Stakeholder relations and social media within public relations plays a special role for businesses. With such a wide and quick access to what seems like a limitless amount of people would be foolish not for a business to capitalize on. In addition, with so many people potentially talking about your company, wouldn't you find it necessary to constantly know what is being said? It is poor public relations, forget about social media, but overall for you not to be on the cusp of what's happening regarding your client.
According to a study published by Burson Marsteller in 2011, 84% of Fortune 100 companies are using at least one of the four most popular social media platforms including: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or corporate blogs. These statistics are a clear indication of the direction social media in regards to public relations is headed.
The integration of social media to a public relations campaign can offer an interactive element in a much more user-friendly and cost efficient way. Facebook fans can comment and like what you clients posts, Twitter followers can retweet news/announcements/links, and YouTube users and blog followers can comment on videos and text. This option to engage your audience can be done quickly and affectively to aid public relations campaign or just ongoing client relations in general.
Employees can share with friends and family newsworthy happenings at their company, helping one's social media efforts turn viral. In addition, by creating stakeholder-specific social media accounts and outreach, your client can personally address key publics. For example, a company which employs hundreds of individuals would benefit from a monthly or bimonthly CEO blog where the head of the company can personally address his or her employees. In addition, by spotlighting a valued employee or consumer once in a while can also add a personalized element to a large corporation. By executing both of these ideas via social media outlets, it can ensure everyone is easily reached and gets the message. In addition, these examples can engage key publics in a positive way and motive employees in a very short time needed to create the messages.
