Two For One: Public Relations Social Media Blog Assignment and Top Five List

Alright, so it looks like for two weeks in a row my blog post will be a class assignment. This time, however, instead of a creative writing assignment, this will be a public relations assignment.

So let’s get down to business, and talk about the strategic use of social media.

Well, I’m pretty sure almost everyone I know uses Facebook for social networking, but I’m pretty sure, that outside of school, hardly anyone I know uses twitter. Before CreComm, I don’t think I would have ever considered using twitter, but in hindsight, before CreComm I didn’t really know what twitter was, or what it was for.

I think most people use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and to plan events, I bet there’s a pretty big percentage that use it to pass the time when they’re bored.

I think with twitter there are actually a wider variety of reasons that people use it. I use it mostly to check out links or post my blog dates. I don’t usually say much, but I think I kind of like to keep my internet foot print small or at least I try to. But there are people who post pictures and links and live tweet events and everything thing you can think of. There’s twitter fiction and stuff. It’s nuts!

There’s also Youtube, which is probably my favorite, I don’t really think it’s part of this assignment so I won’t say much about it, just that you can do even more, I think the possibilities for social media are pretty much endless as far as the uses for PR are concerned, as long as you can find your audience there.

So getting back on track, what does that mean for a strategic use of Facebook and twitter for PR?

This is what I think: I think what you should use Twitter and Facebook for in your PR plan really should depend on what message you’re trying to get across. That being said, I think the most important thing is that you’re active. You need to do things that will keep people coming back and get them involved. You want them reading your tweets, following your links, commenting on your Facebook page. The bottom line is you need to get your audience involved. That’s why it’s called social media; it’s a chance to socialize with your audience.

Your Facebook page should have useful information that you want your audience to know, and you should tweet links to that information. If you can include some sort of interactive portion, like what Old Spice did with that smell like a man not a woman man, then it should be done. Another important thing about social media is that you can’t just sit there and churn stuff out. You can’t constantly put out tons of information, and not take any in. It is good to put stuff out but if that’s all you’re doing then you’re missing out on part of it. Listen to what your audience says retweet their comments, comment on your threads on your Facebook page, show your audience you’re listening too, it will make them listen that much more.

I’m trying to stay away from too many specific examples, just because so much depends on whom your audience is and what you’re trying to communicate to them. That’s pretty much all I can think of for now. So I’ll leave the blog post there.

Because I’ve been doing these assignment blog posts, and not really any other regular blog posts I figured I’d make a top five list, to try and keep anyone who actually reads what I post entertained. Also if you are reading, you should totally comment. Trust me, it’ll be fun.

So here it is, My Top 5 guilty Pleasure songs. I don’t really want to admit that I like them, but I do. I like to pretend I only like them because I don’t hear them often.

1. What a fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers.
2. The boys of Summer – Don Henley
3. Neil Diamond – Mr. Bojangles
4. The Georgia Satellites – Keep your hands to yourself
5. And finally the entire Guns and Roses Chinese Democracy Album, well most of it.
So there you have it in no particular order, and if there is anything else that I like but don’t like admitting, I’m still not ready to admit it.