Three Tech Shortcuts That Won’t Solve Your Communications Problems
I was one of the first people on Facebook. Not to brag or anything.
I started college just as Mark Zuckerberg’s blossoming empire opened up to students at select universities in the U.S., and entered the workforce with a journalism degree as publishers were dipping their toes into the digital waters.
I dove in headfirst, launching a hyperlocal news website with a dedicated Facebook page.
Throughout my career, I taught a public media newsroom how to put their stories on the web, launched a startup with a newsletter that relied on crowdsourced Instagram photos and helped develop a quiz app to bring college grad audiences into the top of a membership funnel.
That journey brought me to Ceisler Media three years ago, where I help clients think through their audience engagement and messaging platform strategies.
“New media,” as many still refer to these platforms, are pretty old hat to me. So I’ll be the first to tell you that these platforms are not solutions to your communications problems.
Avoid Shortcuts
At Ceisler Media, our clients need authentic interactions, which require real community investment. Short-term campaigns and splashy tactics might move the needle, but the real wins are in the long game.
Here are three common requests we get from prospective clients that we advise against:
Online reputation management: When it comes to reputation (re)building, we don’t take shortcuts. Any number of faceless companies will offer to fix your personal or brand reputation by “fixing” your SEO results. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. No matter the source of your reputation woes, the climb back is a long one. And the only memory longer than Google’s is your community’s. Even if the top search result says you’re an angel, the people who matter will know the truth – and remind you of it if you haven’t atoned.
Wikipedia editing: The reason you use Wikipedia is the same reason why we don’t recommend editing it yourself – the guardrails work. Thanks to dedicated community editors with established guidelines, Wikipedia has become a trusted first source of information. So when clients come to us for help beefing up their Wikipedia pages, we respectfully decline, and educate them on the thorough editing process involved in that work.
Social media as a relationship builder: Yes, in most cases you need some sort of social media presence to reach your target audience. But gone are the days of setting up a Facebook page your audience will flock to. This strategy can be successful for very large brands, and for insular communities. If you’re somewhere in the middle, expect to pay to play, or get comfortable with the idea that social media is secondary to the personal interactions that are essential for establishing relationships and building coalitions.
Related: Astroturfing: What It Is And Why We Don’t Do It
Related: Insights On AI In Journalism And What That Means for Public Relations
Play the long game
So how do you build an audience and make sure your message is heard in 2025? Authenticity. Consistency. Transparency.
It’s not that the digital media platforms we’ve built our lives around are becoming obsolete. Quite the opposite. Because these tools aren’t new and novel anymore, only the people and brands who go the extra mile will stand out.
That’s not a directive to post more videos or drop thousands of dollars on a follower campaign. Those can be useful campaign tactics, but they’re not a strategy for meaningful engagement.
Related: When Media Pitches Aren’t Working, It’s Time To Get Out Of The Office
If you want to succeed online, make sure you also have a plan for how to engage offline.
Shannon Wink is a Senior Vice President in Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy’s Philadelphia office.
