Changes: New PR model and Measurement (Ashleigh Smith)

Wilcox & Cameron (2009) questions “PRP’s need to re-examine their traditional approaches to the practice and think about media broadly and strategically. What media best meet a program's objectives? How can media be combined to enhance program effectiveness? What media are most efficient to reach key audience?” These are important questions that we all must ask and are constantly facing to ensure the success of a program/campaign. Previous posts have mentioned the growth of the internet, statistics of usage which notes how our world is changing. PRechnology (2009) comments that newspapers and magazines used to be the gatekeepers of publicity for companies, now social media and social networking is changing all that. With this old PR models and thoughts need to be ‘refreshed’ too.

An updated “unofficial” version of the 1984 Grunig and Hunt Model of Communication has been created. Phillips (2009) states that it was time to extend the debate and examine some of the practical applications of social media that Modern PR opens up. Click image below to enlarge.

This model supports our teams’ collective decision of social media PR as a Two-Way symmetrical flow, also creates more trust than any other means through open communication and public interactions (aided by twitter, blogs etc). However, implications from this model suggest cost (web design, hosting, and production) and control (loss of; as previously mentioned in posts). Phillips (2009) also mentions that companies are guiding themselves to Two-Way symmetrical models to achieve growth and corporate sustainability. Please note: James Grunig actually commented on this blog, saying he was going to refer to this model for a presentation for PRIA!

Cain-Miller’s (2009) article interviewed Brian Solis and he mentions that in the new world of social media, PRP’s must know hundreds of writers, bloggers, and Twitter users instead of having six top reporters on speed dial. The article brings to light three new changes in PR.

1. The people with the most influence are not always who you expect (e.g. a journalist VS. A popular blogger when it comes to publicity) Perez Hilton comes to my mind in terms of celebrities...
2. Social Networking is essential to the new PR. (A web of connections to influential people)
3. Power users on social media platforms such as Twitter must be reckoned with and utilized.

Along with, to succeed in the future of PR, success only comes when measuring a variety of business goals and metrics and to involve evaluation. Maltoni (2010) mentions measurement is an integral part of the PR process. Measuring ROI on communications is viewed as an achievable goal by the overwhelming majority of professional communicators. These days, PRP’s are beginning to measure success by the impact of their media coverage in shifting opinions, awareness or moving markets rather than where their material is placed in the media. This is perhaps a result from social media.

Maltoni (2010) further explains what needs to be measured. These include “exposure to content and message”, “engagement with publics”, “influence on perceptions and attitudes” and “action resulted from the PR/Social media effort”. Without measuring effectiveness of PR campaigns, how do PRP’s know what they are doing is correct. Due to this world changing and therefore PR changing, measurements need to be examined to see what works and how PRP’s can master social media and its dominant inclusion with PR today.

-Ashleigh Smith

References

Cain-Miller, C. (2009). ‘Spinning the Web: P.R in Silicon Valley’ in The New York Times. Retrieved online 14 April, 2010 from, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/business/05pr.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&sq=spinning%20the%20web&st=cse&scp=1

Maltoni, V. (2010). Putting the Public back in PR Measurement. Retrieved online 15 April, 2010 from, http://www.conversationagent.com/2010/02/putting-the-public-back-in-pr-measurement.html

Phillips, D. (2009). Visualising Social Media from a Grunigian Perspective. Retrieved online, 15 April, 2010 from http://publicsphere.typepad.com/mediations/public_relations/

PRechnology. (2009). The Changing Role of Public Relations: Community Cultivation. Retrieved online 14 April, 2010 from, http://www.prechnology.com/blog/the-changing-role-of-public-relations-community-cultivation/

Wilcox, D. L., & Cameron, G. T. (2009). Communications. In Public relations: strategies and tactics (9th ed., pp. 170-192). Boston: Person/Allyn and Bacon.

The Future - What's next? (Ashleigh Smith)

Continuing on from Ash M’s great comments – the future – what’s next?

Ash M has just explained how social media works, the definition and how public relations seems to be coming dependent on this medium to express a dialogue with publics.

Fill et al (2009) states that Interactive marketing communications systems enable customers and marketers to engage in commercial dialogue. That now these days’ traditional media are converging with new media to fulfil the current needs of audiences and organisations. In 2006, to enable marketers to ‘engage’ with their consumers and potential consumers 3 general strategies were proposed when using new media.

1. Interactive media must capture the audience’s imagination with a good story
2. Participatory media must focus on the target audience
3. Organisations have to know how to behave when involved in the conversation

How else is this achieved? Social Media! It captures audiences imagination through its creativeness from online sites/layouts/links/animations(online); it is directly placed in front of where audiences are sourcing their information/entertainment (online), and lastly, through researching and understand behaviours and attitudes of their publics, can identify the best way to communicate with them.

PRP’s have to master social media and use it strategically to be effective.

In the above graph, it displays PR Trends in 2010 – aka The Future of PR. (Falkow)

Falkow (2010) points out that searches for public relations have been declining since 2004. Interest in social media and social networking started to pick up in 2006, grew slowly through 2007 and 2008 and gained ground in 2009. In December 2009 searches for social media and social networking passed the number of searches for public relations. It appears social media and social networking are neck and neck in news volume, and although the reason for these searches are unknown – it does give us an insight on what people are interested in – social media.

As well, as a recent survey “Enconsultancy report on social media and PR” found that only 13% of respondents were ‘very satisfied’ of their agency’s level of social media and online PR knowledge.

From this – it reveals to us, that PRP’s need to shape up and become comfortable with the online realm. This means not only writing for traditional media, but also including in their daily tasks social media releases, video news releases, twitter feeds, rss feeds to name a few. Transparency is one of the core elements that drives online public relations (Phillips & Young, 2009), the others; internet agency, internet porosity, richness in content and reach. These are also mediated by 3 other components: the platforms/devices we use to access the internet, the growing channels of communication and the context in which all these elements come together for people to enjoy. Transparency, as it implies, suggests openness, communication and can be seen through – this is in the sense of both the media and public. How both can be receptive to the message at the same time and involved and encouraged in the communication process.

I think that new media does not kill off old media, but rather influences how to change it for PR. In an instance of a crisis, I would think the quickest method of action is social media as a proactive response. It is quick, easily accessible and coming from a credible source and cuts straight to the point. There are no journalists to twist a story in print; it is information direct from an organisation reaching out to its stakeholders and publics about the issue.

To end on a side note – an example of social media (twitter) and PR and just how involved and reputational and important to know how to use it, is a recent case between Kevin Smith (Hollywood actor and Director) and Southwest Airlines. In summary, Mr Smith was told he was “too fat” for his seat and was told to get off the plane from air staff. At the time they did not know who he was until minutes later he posted this on his twitter "Dear @SouthwestAir - I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?" Smith posted several follow up tweets, and as result Southwest Airlines responded back directly apologising. They did this through a blog on their site. I find it quite interesting that no formal means of media (e.g. press release) was used when this situation is quite damaging to the airlines reputation seeing Smith’s status and influence power. McCarthy (2010) stated that “This may be the best example we’ve seen yet of how Twitter and other forms of new-media mass communication are shaping that old industry known as public relations....PR and customer service are two different divisions of a company. But this incident shows how, in the Digital Age, the two are increasingly overlapping. With Twitter, many companies are conducting customer relations in the public eye, and a company’s response to a high-profile disgruntled customer may require dispatching the PR team. Good communication between the two is obviously key.”

-Ashleigh Smith

References

Falkow, S. (2010). PR Trends in 2010: The Future of PR. Retrieved online 12 April, 2010 from http://www.proactivereport.com/c/pr/pr-trends-in-2010-the-future-of-pr/

Fill, C., Wells, W., Russell, T., Clow, K. E., Miller, R., & University of Sydney. (2009). New and Fragmented Media. In The Media and Marketing Communications. (2nd ed. pp. 243-259). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia.

McCarthy, C. (2010). What Kevin Smith means for the future of PR. Retrieved online 12 April, 2010 from, http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10454328-36.html

LOST : PUBLIC - Reward if FOUND

Have public relations professionals lost sight of their public? If so when, and why did they let this happen. There has always been concern surrounding the ethical practices of PR, and how to control this. People have always been suspicious of us Public Relation Practitioners, never really bestowing their full and utmost trust in us. And as the old saying goes, people will only ridicule what they don’t know, and the question remains what in the world, is public relations?

Lets look at the definition of the words that make up our profession.

Public: –noun -¹ the people constituting a community,state, or nation. ² a particular group of people with a common interest, aim, etc.:

Relations - ^1.an existing connection; a significant association between or among things: the relation between cause and effect ^2.relations,^{a .}the various connections between peoples, countries, etc.: foreign relations. ^b. the various connections in which persons are brought together: business and social relations.

Onelookdictionary.com

Of course when defining public relations as a practice there have been a multitude of definitions offered, Harlow (cited in Wilcox and Cameron 2009) defined PR as the distinctive management of communications of acceptance, cooperation and understanding between an organisation and its public. Cameron (Wilcox and Cameron 2009) defines PR as strategic management of competition and conflict for the benefit of ones organisations and when necessary, for the benefit of the organisations stakeholder and publics.

The Public Relations Institute of Australia defines public relations as “the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual) and its (or their) publics. It's the key to effective communication in all sectors of business, government, academic and not-for-profit”(PRIA, 2010).

Like a teenager suffering from an identity crises, , public relations, in its inability to develop a unified definition of it’s practice, left itself open for the critics to define it (Hutton, 1999). As a result of this, Public Relations is widely known by the general public as spin, spin control and spin doctoring or as my uncle likes to call me a qualified BS artist.

It is therefore, no wonder that Public Relations lost the focus of public, and settled for putting the message out there as enough. But today counting media mentions just doesn’t cut it. Newspaper readership is down to dramatic lows, as the public move towards the Internet. And as Ashleigh stated the Internet does change everything and practitioners need to realise that unless they want to remain “spin” doctors then we really need to find our public again. As publics change so to, should public relations practices in order to maintain the relationship between organisation in public, or practitioners will be continuously breaking ties with key stakeholders.

Bianca Agius

Hutton, J (1999) The Definition, Dimensions and Domain of Public Relations.The Public Relations Review, 25(2), 199 – 214. DOI :10.1016/S0363-8111(99)80162-3

Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) (2010). About PR. Accessed 10/4/10 from

http://www.pria.com.au/aboutus/cid/2/parent/0/t/aboutus/l/layout/l/layout

Wilcox, D and Cameron, T. (2009) Public Relations Strategies and Tactics. 9^th Ed. Pearson. USA.