Social media is an amazing thing. Okay that sounds cliche. 

But let’s take a step back and see the way it works: A platform where anyone who could express themselves, be seen, heard, & understood, on a network that connects humans anywhere around the globe, that nearly 94% of internet users use on a daily basis. By then It is clear what social media’s impact on human civilization is. 

It simply changes the way we, humans, communicate. This rule also applied to every social media player out there, even if it’s a non-human account. Let’s say a brand.

As a brand, Public Relation, or PR, is a part of marketing & communication management. It usually deals with the brand or company image and how that image was perceived among the public or general audience. At large companies, It usually comprises guidelines about how to communicate with the public, and activities to maintain a positive public image for the company.

Surely with the rise of social media, a very public facing platform, the way PR pros handle things would also be slightly different. The 24/7 news cycle provided by social media is kind of a wild-wild west situation. One click can determine the company image. Crises and trends may rise and fall, but as a brand it’s important to steer it right through all the chaos.

Let’s take KFC for example. In 2018, there was a period of shortage of chicken supply in the United Kingdom. As numerous KFC stores closed, the public complained about the situation. KFC printed a full-page apology ad on two national newspaper, published once, but styled like this:

It’s a very clever apology, with play on words ‘f*ck’ & the brand logotype of ‘KFC’ itself. The public loved it. As for the result, the ad generated more than 200 million shares in social media, and reached around 790 million accounts. 

What can we learn from that story? How could we apply it also in our day-to-day situation?

Here we compiled three things that you should pay attention to when you want to use social media to support your PR activities

1. Get to know your audience

This might seem so obvious, but it is one of the most important things to remember. Nothing will work if you do not know who they are and how to communicate. You need a deeper level of understanding of your target audience, and to know what they expect from you.

With the right amount of knowledge on who they are, what they usually do in social media, what their pain points are, how we as a brand can help them and give something of value to them in social media current trends, we can create more curated social media to make it more approachable. 

Staying connected to your consumers is the key because this is what builds trust with them. After all, you want your brand to stand out, while also being relevant and relatable to them.

2. Choosing where to share your message 

Of course ideally, you should be active on every social media platform, since each of them has their own audience with their own specific behavior. But to start, and to avoid spending too much of your time learning the ropes of every new platform, you have to define which platform you want to make it ‘home’ as a focal point for you going forward.

By starting small but with a laser-focused objective, you can be flexible and agile in your social media approach. Take every content as an experiment, to figure out what your audience really likes about you. Repeat what succeeds a hundred times until you have a decent amount of followers.

Then, you can go for more, and start preparing to build a following on another platform.

3. Make Appealing Content Using Relevant Insight and Trends 

Given the size of the audience and the conversation that happens daily on social media, it's important to approach them with a specific strategy or goal, lest you drown in all the noise.

First, you might want to look at the latest trend related to your industry, the audience insight, what your competitors are doing, or latest events, moments, contents, that spark a large conversation and engagement among your audience. 

Then, it’s about a creative way to turn those insights, combined with your brand persona, into a content that makes the audience want to engage with. 

What KFC did above ticked all three boxes. They know what their audience’s mood were, they printed the ads only once, on two national newspapers, and they use a tongue-in-cheek British humor to convey their message, which reciprocates really well among their audience.

Well, ever since people turned their attention mostly to their mobile phone, there may be a lot of stories about social media & PR. It is an inescapable environment that every PR pros should adapt to. But don’t you worry about it, here at DOKI, we are really keen to help you navigate your Social Media & PR journey, so you could reach your destined objective.

After all, it’s always started with a story, care to share yours?