Marketers nowadays seem to focus on utilizing social media as their main marketing strategy. While press releases and other public relation tools take a back seat or aren’t leveraged at all. It sometimes looks like social media is becoming synonymous with PR. Which is not the case. There is a line between social media and PR, which some marketers and advertisers neglect.
Here is a simple comparison of social media and PR from Chris Brown in his “Social Media is not the Same as PR” :
Social Media:
- For a good social media campaign, there has to be discussion and conversation.
- The best social media programs use the format (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Digg etc) that most of the customers like to use.
Public Relations:
- You can control the content of a press release, but you can’t control what social media comments or even the news stories that are developed as a result of your release.
- Press releases can help tell the full story, something that is difficult to do in 140 characters.
- I see using social media as a distribution channel for press releases (as well as PR photos and promoting events as well)
Making social media a part of your advertising campaign can be a big boost for your brand and promotion. But relying on social media alone will not do the magic for you.