The curse of social media

A PR axiom I believe: Any channel that your key audiences consistently responds to should be part of your outreach.

PR conventional wisdom I reject: When new channels emerge (like a popular new social media platform), you have to jump in quickly or you’ll get left behind.

I’m channel agnostic – I don’t care if it’s earned media, Pinterest, or carrier pigeon. If your target audience responds to it in the ways that are important to your business, go for it.

But there is way too much “keeping up with the Joneses” in PR. Too many of us get worried that someone is going to say, “What, you’re not on Snapchat? Don’t you know that’s where all the young people are?”

And so we scramble to learn about Snapchat (or Instagram or whatever else) and throw resources at it before we know whether it’s worthwhile. And the most precious resource we risk wasting is our personal time and attention.

I started writing these articles and sending emails in 2008. In the initial years thereafter, Facebook jumped from college campuses to mainstream use and started its explosion. Its promise seemed magical – people WANT to follow you and you can reach them for free!

Yet I didn’t establish a Facebook page for this business. Not based on any all-wise prediction. Not because I knew better. Simply because email and blog posts were working for me. And I didn’t have the bandwidth to do anything else well AND serve my audience and clients. So I basically never got around to it. That turned out to be blind luck.

Fast-forward to the present: Facebook is a public company now. It needs to make big money to appease investors. So even your own fans don’t see your posts in their feeds unless you pay to “boost” your content. And even then, click-throughs are harder to get than ever.

Have you noticed how the biggest bloggers and podcasters you follow are all now trying to move you to their email lists?

Another PR axiom I believe: When the masses are all doing the same thing, you can distinguish yourself by doing the opposite.

That’s why I’m picking now, of all times, to launch a Facebook page for my business. (Articles will continue as usual). The channel is proven to reach my audience. I now have a team and more bandwidth. And I see a way to stand out.

I’m not going to use Facebook the way PR teams do. Not the way that social media experts exhort you to. I have very specific objectives and I’m only going to take the actions that will help me achieve them. Nothing more.

Even though it’s hard for me to stomach that some people will look at the page and think, “He’s supposed to be a PR trainer and he doesn’t even know not to (insert Facebook dogma violation here)?”

But I remind myself I’m no longer worried about being a “pleaser” (that’s been a difficult detox). I have a message that helps PR people, and I have a duty to share it in the most effective way to reach as many as possible.

“Like” my new Facebook page here and watch how this plays out.

To your success,

Michael