https://www.northeastern.edu/careers/jobs-internships/social-media/
Social media has had a huge impact on nearly every industry. One of these industries is the public relations sector. Public relations is defined by the Public Relations Institute of Australia as “…the deliberate, planned, sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics. It’s the key to effective communication in all sectors of business, government, academic and not-for-profit.” According to the Public Relations Review, social media offers numerous opportunities for public relations practitioners to interact with the public while adopting new forms of technology and integrating them into their everyday lives. As more forms of social media emerge, it is vital for public relations practitioners to understand how to use these platforms in relation to their career. A survey conducted by Cision UK among UK PR professionals indicated that 82% of PR professional believe social media has changed the way they work to some extent.
There are multiple ways that the introduction of social media has influenced public relations and these are listed below.
- Turnaround Time
Social media does not stop, it is constant and ever-changing. Gone are the days when people had to wait for the 5 o’clock news to get information. Social media has opened up a world of possibilities in terms of producing content. Social media has allowed information to be released as soon as possible.
- Connecting with an audience
Before social media, the way in which companies and businesses would interact with their customers required a lot of time and effort. Today, companies are able to connect with their publics and customers through social media to interact with them in a personal way, but without the need for face-to-face communication. They are able to directly contact customers or publics, while keeping cost relatively low.
- Publishing content
Social media is now the main platform for companies to release important information such as press releases, announcements and product launches. This can now all be done online.
- Media output
Social media has also opened the door for monitoring reactions and engagement from their customers. Companies can review how customers are reacting about a particular product launch or a media release through the use of social media. They are able to track reactions on Facebook and read comments, they are able to search key words on Twitter and again see how the public is reacting.
Charlie Churchill 