Twitter as a PR Platform

As PR platforms go, Twitter is pretty powerful. It has the potential to reach a targeted audience within seconds and can harness the viral opportunity of a community almost instantly. News can be broken and distributed (both to the public and the media) in the time it takes to send a simple text message.

If you doubt the power of Twitter (and other social media channels) consider how much news traditional media outlets pick up via social.

One of the things I really like about Twitter is the fact it likes to eat its own dog food. When the company recently announced the return of Jack Doresy to the role of CEO, it did so first via Twitter, sending social media into a frenzy of re-tweets and likes.

And the Twitter platform is set to become an even more powerful PR tool with the growing popularity of its mobile broadcasting technology, Periscope.

Thanks to Periscope, live, video press conferences can now be arranged and broadcast in the time it takes to position a spokesperson in front of a mobile phone while journalists and other influencers can engage in the live environment.

Despite this, many PRs fail to adopt a more advanced Twitter strategy. Output is limited to press releases and re-tweets of positive press and social engagement remains low as audiences are left to wither in what is far from a social environment.

Twitter is like any other PR resource. It will only deliver positive results if you put in the time and the effort to amplify your output.

How are you engaging your audience via Twitter? Do you see Twitter as a valuable PR tool or a drain on your resources?