As a PR agency lead, I wear so many hats that some days I need extra closet space. But the most important role I play is ensuring that our clients are known for executing transformational work, and that our agency is behind the scenes helping them get there.
What I can’t for the life of me wrap my head around is why anyone in an agency … believes they should be out front adding their two cents
Of course, the tactics that our clients get to play with have diversified immensely. It used to be that events, press conferences, mailers, executive speaking opportunities and guerrilla stunts ruled the PR tickle trunk. But these days, the uptake of social media has opened the doors to a proverbial playground of opportunities that make them much more visible and, ultimately, more accountable to stakeholders and the public.
Twitter, in particular, is a channel that has become almost ubiquitous for anyone over the age of 30. It also doesn’t discriminate (celebrity, influencer and CEO are all, in some ways, on the same playing field). And companies who are interested in positioning their brand in the hearts and minds of Canadians are becoming savvier about how to use Twitter to amplify a point-of-view in 140 characters or less.
At the same time, it also lures those who often have a lot to say – and who are paid to have a lot of opinions (agency leads, for example) — into tweeting out quips, tips and general industry spam that doesn’t always add a lot of value, but is meant to spotlight the person from whom it’s coming.
Don’t get me wrong: I believe wholeheartedly in clients and influencers using Twitter to get the word out. But what I can’t for the life of me wrap my head around is why anyone in an agency — especially those working in PR, whose core responsibility is to help clients protect and amplify their brand voice — believes they should be out front adding their two cents proactively or using it as a publicity engine for their own means.
This is the reason I have barely dipped a baby toe into Twitter. I fundamentally believe that PR agency leads have absolutely no right to tweet. I realize that this could seem objectionable to some, and even downright archaic to others, but hear me out. If I spend more of my time helping my clients get on Twitter in the right way, the residual benefit of this to the health of my agency, my team and to the industry wide will go far beyond 140 characters.
Seasoned PR professionals have a responsibility to uphold the standards of how to use traditional and new communication media. We can’t play in our own backyard, so to speak. That’s why, if you get the urge to join the conversation, I strongly suggest you add value by following others on Twitter and retweeting them. Support them with words of validation and encouragement. Learn from bad PR mistakes made there as well, but don’t become so immersed that you can’t see the forest for the trees as someone who practices and preaches the art of social media to our clients.
My promise (with regard to upping my own Twitter game) is to follow many more. To spend time following those whose opinions are transforming how we do business. How we think. What we think. And, then I might even be really bold and invite one or some of them for an offline coffee or drink. It might be nice to engage for more than 140 characters at a time; I know I’ll be the richer for it!
Don’t follow me.
Krista Webster is president of Veritas Communications. Follow @VeritasComm.
