Social media use in corporate PR is shifting, a useful set of stats revealed.
There’s less Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram but a huge surge in TikTok, according to data.
TikTok has surged from 42 per cent two years ago to 73 per cent, reports the new PRCA Digital Report 2022.
What can public sector communicators take from these largely private sector figures?
Well, firstly, tectonic plates are shifting. But those plates really haven’t ever stopped moving since the internet was invented.
You’d be forgiven if you feel that’s all a bit big picture for you. You’re probably mentally scrolling through your to do list and wondering when that’d ever get done. Rather like creosoting and re-roofing the shed, it feels like a great idea but you’ve other things to do.
That’s fine.
If you were working in communications in the early years of his century and you’re still you’ve already made a huge leap to take on board social media and digital channels.
It’s tempting to think that digital channels are a one and done thing that they’ll always be used in exactly the same way. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
One comms person I met at CommscampNorth described it that what worked two years ago wasn’t working now and the difficulty wasn’t just getting ahead of that it was bringing the organisation with you, too.
The solution to all this is quite timeless, really. It’s not to slavishly copy a global PR report and think you’re ahead. It’s to ask the simple question: ‘Who is my audience?’ Once you have that you can start with Ofcom data build a picture of what they are using before you can look at the detail of the best ways to use it.
If you move reviewing your channels to be top of your list. Or at least second and third, then you can move towards stopping drowning in to do lists which no longer work.
It’s alright that landscapes move. The problem is not moving with them.