The fact that the Internet has brought significant changes in PR management seems to be undoubted. First and foremost, PR management has become more transparent. Thus, for instance, a company that publishes its press release online, in fact, makes it available to the competitors. In the meantime, common access to the corporate data has helped PR departments in strengthening its collaboration with consumers. The latter provide PR representatives with valuable feedback that can be used to improve the current strategy and eliminate the critical flaws.
Secondly, companies can now address a large audience as the Internet is the most employed resource contrast to other mass media channels. On the face of it, the extension of the audience is a benefit. In the meantime, PR departments have to build up new communication approaches that can be universally relevant to addressing a varied audience.
According to David Phillips, the Internet now plays the role of an agent – it allows transforming the initial message in the process of its transaction from one addressee to another (52). In other words, the information travels very quickly, and its content is constantly changed. The expert assumes that from PR perspectives, companies might benefit from these changes in case they manage to adapt their strategies. Hence, for example, he refers to the “mashup technology” that can become a new communication tool of high efficacy (Phillips 53). Therefore, companies are no more obliged to try to attract journalists; it is the Internet content that can perform this job.
Tom Kelleher outlines five lasting concepts that are most significant for online PR: cybernetics, feedback, self-regulation and control, boundary spanning, cyclical public relations (25). It is assumed that the consideration of every concept might assist in working out an efficient PR strategy. First and foremost, PR practitioners are supposed to track the developments in the cybernetics field in order to be able to win the competitive advantage engaging new technologies more promptly than others. In other words, it is necessary to realize that the Internet is only the framework that comprises numerous opportunities in terms of communication tools. Secondly, the Internet offers endless ways of addressing consumers to PR practitioners so that the latter should be equally skillful in employing all of them.
In the meantime, it should be taken into account that the data that appears on online platforms can be used by the rivals. As a result, PR practitioners should be particularly consistent addressing the questions of self-regulation and control. Moreover, Internet channels are most useful for boundary spanning and establishing cycling public relations that are of the pivots of a PR strategy. Apart from the evident ways of boundary spanning through the Internet, some experts, likewise, suggest that a company can “adopt a non-profit organization for donations,” improve its image, in such a manner, and contribute to boundary spanning (Johnson par.5).
From the PR perspective, a crisis is a situation that impedes the company’s progress and has an adverse impact on its performance. Such situation requires the implementation of a special crisis communication strategy (Reddi 169). One of the key objectives of the PR strategy, in this case, resides in restoring the damaged reputation. In order to do this, a proactive crisis communication should be employed (Anthonissen 24). There are different ways of shaping the online message in a crisis situation. Some experts believe that the most effective form of a message is apologia (Coombs 144).
Works Cited
Anthonissen, Peter. Crisis Communication: Practical PR Strategies for Reputation Management & Company Survival, London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2008. Print.
Coombs, Timothy. Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding, New York, New York: Sage Publications, 2014. Print.
Johnson, Karen, What Is a Boundary Spanner in Public Relations? n.d.
Kelleher, Tom. Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2006. Print.
Phillips, David. Online Public Relations: A Practical Guide to Developing an Online Strategy in the World of Social Media, London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2009. Print.
Reddi, Narasimha. Effective Public Relations and Media Strategy, Delhi: PHI Learning, 2014. Print.