Saturday, August 18, 2012

Social Media Isn’t the Easy Way Out


Social media has managed to speedball into our lives. As young public relations professionals we hold a key advantage to those professionals who are ten plus years our senior. We don’t need to learn about social media, it is integrated into us beginning with Myspace in the mid 2000’s. Companies have made it essential to understand social media and hire those who are capable of taking on a social media account. But some companies or organizations might not know what they are getting themselves into. On the outside, social media seems like a cheap, efficient, and personal way to market. There are two big myths of the golden ticket known as social media. 

Myth #1: It’s simple
This myth stems off of the idea that social media accounts can be maintained and updated sparingly. A social media account needs love, care, and attention to become an effective tool to any enterprise. You must capture and create content that will entertain, educate and inspire the audience. Social media is more than just Facebook as well, blogs, Pinterest images, and Tweets; the list can go on. Publishing on multiple networks and creating a process or system as to who updates it can become confusing. 

Myth #2: It’s free
Those professionals who are able to understand a social media account and keep it active need to get paid. When you are hiring someone to do a job that requires creating content, planning, and paying attention to SEO (search engine optimization) you need to pay for his or her work. Your content to fuel the Twitter and Facebook accounts require budget and commitment and will therefore require compensation.

Professionals cannot forget the role and importance of serious business and traditional marketing practices. Incorporating social media with an enterprise is a great way to stay current, but it is not a replacement for the traditional methods. 

What’s your take on social media? Is it more hassle than what it is worth? 

This post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Katherine Carpenter.

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