Kate Betts Blog

The old PR is all about getting editorial coverage in newspapers, radio and television and their associated websites.The new PR is all about social media and having control over the output. But what about the outcomes?

I believe traditional media still has the advantage of credibility. And people are still into traditional media, whatever the social media gurus would have us believe. According to RTL, the parent company of television channel Five, we watched an average of 225 minutes of television a day in 2009. That’s more than any time since 1992.

But in order to get into traditional media you either have to pay a lot for advertising or get past the gate-keepers of news editors and producers. So why not turn to social media? Where you have control of where, when and what is published. And it doesn’t cost anything like as much.

I have been trying to understand how useful Twitter is in promoting a brand.So many people are following so many people on Twitter that the message probably just gets lost. Can you really build up a relationship with potential and current customers or clients when there are over 100 million registered Twitter users?

Well, perhaps you can. Just ask PC Ed Rogerson of North Yorkshire Police. I am particularly interested in this example because we at Kate Betts Media are doing some work looking at what applications social media has for the police in communicating with their communities. PC Rogerson has hundreds of people following his Tweets and believes the 40% drop in crime in the area he covers is at least partly down to his 140 character communications.

But what about getting a following for your product or service? How can Twitter help there? Maybe it is more about promoting the brand and getting your name out there than directly promoting your business. No-one wants to read Tweets that are blatant promotion, but they do want to read interesting thoughts and snippets of information (spare us though that you had porridge for breakfast!). It is also worth keeping an eye out for what people are saying about your business. If people are talking about you, why not interact with them? If you deal with a customer complaint, it may prevent a possible viral forest fire.

Or you could just use Twitter as an alternative to the water-cooler chatter. That way you don’t even have to get up from your desk to engage with your colleagues.