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Like usChanging Industries: Advertising and PR
Most people would agree that social media is a good thing, right? I mean, come on, we all get excited when we see that someone has commented on one of our facebook photos or when someone has started following us on twitter; it’s easy to get sucked in. What I’m wondering though, is if this new idea of advertising online is changing the old ideas about advertising and PR.
This year, McDonalds hired one of the first ever Chief of Social Media. How crazy is that? I thought I was just wasting my time creating silly facebook pages and updating my tweets but now I see that I can make an entire career out of it! Every company has a twitter and facebook page now, and let’s face it, if they don’t, they aren’t being competitive. What I’m curious about however, is this: does this new social media obsession put traditional careers in PR and marketing in jeopardy? According to David Meerman Scott, who wrote “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” (a great read by the way; I highly suggest it) thinks that social media and the world of the internet will in fact challenge the old job functions of marketing and PR professionals.
Scott says “Prior to the web, organizations had only two significant choices to attract attention: Buy expensive advertising or get third-party ink from the media.” He continues to write “Organizations that understand the New Rules of Marketing and PR develop relationships directly with consumers…”
So, I ask this again: If the traditional role of advertising (buying expensive ad space) and PR (getting mentions from the media) are seemingly obsolete due to the new concept of reaching customers directly through social media efforts, then couldn’t several traditional advertising and public relations agencies go out of business?
I’ve noticed that many traditional advertising agencies and pr firms have started to embrace this trend by including social media services in their list of specialties. However, one thing I have seen that interests me is how they phrase these services. They seem to Lightly threaten potential clients by saying things like “sure social media could help your business but only if done properly.” It’s almost like they want to stop clients from managing their social media accounts on their own. It makes me wonder if there is a fear that organizations will lean towards doing their social media themselves rather than go to an agency and therefore the agency feels more inclined to suggest that only advertising professionals know how to social network properly.
My opinion? I think agencies are a bit fearful, and they are definitely not wrong to be. The concept of social media advertising is still pretty new and it is only going to get bigger. My advice? Get a twitter! I know, I know, a bunch of you either groaned or dry heaved but seriously, do it! In fact, get everything! Start a blog, get a linkedin, take at least one picture a day and post it to flickr. This is the new frontier! Do you really want to be left behind? Embrace social media; it’s here to stay.
Comments? I’d love to hear them 
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4 Comments
While it’s true that a business owner or client could just run their own social media campaign, would they really get the same success from it that they would if they hired a seasoned professional? Similarly, a business owner could print off a bunch of fliers and post them everywhere, and call all the journalists in town to try and “get ink” but that’s incredibly time consuming and requires knowledge to actually be effective. Whether it’s social media, or traditional media, it’s not something that can be done effectively without investing a good amount of time and effort into it.
Traditional media might be changing, and it might be shrinking, but it’s not dead. PR, in other words the managing of the channels of communication for an organization, will still be incredibly important in this age of instant communication. Likewise, advertising will simply adapt to this age of the Internet (hello, Old Spice Man!)
At the end of the day, I think that PR and advertising will change the tools and mediums they use, but not the central tenants of strong writing, clear communication and creativity.
A great post, and the topic is something I’ve been toying with in my own head lately. PR isn’t dead, and social media won’t kill it, just re-shape it with new tools.
You are so right that everyone has a Twitter, Facebook and so on, and can manage them. But how effectively can they manage it? Are they using Social Media as a piece-meal tool, or employing the tool as one piece of the larger communications strategy? That’s the difference between doing-it-yourself, and partnering with experts. It’s no longer about getting front page press or evening news, it’s about establishing, fostering and deepening relationships.
My two cents.
Amy
I’m on the fence about this one…
On the one hand, the average person just lacks the writing skills compared to a professional and also, between running their business just doesn’t have time to make the necessary updates.
However, what was originally cool about social media was its ability to connect business to customer without the “noise” that modern advertising is today. I think company’s such as Coca Cola are moving in a better direction by allowing Facebook fans to maintain their site rather than passing it off to an unmotivated intern.
But anyway, great topic!
Thanks for the feedback ladies! I appreciate your thoughts
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