Introduction
Building a dialogue with the target audience is one of the key aspects of international relations. The specified process allows creating and cementing a solid rapport that would provide the premise for attracting broader audiences and keeping them loyal. For MNCs, the specified task is especially important and challenging since the broad range of cultures to which MNCs must appeal require prowess and efficacy in building a strong bond (Tarzi 238). With the emergence of digital innovations, MNCs must focus on exploring visual platforms that provide an immediate connection with a variety of audiences, therefore, encouraging the development of public relations. By integrating YouTube into the framework for public relations, MNCs will receive a chance to gain much greater traction in the global market, expanding the range of their audiences and appealing to them more effectively.
Problem Statement
Establishing functioning and long-lasting public relations remains a rater challenging issue for a range of businesses, particularly, MNCs. Apart from the necessity to keep in touch with the target population and respond to its needs, MNCs must maintain their reputation impeccable and unblemished, which is especially difficult when being in the midst of social media discussions. Taking active participation in the social media discourse will arguably help MNCs control the narrative surrounding their activities more thoroughly, while also building a massive communication channel for conversing with their target audiences. Creating a YouTube channel, where an MNC will feature its key achievements, address topical issues, and communicate with its target audience, providing feedback and offering support, will allow MNCs to flourish in the global economy. Therefore, a thorough analysis of the effects that a YouTube channel will have on the public image and PR strategies’ efficacy for MNCs is needed.
Literature Review
The existing studies indicate that the integration of YouTube-based PR strategies into the framework of MNCs will allow accomplishing two main goals. First, the proposed techniques will improve MNCs’ public image, helping organizations represent themselves in the best way possible and address possible threats in a timely fashion. Second, the inclusion of YouTube-based approaches to PR will help MNCs control the target economic setting better and locate the emergent trends much faster than a traditional approach to economic trend analysis would provide. Specifically, the study by Nye emphasizes the significance of a cross-cultural basis for approaching the assessment of a specific economic environment to a notable degree (171). The research by Tarzi confirms the specified assumption by pointing to the fact that the performance of MNCs is highly dependent on foreign investments, which can only be earned once MNCs appeal to the cultural specifics of the target countries (239). Therefore, there are strong reasons to integrate PR approaches rooted in the concept of social media analysis and select the visual medium as the most effective tool for appealing to the cultural sentiment.
The gravity of failing to meet the changing standards and trends of global trade has been studied and proven to be quite impressive by multiple authors. For example, the research by Ballor et al. outlines that understanding the nuances of sociopolitical dimensions has a strong impact on structuring an effective supply chain (582). Likewise, Kim and Milner determine social trends as critical in MNCs’ performance due to the overwhelming power of lobbying (3). Finally, by analyzing the China-U.S. trade relationships, Adams explains the necessity to keep track of the critical changes occurring in the socioeconomic context (54). Therefore, detecting emergent sociocultural and sociopolitical trends is vital to MNCs’ performance.
Research Question
The study in question will seek to answer several questions. First and most obvious, the approach to building a YouTube channel and, particularly, developing the content that will attract the attention of numerous and diverse viewers will have to be designed. It is believed that striking a balance between a popular science approach and the focus on an interactive dialogue with the viewer will be essential in creating the channel and attracting the target audience. Additionally, the research will seek to answer the question of how MNCs can utilize a YouTube channel to collect vital information concerning the changes in the global economic setting. Presumably, the specified goal can be achieved by performing a complex analysis of the responses provided by viewers, as well as the assessment of the concept supplied by similar channels located with the help o Google Analytics and the related tools.
Research Design
Since the study in question can be described as exploratory in its nature, the adoption of the qualitative research design is recommended. Specifically, the application of interpretivism and the inductive approach is recommended in order to dissect the issue of social media and its role in building a PR strategy for MNCs in the global context. The grounded theory approach will be utilized to create a platform for designing a viable framework for a sustainable YouTube-based PR strategy for MNCs in the global market. For this purpose, the cross-sectional approach involving the collection of data based on the outcomes of a case study will be required. Specifically, several cases of companies, namely, MNCs, incorporating YouTube-based strategies into their frameworks for building co0mmunication with customers will be considered. Thus, the advantages of using the specified framework will be identified.
Limitations
One must note that the assessment of the op0pportunities that YouTube provides to MNCs will be linked to several challenges and limitations. First, the selected research method will not allow for a large sample, which is why some issues and opportunities may be underrepresented and, thus, not discussed sufficiently. In addition, the study in question will likely produce the results that will be substantially difficult to generalize due to the nature of qualitative case studies and the information that they supply (Tarzi 239). Therefore, extrapolating the obtained information to make them function in different settings may represent a challenge. Nevertheless, the study under analysis sib bound to produce a notably positive and crucial outcome on the management of PR issues in MNCs, particularly, in the area o utilizing digital tools to control the emergent issues.
Significance
The described study is expected to have moderate significance on the performance of MNCs in the global context, as well as in specific markets. Namely, the study will point to the main opportunities that the use of YouTube provides for allowing target populations to relate to the company and its product. Therefore, the study results are believed to have a moderate importance in the selected area of research.
Conclusion
Understanding the impact of digital tools and especially the use of social media, such as YouTube, on the development and maintenance of PR for MNC is critical for boosting the performance rates within the specified organizations. Therefore, a study aimed at examining the impact that the integration of the identified medium has on MNCs and their ability to maintain an economic track of their performance and the essential changes occurring in the target setting is an important step of the analysis. By conducting this research, one will develop the strategies in which MNCs can use YouTube to analyze the target economic setting, determine key trends, and appeal to customers effectively.
Works Cited
Adams, John. The Role of Multinational Corporations in Sino-U.S. Relations AND International Affairs – Georgetown University. Web.
Ballor, Grace A., and Aydin B. Yildirim. “Multinational Corporations and the Politics of International Trade in Multidisciplinary Perspective.” Business and Politics, vol. 22, no. 4, 2020, pp. 573–586.
Kim, In Song, and Helen V. Milner. Multinational Corporations and their Influence Through Lobbying on Foreign Policy. Web.
Nye, Joseph S. “Multinational Corporations in World Politics.”Foreign Affairs, vol. 53, no. 1, Council on Foreign Relations, 1974, pp. 153–75, Web.
Tarzi, Shah M. “Third World Governments and Multinational Corporations: Dynamics of Host’s Bargaining Power.” International Relations, vol. 10, no. 3, May 1991, pp. 237–249.