Is Your Business Ready for Social Media Marketing?

Nowadays, the Internet can easily make or break many business efforts. There are a lot of small companies which have created resounding names through online rave reviews and there are also many big time companies whose sales have dwindled because of some bad reviews that proved to be influential, and was made even more influential because of the influx of bad experiences from other clients. Due to this impact, more and more businesses have increased their comfort using social media, and have treated it with more seriousness and tact that ever.

Now, no matter how easy signing up on Twitter and Facebook may be, many businesses still lack maturity towards social media. Most of the think like this: “Hey, Twitter and Facebook really worked for others, and they’re free, so let’s do it!” However, it’s not that simple. Even though signing up may be mechanically easy, keeping your account alive and positive takes a lot of work. And if you pass out, that would be very bad for business.

So that, passing out, and other social media mistakes, must be avoided. To determine if your business is really ready for social media, here are some pointers:

Don’t get too excited; you’ll drown yourself. Those who are new to social media follow a lot of businesses and public figures around, trying to get a hold of their market and establishing “presence”. They follow many users, use all the tools offered, and register many accounts all at the same time. What usually happens here is that every account might not be maintained properly and if the other accounts didn’t work well, one might just lose hope in social media in general. Remember that social media needs consistent, focused effort. Stick to social media platforms which worked for others—Twitter and Facebook—and build your online presence upon them. And don’t forget your website!

Train your social media account handlers well. Okay, almost everyone is on Facebook right now. Twitter is not rocket science as well. Social media may look like a piece of cake, but really, it’s not. And the most important part of the game is your handlers. Don’t let the new employee handle and manage your accounts. No; not even if he has 50,000 friends on Facebook. Remember, whatever he does, it will reflect on your business’ reputation. Social media is too valuable to entrust in the hands of a newbie. Instead, educate someone who knows the company’s ins and outs, goals, products and services how to use social media.

It’s STILL business. Treat social media as an inherent part of your PR (Public Relations); not just an extra thing-to-do for when the people are bored. Recognize that it WILL need a budget, a carefully mapped-out strategy, and yes, the results may be fairly calculated at the bottom line. Of course, remember that all of these things won’t happen overnight. Have realistic expectations all the time.

For easier appreciation, I'll leave you with a nice illustration of how social media marketing works:

Those are some of the most important things about social media which I want to get out in the open. Most multinational companies, those who usually spend for major R & D are making big waves in social media already. I’ve written PR for multinational companies and Davao-based ones, and here’s what they had in common: treating social media seriously. So, for businesses out there, do exactly that. I swear, it will all work out fantastic in the end. (And contact me if you need some PR done! Hahaha!)

Love,

Your New PR Girl

yournewprgirl@gmail.com

3 Most Common PR Mistakes

The PR (Public Relations) business may be easily defined as the business of making your client look good. Whether you’re doing PR for a product, a service or an organization, the end goal of your project is always “to make it look good”. Or look better.

My first encounter with Public Relations was way back in college. I spent an entire semester reading about it, studying it and learning how important it is in business. Now that I’m out of college, I bump into it almost every day until I realized that I fit snugly in this industry. So, armed with a Marketing degree and experience in advertising, I ventured into Events Management and covered many PR experiences.

Now, because I’m in this business, I regularly had to keep reading and keep learning so I can get ahead of the competition. For those who want to start a career in PR, or those who want to be better at their business’ PR, here are the top 3 most common things that they must avoid:

Saving the Meaty Part for Later

Many writers disregard (or forgot!) the reasons why the inverted pyramid as a story writing format became a classic. For those who didn’t know about this, the inverted pyramid is a style of writing where the most important data of the story is placed at the top and then the information that follows afterwards are just the supporting details. In “importance grading”, it’s like an inverted pyramid because the bigger side is at the top. Every PR story or advertisement should follow this. See, it’s good to also “save the best for last” but a lot of people really don’t have time to wait around for what’s going to appear next.

This principle is especially useful in the Internet world. Studies show that you only have less than 5 seconds to impress your first time page viewer. If you don’t get his/ her attention by then, remember that it also takes a fraction of a second to click that close button at the upper right corner of the window.

Impress, satisfy and ignite interest from your audience as soon as you can. When you got that running smoothly, everything else will follow.

“We” instead of “You”

Look at your company profile. Do you constantly talk about how long you have been in the business, how good you are, how many customers you’ve served, et cetera? Do you fill your copy with “we” instead of “you”? Many businesses think that the best way to impress their audience is to brag about themselves. Though this may spark interest as well, the best way (really) to incite action from your viewer is to drop the benefits part. After all, what comes after you impress them? Do they walk away with the good impression? Shouldn’t they do something?

Answer these questions: What benefits do they get from your product/ service/ organization? How will it help them? What kinds of feelings must your PR effort (may it be a picture, an ad, a statement or a press release) leave on your viewer?

Releasing an Advertisement, Not a Story

Now, for the tricky part, many businesses do PR to advertise something, instead of telling a story. See, people now have become smarter buyers.  They know which ends some companies would go just to make a sale, or make themselves look good in public. This is why, you need to take a softer approach in PR. You must showcase your business as something that has an identity of its own, with its own stories to tell. 

For example, if you’re releasing a story about your latest Bantay Bata project, tell a story on how your business appreciates the value of keeping the children on the right track when it comes to education, well-being and their physical growth. Tell a story on how your business is relevant to the community by saying how this value is relevant to the community. Stuff like that.

So yeah, those are just top 3 of the most glaring mistakes that businesses commit whenever they do Public Relations. Keep these in mind and you’ll surely find the other PR trappings easier.

For comments, topic suggestions and all kinds of weird reactions

Hello! This is YOUR NEW PR GIRL!

Hi! I'm glad you forced your way here. Don't worry; in the coming days, you won't feel that coming here will be as difficult as how you arrived. Haha! I'm just so awesome you can't help but revisit me all the freakin' time. Okay, too cocky, change topic.

Anyway, last year I taught Marketing for Ateneo de Davao University. Had only three classes and I had a great time while at it. Students got used to my bubbly self (although they hate that I'm a grammar Nazi during their essay exams) so they started asking if I keep a blog. I wanted to give them the link of my other blogs but they're just too vulgar controversial for them to read (and remember). Haha! So VOILA! This site was born! *throws confetti* This year, I'll be teaching Business Administration (Management) and a Branding class so I'm sure that I'll be filling this blog with many useful Marketing and PR doodles.

This blog will be used by me and for me. I will talk about things which are worth talking about. Most of the time, I'll be talking about Public Relations and Self Improvement. Basically, things I want to yap awesome PR about, and things which help you, as an individual, create good PR for yourself. Sometimes, when I have too many Tequila shots, I also write about stuff I end up deleting the day after. Oh you know the drill.

Visit me often, yeah? Show me some looooove.


Love in the name of lip gloss and my bouncy curly hair,

Your New PR Girl <3