Week Three - Strategy & Campaign Planning

The thing I found most interesting about this week’s readings was the discussion in Chapter Three of “Groundswell” that addresses why people partake in social media.  The reasons behind participating in social media vary from person to person, and I think it is crucial for companies to understand the various motivations behind people signing up for social media sites.

As someone who participates in social media on a daily basis, my reasons for taking part in sites like Facebook and Twitter are to maintain relationships with friends and satisfy my prurient impulse to a certain extent. I use Facebook to keep up with my friends and see how things are going in their respective lives. Checking out pictures of people I haven’t seen in years is something I enjoy, as is reading status updates.

Twitter is my favorite social media site because I can follow sports personalities and sports writers whose comments I find funny and insightful. I get the occasional pop culture reference on my timeline, and I do find that Twitter satisfies my prurient interest in that regard.

When it comes to implementing social media into an organization’s public relations plan, it is important to recognize that these different reasons exist. I think the most important thing a company can do when creating a presence on social media is to understand that users are not necessarily expecting to see messages from your company cropping up on their newsfeeds and timelines. People like me are on social media to stay connected to our worlds, not get PR messages from companies (although some do tend to pop up!).

A second factor about using social media as a PR tool is the chance that users will pay it forward to their friends, and that could be in the form of negative comments or reviews. As a company, it is important to engage in a discussion as opposed to simply offering a place to comment. Engagement is key when it comes to social media; it is called “social” media for a reason.