Why Is Social Media Important?

Franchise PR has evolved over the years and become more digital and because of this, it has seen a lot of changes. One of the changes in the public relations has been the addition of social media. Social media is a powerful, powerful tool for companies to use because it enables companies to give news in real time and engage with consumers.

The ability to give news in real time and directly engage with consumers means giving companies a face, a personal image that people can see; it gives a whole new level to branding and public relations.

The reason being able to tell news in real time is because it reduces the likelihood of people making up their own stories in the time it takes between news breaking and for the story to be published. Since newspapers cannot rewind time and reprint that morning's paper, they have to run the story the next morning; while electronic newspapers have reduced this publication time, social media can still be and often is still faster. With the ability to type up a tweet, Facebook post, Instagram post all within a few seconds, no more 10 seconds, it is very easy to get news out there. Franchise Public Relations depends on quick response times and having accurate news. Perhaps the biggest principle in public relations is being quick to respond to news, good or bad, especially bad.

Social media has improved quick response times exponentially. For example, after an airline had a plane have a nose-landing at a runway at La Guardia airport, the airline immediately tweeted about the incident and let people know. Without social media, breaking the news of the plane's nose-landing would have taken longer.

Another reason social media has helped franchise public relations firms and companies in general is the ability to engage with consumers. With social media, consumers can voice themselves and let companies know about their complaints, praises, inquiries, etc and have them go directly to the company, who can then respond. Consumers can have conversations with companies. For public relations, the same idea applies; specifically, PR firms can have interaction with fellow PR firms and the media and get news out faster and accurately.

What is Public Relations?

What is public relations? Many people have this question and it is difficult to answer for those who do not know. Many people think that public relations is the same as marketing and advertising; while they are similar in theory, they are different practices entirely. It is said that PR is something you do not pay for while marketing is something you have to pay for. Also, advertising and marketing seek to control the conversation and message while PR communicates and builds relationships with target markets, or publics, and opinion leaders of the public.

Of course, to answer the question, "What is PR?" We have to dive deeper and explain what public relations  practitioners can do and not do. What franchise industry PR can do is to help build and maintain a good image for a company and/or person. One thing the PR firm must do for this is to build credibility for the client. The reason the firm must build credibility for the client is because it helps with the client's persuasion and builds trust and power behind the client's words.

 A second task of a PRP for a client is manage the client's reputation; this means to build and maintain. If a client wants to appear generous, then the franchise PR agency will create PR opportunities or capitalize on good moments. People sometimes think that PR stunts are negative but this is not true, when a PR firm does a PR stunt, it can be for pure promotion of an event, etc and not to cover up or create anything bad. The negative connotation of PR stunts typically comes from the PR stunts that are done for celebrities. But back to the main point that franchise public relations firms do use and create moments for reputations is often good.

 A third task of a PRP is to inform public opinion and create understanding. When publics, or consumers, don't understand something a company is doing, it is up to the franchise PR firm to resolute the questions and issues.

 A fourth task of a PRP is to create unity among people. For example, a PRP at a company is supposed to create loyalty, a whole-hearted volunteer effort, etc. They are supposed to create that sense of "togetherness" for a company so they will perform better. A common misconception of public relations is that it is supposed to cover up mistakes and faux pas of companies; this is not true at all, at least not for PR firms that believe in ethics. Ethical PRPs know that you do not sweep anything under the rug but rather you acknowledge the error. resolve it, and move on. Ignoring an issue or covering it up is a huge mistake and creates a bad reputation, worse than the original error. 

Hopefully this blog helped you understand what public relations is and now you can sleep peacefully knowing what it is and how it's different than advertising and marketing.

Public Relations and Social Media

Sometimes the world of public relations can become a world of stress when the outcome to a situation is not exactly what you planned for; or, when you have a situation handed to you, the PRP, and you have this massive job of getting it done and quickly. In history, there have been plenty of PR faux pas and they have costed companies business or worse, their reputation.

Social media has become a great tool for everybody. Companies use it for marketing, public relations , keeping up on current events, music, etc. If you have a message to get out there, even if it's for personal usage, then social media is most likely your best friend. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest, etc have become assets for companies, especially marketing and Franchise PR Firms who want a free, easy way to do what they have been doing for decades.

When you have a mistake in PR, you have to be proactive and not wait to respond; waiting to respond or denying a response to a situation, it makes the situation look a whole lot worse, this is especially true when the PR faux pas happens on social media and/or the way to fix it is via social media. Every major PR firm knows that the best way to start a good response to a situation is to gather the facts, understand what is going on, and issue a response of integrity. Firms know that people who do not respond to a situation often have something to hide, or, they are irresponsible at conducting themselves, either way, it is not a good way to keep a good reputation. If the best way to keep your good reputation is to own your mistakes and the consequences, then that's what you have to do. Crisis Management teams know they have to be on top of their game and not slack off if they want to succeed, same applies for any other firm.

Social media is a great tool for PR firms since Twitter is designed for things like conversations about companies and especially for companies to interact with their followers/consumers. Unfortunately, companies have to be careful how they handle designed hashtag conversations on Twitter for PR purposes because they can go wrong quickly. When this happens, make sure to watch the conversation and where it is going before it goes wrong. If it does go wrong, then be proactive and try to correct the conversation.

A good idea for PR via social media is to organize things on a social media site, for example, if a company is releasing a new product, you can give exciting teasers for the new product via social media. With so many people on social media, they will definitely see it and react to it. If you are wondering if your publics will see the efforts, yes. The answer is yes. Every demographic is on social media of some kind and is on it at least a few times a week.

Whatever you do on social media for PR purposes, make sure you know what you're doing and that you have a game plan, and a back up for when things go wrong.

Getting the Most Out of Your Franchise Public Relations SEO

Using SEO article marketing is a brave and smart way to get your name out there, especially in the <a href=http://www.allpointspr.com> franchise PR </a> realm where everyone feels like they are the next Walter Cronkite as they spread their opinions about the news all over social media.

There are a few things that you can do to increase the likelihood of generating links and boosting your ratings on search engines.

The first thing is to use specific keywords. Keywords are the things that people type into search engines to find something. For example, if you want good local Chinese restaurants, you may search "good local chinese restaurants." Use Google Analytics to search for the best and latest keywords that are related to your business. The thing about keywords is that they often work for a while and then one day, nothing. What were once fantastic keywords that were generating lots of links and clicks are now getting nothing or maybe only a quarter of the results they were a month ago. The reason is because people may not always search for something with the same language; also, search engines will switch things up and so you have to see what keywords they like and don't like.

The best way to incorporate keywords into something is to incorporate keywords into your articles and blogs that you post online. When you search for something, search engines scan everything on the internet for those specific words and the things that contain the most are the links that are higher up than others. Once you find your keywords, sprinkle them into your web articles and blogs. You can easily tie them into a sentence so it's not awkwardly posted into your writing. For example, if your keyword was "Chicagoland prime steakhouse" then you could say, "The best place to find a 'chicagoland prime steakhouse' is on Wabash in downtown Chicago" instead of "If you like meat 'chicagoland prime steakhouse' then you should go down to Wabash in downtown Chicago." The second sentence was kind of awkward, huh? While that is utilizing keywords, it's not pretty.

To be more specific with utilizing keywords in your writings, in addition to posting them in your text body, try using them in titles and even your social media posts. These small additions are little things that can really add to your rankings without a whole bunch of added effort. As a <a href=http://www.allpointspr.com> franchise PR firm </a> it's important for you to have high rankings since this will position you as a leader in the PR world.

Why Optimize Press Releases?

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As a franchise public relations agency we know how much time and effort goes into making a press release perfect.  We know what it takes to make a press release more powerful than the words itself, and that is by optimizing the content.  To get the most out of a press release in terms of it reaching a large audience it is crucial to optimize the content so it can be found online.

Before writing the press release, we recommend that you come up with a minimum of five different keywords to use throughout the press release and link those keywords back to a website.  Keywords do not only make the reading easier for the reader, but it makes the search engines understand that the article is talking about.  When our Chicago public relations franchise uses keywords, we do it to make sure that people can easily sum up and remember what the article discussed whether they read one paragraph or two pages.

It is also important to make sure that the keywords are relevant to the content and that they are all scattered throughout the article.  Our public relations company likes to keep the press release visually balanced and we like to include links to our website and the franchise PR website. 

Also, if you want to make the press release more visually captivating, it is critical to use images in the release.  Not only that, but you can link the image so it sends the viewer back to a website.  What our franchise PR firm loves about linking images is that when you search the keyword in the Google images, the image will come up under the keyword.  This is very important because it gives ownership to the image and this way people can site a source instead of stealing images online.

Don’t let your press release get lost in cyberspace.  Use keywords in your press releases and link them back to credible sites.  If you are in need of assistance writing press releases or optimizing content in general, please contact our firm for franchise PR consulting or comment below.