’t get analytics with Twitter, no (direct) SEO benefit, and ultimately, you don’t control the network. To truly be effective at using social media for PR, treat Twitter as a feeder to something larger – as one piece to a much larger and elegant puzzle.
Own a niche across web platforms
Instead of putting all your eggs in one basket or network, focus on owning your niche across web platforms. There is little value in being a brand or person who is popular in network X or Y. There is far more value in being thought of as a leader of a niche. In other words: your positioning should make you known as the definitive source for an industry. Going platform agnostic and putting a focus on a larger strategy that has nothing to do with any single web platform in particular is how you can accomplish this.
Have a destination and draw users back
Without some sort of destination to draw users back to and funnel subscribers, you’ll never achieve successful web community building that is protected from the rise and fall of social networks. If the history of the web has taught us anything, it is that networks can and will fall in and out of favor. Friendster or Orkut anyone? The greatest value exists in building your own community external of networks whose future can be unpredictable. Use them, but realize spending all of your time there is at the opportunity cost of contributing to your own destination where you stand to benefit most. In other words, consider the cost of focusing entirely on social sites such as Twitter or Facebook vs participating in those networks and sending traffic to social content on your own site such as a blog, forum or community.
Connect with power users/influencers
As noted in a previous posts on how subscribers are a vital element of your growth strategy, the ~11% of web users who know to use RSS include the users savvy enough to be web publishers. Reaching out to this educated, technology literate group increases your propensity to connect with power users and influencers, or “contributors” as referred to by Jakob Nielsen in participation inequality. This will enable your ability to build an organic community of sneezers – those who share content like crazy and are linking up the web in meaningful ways.
2. Be ready for a long term commitment
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