Using the ‘e’ in Public Relations
Being a public relations student, I have been taught to do things in the ‘PR’ way. That would include Media releases writing, event management, corporate communications, etc. The thing is just that the internet has brought about a change in the way that PR is done.
Before, and this is not that long ago, people would send media releases and press packs physically and would hope for the best. I was told by a PR practitioner that has been working in the industry for a long time, that in PR they use a method known as the spray and pray when wanting media coverage. This means that they would send the media release to as many media houses as possible and pray that a few of these find the release interesting enough to be placed. Not the most effective way of doing things but it worked and was the building blocks for where we are now.
Currently, in the PR industry, there are practitioners that prefer to do things the ‘traditional’ way and there are others that feel that perhaps it is best to take a different approach to the way that things are done. With all the portals that is being used to reach the target publics and stakeholders it is easier to do things and a better way of monitoring the results of your actions.
A big favourite for PRP’s, as for as I could see, is Hello Peter, a site that I set up so that the stakeholders are able to rate the service of a particular company and leave comments. If used correctly, one can make things so much easier and more companies should be able to have the type of reputation that Woolworths and Pick n Pay have.
In more recent times Twitter has become a way that, not just PRP’s can monitor a company and the things that are being said but clients and potential investors as well. The thing with this is that the reach that twitter has is far greater than that of Hello Peter, seeing as it is not focused on a particular market or service but rather a way that people can say what is on there mind.
These tools are great, especially for industries such as Public Relations and Marketing where the reputation and the perception of the company is very important. The target publics and a potential client or customer are able to access information of the company far easier and make an informed decision based not on what they know but rather what they think they know.
It is for this reason that monitoring the information that is released and dealing with the complaints of a client is so important. There are so many companies (e.g. Shoprite) that has not paid attention to the things that is being said and that has not dealt with the complaints and has a very bad reputation, and even though they have not lost too much business, it is safe to say that it is not due to their reputation (but that is a story for another blog).
All in all the internet has given the reputation mangers of a company a bit more insight into how their stakeholders feel and are able to work on it. It also however, could lead to more business for the competitor. The competitor is now able to monitor things said about their competition and use it to their advantage as was the case with the current Capitec campaign using the things said about other banks and showing how they have improve on this.
Just like other things it is important that this done correctly, used in the appropriate way these portals and other like it can be helpful and may lead to a very prosperous new year.
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there are times that good public relations cannot be always achieved *:;
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