Rants about Social Media

I wanted to comment on a recent blog posting by Peter Shankman of HARO (@petershankman). In the posting he expressed frustration as to why so many people do not “get” social media.

The points he makes are absolutely spot on, and as a 16 year PR pro and more recently a social media pro, I wanted to add some points of mine, that speak to other social media types as well as potential and existing clients.

1. Today PR is all about publishing meaningful content online. Get it! What I mean by meaningful is something that will in all probability interest the people with whom you want to engage. I still see many tweets saying stuff like “Having bacon and eggs for breakfast”, or “Damn, the subway’s so packed this morning” – my wife and kids don’t care what I ate or how the subway was, why should anyone else? Get it! (again)
2. Peter is right. One’s number of twitter followers seems to be the new penis envy. Really, it’s about quality over quantity here folks. I have been working hard over the past 2 years and now have some followers. Is that impressive? Well, you be the judge. I will say though that my following is of high quality. Again, quality over quantity.
3. Social media is free, right! Wrong!!! Nothing in the world is free. If you’re thinking along the lines of “Like the internet is free, and hanging out on the net is too, and therefore social media should be free to”, I have one thing to say … “You’re dreaming”. Social media and PR types have expertise, devote time and passion to your business and will help, therefore we need to get paid. This is not a new concept folks.
4. Finally, you gotta walk the walk if you talk the talk. Beware of the social media guru who can’t provide references or case studies. Beware if they just have a few followers and never tweet.