Informative piece on Mashable on how PR people are using Social Media for real results.

I often think about how I can make what it essentially an intangible (what Social Media calls ‘engaging’ with people) into something that is genuinely tangible (i.e. increases profit).

This article says a few things which are well-known to many (e.g. you can track keywords on Twitter), but it also outlines lots of good points:

·         Twitter should be embraced in multiple ways – “shooting out information, re-tweeting interesting articles in the space, participating in conversations and reaching out to security bloggers”

·         Blogging is still very relevant, especially to B2B PR as it goes beyond the press release and allows the kind of detail journalists often require

·         Brands that already have a great image can primarily use Twitter to build further loyalty through competitions

The article also looks at the red-hot topic of Social Media measurement. @joshdilworth (CEO of Jones-Dilworth Inc., a US PR and Marketing firm) claims to look at least 13 different tools when measuring the effectiveness of campaigns. If this is true then I applaud the guy, but this seems chronically time-consuming. I’m still dreaming of the silver bullet for Social Media measurement – one tool that gives a simple gauge. I doubt this will ever appear as it is like measuring PR: extremely difficult and highly prone to subjectivity.

Regardless of the measurement debate, this is another re-enforcement of the need for PR people to at least have a basic understanding of where Social Media fits into their role.

What do you think about measurement and the relationship between Social Media and PR?