Brands and their agencies need to look beyond pure social media metrics, such as engagement and community growth, and integrate activities with other disciplines, particularly PR and search (SEO), for the greatest return on investment.
Although the PR industry is in a state of heightened change, with bloggers proliferating and print media continually on the decline, actually the PR industry has a great deal to offer for the fledgling social media sector, on the basis of knowledge that has been hard fought and learned in the industry's history.
Specifically, PRs treat content in a very specific way. PR-generated content tends to conform closely to brand guidelines, will be pre-approved by appropriate stakeholders and will, typically, align with an overall narrative about the brand or business behind the story.
Whilst this may seem impractical at first, treating tweets, posts and updates like pre-approved, micro-press announcements, to be appended, revised or replaced at the last minute if and as required with content that is reactive to whatever is happening at the time, ensures that the spine of any social media programme is closely tied to a brand's other marketing activities. Moreover, this process allows for terrific visibility over the narrative which is being told across the social profiles overs weeks and months, rather than on a post-by-post basis.
As well as planning, governance is another area where PRs have learned the hard way. Ironically, measuring PR remains a contentious issue within the sector but rather than the specific measures that are used (ie share of voice, volume of coverage, the now out-of-favour Advertising Equivalent Value, or AEV), the process that PRs use to methodically track, measure and report on activity is extremely beneficial in social media. The key is that when it is used appropriately, the information is actionable - and in the context of social media, rapid measurement - such as that delivered in a weekly activity report - can inform on-the-fly changes to a strategy, meaning that the campaign evolves and improves on a week by week basis.
So, it's no coincidence that more PR agencies are managing social media for their clients. However, one discipline which remains overlooked by many in the social media space is organic search (SEO) - and the ever-growing value of social media content as a signal for search engines.
Whilst it's certainly no secret that both Google and Bing have this year announced that they are treating social media far more prominently in their respective algorithms, the fact remains that unless social media activity aligns with Search, in terms of keywords to be used and landing pages to be embedded, the two remain separate. Again, planning is key, as is an understanding of the terminology and intricacies of search, another discipline which feels like it changes on a day by day basis some weeks.
Overall, the fact is simply that social media is growing up as a discipline in its own right. With brands continuing to invest heavily, including the mainstream, as well as early adopters, it seems highly likely that next year brands and their agencies will need to ensure that their activities across the areas of print and online PR, search and social media are working together, not the stand alone approach adopted by many at present.