Source: Matthew Fraser
The next in my series of interviews with speakers at the Social PR Forum event taking place at RIBA, London in December this year is with Matthew Fraser a web 2.0 strategist, Adjunct Professor at American University of Paris, Senior Fellow at INSEAD and lecturer at Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. As of next week you will also be able to follow Matthew blogging at Internet Evolution.
You can follow him on Twitter or find out more about his work via his LinkedIn page.
Q1. Why has social networking and other social media meant PR strategies need to change?
Very simply, because the dynamics of social networking are horizontal, even bottom up. That is very new for the PR and marketing industry, which has long been accustomed to a vertical, top-down dynamic where they created and crafted messages and “broadcast” them to target groups or the public at large. That old “mass” model (mass media/mass marketing) has been completely turned on its head, because people can communicate and share information ‘socially’. Online social networks are horizontal and have no barriers to entry. This represents a serious challenge, indeed threat, to traditional PR and marketing models based on exercising gatekeeper power over information flows. That old game is over.
Q2. What is your top tip for using social networks with brand PR?
My top tip is the most obvious one: communicating on social media has to be ‘authentic’. Everybody knows this, but few PR and marketing professionals actually achieve it. Online social interaction is essentially about ‘sharing’, not about ‘selling’. PR professionals understand this, but the old impulse to ‘sell’ tends to overwhelm their approach because carrying forward the old baggage from the old model is easier than learning to think and act in a totally new way. That’s why so many PR and marketing people, while calling themselves “social media strategists”, are in fact still mostly engaged in tactics, not strategy. To put it very bluntly, it’s false advertising. Tactics is not strategy, but look at what most social media strategy firms do and you see that’s it’s the old game of PR and marketing tactics. The PR and marketing industry must climb out of this paradox: if they are going to call themselves Social Media Strategists, they must engage in strategy, not tactics. Easier said than done.
Q3. How do you keep your social media program accountable in terms of time and keeping the balance?
This is a very controversial subject. As the emergence of so-called ‘paid tweets’ on Twitter and sponsored blogs (pejoratively known as “flogs”) amply demonstrates, the PR and marketing industry is rushing into the social media space primarily driven by commercial opportunism. They are servicing their corporate clients by delivering tactical solutions. True, they have packaged it with friendly Web 2.0 semantics like “sponsored conversations”. But at the end of the day, it’s paid advertising masquerading as social interaction. The line between “social” and “commercial” is very delicate, and when crossed can create tension. We saw that when Facebook tried to roll out ‘social’ advertising – there was huge pushback. We also saw that with some notorious sponsored blogging campaigns that, when exposed, ended up with egg all over their faces. It’s early days and some lessons have been learned, but so far PR professionals have not struck the right balance. The danger, if the current trend continues and amplifies, is that there will be a strong backlash against the over-commercialization of the social media space. I’m not sure PR professionals have given this subject proper consideration. Warning bells should be going off.
Q4. Online PR – is it adapt or die?
The PR profession is adapting very well, there is too much at stake. In fact, PR and marketing professionals were among the first to move into the Web 2.0 space, take ownership, and evangelize vis-à-vis their clients. Nobody can accuse the PR profession of showing up late to the party. In fact, some of the early “geek” evangelists who were more interested in using Web 2.0 platforms for social and organizational transformation were not thrilled to see the heavy presence of PR and marketing people in the space. That tension continues. But in truth, PR and marketing professionals have provided a great deal of thought leadership in the social media space. The challenge is not adapting, but rather making the transition without bringing along the old baggage. That will sort itself out with generational change, but we’re not there yet.
Q5. How important is understanding SEO to modern PR professionals?
Search engine optimization has become an obsession, in fact it has led to the creation of a whole new profession. Social media is now subject to the same hard “metrics” as old media like television. Everything is now analytics and measurement – that’s what the advertising industry needs, wants and demands to justify its shift from old media to new media. WE should keep in mind, however, that the old metrics on television and other traditional media, despite their former status as gospel, were highly contestable on many levels. The emperor had no cloths. We can see that now. Once the old religion has vanished, the old beliefs seem silly. I think we should keep that in mind as we rush frantically to apply the same metrics to new media.
Watch this space for forthcoming interviews:
Christian J. Schultz, Head of Communications from Mattel
Phil Szomszor, Head of Digital, Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Dirk Singer, co founder, Cow
Tags: INSTEAD, Matthew Fraser, Online PR, PR, RIBA London, social media, social networking, Social PR Forum, Technology PR, web 2.0
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