I am still surprised with organisations that don’t get on board with digital developments and social media. After more than five years it has become just part of daily life and yet some businesses are still trying to find out where it fits for them. Have they missed the boat? Are they going to have to invest heavily to reach where everyone else has already got to?
Social media and the digital developments are now just another channel of communication. They have given new opportunities and new ways of working but some of the novelty factor is starting to wear off. I continually talk about the need to move away from talking about channels and instead start to discuss content.
In a room full of communicators today I asked how many used social media at work and around half put their hands up. This is frustrating for me. Everyone in the room should have had their hand up as we must all understand and work with social media if we are to be effective communicators. All PR officers and communicators need to understand all aspects of the work and to not use social media is the same as switching off when the news comes on television.
An important factor for all organisations is to have the support of senior managers and the CEO. If communicators are able to influence upwards then they will be able to develop into new areas. Without this support making any significant move into using the available technology is going to fail. Everybody is aware that social media comes with risks but there are more benefits for those that embrace what is available.
When I spoke today to the communicators I realised that social media and using digital technology is now just daily life. It is the same as writing copy, producing a campaign, speaking to a journalist or designing an event. This is just a part of modern life, so perhaps everyone needs to just deal with it and move on.
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