Social Media Tips: Understand and Learn

Chapter 11 of our book, PR 2.0, gives some advice to PR professionals dealing with social media.

The first helpful piece of advice is to keep in mind that you are a consumer of social media too. It is important to get involved and be engaged in social media. Not only should you blog, tweet, bookmark and update your Facebook - you also need to be blog commenting, searching and watching other's social pages. You will be more widely informed and it can help spread your own pages to be active on others.

Another interesting point is that "every audience has a certain level of social media sophistication." For example, if you would like to reach a younger audience, you should target them through Facebook, Twitter or Myspace. If you would like to reach journalists, you should become active in social media news rooms and perhaps Twitter.

It is also important to keep up to date on social media skills. "As a communicator, you need to be tapped into what's in the news, and social media is making the news." It is not enough to make a blog, Facebook and Twitter - you have to know how to use these tools effectively to stand out and reach the audience you wish to.

With the right knowledge, you can use social media to reach a wide range of audiences. The power behind social media can help PR professionals reach out and widen their scope.