More on PR2020: social media activism, internal comms resurgence, storytelling and professionalism
This is a post script to my recent essay on the future of PR.
Thank you to everyone who sent me feedback on my essay on the future of PR via email or social media. It’s a lesson in crowdsourcing and the mantra of publishing frequently and often.
There were some clear misses in my original essay: social media activism, internal communications, storytelling and professionalism in PR. I’ve developed each of these themes below.
I’m grateful to the following people for their feedback and comments: Alex Malouf, Anne-Marie Cotton, Dr Chris Hackney, Alan Kelly, Jody Koehler, Mark Weiner and Dr Jon White.
A version of the complete essay will form the basis of the final chapter of Exploring PR. Ralph Tench and I are finalising the manuscript for the fifth edition.
Social media activism: brands don’t listen
In 2012 Steve Earl and I wrote a book called Brand Anarchy. It told the story of the public using social media to fight back against organisations. Any gap between a product or service and the public’s expectation will become a conversation on social media.
The book holds up almost ten years on because most organisations are lousy at using social media to listen to their customers. There are exceptions but they are limited. The most common approach to social media management is an agency or junior member armed with a monitoring tool and limited ability to feedback to operational areas of the business.
Brand shaming has become commonplace. It is almost a sport on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Watch out for the fed up commuters ranting at train companies every morning or the lunchtime diners unimpressed by what’s on their plate.
Most brands have learnt that the customer service or reputational impact of the occasion rogue tweet isn’t worth the cost of 24/7 social media management. Twitter has recognised that brand trolling has become such an issue that it is rolling out moderation tools.
The social network will let tweeters choose from four options for individual tweets:
Global – anyone can reply to a global tweet
Group – only people who you follow or mentioned in the tweet can reply
Mentions – only people mentioned in the tweet can reply
Statement – no one can reply
Twitter trolling is a serious issue for individuals in the public sphere. Here Twitter’s moderation tool has an important application, but organisations and brands would be well advised to switch it off and listen to their publics. Social media activism is only possible because brands don’t listen.
The resurgence of internal communications
Internal communications is one of the hottest areas of contemporary PR. It is enjoying significant growth. Progressive organisations have spotted the opportunity that social collaboration tools offer enterprise and are calling on internal communicators to help lead the charge along with colleagues in human resources and IT.
Forward-thinking organisations are using new technologies as a means of listening and engaging with employees. Social leaders use platforms and technology to build relationships externally with employees, customers and other stakeholders. It’s a powerful form of advocacy.
Technology firms such as Microsoft with Teams and Facebook with Workplace are taking a keen interest in the market. Workplace, launched as a commercial product in 2016, applies all the learnings from the consumer product to a private enterprise environment. Most people intuitively understand how the news feed, threaded conversations and groups work, thanks to the consumer product.
Tell me a story
The craft of telling a story across different forms of media and engaging a public is more important than ever. It’s critical to cutting through a cluttered media environment. This is the story told by Robert McKeen and Thomas Gerace in their book Storynomics.
In the shift to data driven programmes there’s a danger that we lose sight of creativity. Creative and content, the keys to good storytelling, are frequently overlooked elements of PR. They lie at the heart of inspiring conversations and storytelling.
The ability to communicate complex messages through compelling and relevant stories remains a fundamental value of PR. It has found its rightful place alongside advertising and creative agencies at Cannes and Eurobest and is today winning awards in its own right and as part of integrated solutions.
Learning on the job
PR may be a maturing professional discipline but unlike other areas of management it has yet to adopt the qualities that mark out other professions, such as formal qualifications and life-long learning.
Time served is the typical measure of competence of PR. You’ll spot seemingly random periods of time in practitioners’ biographies. But not all experience is equal and when media and technology are evolving so quickly it's a lousy metric.
If PR is to become recognised as a boardroom discipline it needs to adhere to the standards of other professions such as accountancy and legal.
There’s no barrier to entry in PR in the form of qualifications, no requirement for registration in a way that can be publicly tested and no mandatory requirement for continuing professional development (CPD). It also lacks an established community of practice as a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas between academia and practice.
This a conversation as old as the industry itself that is slowly beginning to change thanks to the work of professional associations such as the CIPR and PRCA.
