Who You Gonna Call?
Is Social Media Beyond A Public Relations Professional’s Skill Set?
By Steve Farnsworth (@Steveology)
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Howard Sewell is hardcore. He knows demand generation and lead management like nobody’s business. What I find amazing about him, and why I have hired and recommended him, is that the latest shiny object never distracts him. While other marketers are casting about for some questionable flash in the pan strategy with a cool buzzwordy name, Howard is laser focused on getting results, and knows what works to connect businesses directly with their target markets.
Which is why I was cheesed-off at Howard when he posted “Is Social Media Wasted on PR Agencies?” on his blog. Having a background working in PR, worked at an agency, and now fully engaged in social media, I felt a bit defensive when I read that headline.
Then I read the post. I could not have agreed more with his insight. He was right again.
Luke Warm Social Media Goals
He relates that a client shared with him a social media plan developed by their public relations agency. Their goals were:
- Increase awareness amongst bloggers, influencers and prospects
- Enhance company’s image by delivering insight to key online communities
- Promote company’s approach to their technology and product category
Not terribly visionary, but the stated goals would look okay on any traditional PR plan, but this was for social media. In this environment the goals were seriously wanting.
Howard took the PR agency that wrote them to task and noted what achievable social media goals were missing.
- Drive search-generated traffic and net new sales leads
- Use targeted, insightful content to attract and engage with qualified prospects
- Expand company’s leads database and community of followers
- Educate, cultivate, and nurture existing customers and prospects
The thing that strikes me about Howard’s goals is that most of them should have been in any meaningful PR plan to begin with. The leads capture being the one element that would be problematic in many cases for PR, but not all. An opt-in component is definitely not a problem with social media.
An Understandable Blind Spot
However, having been a PR practitioner in the past, I do understand why a PR person just getting to know social media might have a limited scope, and why they lack the intuition to embrace the potential of social media. A traditional PR agency is not familiar with developing leads as a direct responsibility, and this creates a blind spot for them.
I think PR’s traditional foundation and dynamic is what has put blinders on some very smart PR folks, like in the case with Howard’s client. When working with editors you have to walk the fine line between helping them develop an interesting, but balanced story while getting your client’s message through. There is no delusion by the editor about the PR pro’s motivation, but there is no quicker way to turn an interested editor cold than sound too self-promotional.
This sensitivity is a healthy talent for the PR professional, but an over sensitivity, or disregard for lead generation, is a significant obstacle when working closer to the customer as in social media. When a potential customers raise their hand to your product they are asking to engage. (I hope it goes without saying, he said, that a company’s response must be appropriate, respectful, and welcomed by the recipient.)
An Easy Fix For PR Pros And Agencies
Some Of The Best Social Media People I Know Are Current Or Former PR Pros.
Yes, that statement is self-serving. However, myself aside, I’ have in mind a whole army of stellar social media professionals I know who have easily made the transformation to next generation communications practitioner.
The key, assuming that you are already deeply engaged with social media, is to ask what strategy you would use to achieve Howard’s suggested goals. If you are unsure how to do this, I would start with Howard’s blog and the resources his website. He shares a ton of information on there. Also, I would create a Google Alert and BlogPulse search on the search string: “Demand Generation” OR “Lead Generation” OR “Direct Marketing”
If you are seeking a PR agency’s paid advice on social media, I would turn Howard’s goals into questions and ask how they would achieve those goals. Also, I want to see their track record. Many have some background. Surprisingly, most are just now starting to take social media seriously.
I think the best way to evaluate them is to ask how they are going to measure your stated goals. If they suggest vague or unquantifiable metrics, I would look for advice elsewhere. They just don’t get social media’s potential.
Dave Fleet has a post that readers might find helpful: 8 Questions to Ask Your “Social Media Expert”.
Davina K. Brewer
October 21, 2009
Short answer, no. Long answer: many of the skills a Public Relations pro already has will be well served in social media but there’s more to it.
I remember Howard’s post, and agree that his goals should have been part of the original PR plan. The first set of goals are good communications goals; the second, business objectives.
PR and SM serve Marketing and Business functions for an organization, so understanding business should be part of the skill set for PR and SM pro alike. FWIW.
Arthur Yann
October 21, 2009
Steve,
Thanks for an insightful post.
My first impression is that Howard is advocating a “one-size-fits-all” approach to establishing social media objectives (goals and objectives being different things), e.g., companies should be using social media to drive leads. Given his perspective, it’s easy to see why he advocates for this.
Despite the fact that the majority of money in public relations is being spent on “marketing PR” – PR that sells “stuff” – not all PR or social media campaigns have lead or sales generation as an objective. Further, communications professionals who say their services will generate leads or sales are setting themselves up to fail. Objectives should be communications objectives; if a play stinks and gets terrible reviews, even the best PR or social media campaign is going to struggle to generate interest in the “action” phase of the consumers’ purchase path.
If the agency’s objectives were written appropriately (to increase by X percent the number of members of X online community who understand company’s approach to their technology and product), and the objectives support the achievement of the company’s strategic goals, perhaps Howard would have been more forgiving?
Arthur Yann is vice president of public relations for PRSA.
Joshua Steck
October 22, 2009
Thanks for the post, Steve!
I agree that increasing sales is not a prerequisite objective for a PR campaign.
Howard’s more clearly defined SM objectives DO matter to a PR pro especially with creating engaging content which to me, is code word for ‘video.’ Also, these ojectives are more measurable.
gfsnell3
October 23, 2009
Hi Steve:
Interesting post, but I think you’re talking about PR agencies from five years ago. What PR agency worth their salt isn’t talking about SEO, driving leads, and building community? What PR agency doesn’t have social media know-how? And many agencies, including my own (Weber Shandwick), now have production and content creation departments that can build apps, microsites, web pages, and production quality video
Besides that not all PR is about marketing support anyway. You should know that communications is also about employee relations, crisis communications, investor relations, corporate social responsibility, event planning, speaking engagements, and public affairs. Most of these things have nothing to do with supporting marketing. So I’d argue that Howard doesn’t even really understand the role of a PR agency.
Michael Sommermeyer
November 2, 2009
Howard is clearly a marketer; and those goals are spot on for marketers. Goals to “drive traffic” or “convert sales” are marketing goals. Do they have a relevance to PR? Certainly, but PR is more social and more concerned with feelings. We don’t always want to achieve a new sale; we’re more inclined to generate good will that retains the sale and then spreads to other audiences.
However, you make a good point. We can no longer be totally focused on one channel, marketing or PR, to achieve results. There needs to be a mix. However, I’m not sure all campaigns need to result in sales measurements. Sometimes I just want to increase awareness so that the market is softened up before the real sales begins.
Steve Farnsworth
November 2, 2009
I think you’re right that we have to go beyond one channel to achieve results. I would go further, in that we are no longer in an age where we can work in silos. Teams now need to comprise multiple marketing skill-sets with one collective goal–manage customers in all phases of the sales cycle seamlessly from awareness to post sale.
Rosemarie Rung
February 20, 2010
I agree with your comment about silos, Steve. All functions within an organization should have goals that are aligned and integrated with the overall organization objectives. That integration will encourage collaboration between functions so that PR works appropriately with HR, marketing, regulatory, legal, I/T, etc. for the “greater good.”
Social media is a useful channel to all stakeholders, not just customers, and since it should be about community, and thus relationship-building, I think PR should be the natural subject matter expert on it. If practitioners don’t have the skill set now, they’d better get it.
Tim Penning, Ph.D., APR
September 17, 2010
A lot of this depends on definitions of PR. The anecdote you share shows a PR firm with vague awareness and image goals. Those of us who teach PR stress measurable objectives in terms of awareness, attitude, and action. But also, PR is about relationship building, and that’s where PR people have the upper hand in social media.
Too many clients or those from a marketing bent enter social media the way a guy enters a class reunion handing out business cards. They see the space as a broadcast channel vs an intimate forum. Some PR people do this too–because they don’t have a background in PR, or they were led down this path because they report to marketing instead of being a stand-alone discipline, or they have to please a client who insists on tangible, monetary, immediate ROI.
In my view, some PR people and some from marketing and other disciplines get it, and some don’t. Those who get it understand that SM can build relationships which yield direct and indirect benefits, often later and in other online or interpersonal ways.
jasmollica
August 8, 2011
Hi Steve,
I appreciated to starting a good discussion. I don’t think social media is beyond a PR pros skill set. It’s about continuing to education and stay relevant.
I feel for that client who probably had no idea what the agency may have been doing. It’s up to people like myself in PR to stay on top of what is changing in social media, so my clients are just as informed and guided in the right direction.
If we aren’t being innovative or evolving, PR in general will not either.
Providing our clients with solid facts, direction in social media will show our value.
njenkins
April 11, 2012
I don’t think that social media are beyond any PR pros’ skillset – unless they embrace/employ at least some tactics from Marketing and/or other disciplines. I think that the most effective social media pro regularly uses tactics from both Marketing and Communications, simply because it is a more balanced approach overall.
Just as others have said before, there should be no one-size-fits-all approach here. But, you have to admit, the social media goals that Steve added to the plan did make it a more complete (and, therefore, more useful) plan for many clients’ needs.
Steve Farnsworth A.K.A. @Steveology
April 11, 2012
I agree. The key is understanding the goal needs to be better aligned with sales, which has been anathema for PR folks, and understandably so historically. However, now there needs to be a blended approach to match the new reality.
Bonnie A Wolfe (@BonnieAWolfe)
July 4, 2012
Excellent post followed by insightful comments. I know our services definitely are focusing on ROI for our clients. We ask them to invest in building relationships but there has to be a measurable ROI component or we don’t take the gig. Meaning, I know that some of the relationships we build will pay off in the long term and we might not be around by that time to see it so there has to be some moving of the needle in the short term otherwise with what money will clients keep investing? Ideally each engagement becomes self funding so that our services go from a cost center to a profit center.
Alan C. Graner
July 29, 2012
We’re a small PR agency and, frankly, we can’t keep up with the ever-changing world of social media. There are entire books written about .Facebook marketing and LinkedIn lead generation. And SEO? That’s a full-time job in itself..
We don’t have the time or the inclination to keep up. It’s difficult enough keeping pace with our clients and working traditional PR channels. And we can’t afford to hire someone in-house.
So do we ignore social media?
Hell no. We’re smart enough to know what we don’t know; therefore, we outsource social media strategy and execution to experts who do (while maintaining oversight to ensure client goals are met). The client’s happy, our vendor’s happy and we’re happy. It’s win-win-win.
Dennis N. Duce
March 15, 2013
Steve I love your closing paragraph. If an online reputation and social media campaign has no measurable matrix then it will leave the client wondering if anything of benefit has been done. SEO and SMO must be measurable in order to be effective. Just like setting goals in our personal lives if you can’t measure it then it is not a goal but a dream or a wish.
For me it is not as important what the background is PR, Business experience, school of hard knocks but how well the consultant is setting expectations then creating a simple way for our clients to be able to analyze how well those expectations are met.
Steve Farnsworth A.K.A. @Steveology
March 15, 2013
So well said!
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