Social Media and public relations has revolutionized the way organizations/ individuals communicate to their key constituent publics around the world.I. Prominence of Public RelationsMulti-billion dollar business practiced by 158,000 professionals. Expected to increase faster than avg for all occupationsTypical agency has less than 10 employees and an annual revenue of less than 1 million/ yrThe 7,000 US PR agencies record annual revenue of more than 6 billionUS Gov has thousands of “communications professionals,” not labeled “public relations specialists”Today the profession is vulnerable to intrusion by ppl with non PR backgrounds; lawyers, marketers, and general managersWorlds largest PR firms are all owned by media conglomerates (refuse to reveal PR revenues)OmnicomThe Interpublic GroupWPP GroupWhat is Public RelationsPR: a planned process to influence public opinion, through sound character and proper performance, based on mutually satisfactory two-way communications.In 1988 The PR Society of America formally adopted “PR helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.Noted that the functions; research, planning, communications dialogue, and evaluation are ALL essential to PRII. Planned Process to Influence Public OpinionCommunications Professor, John Martson, suggested a 4-step model explaining the process through which PR might influence public opinionResearch research attitudes about the issue at handAction Identify action of the client in the public interestKey component: you cant have effective communication or positive publicity without proper action; performance must exceed publicityCommunication communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and supportEvaluation evaluate the communication to see if opinion has beenEssence of RACE is performance recognition positive action: positive action communicated straightforwardly will yield positive resultsProfessor Sheila Crifasi proposed extending RACE to ROSIE (research, objectives, strategies, implementation, evaluation) to encompass a more managerial approachSetting clear objectives, working from set strategies, and implementing a pre-determined plan is a key to PRR-P-I-EResearch, planning, implementation, and evaluationEmphasizes the element of planning as a necessary step preceding the activation of a communications initiativeDenny Griswold’s definition of PR has the key terms: management (for PR to serve organization properly, advice must be reported to management unfiltered) and actionMalvin Sharpe the process of PR “harmonizes long-term relationships among individuals and organizations in society.”To “harmonize” there are 5 principles:Honest communication for credibilityOpenness and consistency of actions for confidenceFairness of actions for reciprocity and goodwillContinuous two-way communication to prevent alienation/ build relationshipsEnvironmental research and evaluation to determine the actions /adjustments needed for social harmonyIII. Public relations as management interpreter/ public interpreterManagement Interpreter1. Must interpret policies of organizations management to public2. Must convey attitudes of public to their managementno matter size of organization, PR department is only as good as its access to management; must have firsthand knowledge of the reasons for managements decisions and rationale for their policyPublic InterpreterFinding out what public really thinks about the firm and letting management knowIV. The Publics of Public Relations--In PR a public is a group of people with a stake in an issuePublics can be classified into these overlapping categories;Internal and externalInternal inside organization: supervisors, stockholders, etcExternal press, gov., customers, suppliersPrimary, secondary, and marginalPrimary can most help organization’s effortsMembers of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, who regulate banks, would be a PP for a bank awaiting a regulatory ruling.Secondary less important.Legislators and general publicMarginal least important.Traditional and futureTraditional employees and current customersFuture students and potential customersProponents (communication that reinforce beliefs), opponents (persuasive communication), and the uncommitted (often, especial in politics, these are crucial).--Second way to segment publics is on a basis of lifestyles and values (8 DISTINCT CATEGORIES); this segmentation is used regularly by marketers to focus to product and service appeals on specific socioeconomic levels.Actualizers- most wealth and powerFulfilleds-high resources and are principle oriented professionalsBelievers- fulfilleds without the resourcesAchievers- high resources and status orientedStrivers- lack resources of achievers but equally status orientedExperiencers- high resources, action oriented, willing to take risksMakers- action oriented but low resourcesStrugglers- lowest resourcesPublic Relation’s Spin: the twisting of messages and statements of half-truths to create the appearance of performance, which may or may not be true.Attitudes important for PR professionalsPro communicationsAdvocacy (must believe in their employers)Counseling orientation (advice senior managers)EthicsWillingness to take risksPositive outlookTrends in Society that Influence PR theory and PracticeGrowth of big institutionsHeightened public awareness and media sophisticationIncreasing incidence of societal change, conflict, and confrontationGlobalization and the growing power of global media, public opinion, and democratic capitalismDominance of the Internet and growth of social mediaAncient BeginningsMight be a 20th century phenomena but its roots are ancientWe’ve found 1800 b.c bulletins in Iraq that told farmers of latest harvesting, sowing, and irrigating techniquesAncient Greece Politian’s enlisted “sophists” (lobbyists) to help fight verbal battles.Julius Caesar, when faced with an upcoming battle, would rally up public support through pamphlets and staged eventsCatholic church; Pope Gregory XV (1600s) established College of Propaganda; “help propagate faith.”“muckrackers”: group of journalists that criticized the robber barons (men who ran America’s industries, who cared little for the rest of society, more concerned with making profit)Ivy Lee: Real father of modern PRFormer wall street reporterBelieved the key to business acceptance was that the public be informed;
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