Social Media PR: 6 Tactics to Improve Your Public Relations in 2024

Over the past decade, social media has fundamentally disrupted the public relations landscape. Gone are the days of blasting out press releases and calling it a day. Today, PR professionals must be well-versed in leveraging social platforms to amplify their brand‘s message, build relationships, and manage crises in real-time.

Consider this: A study by Cision found that 75% of journalists say they use social media daily to follow trending news and find story ideas. What‘s more, consumers are increasingly turning to social channels to learn about and interact with brands. A report by Sprout Social found that 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media, and 68% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies.

The writing is on the wall: Social media is now an essential component of any successful PR strategy. As we head into 2024, PR departments across industries are doubling down on social-first tactics to gain the broadest reach and impact. Here‘s exactly how they‘re doing it.

Tactic 1: Develop a Clear Social Media PR Strategy

The foundation of any effective social PR campaign is a well-defined strategy. This means aligning your social media goals with your overall business and communications objectives. Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Drive website traffic? Boost engagement and loyalty? Clearly defining your goals upfront will guide your tactics and allow you to measure success.

Your social PR strategy should also identify:

• Target audiences: Who are you trying to reach on social media? What are their demographics, interests, and behaviors?
• Key platforms: Which social channels does your target audience use most? Where do you have the greatest opportunity to engage them?
• Brand voice and tone: How do you want your brand to come across on social media? What‘s your unique personality and style?
• Success metrics: What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you track to gauge the impact of your social PR efforts? These might include reach, engagements, website traffic, sentiment, share of voice, and more.

For example, when Airbnb launched its "Made Possible by Hosts" campaign in 2021, the company had a clear social PR strategy. The goal was to showcase the unique experiences made possible by Airbnb hosts and increase positive sentiment around the brand.

Airbnb identified its target audience as millennials and Gen Z travelers, and focused its efforts on Instagram and TikTok. The brand partnered with influencers and leveraged trending formats like Reels to share authentic host stories in a visually compelling way. By the end of the campaign, Airbnb had reached over 10 million people and increased its favorability rating by 7 points.

Tactic 2: Create Valuable, Shareable Content

Content is the fuel that drives social media engagement. But in a crowded, noisy digital landscape, it‘s not enough to just post any old thing. To cut through the clutter, your social content must provide genuine value to your followers.

Think beyond overt promotion and focus on storytelling. Share customer stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and authentic moments that humanize your brand. Leverage trending topics and hashtags to join relevant conversations. And don‘t be afraid to take a stand on issues that matter to your brand and audience.

Some specific content tactics to try:

• User-generated content (UGC): Encourage and share content created by your customers and fans. UGC is inherently authentic and trustworthy.
• Short-form video: Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are prioritizing short, snackable videos. Experiment with this format to capture attention and drive engagement.
• Data-driven insights: Use proprietary data or industry research to create compelling infographics, charts, and stats that position your brand as a thought leader.
• Interactive content: Engage your audience with polls, quizzes, contests, and live video Q&As. Interactive content drives higher engagement rates than static posts.

Dove is a master at creating social content that resonates. The beauty brand‘s "Real Beauty" campaign, which celebrates women of all shapes, sizes, and colors, has been running for nearly two decades.

On social media, Dove shares powerful stories and images of real women, driving home the campaign‘s message of inclusive beauty. One recent Instagram post featuring a woman with vitiligo garnered over 45,000 likes and hundreds of comments. By creating content that aligns with its brand values and sparks meaningful conversation, Dove has built a loyal, engaged community.

Tactic 3: Collaborate with Influencers and Brand Advocates

No social PR strategy is complete without influencer partnerships. Collaborating with relevant influencers allows you to tap into their engaged followings and lend added credibility to your brand.

The key is to identify influencers who authentically align with your brand values and have a genuine affinity for your products or services. Don‘t just look at follower counts—consider engagement rates, content quality, and audience demographics to find the right fit.

Some tips for effective influencer partnerships:

• Go long-term: Rather than one-off sponsored posts, aim to build long-term relationships with a select group of brand ambassadors. This allows for deeper, more authentic storytelling over time.
• Prioritize nano and micro influencers: Influencers with smaller, niche followings often have higher engagement rates and are seen as more trustworthy by their audiences. They can be a cost-effective way to reach your target customers.
• Give creative freedom: Provide influencers with clear guidelines and key messaging points, but allow them creative freedom to adapt the content to their unique style and voice. This results in more authentic, impactful content.
• Amplify influencer content: Regularly repost and share content created by your influencer partners across your own channels. This expands the reach and impact of the partnership.

Also make sure to cultivate your brand‘s organic advocates—happy customers who proactively sing your praises on social media. Engage them through community management, surprise and delight efforts, and exclusive perks. They can become powerful word-of-mouth ambassadors for your brand.

Glossier is a prime example of a brand that has leveraged influencer and advocate relationships to drive social PR success. The beauty brand launched on Instagram and has grown a cult following largely through organic word-of-mouth.

Glossier regularly partners with beauty influencers and industry experts to create authentic, educational content. The brand also features UGC from everyday customers on its channels and products. By amplifying the voices of its community, Glossier has built tremendous brand affinity and loyalty.

Tactic 4: Engage in Real-Time, Two-Way Conversations

Social media is, at its core, a conversational medium. To build genuine relationships with your audience, you must actively listen and engage with them in real-time. This means regularly monitoring your social channels for mentions, comments, and messages—and promptly responding to each one.

Use social listening tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Mention to track conversations around your brand, competitors, and industry. Identify opportunities to chime in with helpful resources, witty replies, or friendly banter. Show your audience there are real humans behind your brand who care about their needs and interests.

Some engagement best practices:

• Develop a response protocol: Create guidelines for how and when to respond to different types of social interactions, from positive shout-outs to critical feedback. Empower your team to reply authentically while staying true to your brand voice.
• Be human and empathetic: Infuse your responses with personality, humor, and compassion. Avoid canned, robotic replies at all costs.
• Take public conversations private when needed: If a customer has a complex issue or complaint, take the conversation to a private channel like DM or email. This allows for more in-depth problem-solving while avoiding a public spectacle.
• Engage proactively with your community: Don‘t just wait for people to come to you. Proactively comment on posts from your followers, answer questions in relevant online forums, and join industry Twitter chats to build awareness and authority.

A brand that has mastered the art of social media engagement is Netflix. The streaming giant is known for its quick wit and pop culture savvy on Twitter, regularly engaging in humorous banter with its fans.

For example, when a user tweeted "What did the Netflix employee say when they quit? ‘I‘m not feeling it‘", Netflix replied "But now you have more time to watch." By meeting its audience where they are and engaging on their level, Netflix has cultivated a hugely engaged community of brand loyalists.

Tactic 5: Amplify Reach with Paid Social Ads

While organic social media engagement is crucial for building authentic relationships, paid social advertising allows you to reach new audiences at scale. By boosting your best-performing organic content and targeting lookalike audiences, you can greatly expand your brand‘s reach and drive measurable business results.

Some tips for effective social media advertising:

• Promote your top organic posts: Identify your posts that are already resonating with your audience and amplify them to a larger audience through paid promotion. This ensures you‘re boosting content that has already been "vetted" by your core followers.
• Leverage precise targeting: Social ad platforms offer incredibly granular targeting options based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. Use these to hone in on your exact target customer personas and maximize relevance.
• Test multiple creative variations: Create multiple versions of your ad creative (image, copy, video, etc.) and A/B test them to see which performs best. Continuously refine and optimize your ads based on data.
• Experiment with newer ad formats: In addition to standard photo and video ads, try out newer formats like Instagram Stories ads, Facebook Collection ads, or TikTok Spark Ads. These can help your brand stand out in a crowded feed.

For example, when clothing brand Pact wanted to increase brand awareness and sales among eco-conscious millennials, it turned to Facebook advertising. The brand created a series of video ads featuring customer testimonials, which it targeted to lookalike audiences based on its best customers.

The campaign was a huge success: Pact saw a 75% increase in website traffic and a 36% increase in sales. By combining organic content with paid amplification, the brand was able to reach a whole new audience of potential customers.

Tactic 6: Measure, Analyze, Optimize

Finally, to prove the value of your social PR efforts and continuously improve your strategy, you must diligently measure your results. Use a combination of native analytics from each social platform and third-party measurement tools to track your performance against the KPIs you established in your strategy.

Some key social PR metrics to track:

• Reach: The number of unique people who saw your content.
• Engagements: The total number of interactions (likes, comments, shares, clicks) your content received.
• Engagement rate: Engagements divided by reach or followers. This measures how engaging your content is.
• Sentiment: The ratio of positive to negative mentions of your brand on social media.
• Share of voice: Your brand‘s portion of the overall conversation about your industry or category.
• Web traffic: The number of visits to your website from social media.
• Conversions: The number of desired actions (newsletter sign-ups, purchases, etc.) taken by people who came from social media.

Use these metrics to regularly report on your progress and optimize your strategy. Double down on the tactics and content themes that are driving the best results, and don‘t be afraid to pivot away from what‘s not working.

Over time, aim to connect your social PR metrics to larger business outcomes like brand awareness, consideration, and revenue. This will help prove the tangible impact of your efforts and secure buy-in and budget from leadership.

As the social media landscape continues to evolve at a rapid clip, so too must your approach to PR. Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, here are a few key trends and predictions to watch:

• The continued rise of short-form video: With the explosive growth of TikTok and Instagram Reels, short-form video is poised to dominate the social media ecosystem. PR pros must master this format to capture attention and drive engagement.
• The blurring of lines between organic and paid: As organic reach continues to decline, paid social will become an increasingly essential amplification tool. The most successful brands will find ways to seamlessly integrate organic and paid tactics.
• The prioritization of purpose: Today‘s consumers expect brands to take a stand on important social and political issues. Authentic, purpose-driven storytelling will be key to building trust and loyalty.
• The emergence of new platforms and technologies: From virtual reality to voice search to AI, new technologies will continue to reshape the social media landscape. PR pros must stay on the cutting edge and experiment with new platforms and formats to stay relevant.

Ultimately, the key to social media PR success in 2024 and beyond will be agility and adaptability. By staying attuned to the ever-changing needs and preferences of your audience—and continually refining your approach based on data and insights—you can build lasting, impactful relationships between your brand and its stakeholders.

The social media revolution has forever changed the PR game. But with the right strategies, tactics, and mindset, your brand can thrive in this new era of always-on, real-time communication. So get out there and start engaging!