Social media is the channel, not the message (Bonnie Harris)

photo credit: lumaxart

I started working in the technology industry in 1987 and since then, there hasn’t been a year that I haven’t seen the newest “silver bullet” solution to a problem. Social media is not a silver bullet for public relations either, but it is a great way to support and extend your PR initiatives by facilitating your word of mouth strategy online.

Whatever tool, or combination of tools, you choose to use it’s important to remember that social media is essentially another messaging channel , it’s not the message itself. In other words, just as you have to translate your key messages to fit each traditional medium, you need to do the same for blogs, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, whatever you’re using. That’s the biggest mistake people make when embarking on a social media campaign – they simply put collect all the current discounts and sales info or whatever other advertising or events they’re having, and post them online.

Here’s why that won’t work. If you want to get your message on television, you have to create a very visual aspect to your pitch. If you want to get your message conveyed via social media, you need to re-create it from a conversational perspective. Let’s take a look at a great example – the Coca Cola Facebook page vs. Pepsi’s Facebook page. Coke has 3.6 million fans. Pepsi has a little over 230,000 fans. Why?

First of all, the Coca Cola page introduces you to the two regular looking (if not a bit geeky) guys who run the page. They are real people engaged in a conversation with Coke fans. Next, Coke makes it really interactive and their page BELONGS to the fans who can upload videos and photos, play games, find resources for recycling and other socially responsible activities – they can even create their own widgets and gadgets and games for the page. Conversely, what does Pepsi have on their fan page? Really, if you dig around you’ll find the Pepsi Facebook page is just a reiteration of all their marketing giveaways. On the info page? A link to a website, there’s no information that personalizes your conversation. Note also that Coke has TONS of fan comments on their wall. Pepsi? Just a bunch of their own postings. Coca Cola has looked at this messaging channel and TRANSLATED their message to fit the technology, not simply sent the same message out using that technology. It’s a big difference and the key behind successful PR 2.0 for any business.

When you go to use these tools for your own purposes, look at the brands that are succeeding and analyze what they’re doing. Try personalizing your message by putting your own identity out there or choosing employees to be your social media ambassadors. Once you’ve truly jumped into the global conversation of social media, you’ll find it’s one of the most powerful PR tools out there. Because you’ll no longer be dealing with your customers. You’ll be interacting with your friends.

Bonnie Harris is the founder of Wax Marketing, Inc. She has over 20 years experience promoting businesses and products of all kinds. Read her blog or follow her on Twitter for more ideas!

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Tagged as: Bonnie Harris, Coke, FaceBook, Pepsi, Social Media, Twitter, Wax Marketing