Why Public Relations Professionals Should Use Facebook Essay

Why Public Relations Professionals Should Use Facebook - Essay Example Public relations professionals’ use of social media can have a direct impact on their personal and professional stock of social capital. Social media are not a substitute for face-to-face interaction implying that they are a compliment. Through social media, public relations professionals may develop personal relationships that they can utilize to provide benefits for their employers. Additionally, they may build public relationships between the organization they represent and those with whom they communicate (Duhà ©, 2007). Massachusetts-based writer Paul Gillian, author of the new influencers’; A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media, said, â€Å"...public relations professionals don’t have a choice. The average age of an evening news viewer now is 60, and there’s a segment of the population you have to reach that does not use those channels. But it (social media) gives the PR professional a greater chance of success because you are not dealing with the all-or-nothing proposition that was mainstream media† (Breakenridge & Solis, 2009). This clearly demonstrates how it is imperative that the PR profession should use social media in order to meet a wider population of their target group. Additionally, to PR Professionals, social media and networks have the advantage that they act as forms of proactive outbound customer service with a twist of social marketing. These networks engage customers on their turf, using their channels of communication, to help customers and potential customers solve problems and find information, or simply to engage them invaluable dialogue.