The Importance of Social Media in the modern PR environment

For most of us Social media is something we use for leisure and enjoyment. We use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to interact with our friends and family , to share funny moments of our friends or pets making fools of themselves and all the while the goal is to make a connection with not just people from our locality , but the world. Social media provides us with a constant link to the world and thats why it's the perfect platform for companies and organisations to connect with their audiences worldwide. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and many others can be used as virtual billboards and is quickly replacing print media as the widest form of media consumed by the public making them perfect places to advertise the company you represent. You see many add campaigns appearing on social media sites below you will find two examples

This is a new and powerful way to connect with a much wider audience and a great way for PR practitioners to expand their horizons when running a campaign. But it's not just advertising that social media is great for, Many companies will use social media to communicate directly with their audiences a great example would be how a bus company will notify customers of a delay effecting a route

 

This type of communication is very effective , It instantly connects you to your public's and conveys the message you are spreading to a wide audience in a short amount of time

Social media's importance in the field of public relations will continue to grow as we go into the future it would be naive to think otherwise so the real challenge for practitioners is to embrace this shift in practises and and adapt to this new environment that we are all now a part of. I will leave you with this great video which will hopefully give you even more insight into Social media and PR . Thanks for reading!.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMS5Iu0psDY