PR In Canada

This is a guest post by Marion MacKenzie is the President of GCI Canada, past articles by Marion are here.

Twitter has captured a great deal of attention from PR professionals. And it’s no wonder, given that brands like Starbucks, Jetblue, Comcast and Whole Foods have successfully been using Twitter to build brand loyalty, improve customer service and provide updates on products and services.

Right now, Twitter is the golden child of social media, but statistics show that Twitter’s penetration and retention rates are actually far lower than headlines and social media seminars would have us believe. Is it just hype, or does Twitter have a place in the PR professional’s toolkit?

The answer is yes, but with an important qualification: Twitter is just one tool in the complete marketing mix for a client. Much like other social media platforms, it cannot stand alone as a PR tactic and must be integrated with a larger marketing plan. If the product or service you are publicizing has a low standard of quality, social tools such as Twitter will only serve to expose those faults more quickly. And if you aren’t prepared to talk to customers directly and respond to inquires, don’t put the brand on Twitter.

The key step in knowing if Twitter is a good fit for your brand or client is to look at the overall objectives of the marketing plan. Do they want customer feedback? Do they want to participate in industry discussions? Are they building brand awareness?

Knowing the marketing objectives will better prepare PR professionals to recommend Twitter as a marketing tool. It’s also necessary to determine if your brand or client has enough to say to make Twitter worthwhile. It’s better to skip using Twitter altogether if your account is never updated.

Twitter may help to achieve your client’s or brand’s objectives if there is an understanding that Twitter is a dialogue, not a monologue. You must keep a genuine conversation going regularly and be prepared for that conversation to go in unanticipated directions. Twitter is not a soapbox and you cannot control the conversation just because you started it.

Social tools online are like any other medium – a way to talk to the public. Twitter is neither a magic bullet nor the answer to a lack of media coverage. What it can be is an excellent complement to a marketing program that includes media and blogger outreach, advertising and public events. It’s yet another way to talk to potential customers, but a very direct way, so be sure you are ready to have that conversation.

Marion MacKenzie is the President of GCI Canada (www.gcicanada.com), a full-service public relations agency based in Toronto. Marion is an award-winning senior communications executive with global experience in both the corporate and consulting sectors, with a focus on issues and stakeholder relations and marketing communications. Previously, Marion was also the Vice President, Corporate Communications for Nortel Networks and as an independent consultant provided counsel to Abitibi-Price, American Express, Baskin-Robbins, Durex, Federal Express, and Toronto-Dominion Bank. She is a member of the Canadian Women’s Foundation 100.

Categories: Social Media
Tags: GCI Canada, Social Media