Communications is all about the audience. While I know that theoretically, I also know that I have forgotten this basic fact more times than I care to mention because doing all the tactical work takes up so much time that I have lost my focus. All of a sudden, the audience has been lost.
Then there is the question of content. Having been in PR for many years, it is also easy to forget that audiences may not want to hear what I have to say. Or even worse, they may not believe it, I or my organization lack credibility. That's a brutal place to be.
What social media is showing me is that there are some sweet spots where audience and content align. Unfortunately for the PR folks, it is usually not our new releases or websites that bring in the crowds, but the viral attacks on big organizations. I have been following the United Breaks Guitars song and story and find it fascinating. One poor service incident that has generated tens of millions of negative impressions for United and they appear powerless to respond effectively.
So what's a PR guy to do?
Well it boils down to the hard work of my profession - distilling the story down to its most understandable parts and getting those out in a way that generates interest. Unfortunately, sometimes what I have to work with will not generate interest. Or what does generate interest is the negative news.
Well, that's what makes this profession an art rather than a science. But if I can keep my eye on the audience and the content and then work at making those pieces fit, wonderful things do happen - sometimes!
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