Ambidextr Media

It is irrefutable that we have come to live in a social media-dominant world. With the modern developments that continue to thrive to this day, we now heavily rely on technology and social media as a means of communication, building a community, consuming news and information, and many more.

Social media has been and is still an important aspect of business, using it as a tool for promotion and reaching out to potential customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020, the global economy contracted by 3.2%, forcing businesses to shut down due to the evident reduction in sales and increasing costs, along with the labor-induced challenges. 

Despite the crisis faced by multiple businesses, they have found opportunities to prevail through the use of social media. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Tiktok have been a significant contribution to the regained standing of companies that were heavily hit by the pandemic.

Differentiating PR and Social Media

Social media indeed opened doors for businesses to continue to operate in the midst of the pandemic and has introduced us to various ways of letting potential consumers and partners discover them. 

But how does it differ from public relations? 

While social media and PR compliment each other, it does not necessarily consider them as the same thing. In fact, social media has become a key tool for public relations, however, it is not wholly what PR is. There are three aspects in differentiating public relations from social media: 

Purchase vs. Persuasion

Social media is all about purchase, investing on getting people to buy your products and services, buying opportunities for the growth of the business. This is a common strategy used these days through investing on social media influencers with a large following. Since most audiences consider influencers as a reliable source, they are influenced into buying and inherently become customers.

Public relations, on the other hand, focuses on the persuasion of the public rather than buying nor bribing (not that advertising is equivalent to bribing). PR involves relaying a message to the public, convincing them about the quality of what they are promoting and why they should be interested. 

One-way vs. Two-way

Social media is a one-way process of communication. When advertising on various social media platforms, the goal is to just get the message out for the public to see. Its limits are that feedback and reviews about the company, sales numbers, and many other things are not expected from the audience.

Public relations is a two-way communication, seeking the public’s input and using that to further influence the decisions and plans of the company. This process helps bring your brand to target audiences, provides brand experience, and better insight.

Transactional vs. Relational

Advertising on social media is transactional. You are basically paying for a service of interest, loyalty, or airtime. 

“I will give you this money and you will promote my product or put up an advertisement about it.”

Public relations help you build high quality relationships with crucial organizations, associations, and communities that share the same goals as the brand. It also helps in connecting with the public and their audience and lead them to an understanding of the importance of the brand and why their interest, care, support, towards the brand matters. 

What PR can do

A lot of people think that public relations is only about media relations and publicist matters but it is actually much more than that. What PR actually is about is:

• Media Relations
• Internal Communication
• Digital/New Media
• Reputation Management
• Event Planning
• Community Relations
• Crisis Communication

PR communicates crucial brand messages to customers and listens to their needs. Their feedback and reviews about the brand is also heard and adjusted within the company’s plans and decisions, building strong customer trust.

Quality internal communication and timely and strategically planned communication is also conducted within PR, with employees being key proponents in devising what is best for the brand’s reputation.

Creative events are also done by PR wherein they bring authentic experience to key publics for the brand, promoting the company, product or service that it showcases which attracts future customers and gaining attention from the media.

Social media and PR, even with their differences, have their own important effects on businesses and brands. But with these contrasts, it is evident that PR is undeniably what every company needs in order to be recognized, acknowledged, and grow.

Blog by Althea Jaira Forteza