Are you scaring PR people away from social media?

If you’re reading this blog, I suspect that you “get it.” Maybe you’re not an expert at Internet marketing, but if someone asks you about, you don’t involuntarily drool as you consider your answer. But what about the people that really don’t understand? Are you helping them to take a baby step into the digital waters or are you scaring them away? I have been wondering lately if the way we explain social media to PR people is making them run for the hills, instead of to join in.

When you explain social media to someone who doesn’t get it, does it sound like it’s this completely new, totally cool way to reach customers? Does it rewrite everything we ever knew about public relations? Does it transform the entire PR industry? Does it turn communications on its ear?
To you, that sounds exciting, but to the average PR person, it might be very scary. I mean, who wants to hear that the job that they know, and that they know they are good at, is suddenly changing into something totally different that they don’t understand and secretly fear they will never understand?
Instead, you’ll probably do better with an approach that emphasizes what they already know. No, they don’t understand YouTube, but they might understand what makes for a video that people want to watch. No, they don’t understand blogs, but they do understand that when journalists criticize the company, you should reach out to engage them. No, they don’t understand Twitter, but they do understand sound bites.
If you can reach PR people by starting with what they know instead of what they don’t know, they might be willing to stretch a bit instead of recoiling in horror. Telling people, “You already know most of what you need to know, but let me explain what’s different” is a lot more welcoming and calming than the scary, “Everything you knew is wrong.” Instead of battling the people who don’t get it, perhaps you’ll really help them get it.
Remember that PR people are experts at storytelling. They know what will fly with the audience and what won’t. They’ve spent a lifetime getting past the gatekeepers to that audience, such as the newspaper reporter or the TV producer. With social media, the gatekeepers are other customers who might be willing to pass along a really good story.
Don’t scare off the people who are the best at identifying that story. Instead, make the PR people your storytelling experts, the ones who help the rest of the company operate in public to tell their stories, through YouTube, blogs, Twitter, or any other social media that comes down the road. Social media is PR democratized throughout the company. Don’t throw away the experts before you start.