Relating to Your Public: Web 2.0, Social Media and Public Relations

We have written about this before, but we read some powerful information today that shows just how effective social media really is when it comes to building your business. McKinsey Quarterly released results from a survey on companies who have incorporated Web 2.0 (social media) technologies and ideas, with the results overwhelmingly reporting that businesses have seen an increase in "measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues."

Another important point that the McKinsey Quarterly study found was that Web 2.0 interaction between businesses and customers has summarily boosted interaction between the two, with this organization-customer bonding leading to improved customer satisfaction. No matter who your public is... be it your customers, your local community, the media, government officials, or the citizens you hope will elect you to office, finding your landing spot in the sea of social media seems to be a high-caliber cornerstone of doing business in today's world.

But with this sudden influx of public outreach possibilities through Web 2.0, there is also a downside. Someone has to do the behind-the-scenes work. Most companies currently engaged in social media have either handed it off as additional work to a current employee, hired someone new as part of their internal staff to do the job, or outsourced Web 2.0 to a public relations or marketing firm. When you have a staff with a schedule that is already stacked with responsibility, sometimes hiring an outside PR firm to take the social media undertaking off your shoulders can be a relief. Read more about a high-level PR exec's take on social media for the business community here.

Brett Banter