We recently read an article discussing the departmental fate of social media and now have an answer to the longstanding debate; who controls social media in the office, Marketing or Public Relations?
It is official, companies are giving the most budgetary and strategic control to PR.
As social media expert Augie Ray writes in his article Social Media is a communications channel and not a marketing tactic:
"Rather than think of Social Media as part of the marketing toolkit, it would be more accurate to consider Social Media as a communications channel. Social Media isn't a one-way advertising medium but a channel for two-way (or more) dialog; it is much more akin to the telephone or email than to an ad medium such as TV or print."
Social media is a fluid and interactive platform that requires dialogue with the customer base. Let's face it, the most attention getting content is short, direct and sparks some personal interest within our lives. Social media is informal and relaxed - most of the target audience visit Facebook and Twitter purely for entertainment. Yet we all want authenticity and friendship in a sea of strangers and a free service without advertisements. PR's more flexible approach to information release is better suited for social media and has taken the reigns with much success.
And what defines "successful" social media campaigns in business these days? Well, numbers of course!We all know how much numbers speak; amount of product sold, hits on a websites and now number of followers on Facebook or Twitter. Public Relation departments are finding their measurement methods have been extremely valuable in securing social media in their hands. Coming to the table with concrete numbers is also giving PR more of a voice. The more hardline statistics that PR can bring to executives and clients, the more value and influence they will have in strategic business decisions.
It is interesting to think about our own perceived value in terms of social media. Is our popularity based on how many Facebook friends we have? Our wittiness and intellect on how many followers we have on Twitter? Are we less of a person when someone de-friends us? Where do we draw the line to protect our self perception? I, for one, am hoping that the numbers game stays focused on successful PR moves in social media and no one ever tries to use how many followers I have to measure my worth to the world!
