What role does social media play in modern public relations campaigns, and how can it be leveraged for maximum impact?

Social media can be more impactful than traditional media coverage, especially when you have a post go viral and or build an engaged community. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have over 1 billion users, which dwarfs the audience of even the most popular TV news show, newspaper, or magazine. It’s important to ensure you’re actually delivering value and staying authentic for maximum impact. Don’t simply chase trends, or you’re throwing money down the drain with no real ROI. Instead, engage with your audience and provide them with interesting or entertaining content that’s in the zeitgeist to build a solid reputation.

Social media is absolutely an essential tool for PR campaigns. It offers a direct and fast way to engage with audiences, manage brand reputation, and distribute content that coincides with the campaign.

Things to remember when leveraging social media:

• Define goals - what are you hoping to accomplish with this social extension of your campaign?
• Understanding your target audience - who are they and what content do they want to see/respond best to?
• Creating consistent content - consistent messaging is most important and posting regularly helps keep the brand top of mind
• Utilize analytics/Audience engagement - this will be a clear way to help you understand what is and isn't working (and also will show you what might resonate more with journalists)