Social Media and Public Relations - Term Paper Example

The Social Media and Public Relations 0 Introduction Public Relations definition and roles Public relations field is one of the most significant departments in any organization. It is one of the key branches under the communications umbrella. Apractitionerin this has numerous responsibilities that involve the maintenance of a consistent and effective communication network between an organization and its publics. There are different roles and responsibilities that have been defined for public relations practitioners to fulfill in different organizations. The scope of public relations in different countries may vary, but the basic tenets that define the career remain outstanding even on an international front. A public relations practitioner must strive to lay out evident mechanics that ensure an organization’s policies are communicated effectively to the concerned publics. In addition, this profession involves getting feedbacks from the organization’s publics, and delivering it to the organizations in a bid to influence the formulation of policies (Moss, Warnaby, & Newman, 2010). In the modern definition of public relations, theorists in this field have placed emphasis on the role of practitioners as ensuring that the organization has a constant understanding of the views exhibited by different publics concerning the organizations operations. There is a need for practitioners to exhibit the expertise of serving as an organization’s corporate conscience. Notably, this profession determines the perception of the public concerning a certain brand or an organization and its products. In order to ensure that the perception is positive, the public relations practitioner must serve as a corporate monitor (Moss, Warnaby, & Newman, 2010). This means that the practitioner must influence the organizations policies in a bid to meet the expectations of different publics. Social Media and Public Relations The 21st century business front is defined by the evident presence and influence of the social media. Unlike in the past when the internet was only accessible to a small percentage of the population, the modern era has seen many people having access to the internet. Increased accessibility to the internet has led to the development of social networking sites where by a great percentage of the population indulges in different levels of interactions. Evidently, the social media has introduced a virtual public sphere, which proves to be much more rigorous and active compared to the traditional publics addressed by the public relations practitioners in the past. Worth noting is the fact that, social media has served to change communication models, introducing new realms of communicationmodels online. Businesses have sought to utilize the opportunity presented by the social media in the creation of a positive image of their brands. Notably, the social media platform has an increasingly high audience, explaining why many organizations have given social media a priority in marketing and in public relations (Moss, Warnaby, & Newman, 2010). Without doubt, this emerging platform has registered an impact on the public relations sector in the 21st century. According to statistics, social networking sites have increased registered the highest number of profiles. This only proves that, the social media is likely to be more persistent and influential to public relations in the future. For example, one of the leading social networking sites called Facebook registered over 1 billion active users by September 2012. Considering two years have already passed since the release of those statistics, the number has only increased. This is a clear example of how powerful a public the social media presents. It is upon public relations practitioners to exploit the emerging opportunity with the social media platforms. This is true, according to the views of Sean Baybrook who opines that social media is, “… a new channel for marketers to use and as such needs to be assessed on a campaign by campaign basis to ensure that it is suitable for the brand and aids it in reaching its audience” (S. Baybrook, interview, August 12, 2014). However, this has presented unique challenges for public relations practitioners that did not exist in the traditional setting of public relations. This paper will consider the potential benefits and possible challenges of being a modern day public relations practitioner in an era when the social media is dominant (Brown, 2009). 1.0 Types of Publics that Public Relations must Address A public relations practitioner must demonstrate a clear understanding of the different types of publics that exist. The publics addressed by public relations are often categorized based on three criteria. These are namely problem recognition, the ability to recognize a constraint and the level of involvement. Experts have identified four distinct types of publics. The first category is named the nonpublic, which denotes a category of publics, which does not recognize any problem and hence does not register any consequences (Brown, 2009). The second category is the latent public, which has a problem, but is not aware of the existing problem. The third category is denoted as the aware public because of its vivid realization that a problem does exist. The fourth category is the active public, which not only recognizes the problem, but is also willing to offer a response. Public relations practitioners must exhibit expertise in handling each of the four types of the public. In the case of the nonpublic category, an organization does not necessarily need to communicate while an attention-getting message must be designed specifically to address the latent public. The aware public also needs specifically designed messages that communicate an organization’s policy. The active public presents a weighty responsibility for public relations practitioners. Since these types of public exhibits a high level of public recognitions and constantlyoffers response, an organization must ensure a consistent communication with the active publics. This category requires an organization to develop a remarkably high public profile (Brown, 2009). Worth noting is the fact that, the social media presents a virtual active public. This places a salient need for organizations to hire highly competent practitioners who can effectively establish a link between the social media active publics and the organization. The views of Sean Baybrook serve to place emphasis on this aspect evident when he said, “… the need for the public and private sectors to manage their messaging is more important than ever – they need to understand the media environment to function – this is no-longer optional. Also remember that brand activations are examples of activities that allow them to interact with consumers and engage them in a manner that let’s say a billboard won’t” (S. Baybrook, interview, August 12, 2014). 2.0 Perceptions of Public Relations For many years, the public’s perception of public relations has majorly been negative. Although the role of public relations for an organization cannot be underestimated, the public has held a perception that, practitioners in this field often manipulate the public and that the career lacks the desired credibility. The lack of faith in practitioners has often led the public to criticize the practitioners even when they are right. Public relations officer has often been associated with biased information because of the evident organizational affiliation. Notably, it is true that practitioners have the mandate to take a stance for the organization that has employed them and actively protect the organizations image. However, ethical practice demands that these practitioners should do so exhibiting honesty in every way possible. Because of the existing negative perception, public relations practitioners face a salient challenge in establishing strategic communication with the audience that does not believe them. As will be highlighted below, the emergence of the social media has served to heighten this challenge (“Point/Counterpoint: Does social media affect the PR profession and ethics negatively”, 2009). 3.0 Effects of Social Media on the Field of Public Relations In the traditional setting of public relations, practitioners only had the role of establishing strategic communication with identified publics that were easily accessible. However, the modern era of public relations has expanded the platform under which the public relations practitioners must ensure that the organization they work for has a positive image. The social media has served to transform public relations in the modern day. The scale of effective communication between the organizations and the public has highly been increased by the presence of the social media. The social media are, slowly eliminating the role of editors and publishers and introduced the people as the ones in control of any communication between them and organizations. Moreover, based on the information they get, they should be able to formulate strategies and intervene in cases of crises. Social media presents a new approach in the public relations because it is being utilized to directly address the public. This implies that, there is a salient need for the public relations practitioners to be more vigilant in their bid to create awareness and promote a positive reputation of the organizations they work for (Ortiz, 2011). Notably, traditional public relations only operated in one-way communication process. Practitioners relied on press releases, which relied on the optimism that the public exhibited interest. However, these practitioners were uncertain of the real perception and the level of interest exhibited by the public. On the contrary, social media presents a new platform whereby a two way communication process is possible. Practitioners communicate directly to the audience, and are able to receive feedback concerning the public’s opinion and concerns presenting an opportunity for them to respond to the public. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn provide this form of communication. Practitioners are able to communicate directly with individuals who exhibit interest in the organization. Moreover, social media exhibit the potential of ideas being easily communicated to a great audience. This is because of the concept of push and pulls which often results to a great traffic to a certain idea as they search for information (Ortiz, 2011). However, as Sean Baybrook highlights, there is a need for a critical assessment of the relevance of the social media to each unique brand. In a recent interview, he highlighted that, “… it’s a new channel for marketers to use and as such needs to be assessed on a campaign by campaign basis to ensure that it is suitable for the brand and aids it in reaching its audience” (S. Baybrook, interview, August 12, 2014). Moreover, public relations practitioners can utilize social media to deliver messages of appreciation to the public a move that can serve to promote a positive reputation of the organization. For example, the Cadbury Dairy Milk utilizes this strategy by launching a Facebook campaign titled, “Thanks a Million”, which effectively increased the companies fan base by an impressive number of 40,000 (Ortiz, 2011). 3.1Threats Posed by Social Media for Public Relations Since the social media has introduced a new platform for public relations, it has brought about unique challenges, which serve as threats to the public relations field. With the ease of information flow to a great audience, the chances of any misinformation may cost an organization its reputation. This introduces the need for practitioners to constantly monitor the emergence of any misinformation or miscommunication and address it promptly. Since the social media presents an active public, there is an increasing pressure for public relations practitioners to indulge in thorough research and communicate strategically to the audience. Any mistake noted will result in negative feedback and will affect the perception of the brand globally. There is a need for public relations practitioners to specifically identify the targeted audience, use the best approach, and select the most appropriate timing. Social media offers an open door opportunity for practitioners, but it must be used critically as it presented the potential to bring down the reputation of an organization in seconds. There is a need for practitioners to be more competent and vigilant in making positive use of the social media in a bid to promote the image of their organizations (Schlinke & Crain, 2013). 4.0 Conclusion The role of public relations practitioners to an organization cannot receive any form of underestimation. Organizations rely on the public relations department in a bid to establish strategic communication between the organization and its publics. With the emergence of the social media, changes have also emerged in the way public practitioners develop mechanics of establishing a consistent link with the public. The social media presents a great opportunity for organizations to create direct links with the public in communicating their policies and receiving feedback as well. However, it presents unique challenges, which place emphasis on the need for practitioners to be more vigilant References Brown, R. (2009). Public relations and the social web [electronic resource] : how to use social media and Web 2.0 in communications / Rob Brown. London ; Philadelphia : Kogan Page, 2009. Moss, D., Warnaby, G., & Newman, A. J. (2010). Public Relations Practitioner Role Enactment at the Senior Management Level Within UK Companies. Journal Of Public Relations Research, 12(4), 277. Ortiz, A. L. (2011). The effects of social media on public relations: small business marketing / by Ashley L. Ortiz. University Heights, Ohio : John Carroll University, 2011. Point/Counterpoint: Does social media affect the PR profession and ethics negatively?. (2009). Public Relations Tactics, 16(9), 18-19. Schlinke, J., & Crain, S. (2013). Social Media from an Integrated Marketing and Compliance Perspective. Journal Of Financial Service Professionals, 67(2), 85-92. Read More