Terenia Taras / PR Consultancy / Yorkshire/ United Kingdom
PR and Journalism in a Digital World
3rd December 2015
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10th March 2016
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Should we all be social media experts?

Terenia Taras / PR Consultancy / Yorkshire/ United Kingdom

It would seem that the world and his dog are all social media experts, but I am not ashamed to say, I’m not one of them.
Previously during the housing boom, anyone who owned a home and had picked up a paintbrush was suddenly a property developer. Now it seems, anyone and everyone who owns a website are social media gurus.

Social media and SEO have become synonymous with success in the digital age we live in, but my point is, do we all need to be experts individually to be successful within our businesses?
It’s most definitely important to have a thorough understanding of how social media works, but from a PR perspective, the day-to-day management of social media campaigns I prefer to leave in the capable hands of people who do the job all day, everyday, 24/7, and I mean no sleeping on the job!
Anyone is capable of putting a post on Facebook or tweeting, but for me the hard part is constantly monitoring activity, and not just your own, but everyone else’s who can influence or effect yours.

One of my PR clients asked if I would take on-board their social media despite them already using a very capable social media company. But rather than jump at the new business, I preferred to be honest and hold my hands up and just admit, I’m not an expert in social media. In fact, I think that just because everyone has jumped on the social media bandwagon, it’s not necessarily a good thing. You only have to look at some of the drivel on social media sites to see it’s becoming overkill and I genuinely believe that before too long, businesses will be a lot more targeted and focused with their social media, rather than feeling the need to simply have a presence on every single platform.

I think social media is fantastic for businesses in so many different ways, whether that’s using Facebook for cost effective and targeted advertising. Or Twitter to add some personality and passion to your brand. And now there’s the new kid on the block, Periscope, a free app that allows users to live-stream films of what they’re doing to followers. We’ve yet to see what this one brings to the party!
But if you are going to jump on the social media bandwagon, then be an expert or leave it to one.

I personally prefer to work alongside a social media company or expert, and in the few months I’ve been running my own PR company I find it frees me up to think of ways that the PR strategy can be used effectively across different social media platforms. It gets better results for your clients, and also allows both parties to learn more about the ways we can successfully work together and feed off each other’s knowledge and ideas. People may argue that it all needs to be under the same roof to have synergy, but it’s simply a case of good communication and regular contact, which at the end of the day is what social media should be about.

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