PR at its best - create some buzzzzz...

Indeed time flies when you are having fun...The experience gained from writing this blog has been immeasurable and I hope this blog gives you the insights in the issues surrounding PR practitioners (in the eyes of a student) as they carry out their day to day duties. I have discussed issues relating to New Media, Globalization, Propaganda, Crisis Management, Feminization, CSR, Ethics, Politics and Social Marketing and how it all impacts on PR.

I shall be working on my dissertation in the next semester on Government PR and how New Media creates opportunities ...or challenges the sector. I will keep this blog updated and open for all to participate.

NGO Activism or Brand Destroyers?

When marketing gurus Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the same marketing principles used for products could be used for selling ideas, social marketing was born. The main obective here is to influence social behaviour not for the benefit of the marketer, read NGO, but for the benefit of the larger audience and general society.

Role of Social Marketers and Activists
As social change agents, activists try to nurture public consensus and act as an 'open system' which informs the public while at the same time learning from dialogue with stakeholders. It is therefore important to be seen as responsible citizens in order to win respect, acceptance and legitimacy from the majority of ordinary citizens who must be won over for movements to succeed. Social conditions and public policies that violate morally acceptable values are basically the main agenda when it comes to activism. The results being governmental policies being put in place to ensure such issues are accepted in political and judicial structures. However, some of these actions may not augur well with big corporations...

Stepping on large toes?
Corporations such as Nestle have had their share of "Corporate Crimes" highlighted by NGOs such as Oxfam and Greenpeace. The latest being the issue of palm oil being used in its products which is killing off orang-utans, all this after the issue with the Zimbabwe farm which claimed that Nestle Zimbabwe sourced 15 percent of its milk from a farm owned by the president’s wife, Grace Mugabe. All these crises as a result of close monitoring of activities of corporations by NGOs and Nestle has had quiet a rough time trying to manage their reputation and resorting to social media which hasn't worked much for them.

This video by greenpeace is the campaign against the destruction of the orang-utans' forest. Would you buy a Kit-Kat after watching it?

I thought not for most people...that's how powerful activists can be. Clearly, activism plays a big role in determining how organizations work. Pity that sometimes the environment will be destroyed in order to get people to travel as is the issue with the alarming rate of carbon prints.

References
Green peace UK, http://www.greenpeace.org.uk
http://www.techeye.net/internet/nestle-fails-at-social-media

How top companies win with social media

Contact
Gaye Agesa (Press Officer)
Spiral PR
Northwick Park Road
London S77 N73
Tel: +44 020 7 431 7651
Cell: +44 757 888 4315
For full press release visit: http://pitch.pe/49272

Experts say that most businesses get it wrong

London, 4th March 2010

• Spiral PR has launched a webcast-PR and Social Media Concepts that informs companies on the best way of using social media to improve on their bottom line.
  

• The agency's social media strategist says that although most companies have adapted social media as a PR tool, most of them are doing it incorrectly.

• The video highlights important aspects that organizations should understand before investing time in social media. Get the right tools in place,start the right conversations and keep the audiences engaged.

• Social networking opens the traditional form of top down information disseminations because information flows in and out of the organization freely.

• Advantages of social networking sites include:establishing community experience for customers and other publics; extending organizations' brand identity; personalized interactions

Quotes:
"Whereas traditional media is about broadcast, social media is better seen as a two-way conversation. It blurs the line between media and audience." - Mildred Yiamat,Online PR Specialist

"The trick is in getting the right advice from the right people. There are few agencies that can give your company the right solution. Joining the right networks at the right time requires carefully laid out strategies." - Suki Amoni, Spiral PR

About Spiral PR

Spiral PR is a newly established PR firm offering strategic communication services across a number of sectors. We specialise in Online PR, Media Relations and Crisis Management.

RELEVANT LINKS

PitchEngine
The full social media press release announcing the launch of the webcast by Spiral PR

PR and Social Media Concepts
The webcast launched highlighting the effect of social media on public relations and it has changed how PR is practised.

Digg
Find us here for more update on the SMPR.

Facebook
This is Spiral PR's facebook page and fans are encouraged to join.

Technorati
For updates on Contemporary Issues in PR blog

Feedage
For updates on the Contemporary Issues in PR blog

Is transparent New Media a challenge to the power of PR

The internet may have revolutionised the practice of PR, the way PR professionals communicate and the nature of communication itself - CIPR even has a set of social media guidelines. New media has brought about eventualities that were never before considered possible, like sending out a press release to the press whereas at the same time competitors can access it. This is the type of transparency that faces PR professionals. But does it challenge the power of PR?

It may in some ways, given that PR has always taken a back seat and relied on third party endorsements. On the other hand, social media is vital for PR as it offers unlimited opportunities for the PR professionals to use this medium intelligently and effectively. Every organization wants transparency and the new media is just the right ingredient in ensuring that the public does not doubt the fact that transparency is at the forefront of every organization's agenda. It provides a framework for good practice. I agree with Phillips and Young's argument that the authentic voice of organizations that flows through the corporate shell has tremendous impact outside and may be part of a managed process of making organizations more competitive (p. 47).

The growth of social media tools such as Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and of virtual communities, virtual environments and information sharing sites and blogs has made the PR professional think critically of how to deal with all aspects of PR in light of new media. Talk of Crisis communication and New Media, Internal Comms and New Media, Political PR and New Media...PR and New Media is unlimited.

That however has only but improved the way PRs explore and experiment with new technologies and new ways of thinking to get messages across in an environment that has been made far more transparent thanks to social media. More than ever before, it is the actions of the organizations that shape reputation and not the image crafted for that organization by other parties.

References
Phillips and Young(2009), Online Public Relations: A practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media (2nd ed.), CIPR, Kogan Page, London.

CIPR Website: http://www.cipr.co.uk/socialmedia/