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The debate between Public Relations and Marketing rages on, and seems to intensify as the line between the two gets blurrier. PR is increasingly used for commercial products and improving sales, while Marketing branches out into new tactics as traditional advertising grows stale. Both PR and Marketing are quickly branching out to social media, and finding new ways to fit it into their strategies. So the question keeps arising, who is better fit for social media, PR or Marketing? Here are my two cents.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about social media; we’ve already heard it all before. It’s about two-way communication, dialogue and relationships. Whichever group understands the nature of social media best will certainly prosper, whether they are from PR or Marketing. But at their cores, which discipline is more suitable for this medium?

Public Relations is based on relationships and reputation. Though it has proven useful to the bottom line, the essence of PR is not based on commercialism. It’s as much about listening to important stakeholders as it is about telling your organization’s story to those stakeholders. PR is meant to be the bridge of an organization to the people that the organization affects.

Marketing is based on transactions. It’s about creating and selling products to consumers. There are many inventive ways to do this, but at its core, this is Marketing’s strength and limit.

In my opinion, Public Relations definitely has the advantage here. Social media is about communication and conversation, first and foremost. Engaging in conversation and creating relationships is what social media and Public Relations are founded on. Many important elements of Public Relations aren’t about increasing sales or revenue, and it is these elements specifically that can thrive through social media. Relationship and reputation building, issues management, monitoring and engaging with public opinion and maintaining legitimacy and relevance are just a few ways that PR can use social media without using a transactional model. Social media isn’t based on transactions, and purely commercial interests in this space are often met with public backlash. Especially when advertising tries to mask itself as transparent conversation.

I know this comes as a surprise. The “PR for the People” Blog says PR is suited to social media! Shocking! But here’s the issue I really wanted to get to. How do successful PR practitioners pitch these non-transactional efforts to clients or managers? I thoroughly believe that in order for PR to gain the respect it deserves it must have measurable impact, must relate specifically to fiscal goals and maintain a healthy ROI. How are relationships measured? How can one measure the impact of a PR plan designed to engage the community and build reputation? I understand the importance of using an open system approach, rather than a closed one, and how Public Relations can do just that through interacting with stakeholders. But how does one put a dollar sign on that interaction?

If you have the answers, or just have an opinion you would like to share, please leave a comment! Thanks for reading.