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by Mihaela Vorvoreanu. Cross-posted at PR Connections
There’s some discussion in the blogosphere about GM’s social media and crisis communication strategies these days, when they just filed for bankruptcy.
The arguments motivated me to finally start a new series of posts, For the Love of Theory.
In response to the question: Can PR save a company? I’d like to offer and overview of a “classic” PR theory, that of Issue Management.
PR can save a company, but not if it’s used to “get the message across”: If it’s used to listen, monitor and analyze issues, to enable the organization to adapt to its environment in a timely manner.
This is exactly what GM failed to do, and what the theory of Issue Management explains:
The theory posits that any issue in society (i.e. environmentalism, vegetarianism, etc.) has a lifecycle that revolves from dormant (no one thinks about it) to potential, as a few selected people start considering it, to imminent, when it starts picking up speed and media attention, to current, when it’s in the center of the public’s and the media’s attention, to critical, when the issue is demanding a solution. After being “resolved,” the issue goes back into the dormant stage, but it can wake up again at a later time.
The Issue Management function of public relations (which is thought of, at least in academic circles, as much more than media relations & publicity) is to continuously:
- scan the environment
- identify issues that can affect the organization
- analyze these issues to determine if action is necessary
- bring the issues to the attention of higher management, along with action recommendations
- design, implement, evaluate communication strategies around the issue (you often see companies taking positions on social or political issues)
Depending on how late/early a company identifies the issue and takes action, it can follow a reactive strategy (implementing actions imposed by others), an adaptive, dynamic, or even catalytic strategy – in this one, the company wakes an issue up from the dormant stage and moves it through the entire life cycle.
Of course, the earlier the company intervenes, the more power it has to frame the issue and to influence public discussion.
Can you see now how the issue management function of PR could have saved GM?
Many rhetorical scholars‘ view of PR is:
The good organization speaking well*
PR is widely understood as the “speaking well” part, but if the PR function is used strategically, and is given a seat at the management table, it is its job not only to speak well, but to help the organization be good.
Ultimately, the PR function can help an organization adapt to its environment (and change the environment to suit it better).
For GM, it’s a bit late. But I hope you can see now how PR can help an organization adapt, survive, and thrive. It’s just time we moved past the “free publicity” paradigm of PR and catch up to a bigger picture understanding of what PR can do for an organization.
If you’re interested in reading more:
Chase, W. H. (1977). Public issue management: The new science. Public Relations Journal, 32(10), 25-26.
* Cheney, G.D. (1992). The corporate person (re)presents itself, in: E. Lance Toth, R.L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, p. 167.
Crable, R. E., & Vibbert, S. L. (1985). Managing issues and influencing public policy. Public Relations Review, 11(2), 3-16.
Heath, R.J., & Palenchar, M.J. (2008). Strategic Issues Management 2. Sage.
by Mihaela Vorvoreanu. Cross-posted at PR Connections and on PROpenMic
I place a lot of emphasis on Twitter in my PR courses, but were not sure whether that was such a good idea – from their perspective. So I asked my PR students from the Spring 09 Stakeholder Communication class to respond anonymously to a survey about learning twitter. Their answers are below: Do you believe it was beneficial for you to learn how to use Twitter? Please explain why or why not.
Has Twitter helped you learn in any way? How has it helped (or not)?
Do you feel you “get” Twitter? What about it do you (not) understand?
Aything else you’d like to tell me about Twitter in PR classes?
What has your experience been learning or teaching Twitter?
I spent the last few days at the PRSA Health Academy Conference and had a great time. For more information here is the website: http://www.healthacademy.prsa.org/2009conference.htm
Much of the conference revolved around social media. My favorite session was the Plenary Session conducted by Jennifer Martin, director of PR for CNN. Jennifer gave the audience many great tips for working with social media by explaining what CNN has done. She told us many things about CNN’s coverage of Obama’s inauguration and how CNN.com used Facebook connect to enhance the efforts. It was amazing to see just how many people logged on to watch the event.
She also gave some useful suggestions for anyone thinking about getting his/her feet wet in social media.
1.) Know your audience. You need to find what’s right for you and your public. And, you need to put your public first
2.) Try to connect your efforts to something pro-social. Jennifer talked about CNN’s and Ashton Kutcher’s race to get to 1 million twitter followers. CNN didn’t win, but the organization did make donations of nets and money to a relief organization in Africa, which helped CNN to get some good press.
3.) Nothing is one-size fits all. You’ll need to experiment. What works for one person or one organization may not work for you. Be willing to try and try again.
4.) Expect to make mistakes. Don’t let the mistakes paralyze your efforts; learn from them.
Brigitta R. Brunner
This semester in my PR writing class at the University of Georgia, I tasked my students to create videos which we hope would “go viral.” The purpose of the assignment was put the students’ ability to:
To ensure this wasn’t just a “cool YouTube assignment,” I had students turn in storyboards which I graded as an assignment & gave feed back on publics, appeal and messaging.
In preparation of this month-long team project, we welcomed Converseon’s Paull Young into our classroom via Skype to tell us the secrets of making videos so good that they just can’t help but go viral. (watch here and here.)
I invited our client for the project, UGA Admissions, to come in to talk about their admissions recruiting process, the distinctly different audiences (parents, high school students, transfer students, etc.) and what they’d like to achieve with the video project. I asked the NOT to tell us the content of the videos they’d like — let us creatively see what we can come up with — but focus on an end-project goal with us instead.
Student were promised bonus points if UGA Admissions picked their video for use in the recruiting efforts. I also held a “viral showdown” where all the videos competed against one another and the top two most popular videos (videos with the most views) got bonus points as well. Interestingly, there was some difference in the make-up of the winners for the Admission-selected videos and the most viewed videos.
In grading the viral videos, I created a standard rubric looking again at publics, appeal and message. Given Paull’s advice to the students, I also looked for whether there was a call to action. Additionally, I looked at the technical quality – could you hear the dialogue, were the transitions adequate, etc. All copyrighted material (music, images) was both acknowledged in the credits of the film and students provided me proof of permission for use for everything. (We don’t believe in stealing music or photos here & that was another lesson I wanted to teach.)
Because these videos were posted on my YouTube account, I was able to look at the YouTube InSights data for each video. Along with the graded feedback from the rubrics sheets, students received print outs of the InSight data on who was looking at their video (gender, ages, location), how they found the video (referrers & search terms) as well as the neat “hot spots” graph which I annotated to show where people might have rewound the video or at which point they abandoned watching it.
In the end, the students loved the project and I feel it showed the professional approach PR can take with making social media content. Just because it is on YouTube does not mean that you can steal music to play in the background or that you should forget everything you learned about messaging.
I gave students a month to work on it outside of class. They were in teams of 3-4 people, self-selected. They were given full creative control of their content for the video & just received consultation-type feedback from me. They checked out my flip cams to record the videos (2-day check out for each of my 2 flip cams) & most of them taught themselves how to use iMovie to create the video. While I offered some level of tech support, few asked me any questions at all.
If you’re curious, UGA Admissions selected:
#1: Lessons Learned: Katherine Durham, Danielle Sender, Devin Zimmerman
#2: My UGA: Kristin Ballard, Ryan Barnes, Magan Cowart, Meredith Schneider
The viral showdown winners were (views as of April 28, 2009):
#1: My UGA: Kristin Ballard, Ryan Barnes, Magan Cowart, Meredith Schneider (1,922 views)
#2: There’s no place like home – UGA: Staci Dale, Katie Brown, Katie Holcomb (1,369 views)
You can watch all the videos, some admittedly better than others, at this YouTube playlist.
Dr. Kaye D. Sweetser, APR, is an assistant professor of public relations in the H.W. Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She blogs at http://kayesweetser.com, and can be reached via e-mail at sweetser[AT]uga.edu. This was cross-posted at the so this is mass communication?.
Shel Holtz to deliver free webinar on transparency at noon EST on May 20.
You can read more info on their site, but the webinar is at noon EST on May 20.
In touching on this ethical issue in PR, they promise to “share practical techniques and case studies on how you can (and why you should) deliver your communications with greater openness and authenticity.”
And now a note about webinars.
There are very few webinars out there that end up being worth the time, let alone the price tag, it costs to “attend.” That said, I’ve had consistent success with webinars sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Their webinars are specific with case studies and real how tos on “how to do X” — not just generalized “isn’t it great to do X” information.
Dr. Kaye D. Sweetser, APR, is an assistant professor of public relations in the H.W. Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She blogs at http://kayesweetser.com, and can be reached via e-mail at sweetser[AT]uga.edu.
By Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon
(Cross-posted to The PR Post and PR Open Mic)
The swine flu outbreak is an opportunity to talk with students about basic principles of risk communication. Risk communication includes encouraging people to take preventive measures in the face of risk (anything from evacuating before a flood to taking daily vitamins) and helping people cope with risks, such as terrorism. Below are guidelines for risk communication.
1. Think through your word choice. Does the situation warrant the label of “pandemic,” or would “outbreak” be appropriate? You don’t want to scare people unnecessarily or have the opposite problem of leaving people unprepared.
2. Look for aspects of the risk to highlight, depending on whether you want to heighten or ease the sense of risk. If you want to increase public concern about global warming, your message strategy would differ from what you would do if you were developing message points about the swine flu outbreak. Based on Peter Sandman’s research, people feel more comfortable with risks that have the following features:
3. Acknowledge uncertainty when speculating. For credibility, risk communicators needs to be accurate in their communication, which usually involves using tentative statements. Also, for situations like the swine flu outbreak, Peter Sandman shared the following sound bite with reporters: “Everyone needs to learn how to say, ‘This could be bad, and it’s a good reason to take precautions and prepare’ and ‘This could fizzle out.’ They need to simultaneously say both statements.”
4. Give people something to do to lower their risk. However minimal it might be, give people something to do to reduce their risk (see here and here for examples). When the Washington, D.C., snipers were in my area in 2002, I followed police recommendations featured in The Washington Post to walk briskly in a zig zag pattern. Even though I felt silly walking zig zag, I felt like I had some measure of control in reducing my risk. Also note that people tend to feel more comfortable with risk when they choose to expose themselves to it. Even providing the threat level for air travel gives people some amount of choice in deciding whether the risk is worth the trip. For more information about the importance of this guideline, see Kim Witte’s extended parallel process model.
5. Give frequent updates and repeat core messages through various forms of media. An example of this is CDC’s Twitter account (hat tip to the In Case of Emergency blog). Here is a quote from a communication expert I interviewed for my dissertation: “Nowadays, you have to over-communicate… The information doesn’t filter. We have nine or 10 ways of communicating.”
6. Consider cultural barriers. At the University of Oregon Conference on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Pauline Peters, a lecturer at Harvard University, discussed cultural considerations for HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns in Malawi. Simply telling people to wear condoms to protect themselves would not work well in this environment. Many people there viewed condoms as poisonous and associated condoms with illicit sex. A best practice in developing messages is to partner with representatives of the community to determine message design and delivery.
Interested in teaching a risk communication class?
Feel free to use my course schedule for graduate students as a resource, which includes a list of journal articles and other resources. We are reading two books for the class, which I strongly recommend:
I reviewed many risk communication books before selecting these two, and I also paid attention to book cost when making these selections. These books as a combination work well; their different approaches can result in rich class discussion.
– Mihaela Vorvoreanu [cross-posted from PR Connections]
Back when I was a communication graduate student at Purdue, a friend asked me at a party:
I thought for a second (or two!) then I answered:
Many years later, I still believe this is the most important lesson you can learn (and practice!) in communication – and of course, the related profession of public relations.
That’s why I’m happy to see posts such as this one by Todd Defren about Shift’s PR process, which starts with a lot of listening.
Carrie Woodward from Brains on Fire visited our class yesterday to talk about the Fiskateers community. It became apparent how much time and effort they put into getting to know their audience, and how they couldn’t have succeeded without extensive research and listening.
Yet, I see so many PR/marketing efforts that seem to be shots in the dark. Let’s just do this. Why? How? Oh, the details don’t matter. Let’s be on Facebook. Let’s be on Twitter.
I was trying to get the point across to my students, that you need to understand your audience, where they are, what they care about, what they talk about, and how… and I used this example:
Imagine you’re all sitting here in this classroom, waiting for PR class to start, but I walk in a random hall down the hallway and start lecturing there.
They laughed at the absurdity of the idea, yet how many companies do exactly that?
I hope my students will remember this lesson, and I hope they’ll be able to get it across to their bosses.
So there, that’s my most important lesson. What’s the most important thing you know about communication and PR?
Tom Hagley
This morning President Barack Obama gave a major speech on the economy in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University. His central purpose was to explain the vision that has served as the foundation for every major initiative on the economy to date. It was another superb presentation and in my mind, as an instructor, raised the question I would ask of public relations practitioners, Do you know how to support a leader’s vision?
Launching a vision is like launching a ship. If you don’t know how to score the bottle, you shouldn’t swing the champagne. The result could be an embarrassing clunk, instead of a spectacular splash. Let’s consider what it takes to launch a leader’s vision. First the leader must hold someone accountable for helping to develop the vision, usually a professional communicator. Some leaders believe that making an assignment is the same as planting a seed. It’s a safe position for a leader who doesn’t want to take the risk of sharing an idea and possibly being challenged, debated or criticized about its potential or validity. But there’s a big difference between sowing a seed and holding someone accountable for the seed’s growth and development. Without a process for development and accountability for driving it, a vision may be no more than a fleeting pipedream.
There is no inherent certainty for a leader that what he or she has in mind as a vision, especially in its embryonic state, is clearly right for an organization. Leaders must have the courage to engage in constructive debate. Open, on-going dialogue with others serves to clarify and perfect a vision. A professional communicator will show a leader how to share a vision with others, perhaps in a small brainstorming group or among confidants. The professional knows visionary ideas are fragile. They’re not complete. They’re not perfect.
The professional knows how to shepherd delicate ideas through the creative process, and how to pursue all of the pathways of human engineering necessary to energize the interest and action of individuals who have a potential stake in an organization’s success. The professional is quick to point out that a vision is not a directive. It’s not a figment of someone’s imagination. It must be an achievable condition, an irresistible state of being with the power to turn belief in an idea into a conviction to act on its behalf.
An enlightened leader will work closely with a professional, knowing that conveying an idea is difficult and requires a variety of professional communication skills. A leader can turn to a professional for the draft of a vision the same way the leader turns to a writer to request a draft of a speech.
The leader and professional know the aim of a vision shouldn’t be to shoot for the moon. Its aim should be to orchestrate readily available resources to achieve results that move an organization to a higher level of innovation, competitive strength, market position and profitability. An experienced professional communicator has the position and skills to move freely throughout an organization to expose an idea to a broad spectrum of expertise in sales, marketing, law, finance, and R&D and to meld ideas into a vision with universal appeal.
The leader and communicator know that a vision must contain appeals to all stakeholders—employees, existing and potential investors, industry analysts, bankers, journalists. Enlightened leaders know that to have the power to trigger convictions to act, a vision must have ownership by all of its stakeholders. It is not a one-sided opportunity. It must be a multifaceted, irresistible opportunity for stakeholders within and outside the organization. No one in an organization has a better grasp of the diverse views of stakeholder groups than an organization’s experienced public relations professional. Research is a cornerstone of the profession and public relations professionals who perform the function in developing annual reports, establishing Web sites, preparing news announcements, drafting speeches, position papers and other forms of corporate communication are well equipped with the skills to research and develop the basis for a vision.
An astute leader knows that once crafted, a vision must be delivered, but not by a “town crier.” It’s not an edict. It’s a vision. It’s the seed of an idea. It needs time to unleash its power in the imaginations of people it captivates. It needs time to be considered, studied and evaluated.
As a vision is pursued by a leader and communicator, evidence of its potential develops and is shared with its stakeholders as a vision gains validity. It is assimilated and communicated with personal conviction by its stakeholders. Results of the vision continue to validate its potential and trigger in the minds of its stakeholders convictions to act in support of the vision. As the process unfolds it energizes employees to produce, customers to buy, investors to invest, bankers to lend, analysts to recommend, journalists to write, suppliers to support.
For public relations professionals who are fortunate to have leaders who are enlightened and willing to explore what can be accomplished by leveraging the credibility of public relations in a vision, the challenge can be an exciting experience.
Tom Hagley
Why are some organizations more successful than others in attracting and retaining volunteers, or interns? I’m going to answer that question by relating a personal experience I had working for a Fortune 500 company. One of the first volunteers I had the pleasure of working with was a student named Ellen. The company I was working for at the time had established a good rapport with colleges and universities throughout the United States. These institutions were the company’s chief source of “volunteers.”
“Could you use a student intern for the summer?” the company headquarters asked.
“Yes!” I said instantly. “I have at least a dozen projects for a good project coordinator.”
“Could a student handle the work?” asked headquarters.
“I happen to have a job description. I’ll fax it to you and you can have the student decide for herself if she can handle it,” I replied.
Now think about this. A person was volunteering help. And I was ready to accept it (1). I had a list of tasks (2). I had a job description (3), and even a job title (4). Before the student reported for work, I alerted her co-workers that we were going to have an intern (5). I didn’t want anyone to feel threatened by a new person. In fact, I asked members of my staff to conduct parts of the student’s orientation (6).
When the student reported for work, she was introduced to co-workers (7). She was given a work area (8). And the work area was set up with all the tools she needed to do her job (9). We gave her a schedule for her first day (10). It included a tour of the facility (11) and time to look over a list of people (12) she would be working with. The list identified who the people were, why they were important to her, and it had their phone numbers. There also was time on the schedule for her to read publications describing our operation (13).
As a volunteer, she was interested in gaining job experience to list in her resume that would eventually help her get established in the job market. With the job title we gave her, she could say on her resume that she worked one summer as project coordinator for a Fortune 500 company. There was no question in her mind about what we expected her to do. The job description identified who she reported to, what standards were expected, how her internship was to contribute to our overall goals, and it outlined 12 specific assignments. When I reviewed it with her, I asked about her professional ambitions (14) and explained how her assignments would contribute to her personal goals(15).
I said to myself at the time, if she completes half of the 12 assignments, it would be quite an accomplishment for an intern and of significant value to the company. During the internship, we gave our volunteer periodic critiques (16) of her work and personal written notes of praise that she could attach to her resume(17). Work was always delegated (18). People want to be given an assignment with all the information, authority, support and resources to get the job done (19). And they want to be recognized and rewarded for good work when it is deserved (20).
To my delight, Ellen completed all 12 assignments in an outstanding manner. And guess what? I just gave you 20 ways to be an organization that attracts interns and volunteers.
—Tom Hagley, University of Oregon
