Social media has proved to be more effective for old-school marketing than public relations, says PR and social media consultant Stephen Davies, but using it for longer-term reputation management is where PR shines

Social media has been around for a lot longer than some may think. Granted, in the very early days of bulletin boards and Usenet Groups, when punters made the characters of Channel 4’s The IT Crowd look normal, the term ‘anti-social media’ might have been more apt.

Nevertheless, this was the beginning of the internet’s most social revolution, leading to mass communication through Facebook, Twitter, the blogosphere and the many other channels that inhabit the realms of social media.

Only recently has the rise of social media become so dominant. And it’s only in the last few years that we’ve used such a moniker to refer to this collective of online communication channels. Indeed, if one was to predict the most over-used phrases of 2008–2010, “social media” would be right up there with “You’re fired”

But it’s not without good reason. Social media has changed the way we communicate forever, and disciplines across the full PR and marketing spectrum have rallied to stake their claim as its rightful owner.

Two recent campaigns by ad firms have all but concluded this battle for supremacy. The modern day Mad Men seem to have raised their flag and claimed victory.

In the US, Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Can Smell Like campaign initially began as a TV ad. Created by advertising firm, Weiden + Kennedy, it was launched on the internet and instantly went viral.

To capitalise on the ad’s popularity, the team at W+K worked on a groundbreaking social media campaign that brought the main character, known as Old Spice Guy, to life. Twitterers tweeted, YouTubers commented and Facebookers wrote on walls, and over the course of two days, Old Spice Guy filmed almost 200 amusing video responses to fans and celebrities.

The result of the campaign speaks for itself. Forty million views on YouTube in the first week, 1.4 billion brand impressions and, most importantly, sales of Old Spice body wash increased by 107% in the last month.

Back in the UK, VCCP’s infamous Compare the Meerkat campaign on behalf of the price comparison site comparethemarket.com has enjoyed similar success. Again, what started out as a TV ad campaign transcended to social media and won the admiration and praise of the online élite. Traffic to the site and number of enquiries both increased tenfold as a result. Not to mention greater brand awareness.

Both Compare the Meerkat and Old Spice Guy have been proposed as campaigns of the year in 2009 and 2010 respectively by the social media aristocracy, and there are few who would disagree. It seems that even in this new realm, old-school marketing reigns supreme. Simples.

This of course is just a one-sided view and there are many more facets to social media than just consumer related organisations. As good as these advertising campaigns are from a consumer viewpoint, applying a similar approach to a B2B organisation or a public sector body would be both unsuitable and irrelevant.

Where PR shines in this particular area is its ability to foster relationships and to provide long-term reputation management regardless of sector or industry.

So while this particular battle for social media may have been won, the war has just begun.

Stephen Davies is an independent online PR and social media consultant, and blogs at http://stedavies.com