I am becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of blog writing by public relations, marketing, and advertising firms in the city of Indianapolis and abroad. The simple fact that a communications company is not in-tune with the changing landscape of the consumer driven world is troubling… to say the least.
If there are any industries that should be on the forefront of social media and blogging it is the public relations and marketing worlds. YOU are the communications arm for major brands both large and small. YOU are driving them out of business because of your lack of knowledge pertaining to the changing world.
If you do not believe in social media as a valuable device for communication (two-way communication)… I am concerned for your company health and your clients bottom line. You may be riding the fair wave of strictly using traditional marketing and media buys… Don’t get me wrong… it is still extremely valuable to use and implement but only when integrated with new techniques.
But what happens when 6 to 12 months down the road… when you realize that you did not change in the right direction… What happens when you are surpassed by smaller, more agile firms and your market share is ripped away because of one thing..
THEY realized it was important to talk to single consumers instead of a HUGE demographic mix. They realized it was important to communicate instead of blasting messages over the airwaves.
It is important to understand that social media will be new medium of communication. It may be a new concept but in the next year it is going to revolutionize the way we communicate. Are you searching for the truth? Are you watching the trends?
Most are not.
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Rodger
As a PR pro and blogger, I don't disagree with you, Kyle. We are blogging for the Hoosier Chapter of PRSA. You're right, however, I can count on one hand the number of PR agencies in partcular, that are blogging or use (attempt to use) social media.
I have seen one agency in Indianapolis use the PitchEngline SMR. I haven't seen one agency help build a SMNR (Social Media News Room). And only a few are Tweeting, and doing a bad job of it at that.
Mariah
Kyle, this is right on.
As a college student studying PR I am learning all about social media and how organizations can use tools like twitter and blogging to reach an audience that before they might not have listened to before, or even know they were a "customer." To retain customers, businesses need to give them what they want, listen when they have issues with products/services so they can fix it. I think it's easy to say "hey, we need a social media plan," but I think where people are struggling is what to do next. This next step becomes real easy if you just emerce yourself in the tools like twitter, blogs and facebook: explore, explore, explore. Make your strategies listen, engage, energize, support, embrace.
If a PR or marketing person doesn't believe in social media as a communication tool by now they might need to look into another field: It's huge!
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Lorraine Ball
I am surprised at how few of my peers i bump into in social media environments. While I feel like we are just scratching the surface, we are definately more engaged then most larger firms.
Perhaps it is because we bring in so many interns and turn them loose. Many are PR majors,. They know how to use the tools, but no one is talking to them about how to use them effectively for PR. So we let them experiment, and the results have been very positive.
I am disappointed that few of them have taken classes on this subject. I would think the universities should be embracing this. Of course there is no text book
LaTosha Johnson
As an entrepreneur and blogger, I definitely say agree with you! For some reason I am amazed at how many companies (typically larger companies) still do not see the value of social media. How can you honestly expect to stay in business and not take the time to connect with your target market on their “turf”? In my opinion, I believe it is pure laziness when companies do not feel it is necessary to engage in social media. You are investing your time, but you get so much back in return provided you are sharing quality content and are truly making an effort to engage your customers. Great post!
Justin Thompson
I think part of the fear is not being able to commit to maintaining communications through many different outlets. Part of the issue is also determining what purpose the communication is for. Do agencies blog or Tweet to pass on client news? Do they merely promote themselves via these social media? Or do they merely package electronic social networking (and therefore branding) as part of all pitches to new clients?
Part of the reason is fear – fear of the unknown. Like you said, newer places may more easily adapt to this 'wild west' style of communication where anything goes, information overload. I know that where I work, which is not an agency, we are starting to venture out but for our target demographic – they do not use the internet like our generation does.
Instead of really pushing our brand/products out via the web, we make sure we are web present so for those that are savvy enough to use the web (sad, I know…) will be able to find us. But we do post monthly blogs and updates because I think that presence is important.
From friends I have in agencies, they're struggling to get all the work done with staff at less than half capacity so while I don't disagree, I think ultimately they become more concerned in producing items that are billable dollars versus value added and more public relations oriented.
(Ps: I don't disagree! ha!)
Duncan Alney
Just finally getting around to commenting on this. Thing is I've thought long and hard and really social media is perfect for PR firms yet so few in Indianapolis are immersed in it. Frankly other than Hetrick and Trendy Minds, I can't even say I'm familiar with a single firm that I've come across. I find it amusing how many ad agencies that represent brands and have unsuccessful social media campaigns for them there are in Indianapolis. Guess I understand why some of those monthly meetings are so uncomfortable now – talking one way is a lot easier than having a conversation aint it?
But here's where it gets interesting – building relationships and adding value are the present and future of marketing. If you aren't hip to conversations for yourself – how you gonna do it for someone else? Oh yeah I think the brainstorm cats are super cool – the live the paradigm.
I'd love to see a list of local brands' social media efforts and their agencies' non existent social media! This is Thomas Friedman's observations in action – the nobodies are the new somebodies. Not just us but all the peopel that are immersed in these agencies' brands.
Ok I'm stoppin' now.
Duncan Alney
Kyle – there is a post on the hoosier PRSA blog post and a blog post as well. Check it out. You'll find it quite balanced.
http://blog.firebellydigital.com/2009/08/practice…