ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how social media are shifting the work in many fields, including public relations (PR). From a business perspective, PR seeks to influence the influencers who make key decisions and have the power to spend money hiring outside the company for social media services. PR stakeholders are no longer impressed with simply including social media within a campaign. The desire of public relations practitioners to both better understand and measure engagement is not surprising, given the emphasis on the strategic use of social media technologies and other digital platforms. The Public Relations Society of America uses in its APR accreditation a four-step PR process: Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. Real-time social media are transforming marketing and public relations. In the eCommerce environment, use of Google Analytics and other social media data dashboards allow businesses to link social media efforts to results that go beyond Facebook likes and shares. In social media, influence is important.
