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SOCIAL MEDIA FOR A SOCIAL SOCIETY
When there are relationships and interaction amongst others, a society is born.Within these relationships there is a constant need for communication since humans aresocial beings. It is that concept of a society needing to communicate that is responsiblefor creating a community. This is the circle of life in communications and social mediaexperts are well aware of this. Unlike any other form of communications, these expertshave the ability to get quick feedback whether within the local or global community,which makes this form of public relations ideal. An example of an organization thatincorporates social media is the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County, New Jersey.Before one can be a social media expert they must first be a communicationexpert. Edward B. Bernays said, “People go where they want to be led,” but only aneffective and clear communicator can lead these future clients. They must be a greatlistener as well in order to understand what the audience wants and needs from acompany. Jason Falls, a public relations professional, writer and blogger agrees with thisstatement by saying, “To be effective in social media, whether as a marketer or just anordinary participant, you must first and foremost communicate well” (
PR Defines theSocial in Social Media
). Fortunately, public relations professionals are becomingknown as the “corporate voice” in activities involving social media. This makes sense because they have the ability to maintain positive relationships, write content aboutinstructional, informative or promotional efforts of a company, and the ability to spreadinformation quicker and better than anyone else. “If a company wants to use socialmedia as a two-way communications bridge to build and sustain relationships – PR can
 
do that too.” (
PR Defines the Social in Social Media
). In addition, when a crisishits a public relations expert comes up with a strategy to quickly change the negative intoa positive. “Could the day soon come when internal PR departments are steering themarketing ship full time?” It is also said that whether it is Twitter, blogs or any other form of mainstream media people see this information three to four times more than if theinformation was advertised” (
Growth of Social Media Shifts PR Chiefs TowardCenter of Marketing Departments).
Once a public relations specialist is set up in a company they must have a firmgrasp on all their sources. This valuable communication tool, social media, can be foundin different forms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (
What’s New inPrinceton & Central New Jersey/Facebook or Face to Face? A Look atSocial Media
). As of now Twitter has been the most effective form of social media.For example, during a speech given to a company, the speaker asked the audience totweet their opinions about the experience. By having Twitter involved, “It added asecond layer of discussion and brought a wider audience into what would have been a private exchange. And it gave the event an afterlife on the Web.” This is considered keyin public relations, giving the message an afterlife. When this occurs social media is being used as a platform for a message. To do this a social media expert would first findout all the social media outlets and make sure there name is there. Second, they wouldaudit their existence within these outlets to see what is at stake, what their competition isup to and how clients are responding to their company. Now that the name is out and thecomments are in it is time to “develop a strategy” to change all the negative informationinto positives and make all the positive information even more positive.
 
A company that uses public relations strategies is Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County, New Jersey. The outlets they choose to advertise through are radioadvertisements, train station posters, and full page advertisements in Mercer BusinessMagazine. Social media networking tools include Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Inaddition, they made a deal with the Princeton Packet to have them advertise their company, therefore making the Princeton Packet their main sponsor of Big Brothers BigSisters events. Plus they recently updated their website and are working on maintainingit with the most updated information. This is important since there are approximately 400Big Brothers Big Sisters worldwide and twelve in New Jersey. Since part of their mission involves helping the community, they have a two year program with TrentonHigh School where they match up freshman who need academic help with juniors whoare doing well academically. This advertisement then creates Bigs and Littles. Another way the company gets littles is by having connections with Homefront, Dyfus and other similar organizations. Currently, they are discussing ways to improve their publicrelations and marketing strategies in order to develop it further. In fact, the Big BrothersBig Sisters of Mercer County admit that although they are networking with all thesesources, there public relations expert is no longer working with them. Therefore, eventhough they have all of these ways to connect with the community there is no onekeeping the information fresh and current. This is an issue that must be taken care of immediately in order for this organization to grow. By hiring a social media specialist or a public relations expert there platform can get out to the community more effectively.It is evident that the society’s communication tools have become richer fromsocial media. It is thanks to public relations and social media experts for handling these
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