Professional Social Media Usage
Social media has effectively changed the public relations game. It allows the public relations professionals to handle situations and crises in a more swift manner which will make their actions more accurate response.
All platforms, no matter their original content purpose can be used to further your job future. The platforms listed below can all be used for content distribution and trend analysis.
Facebook is mainly used by adults 25 and older and is used more than other platforms like Twitter and Instagram. This allows businesses to reach a different target audience. On Facebook, you can post pictures and links to websites that will promote your business.
LinkedIn was released in 2003 but has been increasing in popularity ever since. It's one of the only "social media" platforms that were created for the sole purpose of furthering your career.
LinkedIn is basically an online resume, you can put your accomplishments online with links to detail your positions in them. Former employers can leave what are essentially reviews or serve as references on your profile. This allows future employers to see your qualifications without having to explicitly ask for what they are looking for or things that aren't on your resume.
Twitter along with Facebook are the two social media platforms that are most known for putting out real-time news updates. Like Facebook and Instagram, on Twitter, you can post photos and links as well but it's used more for news than most.
Twitter allows people to create their own content as well as reposting or "retweeting" others. Twitter has more of a casual feel to it, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful for businesses. Depending on the nature of the company, they can use it to make statements and releases. Politicians and CEOs of companies can have their own accounts separate from their business and promote others.
Instagram is all about themes, pictures, and accounts. Most people use it as a personal blog to show others their lives, another similarity to Facebook. But for businesses like boutiques, where photos are essential to promotion, Instagram is a great platform. Twitter and Instagram use hashtags more than any other outlets. They allow you to click on the hashtags and scroll through posts that have been posted with the same hashtags.
source: Google Trends
The chart above shows the trend in hashtags based on the public relations for each platform. Blue shows LinkedIn, red is Instagram, yellow is Facebook, and green is Twitter.
All of these platforms can be used by companies to release statements that reach their public. Ideally, businesses should be using all of these platforms because each one reaches different people and not everyone uses all of them.
