With social media taking up so much of PR time, should you ditch traditional media?
The short answer is no.
The landscape has changed enormously. There is more independent, online media than ever - think Pearls and Irritations, Crikey, Michael West Media; broadcast media has branched out onto the internet, delivering many opportunities for news covereage. Print media has increasingly moved into the digita space. Traditional media remains flexible and important.
However, it would be foolish to ignore social media. It (X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTOk) has to be part of an integral communications strategy. Each social media vehicle has to 'talk' to others. To carry out social media in isolation of broader PR is inviting trouble and far too limiting. It is not a silver bullet.
Social media is made up of many components, just as traditional PR is. When it comes to raising a profile, this is our advice:
X is used by journalists for story ideas and to promote their own stories. They expect to be contacted.
Thread is yet to get the following that was initially envisaged but it should still be considered.
LinkedIn is gathering momentum as a way of exchanging ideas as well as CV connections. It is our preferred platform.
All of the above are fine for reaching journalists but it won’t necessarily deliver the overall audience a client would expect.
This is why you have to maintain contacts outside social media, and continue to provide quality content that they are interested in, that their audiences want and in a way that is easy for them to use.
The channel is not as important as the quality of the content and your ability to deliver the goods in the right way to the right person and on time.