The Online Base Camp

I’ve been devising professional brand strategies for over a decade and am in awe of social media’s power. It’s a cultural melting pot of ideas and expressions on a global scale.

But as PR professionals, we’d be wise to remember that social media is a mass phenomenon. Few brands enjoy the success often associated with influencers.

In the corporate universe, it’s digital-first.
Not necessarily social media first.

A brand’s website — its online base camp — is often underused, underestimated, and underappreciated.

But it shouldn’t have to be that way.

Social media has been a priority for many organisations for many years. But digital-first is more than just social media. And, let’s face it: social media doesn’t work for all organisations alike.

A brand’s website should be its online base camp, a place for like-minded people to brainstorm, test ideas, put up your roadmaps, and review logs.

But website publishing is seen as boring.

Social media, on the other hand, keeps us on our toes. Networks like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat keep us on our toes, and they have a knack for dominating our newsfeeds.

But the truth is that very few brands do well in social media.

Social media publishing for brands comes with significant PR drawbacks:

Lack of control. Brands often have little to no control over the brand experience in social media. Engaging with a brand on a social network like Facebook will mean that Facebook prescribes the experience. If your corporate message doesn’t fit with Facebook’s brand experience, then you must change your message.
Indirect business relationships. Social media typically offers only indirect business relationships with the audience. While a brand can benefit from cultivating a social brand audience, the social network will benefit more at no risk. Social networks are “rigged” like most forms of organised gambling — the house always wins.
The rules are constantly changing. Whatever the social network decides, whether to remove or promote certain types of content or make changes to your visibility, the web will push brands to create whatever the network needs — instead of the content a specific brand audience wants.
People are interested in people. Few brands can compete in social media compared to influencers. This is mainly because people prefer to interact with other people. It’s not for nothing that we call this space social media. While a brand can be social, it’s not easy for it to come across like a real person.

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Social media isn’t just sunshine and rainbows. With massive change come new social media issues we must deal with.

Here are a few examples of social media issues:

Fake Bots, Scam Bots, Troll Bots
Ghost Followers
Filter Bubbles (Social Media Algorithms)
Echo Chambers (Confirmation Bias)
Media Logic & Social Media Logic
The Silent Switch
Dark Web, Dark Social
Facebook Zero
Cyberbullying
Online Trolls, Online Hate
Fake News, Alternative Facts
Conspiracy Theories
Online Disinformation Campaigns
Electoral Tampering
Government Surveillance, Facial Recognition
Cyber Terrorism
Spam, Phishing, Identity Theft, Online Fraud
Cancel Culture, De-Platforming
The Useful Idiot Syndrome
Selfie Generation
Online Wannabeism
The Copyright Mafia
The Techlash, Cambridge Analytica
The Splinternet
Paywalls (Journalism)
Clickbait Journalism
Social Media Fakers
Fear of Screen Time
Mental Health Issues
Programmatic Brainwashing
Information Overload
Filter Failure
Deepfake Videos
Artificial Intelligence (Threat)

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Seeking a Pragmatic Approach

If social media marketing works for you, that’s great.

However, social media marketing doesn’t work for lots of brands. They could probably do much better if they shifted their focus away from social media and directed those resources to their website.

Because complaining about social media won’t give you results.

Neither search engines nor social networks are known to give in to user demands; either you play by the social network’s rules or don’t play at all.

Of course, any brand can leverage the full power of social media. But too many brands cannot succeed at once. Even if many more brands did great on social media, there wouldn’t be enough human attention.

Pragmatism is critical for brands. We must leverage all different media channels so that they a) make business sense and b) work in tandem with specific formats.

PR Must Rethink Website Publishing

I started blogging before it was cool, and I kept blogging well past the hype days — and I’m still at it. I wouldn’t trade having a fully controlled online presence for anything. And neither should you.

Website publishing extends well beyond what we typically think of as blogging.

Because here’s the thing:

Websites are uniquely flexible. One single website can simultaneously accommodate several high-level PR strategies on autopilot. And the entire infrastructure is under your control. Social media marketing can’t do this.

And it’s not like we can ignore the power of website publishing for too long, either.

We need online base camps to accommodate inbound audiences, arguably the most significant paradigm shift for the PR industry in decades:

We must rediscover inbound communications.

Inbound Communications

Jerry Silfwer speaking about inbound marketing — *Jerry Silfwer (Doctor Spin) speaks about inbound marketing.*

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Inbound vs Outbound

The inbound mindset is a fundamental shift in the PR- and marketing industry.

Historically, many PR- and marketing departments have argued:

“Why should we spend our PR- and marketing budgets on ‘already acquired’ audiences?”

The truth is — it’s the other way around.

Instead of “spamming” non-existing audiences, public relations and marketing can do much more with existing online publics. ¹Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/

Drawing a line between those who know you and those who don’t know you is nothing new:

Pull marketing vs push marketing
Hot leads vs cold leads
Permission marketing vs traditional marketing
Internal communications vs external communications

This inbound shift is the online equivalent of drawing the line between those who know you and those who don’t know you:

Inbound communications vs outbound communications

If your Inbound Shift PR Strategy is good, you might not need to prioritise outbound PR strategies — because your inbound audience will attract outbound publics.

Learn more: The Inbound Shift PR Strategy: Beauty From Within

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You Need an Online Base Camp

As the paradigm of inbound marketing entered the online universe, it has been proven that many brands must rely on “publishing a continuous stream of new content.”

Is blogging the best way to describe a continuous stream of new content?

Some like to call their website streams newsrooms. Some call them blogs. Some call them content hubs. Some don’t call them anything.

I’ve started referring to clients’ websites as their online base camp.

The online base camp is one of the few controlled environments to which a brand can always revert if a social network suddenly changes the rules of engagement.

An online base camp can host several strategies and serve as a community for like-minded people. In this community, all members of the expeditions ahead can come together, exchange experiences, and try out new ideas.

The online base camp is where you and your team post your roadmaps, review your logs, share ideas, and discuss solutions. So far, the base camp analogy has resonated very well with several of my clients.

In other words:

If social media isn’t a good fit for your organisation, stop banging your head against the wall. Shift your focus to the brand website, your online base camp, instead.

Thank you. Please support my blog by sharing articles with other communications- and marketing professionals. Please also consider my PR services or speaking engagements.

PR Resource: PR Blogs

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Doctor Spin’s List of PR Blogs

PR blogs come and go, and some seem to go on and on — I should know. I keep this list updated with active blogs on public relations and communications (2024).

Would you happen to know of an active PR blog that I should include in this list? Please let me know!

Learn more: Doctor Spin’s List of PR Blogs

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1	Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin \| The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/

The Online Base Camp

Never underestimate your website.

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