I had the opportunity to present on public relations to the Fredericksburg, Virginia Chamber of Commerce Small Business Builder Group recently. Discussion was strongest on the topic of social media, but we focused on the importance of having a strategic PR plan. Having a plan is also critical even if companies are solely doing social media to create awareness. If they want to be able to see measurable business results they should be asking these key questions: What are the goals? Who are you trying to reach? Is the communication tailored to the audience? Is it too self-serving? Does it integrate with the other channels of communication? I also hope they left my presentation with an appreciation for how important it is to have company-wide guidelines on social media. There are potential risks to reputation of being too informal and loose within social media channels. These business builders were great during the session about sharing ideas among themselves, and this is how social media communications also needs to work.
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