Every brand needs to prioritise its online basecamp.
I’ve been devising professional brand strategies for over a decade, and I’m in awe of the power of social media. 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 actually enjoy the type of success often associated with influencers.
In the corporate universe, it’s digital-first.
Not necessarily social media first.
A brand’s website — its online basecamp — is often underused, underestimated, and underappreciated.
But it shouldn’t have to be that way.
This post will do its best to provide you with several arguments as to why your organisation might be wise to shift its focus away from social media and onto the brand’s website instead.
Let’s get into it:
It Might Be Time To Rethink Social Media
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 basecamp, a place for like-minded people to come together, test ideas, put up your roadmaps and go over logs.
But website publishing is seen as boring.
Social media, on the other hand, keeps us on our toes. Social 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 … very few brands do well in social media.
Social Media PR Challenges
Social media publishing for brands comes with significant PR drawbacks:
Social Media Can Be Pretty Bleak
Examples of Social Media PR Issues
Social media isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. With massive change come new types of issues we must deal with.
Here are a few examples of social media issues:
Read also: Social Media: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
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Resistance is Futile
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 rules of the social network — or you don’t play at all.
Of course, it’s possible for any brand to leverage the full power of social media. But it’s not possible for too many brands to succeed at once. Even if many more brands did great on social media, there simply wouldn’t be enough human attention to go around.
For brands, pragmatism is critical. We must leverage all different media channels so that they a) make business sense and b) works 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 basecamps to accommodate inbound audiences, arguably the most significant paradigm shift for the PR industry in decades:
Inbound vs Outbound
The inbound mindset is a fundamental shift in public relations.
Instead of focusing on trying to spawn non-existing audiences, PR can do so 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/
If your inbound PR strategy is good enough, you might not even need an outbound PR strategy.
Read also: The Inbound First PR Strategy: Beauty From Within
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
Why All Brands Need an Online Basecamp
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 basecamp.
The online basecamp 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 basecamp 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 basecamp is where you and your team put up your roadmaps, review your logs, share ideas and discuss solutions. So far, the basecamp 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 basecamp, instead.
Please support my blog by sharing it with other PR- and communication professionals. For questions or PR support, contact me via jerry@spinfactory.com.
ANNOTATIONS
1 | Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/ |
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