As social media marketing continues to grow, evolve, and shape itself into a practicable, observable set of theorems, debates continue among tradiional media types who are hell bent on adapting their practice to this new media.  Inevitably, some of the old traditions will not- and should not, I might add- translate into a social media setting.  One such debate I’ve monitored fairly closely is whether PR, in the traditional sense, is naturally suited for or synonymous with social media marketing (or vice versa).  Trends are now such that we can begin to see patterns emerging, so here are a some of observations on this point:

1. When it comes to definitions, I’m a purist.

Public Relations is a planned program of action designed to shape, craft, or protect a brand message.  The Wikipedia entry for “Public Relations” states that:

Public relations (PR) concerns professions working in public message shaping for the functions of communication, community relations, crisis management, customer relations, employee relations, government affairs, industry relations, investor relations, media relations, mediation, publicity, speech-writing, and visitor relations. The first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations, held in Mexico City in August 1978, defined the practice of public relations as “the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest.” [1]. Others define it as the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations)

Social media, on the other hand, is a broad, umbrella term that simply describes a technological platform that allows people or groups of people to communicate with each other.  Social media isn’t new…it’s been around since the earliest days of the web vis-a-vis chat rooms, discussion boards, and group instant messaging.

So, while PR is the art of helping a brand communicate with the public at large, social media is any platform that allows individuals within the public to communicate with each other.  The Brand is the Intruder in that process…the johnny-come-lately.  It always has been.  People find new ways to talk to each other, and corporate big-whigs find new ways to interrupt those conversations with marketing messages.  If you’re a marketer, you ignore this reality at your peril.  Understanding this reality can help you determine an appropriate approach to the social realm.

2.  Social media is the wild west.

We’ve all heard the hesitations and objections: “I don’t want my company on Facebook because someone might post something negative for everyone to see.”  And…boom!  There it is.  That statement comes from a person who is charged with shaping and protecting their brand message and who realizes that social media is not a venue that is conducive to that effort.

You can shape a message on TV…you can shape a message in your advertising…you can shape a message when talking to a journalist.  But you can’t…cannot…can not…fool the consumer (at least not for long).  Consumers today are too smart and too educated and don’t want anyone shaping their messages, dammit!  Social media sites- particularly in the vein of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace- are silos.  People are there to (ah, surprise!) socialize, and they can and will smell a crafted message a mile away.  And before you finish typing, they’ve already tuned you out…with no small measure of disgust, I might add.

Therefore, brand involvement in social media inherently implies and requires that you assume the risk of negative feedback.  In the social realm, the consumer sees your PR professional and raises you one consumer experience.  Time to fold.  For your social media strategy, there is no replacement for a good product, and no better PR than good service.

3.  Social media strategies that are too brand-centric will fail.

Social media strategies should be consumer-centric.  That’s the nature of social media, and, thus, the nature of social media marketing.  Winning social media strategies NEVER dictate a message.  Winning social media strategies ALWAYS focus on a winning product or service and simply enable customers and fans to talk to each other about it.  That conversation can and often does have nothing at all to do with the product.  But it isn’t important for the brand to be the subject of conversation…it’s only important that the brand become the platform for the conversation.

Mountain Dew has moved 100% of their advertising to social media- particularly, Facebook.  Check out their page: http://www.facebook.com/mountaindew.  You can see that some of the conversation has to do with the product, some is positive, some is negative, and some is completely unrelated.

On the flip side, BP America (http://www.facebook.com/BPAmerica) has defaulted their page to hide user comments.  Instead, you’re greeted with an onslaught of PR messages from the company.  Zero conversation.  And, does anyone really believe that their efforts to shape the message will be successful on Facebook?  Probably not, methinks…

Compare the two pages: Mountain Dew is a free-for-all, tossed salad of feedback and conversation that involves nearly a million people.  BP is one, big, fat, corporate, comb-over effort to shape the message…to the tune of absolute failure and less than 20,000 fans.

Conclusion…

Social media certainly allows a brand to “relate to the public” via conversations that are taking place.  That isn’t always the same thing as “public relations” (based on the definition in #1 above).  Many pros in the business today have adapted their definition of public relations to fit the new media simply because they want to be a part of it, or out of fear that they will be left behind.  Personally (warning: opinion), I think this does a disservice to the field of PR.  PR is a specialty that both transcends and permeates the brand-building realms of marketing, advertising, copy-writing, and design.  PR will always have a place in the branding board room.  Social media hasn’t and won’t change that.

Social media is about joining or enabling conversations…not controlling them.  Understanding the nature of those conversations is key to being a successful social media marketer.  So, while social media is certainly a viable outlet for PR efforts within a greater social media strategy, it is far from being synonymous with public relations.  So, despite what is now fashionable, PR will always be PR, and social media will always be social media.  Understanding what PR is and what social media is will remain crucial in combining them successfully.

PR is about shaping the message.  Social media is about releasing the message and enabling the market to talk about it (CRINGE, if your company initials are “BP”!).