February 19th, 2009
Research report: Is 'social PR' for real? Which agencies get it?
In November 2008 I posted a multiple-question survey asking company leaders and marketing decision-makers about their public relations agencies. My main purpose was to determine which PR firms are best attuned to social media and are developing the most beneficial social programs for their clients. I also wanted to get an answer to the question, “Is social media even what clients want?”
In the “free form” section one respondent stated that “social media is not about PR.” I think that is a very important comment. Social media is so much bigger than just public relations. We’re talking internal communications, customer support, sales and lead generation, project management, infrastructure 2.0, etc. However, I focus on PR here because it is critical that PR agencies understand how social media can complement their offerings — and how social media can shine a spotlight on existing poor PR practices (Nicole Jordan does a nice job of exploring this in her article on “PR’s Branding Crisis“).
Treat this survey as you would any other blog on the Internet — informative but not gospel. It’s a small yet solid data sample (Update 3/23/2009: Why this survey is not an endorsement). With hope, however, this can serve as a good tool for agencies who want to improve their programs by better understanding client needs. I also hope that it helps somehow those internal decision-makers who are deciding whether or not they need to hire a PR agency and which agencies they might consider to get the job done.
About The Data
The survey received 642 responses. Of those responses, 53 people said that they do public relations solely in-house with no agency support. Of the remaining 589 responses, 48 people worked outside of the business categories I was researching (including venture capital, green tech, etc.). While all 101 of these responses were considered in my analysis the data shown in the following charts is based only on the remaining 541 remaining respondents. The primary targeted respondents were PR decision-makers at companies with 1,000 or more employees, with small business / start-up owners as secondary targeted respondents. Data was collected from November 2008-January 2009.
The data shows that the largest chunk of survey respondents work in enterprise technology followed by general consumer, retail and SaaS / Web 2.0.
The data also shows that the majority of respondents are internal PR directors / managers followed by chief marketing officers / vice presidents of marketing and small business owners.
Not surprising, the vast majority of respondents were in North America, with the largest showing from the northwestern and northeastern United States.
PR basics and client satisfaction –>
Jennifer Leggio, aka "Mediaphyter," writes about the "social business" side of social media - including enterprise, security and reputation issues. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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| 02/20/09
