Ah, the temptation to make a wonderful noise and join in the chorus of others who throw their own two cents into the social media (and occasionally traditional media) buzz of some other agency’s dilemma/celebration/otherwise noteworthy event. It is a real and true temptation and so many others fall prey to it and dive fully into the fray: posting on social media or even (gasp) speaking to broadcast and print media about it!
It is an understandable predicament, to be sure.
One need look no further than social media to find the trending topic of the day. Most of the time those trending topics come from some newsworthy event surrounding a particular person or brand. It is so very easy for public agencies and private entities to jump on the bandwagon and join in the hype. This is okay IF you are sure to keep up with general topics of interest and NOT those incidents specific to another agency. Especially if it is a negative story about another agency.
So to public agencies, beware!
Though many times you might get away with it with little to no fallout in the current time, it is possible the damage may come later. Injecting oneself into another agency’s story can be detrimental in a number of different ways:
- Detracting from or otherwise overshadowing their original story.
- Making unfair comparisons between your two agencies.
- Displaying an air of superiority through comparison.
- Seeming to shame another agency for an action or inaction.
The professional media relations professional should definitely ask questions of reporters who are inquisitive of their agency’s policies and procedures, but especially if reporters ask those questions relative to another agency’s incidents. It is imperative that we not only help portray our own agency in an honest and proper way, but we also have to not allow our words to be used in any sort of derogatory way against another agency.
Our own use of social media needs to follow this same rule as well. If it’s not your story to tell, why the heck are you talking about it? It’s one thing to amplify another agency’s story by sharing it. It’s another thing altogether to tell their story as if it’s your own.
As always, tell your story. Just not someone else’s.