The growing dominance of social media as a news source represents a superb opportunity for public relations professionals. Placing and promoting news stories on social media has rapidly become a must-have media relations strategy. Social media has surpassed television as the main source of news for young people ages 18 to 24, reveals the 2016 Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
According to the study, 28 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds cite social media is their main source of news and 24 percent cite television. Since 2013, the number of people in the US who say they get their news from social media has doubled: 46 percent now use social media for news. Forty-four percent say they view Facebook for news. Ten percent use Twitter, and 19 percent use YouTube. Just one percent use Snapchat, which only recently began offering news.
The Pew Research Center also describes the rise of social as a news source. Almost two-thirds of adult Americans get news on social media — 18% do so frequently, reports a recent survey from Pew Research Center. That’s up significantly from 2012 when almost half of U.S. adults said they saw news on social media.
Reddit is a favorite news source. Seven out of 10 Reddit users say they get news on that platform. Facebook is a news source for 66% of its users, and Twitter for 59%. People read news less frequently on other networks. Although Redditors read news most, Facebook is much more influential due to its enormous user base.
Social Media: A Must-Have Strategy
PR pros who ignore the trend likely miss a significant opportunity. Successful communications through social media requires authentic content, the forte of PR. PR pros naturally excel at connecting with social media influencers.
“The roots of true PR pros have always focused on real and authentic content, because the PR teams have always dealt with an important reality–real media isn’t controlled and opinions can’t be bought,” writes Adam Snyder, senior vice president of digital strategy at PR and marketing agency Ketchum, in a guest post for Social Times. “They must be earned and reinforced. We try to influence the opinion of a journalist, but we can’t control the story.”
In the new digital environment, effective social media marketing requires integrating PR and marketing teams and stressing earned media placements that appear in consumers’ news feeds rather than advertising. PR will increasingly lead integrated efforts for news feed placements while advertising will assume a secondary role. That new strategy requires a shift in thinking of marketing agencies and their clients.
“The shift will come with a fair amount of tension as it takes place, but regardless of how much resistance the traditional players offer, the new priority for social media is PR,” Snyder argues.
What Others Say about PR and Social Media
Many other communications experts agree that PR pros possess the background and skills to lead an organization’s social media efforts.
PR pros have superb writing and interpersonal communication skills and are good with people, argues Red Jeweled Media. They can promote a company on social media just as they win media placements in print publications. They can handle difficult social media commenters just as they deal with clients or reporters.
They are experts at engagement. Just as PR people help companies and nonprofits engage with reporters, they can help them engage with their fans. They also are skilled at serving as go-betweens for the company owners, sales staff, customers and the company’s technology and SEO agency.
Bottom Line: Recent surveys that reveal the increasing popularity of social media as a news source underscore the importance of PR. Savvy organizations realize that PR can create authentic content well-suited for social media and lead integrated teams of marketing, PR and advertising pros.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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