Social Media!

Social Media.

One of the biggest trends affecting not just public relations, but all businesses is of course, the rise of social media, according to smallbiztrends.com. This rise in the use of social media is also related to another trend currently affecting public relations, the use of on line videos.

It is safe to say that the majority of public relations practitioners and students are aware of the benefits of social media. The use of social media enables a campaign to reach large numbers of a target audience, yet is interactive and therefore a bit more personal at the same time. A practitioner is able to measure the success of a message or campaign by keeping track of the number of responses a social media item receives, or the number of views a video receives.

However, the use of social media has become so prevalent in the public relations field that posting a video or photos isn’t enough anymore. As Bianca Gordon, one of the judges for our client presentations pointed out, people don’t want to just view a video or see a message anymore; they want incentive. They want to know that there is something in it for them.

As far as what this incentive could be, there is a vast amount of possibilities. Perhaps the credits at the end of an on line video could provide information to sign up for some kind of drawing that offers a prize. It could be as simple as guaranteeing that viewing a video, or joining a Facebook group, or following a Twitter account would make followers privy to special deals or discounts.