So I had a client speak at the DC Chamber last week, and another speaker, a PR pro (who shall remain un-named) says, “Blogs will be dead in two years, and businesses shouldn’t invest in them.” Of course, I had to explain my thoughts on this to my client (thanks, Joe Smith for your incompetent remarks).
Here’s the deal, blogs have been around for ten years. Social media’s getting hotter, not colder. Blogs are part of that, and those of us who have learned how to use them effectively to create a dialog with our communities won’t stop.
Here’s the facts: “2006 was the year when the programmable Web eclipsed the static Web every time: flickr beat webshots; Wikipedia beat Britannica; Blogger beat CNN; Epinions beat Consumer-Reports; Upcoming beat evite; Google Maps beat MapQuest; MySpace beat friendster; and craigslist beat Monster,â€? write authors Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams in their brilliant book Wikinomics (p.38).
I’m tired of PR practitioners who won’t get on board. Here’s the deal: We know you feel threatened. We know you can’t control the message anymore. It’s OK, believe it or not, this new social media environment makes your job easier.
Consider Webster’s definition of public relations, “Relations with general public as through publicity; specifically, those functions of a corporation, organization, etc. concerned with attempting to create favorable public opinion for itself.” What better way to do that than have a conversation directly with the public? Enter social media.
Some call the impact of social media as the next generation public relations or PR 2.0. Others like Kami Huyse feel its a return to the true mission of PR. Everyone agrees that it’s about getting down in the street and creating a better relationship with an organization’s community.
With each passing day, the gap between out-dated tactics and current marketing needs widens. It’s incumbent upon communicators to learn new media, not just from a theoretical level, but as practitioners. Without knowledge of how social media forms work, our ability to effectively counsel executives and clients is incomplete. The revolution’s impact on real business marketing campaigns demands our professional attention. And running away from this responsibility hurts the business of public relations and our clients, not to mention your career.
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