If ever there was a profession accustomed to directing and managing behind the scenes, it’s public relations. It’s never been quite like Wag the Dog, but we liked to think that somehow we could orchestrate public opinion from behind the scenes. And sure there are times when we have been quoted in the media, preferably identified simply as “a spokesperson,” but even then, it’s understood by that title that what we’re saying represents The Official Views of the Organization.
Today, we find that with the rise of online social media, PR pros are starting to find themselves on the front lines. In fact, social media etiquette almost demands it.
We started to see this a couple years ago when bloggers – freed from the professional understanding that previously existed between journalists and PR people that the business of pitching stories was to remain largely behind the scenes – began posting pitches they didn’t like verbatim and calling out bad PR practices. In fact, there’s now a well-read blog dedicated to talking about bad pitches.
The Bad Pitch Blog recently posed the question, “Why do bloggers flip out over bad pitches and publicly flog the sender so much more often than journalists do?” Their take:
“For the most part, journalists are paid to do their job. And with every job there are things you put up with in exchange for the rest of it – and your paycheck. Bad PR pitches become a cost of doing business.”
Of course, journalists have never been happy with poorly informed, misdirected or flat- out lying PR people anymore than bloggers are. But many bloggers are doing what they do out of passion. “So when you send a ham-fisted pitch to a blogger? You’re tossing cold water on their passion. You’re implying you don’t really care about their topic.”
The larger issue is that these bloggers – or Facebook or MySpace users or Tweeters – want to participate in an authentic community of interest online. Are you posting because you’re truly interested, or only because you’re being paid to do so? There’s nothing wrong with being a paid professional, but if you’re not authentically interested and engaged, what good are you really to these online communities? Putting it positively, if you are engaged and contributing in a helpful way, then the fact that you’re a PR person won’t be held against you (assuming client relationships and other potential conflicts of interest are properly disclosed).
Of course, participation in this way carries responsibilities. Being authentic online means not cynically repeating a company line. And we certainly can’t destroy our own credibility by clogging the communities we participate in with irrelevant announcements. And of course, we need to be accountable for our thoughts, content and behavior. Or heaven help you.
Those challenges notwithstanding, if we can help the organizations we represent to share their stories in this new world, there exists the promise of an audience willing to embrace and in turn pass along those stories with the enthusiasm that only comes with communities driven by passion. We’re just starting to see where all this goes.