Ustrategy

Is Social Media Killing PR? Concluding Thoughts

It was a bustling and energy-filled evening at the Horn Group's offices. People crammed into the partitioned space and settled behind rails and in the balcony upstairs. Most attendees were in PR, some in "Social Media," others in Marketing.

The session was set up as an informal conversation. Sam Whitmore of Media Survey, did a good job engaging the audience and taking questions as conversation leads.

What's interesting to me is that people are missing the point. The issue isn't about social media vs. PR but rather about evolution. PR, like many other fields (book publishing, farming, music, even our government) is evolving. The real dichotomy is not an external one--not between this or that practice--but rather, it is an inner dichotomy between staying the same and accepting change.

When people work so hard to turn things into perfect little packages (that often they are not), it is extremely difficult to see when things no longer work as they once did. PR by its traditional definition is about making a sale. To do that, PR people have to be experts at making things look nice and appealing, turning them into the cough syrup someone needs or into a brand new air you now must breathe.

Evolution, if you think about it, becomes a frightening proposition to those who are not accustomed to it. The very people who are so good at PR, often find it just as hard to look inside the practice--which is to a large extent their identity--and critique. They're used to creating beautiful fronts--not to look at the cracks underneath.

Tonight's gathering was a great sign that things are changing. The conversation is beginning, bit by bit. Perhaps it doesn't flow but it sure seem to be trickling. Over the coming months and years, I predict we'll see people becoming leaders in the industry not for doing one or the other, but for bringing together traditional PR and what's termed Social Media (another post on that soon) and for creating a full-spectrum system that doesn't speak to this or that tool, but to finding creative ways to address what a firm's client is looking for.

Boundaries have been blurring for years between applications, solutions, and devices. The flow between divergence and convergence is at play here too--PR used to be separate from Marketing which was separate from customer experience which was separate from, say, support. Most successful companies who have lasted through the last 15 years have seen exactly that. What makes them unique is that they adapted and evolved. PR, like any other practice, is going to do the same--by will or by force. It's the old adage, I guess: change or be changed.

Is Social Media Killing PR? Live blogging from Girls in Tech and Horn Group

Panelists: Kara Swisher (Dow Jones and All Things Digital), Jeremiah Oywang (Forrester Research), Susan Etlinger (The Horn Group).

  

Kara Swisher: Talking about the "three ass clowns" of the Valley--Scoble, Calacanis, and Arrington who wrote about social media as the PR killer. Most blogs, Swisher says, are not real news--they're fake news.

Kara says to stay tuned for important news tonight at 9 (under embargo).

Susan Etlinger: Says you must look at what makes sense. Is Robert Scoble the right person to be pitching your company? He might be--or may not.  There IS the Arrington effect. We all know this. Question is if it's the right effect for your company.

Jeremiah Oywang: PR firms are just starting to have Social Media roles in their companies. I'm not sure they understand how to do (social media) yet.

Susan Etlinger: We know that we have to change the model and we are changing it so that we can focus our efforts on what makes most sense to our clients.

Audience member: I disagree. I think PR agencies are already doing this. 60-70% of my conversations are around Social Media and only 30% is around how to get to the WSJ.

Audience member: I want to see someone who understands analytics. 

Jeremiah Oywang is pointing to the potential conflict--or need for evolution--from a relationship business to a reality business--addressing client needs in a holistic approach.

Audience member: Question should be on how to use the current tools for the most impact and in this environment--Techcrunch is a must. We shouldn't do press releases and exclude Arrington. If PR understood how to do this then this wouldn't even be a conversation.

Susan Etlinger: Twitter is not going to be here in 10 years. It's going to be absorbed or turned into something else. Twitter creates this moment--what can you do with this thing, what capabilities does it provide. So you need to think what makes most sense for you. It's all about the context behind the product, some times it's too early...Tivo is an example. Kara Swisher agrees.

Question: What's the most impressive thing you've seen (around Social Media+PR)?

Jeremiah Oywang: Mystarbucks: Company that is making complete company changes. They're changing their services, the whole thing.  We're tracking what Obama did. No one can come and say this is a fad because we point to the president of the United States.

Audience member: Twitter and blogging are forms of communication. They're the new media. You can't ignore them.

Question: One key important "desert island" to leave with the audience today:

Susan Etlinger:  We're in the midst of enormous change. This is time to think...to get the conversation going. We were all stunned by the response. Time to be unafraid and bold about both criticizing ourselves and giving ourselves credit for the new things we're trying and doing. 

Jeremiah Oywang:  There's a business opportunity to use these tools and grow revenue streams for your clients. Align yourself with these technologies. Use these tools to fix your own reputation.

Kara Swisher:  There's nothing new under the sun. What's important is that you're representing a company that genuinely has a good product. You cannot (do) PR (on) a crappy product and it doesn't matter how many press releases you get on a website. All that really matters is that you have a really good product.  I don't remember the last time I picked up the phone and went "Oh my God, it's a communication tool..." Focus on the product!