Social media: Insights from a public relations professional
Nick Aiden is a Los-Angeles-based public relations professional who works with multiple high-profile celebrities, companies and social media influencers. He started his career in 2009 while still in high school, when his Twitter fan page for a singer caught the attention of the singer’s team. I sat down with him over video call to talk about social media and the role it has played in his life both professionally and personally.
Patel: I know your job is very much self-created, but how would you define the work you do today?
Aiden: I think it’s a two-part answer. For part of my job, I’m like the CEO/publicist of my own company. But when I work for other people, I’m the head of digital marketing typically. My entire job encompasses strategizing creative ways for my clients to market themselves, whether that be on social media — in terms of creating, scheduling and strategizing posts — or meeting with brands and getting brand deals for my clients. Or if it’s a PR crisis. They get themselves into scandal, and we figure a way out of that. I feel like those three things encompass my day: social media, brand deals and PR crises.
Patel: Would you say social media is a big chunk of the job?
Aiden: Yeah, I always refer to social media as like the trunk of the tree or the foundation of the house. Without social media and your presence online, the rest of the things won’t fall into place. If people don’t really care about what you’re doing on social media, and you don’t have that engagement, then if you get into scandal, no one’s going to care. Or if you get a brand deal, you’re not going to get paid nearly as much if your engagement is down, so social media is really the foundation of everything.
Patel: So it’s basically about creating these online communities of people who care?
Aiden: Totally.
Patel: Why do you think these communities are so powerful?
Aiden: People feel an attachment to people. I always relate it back to the Kardashians. Whether you like them or hate them, they’re always on your mind. Even if you hate them, you always find at least one of them where you can be like, “Oh, that was relatable to me.” And I feel like that marketing scheme is the same with influencers as well. It’s that idea of seeing these influencers and aspiring either for that or for more for your life. It’s saying: “This person is funny and relatable. They have great style. They live this lifestyle that I aspire to have. Let me follow them. Let me see what their life is about and how I can relate to that.” And I feel like that’s what is so important in creating a strong foundation: making whoever you’re working for very relatable to the audience.
Patel: But doesn’t that mean this sense of “relatability” is manufactured? Or do you think social media can be used for real, meaningful connections?
Aiden: I think I’m a prime example for it being meaningful. I created a fan page for one of my clients years ago when I was in high school. And I learned that many other people who had similar stories to me went to social media to find that same outlet that I found: friendships and people with common interests. I had more friends on social media than in real life. I would talk to these people about things that were going on in my real life. I felt like they were my ride-or-dies, and I had never met them. I think in terms of the fan experience, fans can totally find those meaningful experiences and meet these other people and talk about whoever it is that they really enjoy. Then based off of that, they’ll talk more about their private lives and life in general, and they’ll find so many more and new connections.
Patel: It sounds like social media is important to you beyond your job. It has developed into your job, but there are roots in it being personally meaningful for you.
Aiden: One hundred percent. I really attribute who I am to social media because I would say that I’ve learned most things that I know from social media. Because I had a full-time job before I even started my first day of college. So everything I had to learn about my job or my life, my personal life, came from social media. Maybe that’s why I do have such a soft spot for it, but I’m also not oblivious to the harm social media can cause.
Patel: How do you reconcile that harm with the fact that this is your job?
Aiden: What I’ve heard over a million times is, “You can read a million positive comments, but the one that sticks with you is that one negative comment.” There’s always going to be people who hate you, but on the flip side, there’s going to be people who love you and appreciate your hard work and appreciate what you’re doing for the community. As an adult now, I’ve decided to take the negative as constructive feedback and see what I can improve on and what my clients can improve on. And with the positive, just keep doing what we’re doing because it’s obviously resonating with people. Why would we stop what we’re doing to please the negative, hateful people? So I mainly just focus on the positive and do the best that I can do. Know that not everyone is going to be happy with what you do.
Patel: Speaking of the positive, when we talked previously, you told me about how you’ve witnessed the joy of fans firsthand. What is that experience like for you?
Aiden: I think that it’s one of the most rewarding things ever to give fans these unique experiences, whether it’s backstage passes to concerts, meet-and-greet tickets or just tickets to the events without meeting anyone. Growing up, I lived in a small town in northern California. I never thought that I would move to Los Angeles or see the streets of Los Angeles or any of that. I just didn’t think that was in my destiny, and I really had no one to tell me I could do it. So hearing a lot of these stories from fans, giving them opportunities they feel like they would’ve never gotten otherwise, is the most heartwarming thing ever. To me, at this point, it’s nothing. But for other people, it’s everything to them. So it really puts my life into perspective of how thankful I am to be doing what I’m doing because I recognize that there are millions of other people who want to be doing what I’m doing.
Patel: As someone who has been doing this for years, how would you characterize how social media has changed over time?
Aiden: Overall, I feel like people have gotten smarter about social media. I think most people have found ways to monetize off of it. In 2009, no one was making money off social media. Now you talk to Generation Z and millennials, and they’re literally creating companies and finding ways to make money that wasn’t accessible 10 years ago. So I think it’s providing a lot of people opportunities. That’s the biggest thing.
Patel: That’s a more positive take than most people would have. I wonder, what’s your perspective on the popular idea that social media is a bad thing?
Aiden: That’s hard. There are so many negative things about social media: being harassed, being bullied, people saying whatever they want without any ramifications. But I like to see the silver lining in everything. I think about social media and how many missing peoples cases it has solved. I think about how many people get to interact across the world, learn about new cultures they maybe never would’ve experienced before, or open their eyes to what’s going on in the world. Whether people are listening to each other or not, it has sparked that conversation.
Patel: It’s definitely an odd dichotomy.
Aiden: Yeah, I don’t know. I definitely think social media makes the world go round, though. I think it gives people that freedom to express themselves in ways that they haven’t before. I think it has allowed people to come into their own by meeting people who are more like them than they’ve seen in their small towns. So I definitely think, overall, it has changed the world mostly for the better. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be refined and made better, just like everything else in this world.
