Online PR: Emerging Organizational Practice

By Pertti Hurme

International Journal of Corporate Communication

Abstract: This article describes the changes in the media and how companies and organizations operate. These changes have big impacts in public relations practices and education. New PR tools are described, identified and guidelines are given.  In the future, there wont be two kinds of PR practitioners anymore. Instead PR practitioners are expected to integrate all means of communication in their professional qualifications.

Introduction

The development of information and technology goes hand in hand with communication.  Ross and Middleberg (1999) state that information and communication technologies are revolutionizing the practice of public relations. They believe that if PR practitioners don’t use Internet communication as a PR strategy in this era they may damage their clients and employer. This article describes recent changes in the media landscape where companies and organizations operate. These changes have great impact on the basic practice of PR and education.

Organizational Media Landscape Changing

There have been many innovations in information and communication technology in the last few decades.  A crucial factor in the success of these innovations depends in the speed they are adopted by organizations. It took radio 30-40 years to have 50 million listeners, and TV more than 10 years, while the World Wide Web (WWW) the number of users in 3-4 years. It seems like Mobile Internet will be adopted even faster.

WWW started in the mid 1990’s and now it’s widely used in organizations in the form of intranets (internal to organizations) and extranets (clients and partners have access to specific areas of the intranet) in addition to the public Internet. Mobile Internet will increase fast and change the organizational media landscape quickly. Therefore, the gain in network mobile communications will be important in all kinds of organizations.

Impacts of Communication Technologies on Public Relations

PR practitioners have 2 tasks; one involves message production and sending out these messages to public/clients/stakeholders in multiple channels, and the second task planning and executing the communication strategies.

The use of new communications technologies has added dialogue between and within organizations. You have the one-to-one dialogue; which is email between 2 persons, or many-to-many involves a large number of dialogues in a discussion group or chat room… etc.  Organizations have to deal with Web Dialogues, which are very difficult to control.

Mass communication is fading and shifting to dialogical and interactional communication. PR practitioners need to be smarter than the Internet users. The Internet’s speed, interactivity and crossing nations borders make it attractive to the public relations practitioners as a communication tool. The new information and communication technologies have potential for interactivity.

Mobile technologies show plenty of promise in interactivity. 2 types of interactivity:

1)   Quasi-interactivity: one way communication (eg: subscribing to organization’s news releases and sending feedback to the organization)

2)   Two-way, truly: interactive communication (eg: exchanging email messages with a PR person)

Both forms of interactivities are useful.  Networked communication still needs to me monitored if the audience is large. Through the internet PR practitioners can reach their clients and stakeholders directly bypassing the gatekeepers, but also engage in dialogue with them directly.

New Technologies, New Practices for PR Practitioners

4 functions are distinguished in the practice of public relations: analysis, plan, action and evaluation. In PR practice the perceptions and opinions of important publics are evaluated. Conventional methods include analyses of print media and analyses of publics. New analysis have emerged: web pages and electronic publications can be examined, survey questionnaires can be online, Usenet discussions and chat rooms can be monitored to track current and potentially troublesome issues, logs of organizations websites can be analyzed and number of hits monitored.

By monitoring the Internet, PR practitioners learn what their clients, stakeholder and the public are saying. By monitoring and getting feedback you get to know how to improve your strategies and messages.

Evaluation works simultaneously with other functions. Ongoing evaluation of  both analyses, plans and action are vitally important. In modern organizations these functions cant be divided. These functions follow these guidelines:

*   Consider clients/audiences

*   Online means up to date

*   Get in the right lane on the information highway

*   Align yourself with people in similar industries

*   Synergy and integration are important

*   Give the clients, the stakeholders and the media what they want the way they want it

Conclusion

In organizational public relations, print media will stay strong, but the new information and communication technologies will increase. Nowadays keywords of PR practitioners are interactivity, dialogue, dynamism, and involvement. In the future  ‘Web PR age’, there wont be two kinds of PR practitioners; those who use traditional PR tools and those who practice online communication. These two will be integrated together to one tool. Organizations now need to rethink their strategies and tactics.  They need to look at PR in a different way, interactive and networked.

PR practitioners have to have good skills in information and communication technologies. Their outlook has to be wide and they are expected to be experts on group and team communications as well as organizational behavior while there is a constant change in information and communication technologies. They have to understand how people use media, how they produce messages, and how the borderline between the reception and production have become blurred due from the new information and communication technologies. PR practitioners have to integrate all communications to be part of their professional qualifications.

The Book Has Arrived

The book has arrived in time... Ordered this from Amazon for my exam. BUT, every PR practitioner has to have this book. You can find the book online if you need or order it on Amazon or from your local bookshop....

Happy READING

I Am Who I Am Because of You

You always hear the phrase I am who I am because of my mum! That is very true.  A mother always moulds her children to become who they are today.  I’m a strong believer of that. 

My mother always believed in me no matter what stage in my life I was in. She always told me to follow my instincts and go towards my goals, but to always stay true to myself.  I learnt my courage and independence from her and I’ll always be greatful to her.

Being a strong individual where you have your own vision and view in life was always my moto, and my mother appreciated that and always encouraged me to be that way. Her greatest advice to me and still is today  “Be true to yourself” and that to me is the best advice I could every get from anyone. I’ve learnt being true to your self you gain respect and self-confidence. And to me, that is how you can overcome anything you go through in life, whether it’s good or bad.

Another article I wrote for Al Mara magazine and it was published for Mothers Day edition March 2010

Some of my writing that has been published in Al Mara magazine (Oman)

Embrace Yourself 2010 Is Right Around The Corner

Wow I can’t believe we are heading towards 2010 already! This year has gone by so quick and I don’t know where to start. I had my moments this year. You always enter the New Year hoping to achieve your goals and ambitions but the truth of the matter is sometimes you just don’t! Looking back at my 2009 New Year resolution I can say I can cross out 3 out of 15 goals. Not saying that’s good or bad, but actually you change and grow as a person throughout the year. For me I’ve learnt so much this year and made me a wiser and a better person and that is my biggest achievement of this year. Just learning and expanding my knowledge makes me thankful and appreciate life every second.

2010 is another new year filled with more adventure and new accomplishments. My aim this year to learn as much as I can in life and workplace. With the new women empowerment in this country, I have more drive and ambition to make a difference. There is so much to learn and achieve and I hope I will be able to accomplish that this year.

I’m wishing everyone a Happy New Year filled with love and peace. Just remember that life is too short, there is a lot you can do in this short period of time and a lot to learn and gain.  Be yourself and help others who thrive from your happiness.

Strategic Public Relations

Ehsan Khodarahmi

Marketing consultant, London, UK

Introduction

There is no single definition for public relations and strategic public relations, but what the scholars and practitioners stress about is the planning of SPR. Despite the fact that most definition of PR by scholars have the term management, there is the belief that it should not only be limited to management focus especially at organizational level (Dozier & Lauzen 2000). Planning is essential in SPR, since communication needs to be strategic and analytical in 21 century.

Public opinion is evolving as fast as the world and PR functions need to continuously evolve in order to create a balance between adding value to management. credibility in organization and making sense to strategic publics; hence the need for SPR.

Ongoing evaluation & Research, as well as education and training are key to the development of SPR. It is a model of negotiation and dialogue and should be analyzed & understood in-depth in political, cultural & social context (Du Gray, 1997).

PR models and frameworks

Scholars and practitioners in PR have different models and frameworks in developing effective SPR. Elements for developing effective SPR: Internationalism, competition, strategic expertise, evaluating of PR activities, adoption of new tech, personnel development & recruitment (Itruing, 1998).

Practitioners and scholars emphasize the difference between PR and marketing, they are two different managerial functions.  All senior PR managers and boards of directors need to be aware of the PR activities and allow PR managers to make strategic decision making process. Negative consequences of these actions are using internal and external factors are taken into account at the time of decision-making.

Key Success to SPR

Integrated communication is the key factor in a successful SPR since organizations meet desirable output. At a crisis PR is the most crucial component of communication mix. Communication is not just a word in the PR world, it’s a strategic thinking, proactive plans and actions are the key concerns in any SPR campaign and management.  Adopting appropriate approach that doesn’t offend anyone nor satisfies everyone. According to Lages & Simkin there are 4 Steps in problem solving procedure:

*   Problem definition

*   Planning

*   Communicating & Implementing set up plans

*   Evaluation of entire process

PR is analyzed in various ways. According to Lages & Simkin there are 3 levels of PR: Industry level, Consultancy level and Practitioner level. Communication strategies have been neglected to be analyzed well in detailed and discussed by scholars and practitioners. In any PR campaign planning, a SWOT analysis is recommended by scholars.

SPR Objectives

Mutual understanding of PR is the key objective of SPR. SPR requires strategic thinkers boost success in their organization. Planning doesn’t always guarantee success but it increases the chance of achieving your objectives. Corporate strategy development and strategic business planning are the key to every SPR. Practicality and clear code of ethics are still matters to be looked at by many in PR industry. In international PR, what could be practical in one country might not be suited in another country.

Two –way symmetrical communications

Two-way symmetrical PR is utilized by practitioners in their act and studied by scholars. Thus, creating balance is the core competence of SPR management. There has to be a relationship between organizations and their publics to achieve SPR objectives. There has to be trust between these two mediums.

Communicating your message to the public is the key to ensure that your message to the public has been sent across clearly.  SPR is all about the communication between an organization and its public.  So setting the right message and selecting appropriate media channels is significant in trying to fulfill their SPR objectives and goals.

Conclusion

Adapting an appropriate model of SPR requires impact analysis. SPR would consider future competitions, public’s demands. SPR has long term effect. Utilizing internet would assist organizations to develop  effective and long term relationship with strategic publics.

SUMMARY ON THE UTILIZATION OF FACEBOOK AS A PUBLICITY VEHICLE DURING THE 2010 FINAL SEASON OF ABC’S LOST

By

Anna D’Aloisio

Public Relations Journal (2010)

Oluwakemi Gbadamosi & Shaymaa Al’Kharusi (Group B)

Objective: This paper analyzed how the Public relations team of ABC’s Lost (television series) utilized face book as publicity tool, compared to the traditional media tactic during the shows season’s finale. To see if there was need to create additional content solely for facebook to entice and excite the audience to watch the show until the finale.

Introduction: Cultivating and maintaining relationships between corporate entities and their publics is a key element of public relations, particularly in this internet age. This gives rise to the need for public relations practitioners to embrace the interactivity that the internet especially social media networks provide. In recent times social media sites such as facebook, twitter, myspace.com amongst others have become important vehicles for brands to cultivate relationships with their publics; this is obvious with companies such as coca-cola, McDonalds, Procter & Gamble e.t.c, utilising the face book fan page application.

One of the key-component of social media especially face book which by the way has about 400 million users is the ability to connect with a community of individuals who share similar likes and dislikes. A five trend year report revealed that 95% of PR practitioners state that social media offers organizations low-cost ways to develop relationships, despite this report practitioners are more inclined to traditional internet means such as emails, blogs, and intranet but slow to integrate more technological tools that cater much audience such as social networks and virtual worlds.

Network television is one of the top organizations that have embraced social media, with 25 top rated TV shows having a fan page presence on facebook in 2010, creating an environment that allows for viewers participation, which translates to larger audience and steady revenues. Network televisions create a ‘water cooler’ moments on facebook about their favourite series than one to one conversation by the water cooler or copier.

Situation Analysis: The television series Lost debuted on ABC network in 2004, with the first season averaging 16 million viewers, making it a top-ten show among the 18-49 age bracket (the currency of broadcast television). By May 2007, ABC announced the end of lost scheduled for May 2010, citing artistic reasons for the cancellation and generate more revenue for advertising during the season finale. The idea behind the reason given by the show’s writers and producers was to keep active viewers for the final season and increase advert rate for the finale.

Financially high viewer ratings in a season finale, translates to charging a premium to advertisers, which made the objective of ABC’S P.R effort to be cultivating and maintaining their fans giving the potential advantage revenue of a series finale.

The show became the first tv program to announce a highly anticipated season finale in an era when   face book and other social media where becoming popular, the show face book page became an ideal avenue for fans and critics to share ideas on how they think the show will end, with Lost script co-coordinator regularly following comments and answering questions.  

Method: The electronic press releases on ABC.com and facebook posts of the final season were analyzed. The show put up steady information about the program during production a.k.a drip-drip-drip, which included events, sweep stakes, promotional items, teasers of upcoming episodes, miscellaneous clips, Lost tracks, re-watch episodes with commentaries, cast members music videos and domestic and international statistics. A total of 62 posts were put up on facebook by lost publicity crew, including posts that asked fans to say their good-byes to the show and characters they would love to ask questions. Links were used to encourage fans to watch teasers.

Results: Press releases encouraged media and visitation to the series website, while face book posts encouraged fans to visit sites for video clips and music tracks. Facebook served as an additional tactic, a viral avenue that gathered 3 million fans which also helped in the stimulation of dialogues amongst them. Although no link can be shown on the effect of facebook exposure to increase in viewership, the fan base growth on facebook is note worthy; from 1.8 million  on March 3^rd to 3.7 million on May 23^rd (evening of the season finale).

Lost season viewership of 13.6 million on the season finale was the highest in the series entire season. According to Nielsen highly ranked TV series doesn’t automatically translate to high number of face book fans e.g. NCIS (R= 5, V= 15.2, FB fans= 117, 081); Greys Anatomy (R= 6, V=15.2, FB fans= 4.3); Lost (R=10, V=13.6, FB fans= 3.9). There are two possible reasons for this; the number of seasons the series has aired and the year a facebook page was established for it.

Conclusion: The creation of a virtual community by lost followers indicates the advantages open to P.R practitioners to investigate and experiment how social media sites can be used as tools to disseminate information to various on-line publics. Lost analysis illustrates the potential of viral growth, how a single post can be seen by millions. Shows and brands encourage followership on facebook which is a strategy that helps increase an online fan base, it helps create and solidify relationships between corporate entities and individuals who consume their products and services.

It will be interesting to explore number of traditional media impressions received against the number of facebook fans amassed during a publicity campaign. Evaluation tool is valuable to help P.R practitioners in measuring the success of their social media posts, a tool that legitimizes the social media as a worthy tactic for future publicity efforts. 

Keep Your Goals To Yourself

Think about this... What he says is so true!! So everybody keep your goals to yourself

Steve jobs: how to live b4 u die

Inspiring video.. thought to share with you all

PUBLIC RELATIONS: DOES THE INDUSTRY NEED REGULATING

By

Kevin Moloney

Corporate Communication International Journal

 

INTRODUCTION

Despite the fact that public relations is a one billion pound industry in the United Kingdom with over 22,000 employees, research have proven that the public has a low opinion of it and as such its practitioners suffer some sort of low reputation. The industry is often criticized by the general public, as well as members of interest/pressure groups in the UK, for offending equality ideal (which is highly respected) through its involvement in democratic decision making, accurate information on buying and selling, and the workings of a neutral trust worthy mass media.

The consequences for this issue of low reputation amongst the general public is that it raises the questions about value systems, practice aspect (being a persuasive activity) and theoretical models of symmetric communication. The author of this article decided to ascertain the following: if there is a low opinion of the industry by the public, if the teachers, researchers and practitioners in the industry have a low reputation as a result of this, if what is taught, trained and researched in public relations ought to be revisited and finally proffer possible solutions.

RESEARCH 

The author hypothesised that the public relations industry in the UK and those connected with it, suffer from low reputation. Forty-two questionnaires were sent by postal survey to the Public Relations Educators Forum (PREF), statements were measured from the degree of agreement to disagreement and an example of the statements was if the educators felt various groups believed the industry had a low reputation. Thirty-two responses (76%) were gotten from the sixteen institutions under PREF.

The results revealed that 2/4 of the sample agreed that public relations has a bad reputation with the general public, a small majority agreed that managers, employers and business studies colleagues had the same notion about the industry. 3/4 were happy to use the P.R acronym when teaching or researching, or when used as department names or degrees. Nearly all agreed that student rate the discipline positively, 3/4 believed that persuasion is part of effective public relations and 1/2 agreed that two-way communication is over emphasised.

DISCUSSION

The public relations industry in the last 30yrs has grown and established itself as an independent sector in the UK, this is evident with the Queen appointing a communications secretary and honouring four public relation practitioners in 1998, but terms such as “to spin”, unflattering references by politicians, and hostility of the media gives an impression that the job of P.R is to paint a situation in a manner that is appealing even if it is not. While researches have shown that low reputation of the industry doesn’t affect students applying to study the discipline, the author observed from practical experience that some students suffer low self esteem and would rather say they are studying communication than P.R. He argued that the reason why business studies colleagues, marketers and advertisers have a little bit of regard for the profession may be as a result of how business studies view persuasive communication and a capitalists economy needs persuasion to boosts demand. On the other hand sociologists, political economists associate P.R negatively with emotions than reason, power or control rather than equality, propaganda rather than informed, rational discourse.

He and other agents argued that this issue of low reputation doesn’t seem to affect the 1 billion pound industry based on the fact that you do not need an entire public but a defined public, also that it might be the same attitude that the public has for other professionals such as lawyers, journalists, politicians but still use their services if need be. Another reason why the industry may not be affected is because of intergroup rivalry i.e. journalists may not like P.R as a group but deals with them individually when necessary.

He further argues that the issue of low reputation stems from the concern of the public about how P.R affects three institutions namely: democracy, market-oriented capitalist economy and free press. Through interference with equality by lobbying in a voting system and perception of being misled through persuasion amongst others. On the issue of groups or organisations perception of the industry, he argues that an organisation like Shell, would feel negatively about the P.R of environmental group Green peace, explaining it as a resource competition between interest and as such it is coloured by the reaction of the message recipient.

CONCLUSION

He advocates that the low reputation requires teaching attention and research scrutiny. Citing the need for P.R academicians to take a more critical view of the field; and called for the creation of an office for the regulation of public relations industry (OFFPR) as a possible tool for improving the industries reputation. The OFFPR should have a reform program that is independent, enforceable and responsible for the following:

·       Investigate the feasibility of P.R stories attached to media,

·     Require national report from all editorial media on how editorial independence is safeguarded, when they use P.R generated materials and make it in the best interest of political economy,

·   Possibly asking for annual audit report of their work benchmarked against declared professional standard.

Finally he said there is the need for more empirical research on the debates about the perception of low reputation of public relations in the United Kingdom.  

Another Blog just for PR

So I decided to create another blog just for PR... Here is where I'll post articles I've read and some assignments of mine. I hope you all enjoy it