The Facebook Era is About PR, Too

Some of Shih’s best habits for marketers using Facebook are target your message; know when to use what medium; be authentic; measure, but don’t get too hung up on ROI; and have fun and keep learning.

She recently spoke at the AllFacebook Expoin San Francisco, where she delivered the keynote address, and she spoke with us in further detail about the parallels between the social network and PR.

PR practitioners can follow the same directions marketers take, she said, such as learning to get and keep Facebook fans. Fans on Facebook, or those who click “Like” on a company’s Facebook page, are highly important to a company’s public image as consumers become more influenced by what their friends like and less by mass media.

Another marketing-to-PR concern is how to manage customer relations, especially in a crisis communications setting like the Domino’s Pizza YouTube scandal. Shih said in this age of social media sharing, brands should be aware of what their people are up to in cyberspace, because their antics can damage the image of a company. It’s not a matter of policing employees, but more of communicating that perhaps they shouldn’t post photos of themselves wasted and doing Jager shots while in the company uniform.

Shih is an internationally known social media expert who wrote about the cultural shift from email to social media as a primary communications tool in The Facebook Era. Shih was named one of Fast Company’s Most Influential People in Technology.