Web 2.0 is a PR expansion pack
By Leo Valiquette
In the course of staying on top of what’s the meme of the day in the PR blogosphere, I wade through reams of commentary on social media and how it can be turned to serve a corporate communications and marketing strategy. In fact, one would think it’s no longer possible to run a marketing or public relations campaign with any effectiveness at all unless it relies heavily on channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube.
This perception has been fueled by passionate early adopters eager to explore the features and functionality of The Next Big Thing, whatever that may be. In fact, last week came word of one fellow launching a new PR outfit called 3W PR “designed to help organizations, brands and individuals navigate through the World Wide Web.”
Web 2.0 has certainly provided a dazzling array of shiny new tools for the marketing and PR toolbox. The trick is getting past the giddy rush of excitement that comes of having a new toy to play with and understanding how to use them effectively in a practical sense.
George Livingston over at the Buzz Bin reinforced that point today by extolling the virtues of having a sound grounding in traditional PR and marketing strategy to understand a particular business, its market and its value proposition, in order to develop an effective communications program.
Bottom line: Web 2.0 isn’t a standalone game complete in its shrink wrap for marketing and PR practitioners. It’s an expansion pack.
The subject warrants another look at a piece of Shel Holtz’s from a month back about where social media responsibility should reside in the enterprise and the importance of ensuring it is used with surgical precision to further the organization’s goals.
