Consumer PR specialists were very quick to latch onto to the potential for social media. Early tests with My Space were quickly followed by wider experiments with YouTube, FlickR and Facebook. The advantages of using social media channels to reach a consumer audience directly, to deepen a relationship, build brands and provide product previews or exclusive offers are clear to see. On the other hand, the wide consumer appeal of social media tools was initially viewed with some scepticism by the B2B community. 

Some clung to the view that they were for youth brands. Others suggested the channels were only going to be short-lived or clumsy to use and took up too much time. Given today’s umbilical connection between PR and social media, many of the early B2B sceptics have had to eat some social-media humble pie.

For me it is now unthinkable that if you want to shape a narrative for a brand, successfully deliver a distinct product promise and or stimulate a change in attitude or behaviours, that you would rely on classic PR alone.

Social media has shown a remarkable ability to help create and sustain relationships. Unfortunately, classic media relations techniques often only produce rather distant, one-way relationships. Yet one of the great advantages of the B2B community holding fire with their social media engagement is that they have had longer to figure out how it all works.

Now we know that Facebook and Twitter are not competing, but are deeply complementary platforms. The early bookmarking sites are on the wane and RSS feeds are no longer de rigueur. Blogs have their role, Wikipedia entries have to be carefully monitored and rich media content must be created and swiftly distributed. Equally, black-art mass duplicating of web content is a no-no in the new social media paradigm.

The need of PR people to create sustainable communities in the social media space is now accepted as a core campaign task.

The initial hesitancy to just stand back and listen to what is being said has almost disappeared. Who would have guessed 18 months ago, that social media was going to play such an important role in driving traffic to B2B websites? And no one now denies the business relevance of Facebook.

Serious communications practitioners realise that if you are transparent, you have every right to both start, participate and at times stoke on-line conversations. Perhaps the real question now is not whether the consumer or B2B practitioner has the social media edge, but who recognises and adjusts first to how the role of the traditional PR practitioner must fundamentally change and be restructured.

The race is on to find that new generation of PR and social media executives and consultants.

Kevin Read is managing director of Bell Pottinger Business & Brand, part of the communications consultancy group Bell Pottinger.

If you work in a B2B market and are interested in hearing more about the implications of social media for your workplace, why not come to our Social Media in B2B Communications conference on Nov 4th.