The Future of PR as a Career - Essay Example

Section/# The Future of PR as a Career Introduction: The role of public relations is one of extreme importance. At its most simplistic level, public relations involves managing the spread of information and seeking to create a narrative where there may not be one; or where there might be a negative or neutral one. Public relations serve as an essential cornerstone for increasing societal awareness or overall knowledge with respect to a specific issue or concern. Likewise, the role of the public relations practitioner is one that has come to be centered on the creation of positive image for the company or firm that employs them. In such a manner, crisis management, interaction with clients, and serving as a general middle man between the organization and the news media/interested public is an essential component of what these individuals do on a day to day basis. At a very simplistic level, individuals that are effected by PR can be classified into two distinct groups: clients and consumers. The clients are those that hire PR professionals to brand and create a distinct narrative for their image; whereas the consumers are individuals within the general public that encounter the PR and are affected by it. As such, the following discussion will focus on how public relations have changed and what some of the pros and cons of public relations are in terms of a society that is increasingly proliferated with social media. Background: One aspect of the business world that is agreed upon by almost all analysts and observers is the fact that inevitable change defines the manner through which the environment is exhibited. Broadly speaking, one of the greatest changes to the way in which business has been conducted over the past several decades has been with respect to the paradigm shift that technology has been able to affect. As processes that have normally taken a relatively long period of time were reduced down to only a matter of moments, technology drastically increased the utility and potential that businesses could seek to leverage as a function of greater profitability and success. Although one might be tempted to assert that certain aspects of business have remained relatively sheltered from the impact that technology, the fact of the matter is that this overarching trend has changed the way in which nearly every aspect of business is conducted. For purposes of this brief analysis, the researcher will focus specifically upon the function of public relations and how technology is shifting this career into an entirely different direction. Naturally, such a topic is necessarily broad and would require something of a dissertation length response in order to accomplish effectively. Accordingly, the forthcoming discussion will be focus specifically upon how social media is redefining public relations and help the career itself will be expected to evolve within the coming years based upon the constraints, opportunities, needs, and strengths that the social media dynamic exhibits. Publics and a Brief Overview of Public Relations: Firstly, before delving into an analysis of what social media does to public relations and how it impacts upon it, it should first be noted that the history of public relations remained largely unchanged over the past several decades. For instance, public relations was ultimately a process by which a reactionary, or proactive, company or organization could seek to affect a general understanding for how it is viewed within a given demographic, or within a wider population. Due to the fact that technology did not pervade the business system prior to the past several decades, social media and its impacts of immediacy were not felt within this earlier era. The luxury of all of this was the fact that the public relations team was able to formulate successful approaches; and generally allowed sufficient time in order to accomplish this (Kent & Saffer, 2014). Furthermore, public relations prior to the era of social media were also defined based upon regular interactions between a given company, organization, or group of individuals and the media. As such, relationships could be forged with media participants and an overall expectation of what questions might be asked and when could be determined. However, as will be exhibited within the following analysis, this dynamic fundamentally shifted as a direct result of the inclusion of social media technology and its proliferation throughout the business and non-business world. Yet the definition of the “public” as a large and faceless mass gave rise to many shortcomings of PR; namely the fact that a one size fits all approach was the most useful in terms of engaging a given demographic – or an entire population. As such, the shift towards social media has created a litany of different “publics” and further complicated the realm of PR; so much so that an entire branch of PR management is now directed towards brand image in terms of social media and how followers and stakeholders can be impacted via this medium. As can easily be understood, communication of any sort, sanctioned by the firm or organization in question, is essentially a form of public relations; as it impacts upon the way that the public engages an understanding of the entity in question. Perception and Social Media within Public Relations Due to the fact that companies are intrinsically interested in marketing their goods and services on a near continual basis, the growth of social media was viewed as a unique opportunity for companies to engage with the consumer on a more regular and individual basis. However, as with many approaches to marketing engagement, social media also represented a series of threats to the way in which business was conducted and how a particular firm or organization was viewed. As these companies became more and more visible and more and more active within the lives of individual consumers, the relationships that were formed were of increasing importance to the individual company/organization. In such a way, individual media outlets no longer became the most important avenue upon which the public relations employee could rely upon to disseminate the firm’s message in times of hardship or in times of success. As with any adaptation, the proliferation of social media cause severe growing pains within the realm of public relations. The underlying reason behind most of these growing pains can be attributed to the fact that individuals that were not familiar with public relations, or only performed this task in a relatively minute role, were given large responsibilities with regard to social media and how the firm should seek to engage stakeholders within the external environment (Kent, 2013). This oversight created many situations in which information was incorrectly provided, false, misleading, or negligent in other ways. Recognizing this drawback in a relatively short, the majority of companies and organizations soon came to realize that individuals responsible for social media content must necessarily be trained under the same rigor that an individual responsible for any aspect of public relations should be expected to adhere to. Continuing on the path of social media came to redefine public relations, it can further be indicated that social media has somewhat replaced the standard press release that public relations experts were previously respect for. In lieu of this press release, the field of public relations has invariably shifted towards utilizing Facebook and Twitter as a means of expressing salient and timely thoughts with regard to how a company understands issues pertaining to its continued survival, challenges, or success. As was denoted above, firms that realize the power and impacts that social media had soon began to delegate public relations specialist to handle each and every of a given organization or firm’s social media outreach. In tandem with this, another noted strength that was Incorporated into this was with respect to the way in which social media soon came to be reviewed and approved at several different layers of the organizational command (Hernandez, 2013). As with so many types of businesses, best practices can only be understood and appreciated after worst case scenarios have been evidenced within the realm of the business environment. Accordingly, as public relations departments came to recognize the negative and long-lasting impact that unplanned social media engagement affected, it became increasingly important for public relations teams to review and approve each and every message that was released. Naturally, this process somewhat slowed the rate at which a public relations program could utilize the lightning fast speed of social media; however, it did serve to safeguard the way in which most organizations and firms utilize this new platform as a function of expressing their thoughts. In short, social media came to be synonymous with the public relations department of nearly each and every successful and visible firm within the business environment; with those that did not choose to engage with it being seen as not in sync with the major trends of the business world and/or indifferent as to the needs or wants of their end customers. Threats to PR as a Result of Social Media: However, within the new dynamic that has been exhibited within the past several years, there are distinct threats to the way in which the public relations career will continue to develop over the coming years. One of the first of these threats is with regard to what is known as “message clutter”. In times past, the public relations Department of a given organization or business entity found it relatively simple to congeal a fast and thorough/immutable message that could be understood by nearly each and every consumer within the target demographic. However, as social media proliferation has come to redefine the way in which marketing and public relations take place, the possibility for this to congeal and “immutable” message to continue to exist is diminished exponentially. Instead, it can and should be understood that the current representation of social media within public relations creates a dynamic by which organizations and firms are struggling to create a coherent and steadfast message that their consumers can engage with (Zerfass & Schramm, 2014). For instance, by reducing public relations to the point of engaging with individuals rather than engaging with groups, organizations and firms of run the risk of alienating a dynamic culture that their business model might otherwise seek to represent. In short, a clutter of different messages and the proliferation of different points of view with regard to different groups and individuals create a dynamic by which social media confuses the consumer with respect to what the firm actually stands for and how it might seek to accomplish its ultimate purpose and mission statement. Another noted reality is the fact that companies that utilize social media heavily within their public relations campaigns are necessarily at risk for becoming embroiled with many different divisive issues that they might not otherwise be exposed to; if they did not utilize social media as a means of outreach. For instance, a particular public relations department that utilizes social media as an outreach tool might find it necessary to publically address issues related to ethical standards, environmental preservation, worker’s rights, and/or any other concern that the general public might express on social media; all within a very brief period of time. As these public relations specialists are no longer in complete control of the message and come to be viewed as reactionary as opposed to proactive, the faith in the brand/organization can drop drastically and have a negative impact upon the way in which further engagement with the consumer is able to bring about profitability and success. Benefits to PR that Social Media Provides Yet, from the information that has thus far been engaged, it is necessary to understand that the inclusion of social media will be understood solely within a negative context. Instead, social media has provided beneficial outlet through which public relations campaigns can be conducted. An example of this can certainly be seen with regards the way in which prior levels of public relations campaigns required costly engagements with media outlets and individuals within the press to be effective. Harkening back to the model that was utilized only 20 or 30 years ago, the reader can adequately note that public relations was conducted via the airwaves and/4 print journalism; to necessarily expensive approaches that reduce the overall scope and breath of the demographics that a given firm or organization could seek to impact upon. However, with the advent of social media, the ability of an organization or firm to utilize public relations resources more efficiently and seek to engage in maximum number of individuals has been dramatically increased. Due to the fact that social media is inherently free, by its very nature, a firm can target a much larger market as compared to what it could by representing a press release in a standard media format. Conclusion: Essentially, the most effective take away that the individual should retain from this unit of analysis has to do with the fact that social media has a public relations is affected. It is not possible to produce this to a simple positive or negative due to the fact that public release and have grown colleges that are represented by it. And inherent possibility for misuse or uninformed use creates a dynamic by which a firm will necessarily cause harm to its image or brand; while tangentially utilizing a smart approach to social media partially ensures that more individuals will be engage with a given good or service and marketed to at the same time. For any company operating within the current dynamic, or any individual interested within public relations as a career, it is necessary to understand that maintaining a median between these two dynamics is as essential as is the success of the firm. In the future, is expected that new technologies and means of engagement will be represented; potentially creating a situation in which social media will become as obsolete as print journalism has become over the past several years. However, for those individuals that are currently operating within public relations fields, or those that wish to gain a job or have a career within such a field at some point in the future, understanding, studying, and reflecting a healthy level of respect for the way in which social media campaigns affect public relations is an essential complement towards better integrating with the business world. Whereas it is true that social media offers inherent drawbacks, the same can be said for the previous means by which public relations was effected. References Hernandez, A. (2013). All Quiet on the Digital Front: The NCAAs Wide Discretion in Regulating Social Media. Texas Review Of Entertainment & Sports Law, 15(1), 53-66. Kent, M. L. (2013). Using social media dialogically: Reviving Public Relations. Public Relations Review, 39(4), 337-345. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.07.024 Kent, M. L., & Saffer, A. J. (2014). A Delphi study of the future of new technology research in public relations. Public Relations Review, 40(3), 568-576. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.02.008 Zerfass, A., & Schramm, D. (2014). Social Media Newsrooms in public relations: A conceptual framework and corporate practices in three countries. Public Relations Review, 40(1), 79-91. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.12.003 Read More