PR: Why the social media campaign?

This campaign still goes on, and has now official headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.
In the world of Web 2.0, people are more empowered than ever to contribute to a new sphere of society, where the traditional rules are broken down and switched around. People who in person to person communication feel insecure, inept and don't play a large part sometimes hold stellar twitter followships and have the ear of the most influential, sometimes getting paid quite a bundle for their opinion.

More importantly though, the global population now has the ability to rally like never before. Mass social media campaigns can determine if a not-for-profit venture succeeds or fails simply by getting on board through user-generated content, commenting, voting, retweeting, sharing etc. Social media campaigns will become a requisite part of all communications strategy in the all-too-near future. It is the Public Relations official's job to remain abreast of all of these different platforms in order to accurately use the one that is right for the client, as the 'more is more' approach does not always work.

Be selective in which social media platforms to target in your planning, and do the research into what kind of reach you are accessing. Is the majority of those "Likes" actually watchdogs looking for a slip to sell to news.com? Is the chosen platform popular in your demographic. Facebook is becoming an automatic sell for fresh PR faces who want to prove to their bosses they are 'Gen Y Social Media savvies'. If you really want to make the impression, back your choices up with figures, provide evaluative measures and goals to achieve. As we go along, your bosses are more and more likely to have facebook themselves so you will need to go the extra mile. You won't keep a contract if you're not doing anything your own boss can do themselves.

With the social media come new challenges as to what discourse and voice your organisation desires. Professional communication is fine, however social media suggests to the public a more personal connection, so how personal does the PR get? Nothing loses followers and friends like an autofeeder or tweetbot. Keep an eye on new technologies, and if that takes too much time, just follow the people who do watch for them. Strategic following and friending can make all the difference.

As a closing, I would like to demonstrate the good it can do for PR to climb aboard some of these Feelgood ventures whereby you don't promote yourself as such but you continually keep your identity among social media. Youtube has been the starting point for many a famous face, so look at some way of getting on it. Even for just a couple of seconds. You can still lay claim to having had 188 views on your video, and it was for a charitable cause!