Increasingly I’m hearing tales of woe from PR colleagues in Europe and the USA who are defecting from the profession because of overwhelming workloads that see them managing traditional media campaigns, along with social media and SEO efforts.

Clients, I hear, are dumping their social media strategy and execution on PRs who are straddling a very stressful workload that sees them balancing the old fashioned demands of the profession, with the multitude of online approaches.

This fly tipping approach is making for misery. Rather than think through the depth of the social media and online channels of communication, and how the reality of execution of a successful outreach campaign will happen, the PR is left to often wedge in a few approaches, just to keep the client happy. You see it often on Facebook and Twitter, where a Fan page for a brand is slapped up, or a Twitter account is established, often being used as just a mouthpiece for blasting a brand’s promotional message. The lack of interactivity and creative approach to engaging with an audience leaves these failed social media blips to die off quickly, with less than 100 fans or followers to remember they ever existed. The embarrassment of the botch up effort is then blamed on the PR, and often clients are lost.

This is my call to stop the social media dumping, and start taking the medium very seriously and thinking through what you want to do, what you want to achieve and most importantly, how you are going to reach the goal. This is not to say that all PRs should simply say no to working on social media campaigns, but they’ve got to push back and make sure adequate resources are in place for launching any effort in this dynamic space.

All PRs should have an in-depth understanding of what is going on in social media. They should know some basics, like the difference between a Group and a Fan page on Facebook, and how to use hashtags on Twitter. Beyond the mechanics they should be up to speed on what brands are doing in the social media space successfully. For this, reading Mashable is a great resource. Keeping up with the informative blog posts of Brian Solis and reading his new book Engage! will provide a power education. Also being present and engaged on social media personally and professionally will teach any PR how to operate in the space. Better mistakes be made on your own time, then on a client’s dime. I’ve heard some agencies aren’t even looking at new applicants for junior roles unless they have 300 followers or more on Twitter.

A good PR should be able to counsel clients on strategic and tactical approaches to the space, and then craft out solutions for how a social media campaign will be carried through. It may be the case that an agency builds an in-house social media team, or that they partner with a specialist social media agency. The messy approach, that many are taking, is to drop social media in the lap of an intern, providing little guidance.

The smart agencies, large and small, are folding in resources devoted to social media. Recently Ogilvy hired Maziar “Maz” Nadjm (@Mazi) as its new head of social media, who’s track record from Sky saw him rocket engagement for this company’s online presence in just one year. Turning to social media experts like Maz for support and leadership will provide the kind of guidance through this maze that clients and PRs need to seek out.

As social media has grown over these last five years, I’ve watched several people really embrace the emergent sector and turn it into a profession. Some of these folks I know are getting the tossed around label of social media “gurus” which makes you wary that what they are offering is a new kind of mysterious snake oil. However, it is time to get to know these experts and take the knowledge they have developed seriously.

David Cushman (@davidcushman) is one of the big thinkers in the social media space, who, following nearly two decades of experience working with eMap, set out on his own with passion and enthusiasm, and a spark of genius to devote himself to social media. He is now a managing director at the 90:10 Group, offering the kind of deep thinking counsel client’s need to approach social media. I asked David about his approach to social media and for some tips and tricks that might help PRs and clients get their head around it all.

“Our approach is to think consultancy – to get out of the way as much as possible. We use the tools and techniques of social media to solve business problems – creating new efficiencies by working with the crowd (hence the 90:10 name – 90% of the effort coming from outside the org, 10% inside),” he told me.

“Ultimately this social stuff is, like the web, for making things with people who care about the outcomes – rather than broadcasting messages through.”

The 90:10 Group describes itself as being a global crowd of multi-lingual, multi-national researchers, planners, brand strategists, web developers, mobile and social media specialists. They use methods of co-creation to deliver insight, innovation and action for brands, businesses and organisations. They make products, services and communications a better fit for the intended consumer – helping to build a better business.

David offers this advice in approaching social media:

* Social media is not a set of tools or channels – it’s a philosophical approach.

* It is not an innovation in and of itself.

* The innovation and the true value derives from the application of its tools and techniques to support people in solving problems that matter to them

Five years ago, there wasn’t the kind of choices of experts and agencies available, but now, the social media sector is booming and it is time to call on leaders like Maz or David to take a smart approach to what is proving to be the most important channel of influence between a brand and its public. Reputations are being made and destroyed, sometimes in a matter of days in social media, and to just dump such a crucial responsibility onto overworked account executives is a recipe for disaster.

Have you had social media dumped on you? Please share your story.