Today's Public Relations and Social Media Rules

Social media is constantly changing. Due to social media's nature, people involved in public relations and marketing have to adapt their approaches. Today, these professionals have to listen more. Also, they have to measure engagement instead of how many people visit their site. Chapter five of Measure What Matters shares four new rules for public relations and social media.

1. You're not in control and never have been.

Katie Paine shares the quote, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it" (p. 74). It is impossible to manage what people say about your company. If you try to dominate a conversation on a social media site, it will not work out for you.

2. There is no market for your message.

It does not matter how many people get your message. The important thing is what people do when they get the message. By listening to the social community, you may persuade them to listen and respond to a part of your message. A two-way synchronous communication method is needed. Both parties have to work together. Fans can decide to agree or disagree with your message. Plus, they can give you feedback on your message.

3. It's about reaching the right eyeballs, not all the eyeballs.

Paine shares two issues with measuring success through eyeballs. First, the numbers do not exist. It is very hard to count eyeballs through social media. The second reason is many influential blogs do not provide circulation figures of other data on people who visit their sites. This means the quantity of people does not matter as much as the quality of people who get a message. Today, what matters is what people will do with the information they find. What should they do? They should read and share your information with their friends, comment on your information or sign up for something. These are things you can measure.

4. It's worse to not be talked about at all.

In social media, it is better to be talked about in a negative sense than ignored. If someone talks about you in a bad way, another person has the ability to write something positive and defend you. Plus, journalists use blogs to get story ideas, check facts and more. If you are not discussed, it is hard to show journalists that you are newsworthy. It also hurts your business if your product category is discussed, but your brand is not included in the conversation.

I think these rules are very useful for social media and public relations. People seem concerned with how many people visit their site more than how many people do something with the message that is sent. I really agree with the third and fourth rules. Instead of focusing on the quantity, quality should be the main focus. Also, there has to be discussion about your company. It can be difficult to hear negative comments, but it will be better in the long run than if nothing is said about your company.