A panel of local public relations experts discussed the importance of social media as a business tool during a presentation Monday night at the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum.
ASU’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America welcomed a panel of Phoenix public relations experts, including Paula Pedene of the Veteran Affairs Administration, Scott Hanson, president of HMA Public Relations and Tom Ambrose, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona.
Associate professor Fran Matera, introduced the discussion focused on the digital aspects of public relations and the idea of “socialnomics” as the means of using social media to reach out to the community to benefit one’s cause.
Much of the lecture focused on the importance of expanding social media technology because of the large amount of people that can be reached. Pedene said that even the Veteran’s Affairs Facebook page has roughly 60,000 fans.
“It is a huge audience for us and who we serve,” she said.
The panel also discussed their use social media networking tools and the problems that can arise with businesses that are not taking the opportunity to interact with the community through social media.
Hanson said businesses are not always sure how to use this technology, and may be nervous of the impact of social media.
“Typically we know more about this then our clients do,” he said.
As beneficial as the tool of social media can be, it also opens a lot of immediate doors for negative media coverage, said Hanson, adding, however, that it still revolutionizes how businesses receive profits.
Ambrose agreed, saying that social media is a tool that represents the future of businesses and public relations as an independent industry.
“We think that this is a great tool to use, and someday we will figure out how to raise money with it too, but the first thing we do is make sure that we tell our story and get our message out there,” Ambrose said. “We did not grow up with this type of media, and are running to catch up, but (students) are already there.”
With the First Amendment Forum full, freshman public relations student Amy Ostroff said she learned a lot from the panel.
“I have a lot more to learn about social media websites and how to use them,” she said. “I didn’t realize the amount of time these people put into their businesses and the clients they support.”
Contact the reporter at lherrige@asu.edu
