“The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.” George Carlin
Not so long ago, small businesses would have to spend big money with public relations consultants who would write media releases and chase up journalists and editors in the hope of getting some promotion and buzz around your products or services.
For me, P.R. is still something that I outsource, mostly because I am not very good at it. The difference these days is that my P.R. consultant knows that the future of my industry lies with social media. Johanna Baker-Dowdell, owner of Strawberry Communications, looks after my P.R. I asked her how other small business can leverage social media to give them an advantage in their public relations.
“Public relations is communicating the right message to an audience to build and enhance a business’ image. The key here is communication in building an ongoing relationship, which involves telling potential clients about the business, allowing them to research the products or services offered and then, hopefully, buy.
Social media is a powerful P.R. tool because it is a way of communicating to potentially thousands – or even millions – of people. Millions of people use social media every day, and more and more join daily.”
Build a relationship
Most people see social media as a way to get new customers, close deals, promote your special deals and so on. Johanna prefers to use it to promote the company to the wider community, without necessarily using it for the hard sell. “Instead of thinking about social media as a lead generation or sales tool, think of it more as a way of customers learning about the business and the people behind the business.
Social media paves the way that may eventually lead to sales, but first the foundation of a solid relationship and brand awareness must be built.
Good customer service is one of the most important tools used to keep people coming back to businesses, and social media can be used as a customer service tool, but the relationships created online often go beyond customer service. Most people who communicate online will never meet, but relationships built online have the potential to be just as powerful as those built offline.”
So how can other small businesses use social media for their public relations to improve their customer service?
Research the market
“An excellent way to use social media for P.R. – and to help the brand – is market research. Social media is ideal for this as people love to be asked their opinion. For instance, a business is launching a new product line, but is not sure how many colours to offer. Ask the social media networks to comment. They will – and businesses will have answers on which colours are popular (or alternative colours to consider) quickly, but the research could go beyond one network to many more if users decide to re-broadcast the research.
This exposes the brand to more potential customers who may not have known about the business otherwise. On top of the research results, the brand will gain great P.R. as customers will appreciate being involved in the product development process and will be more willing to buy as a result.”
I asked Joh if she could name three advantages of small businesses using social media for their P.R. instead of the conventional P.R. of the past. She suggested sharing, word of mouth and viral marketing as the three most important.
“Using social media for P.R. is all about representing the brand, yes, but via sharing information so people know about the business, but also who runs the business. It is not often that people choose a product on price alone – many other factors are involved, including how they feel about the business and its staff/management, where the business is located (shopping centre, online, a walk away) and past experiences.
Think about all the preferred ways to gain customers, and word of mouth referrals will be close to the top, if not at the top, of the list. In a time when we are skeptical of advertising, word-of-mouth works because the customer isn’t hearing about how good the product or service is from the business, but from a third party (and usually somebody that they know either personally or indirectly).
This makes it more legitimate. Social media allows potential customers to follow the business and its owners, read what they have to say, check out the links they post and talk to others about the business.
Thirdly, viral marketing – using social media effectively for business P.R. means building a loyal community who will spread the word for you and attract new customers to the business. These messages have the potential to go viral, which could be very powerful for the business.
For example when Twitter and Facebook users make a comment, post a photo or set up a group, everyone in their network is automatically notified. This means if one person in the network comments on a new product posted via the business, the brand is exposed to their entire network, which could reach hundreds of thousands of people.”
Public relations, though, like any part of a modern business can sometimes have to deal with negative as well as the positive aspects of its customer service. I asked Joh what the negatives can be with using social media in your P.R. effort.
“Anyone who is willing to broadcast to an audience of such magnitude must be willing to take the good with the bad. As big organisations like Bigpond and NAB have found, social media can be used to monitor what people are saying about the brands by searching for key terms people use in their online discussion.
Frustrated customers can broadcast something to their network that may be only a few words, but can potentially be very damaging to the brand if they don’t get on top of it. The solution is to keep a check on what others are saying about the brand and act on it.”
Who’s doing it well?
I asked Joh which small businesses she knew were using social media for the public relations well.
“Sarah Prout from Sprout Publishing has used social media to build her publishing business, find out what people want her publishing house to produce and become known as a social media expert in the process. Iggy Pintado, author of Connection Generation has used social media to expand his own audience and extend his message, and of course Nick Bowditch who is fast becoming the social media expert to watch!”
Flattery will do her no harm…
And finally, I asked Joh what was her number one tip for small business owners using social media to improve their P.R.
“Social media is about building relationships, but remember to be you and be willing to give as well as receive. Be genuine and don’t do the hard sell, and your customers will appreciate getting to know you and your business.
Interact with others on social media, and keep looking for new people who will add you to your network. Give them feedback and maybe even exchange reviews on product and services, but never expect anything in return.
If people can see you add value to their network, it will flow from there.”
The Plug:
Joh’s e-book, “The 21st Century Guide to Promoting Your Small Business” is a great read and teaches you how to secure hundreds – or thousands – of dollars worth of publicity by using her simple strategies. You can get your own copy by clicking here.
If you would like to see how I can help your business’ social engagement strategy through using social media to boost your public relations effort, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594.
This article appears in full in my book, The Business of Being David – How to use social media to make your small business big. To read the sample chapters and to purchase your own copy, click here.
