Nowadays, it is rare to find a brand or public figure without some kind of social media presence. That is why when one is about to launch a campaign to promote an upcoming project, it’s important that all parties involved communicate with one another. Below, we’ve listed three reasons why your PR and social media teams must work collaboratively when helping to get the news out about your brand.

Messaging

Messaging is one of the first and most important things to remember while planning and running a campaign. Creating, supporting, and growing a public brand or image authentically is no easy feat.

To convey a brand’s message cohesively and clearly, your PR and social media teams must be on the same page. When the two teams communicate with one another on their separate endeavours, it magnifies the key message points of the campaign. It can open the doors to other opportunities and help boost and complement each other’s work.

Timing

We’re all aware of the phrase, “Timing is everything,” and this especially rings true for PR and social media initiatives. Many who run social media accounts for a brand create content calendars planned weeks in advance. Still, there are times when those carefully crafted posts may need to be paused, adjusted, or scrapped altogether due to a breaking news story. The brand must be flexible and able to quickly address the news cycle in a genuine way. Some of these unplanned events require that both teams collaborate on a response on behalf of the client.

In addition to being aware of the news cycle, when PR and social teams are in sync, they can use one another’s individualized efforts in their respective fields to create a more extensive and engaging campaign overall. For example, the publicity team can plug their client’s unique social media undertakings like a reoccurring or upcoming live session, a giveaway, and so forth so that when the media publishes the story, it drives awareness to the brand but also to its social media components.

It is equally beneficial for the social media team to know what is happening on the PR side, too, so that they can leave room in a brand’s content calendar to promote upcoming media ops and share recent press breaks, among other more traditional publicity ventures.

Opportunities

As mentioned earlier, the lines between PR and social media are not always clearly defined and can sometimes venture into the other’s arena. Publicists are constantly being alerted to the ever-changing media landscape. Whether it is a magazine going from monthly issues to quarterly or even more common - leaving the print space altogether and becoming fully digital.

With these changes, many publications are putting their efforts into their social media platforms with both in-kind and sponsored opportunities. When a publicist secures an Instagram takeover of a client account and works with their client’s social team to coordinate, tease, and cross-promote the takeover, this ultimately results in a more cohesive, well-executed campaign.

Another important opportunity where having both parties involved is crucial is when the social media team is approached by a brand or organization that wants to partner with the client. In some cases, these opportunities may have a publicity angle that can be used to expose the client to new audiences that they usually wouldn’t be associated with.

We hope that you have enjoyed learning about just a few of the reasons why your teams must communicate with each other to increase the overall audience of your campaign.