vox-popPRcareers

7 social media tips for graduate PRs

1) Embrace Twitter
“Although statistics have shown that Twitter is more heavily used by older. PR practitioners, recent graduates should familiarise themselves with it. It can be a very strong tool as part of their arsenal for employers or clients.”

2) Participate Now
“I have seen Twitter used very successfully by restaurant and retail establishments, as well as large namebrand companies to engage in conversations with their customers and to promote specials and events. The conversation about your company or client will go on whether or not you participate in Twitter, so you might as well listen in and then head off any negative conversation as soon as you can.”

3) Strike a Balance
“It’s important on Twitter to keep a good ratio between connecting and promoting. A good rule of thumb might be to have only one promotional tweet for every 7-10 tweets, for example.”

4) Start Talking
“The focus really should be on initiating conversations. That is how you build followers on twitter. @dunkindonuts is an example of a good ratio. They will promote specials and contests, but they also re-tweet comments from some of their followers about favourite doughnut.”

5) To Facebook or throw the book at Facebook?

“I’m a bit ambivalent about Facebook as a component for social media PR for companies. For individuals, I think it is a terrific way to connect. The problem with Facebook is that the fan pages have become so prolific that many users are tuning out. I have seen some organisations like Foodiesareus use them successfully and engage with their fans, but many of the pages are too promotional.”

“I am still in the process of working on the fan page for my book, Press Releases are not a PR Strategy, to establish it as a discussion forum rather than a static ad. In a lot of ways, I see a blog/website as being a better place for interactive discussions than Facebook. Twitter can link back to the blog/website, although no doubt some companies integrate all three successfully.”

6) Pick a few tools
“If I were a recent PR graduate, I would focus on these three:

• LinkedIn – for professional contacts
• Facebook – for personal contacts
• Twitter – to listen in on conversations and engage conversations, and link followers back to a blog/website

7) Location, Location, Location
“I would keep a close eye on developments in the mobile social media tools, such as Foursquare or Gowalla. These applications were popular at the recent SXSW event in Austin, and there has been a lot of discussion around the pros and cons of location-based social media.”