Why Social Media is Important in PR
Advertisements and Partnerships Help Brands & Companies
When scrolling through social media, there are advertisements or famous partnerships with companies to show what a product is. Social media has opened a new world of opportunities for PR on platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube, companies can promote campaigns or products to widen their audience to reach a new demographic that was not targeted before.
Promoting A Product or Brand with Campaigns
To promote a certain product or campaign, stories and tagging the brand can be used for a giveaway to advertise. When on social media, celebrities partner up with brands to promote their products or do giveaways where you have to follow a certain account, like the post, comment, tag a friend or post on your story. I have participated in many of these potential giveaways. For example, BEIS posted a giveaway on their Instagram where participants had to follow certain steps to be entered into the giveaway; this creates exposure since one of the steps is to post on your story and tag the company.
Screenshot from beis Instagram page
How Social Media Helps PR Professionals Track Potential Crises
Social media lets professionals track and monitor any potential crises. They can track hashtags or read about their organization from users. This helps strategize when and what to communicate if something happens to go wrong. Companies and brands can speak directly to their audience on social media rather than hiring media outlets to spread news and information.
Mikayla Gay
Mikayla Gay is a senior at California State University, Northridge majoring in journalism with an emphasis in public relations. She works as a marketing assistant and has written press releases and articles and has social media experience. One of her photos was featured in the September 2021 issue of Food Network Magazine. After college, she hopes to continue her career in marketing or go into the entertainment industry, specifically music or sports.