This issue was brought up by my friend recently and I thought it is a good topic to discuss about. So does the rise of social media let everyone become their own PR agent? My opinion is that no, it doesn’t.

I believe public relations is more than just pitching to journalists. It consists also of event organization, issue management, media training, strategic planning and internal communication. For KinetiqBuzz, we have broaden it further to include relationship building, community building, online issues management, personal branding and more.

Yes, social media may have allowed individuals to do their own public relations, such as building relationship with journalists, outreach programs to bloggers and online influencers.

However, public relations isn’t as simple as drafting a press release and pitching it. It does require a certain level of skills and experience. I can take on different sort of jobs such as a banker or a baker but it will require years of training for me to do well. Similarly, you can’t take on the full suite of public relations in an instant and expect to do well.

Desktop publishing software let people design their document or brochure but really, not many people can do it professionally. Online tools allow everyone to become a journalist but only a few people can do that really well (many people are actually struggling to make money from blogs they run).

Likewise, anyone can undertake public relations through social media but not many can do that really well. Since public relations is the outward presentation of your brand, are you sure you allow someone without a thorough knowledge and skills in the discipline to represent your company?

Public Relations Does Need Evolving

Traditional media dismissed the rise of social media only to realize that they have missed the seismic change in their industry. PR too need to evolve.

As an industry, PR agencies need to embrace social media tools and platforms in order to stay on top of the changes. As more and more research shows that social media is a perfect fit for public relations, we certainly need to make this case to our clients.

We need to blog (which is what i am doing), experiment with podcast, tweet on Twitter, create videos, build social sites, engage online communities, we need to do these things so that we don’t lose relevancy during the time of change, so that we can develop integrated solutions for our clients, so that we can stay competitive with other discipline and business functions.

That’s what I think public relations is heading. The rise of social media does not mean everyone can be a PR specialist. However, it does mean we have to up our game to get the best results for our clients and also stay competitive with the wannabes.

Related posts:

1. The Art of Using Interns In Your Social Marketing Program
2. Warning! Social Media Challenges Ahead
3. 3 Golden Rules For Hiring Social Media Candidates
4. How’s Your Reputation
5. 10 Ways PR Can Be As Powerful As Trusted Peers