"more often than not we’re reacting to today’s realities rather than influencing them" (Goldstein, unknown: 1).
The public is already online, and the internet allows anyone to be a publisher – campaign boycotts and protests can be organised to influence company behaviours; crises can be created through inaccurate information; and products and services can be criticised in open forums, and all of this can be done on a global scale. Public relations practitioners must learn how to use the internet efficiently to address these issues for their clients (Holtz, 1999: 89). Research has recently been carried out highlighting that public relations professionals are not leveraging technology well, and lack innovation. Therefore, they are failing to provide an accurate service to their clients (IMT Strategies, Available: http://www.prfirms.org/docs/internet_impact.pdf/). Although their client’s may not know this yet, the internet will force change on the way people, businesses and organisations communicate, and when professionals become a necessity to overcome these communication changes, it will be those communicators who are currently grasping and in contact with the changes occurring now that will be approached.
Public relations specialists are struggling to recognise the impact that the internet, and its associated communication tools (such as, virtual communities), will have on how communication occurs. Reaction is slow to the changes being made in business and culture. The five major trends in the next three years that impact public relations are as follows:
• More individual publishing (that is, blogging);
• More noise (that is, the amount of information people are bombarded with each day including advertisements and so forth);
• More media outlets;
• Greater direct communication; and
• Public relations becoming more accountable (PR Opinions, Available: http://www.natterjackpr.com/stories/2004/03/02/prOpinionsSurveyMarch2004HowIsTheInternetChangingPr.html/)
With these major trends predicted for the future, public relations professionals need to develop a new hybrid set of marketing communication skills. These skill will need to incorporate elements of management consulting, business intelligence, publishing, direct marketing and internet strategy. Near-term growth is masking the need to rapidly evolve the role of communications services for long-term relevance. New strategies to capitalise on the opportunities created by the changing nature of communications will be pursued, hence two key market trends are as follows:
• Understanding the internet will change the nature of communications in six meaningful ways; and
• Recognising the clients will increasingly value leadership and strategy support from agencies to help them understand and manage this change.
The six strategies pursued in relation to key market trend number one are as follows:
• Identify key online source of credibility and influence;
• Find ways to extract value from information;
• Develop new coverage models;
• Redefine the value proposition form gateway to gatekeeper;
• Change approaches to get faster and/or get out of the way; and
• Develop new models for two-way collaboration.
For communication professionals to capitalise on market opportunities and avoid being marginalised in the the future, the following four skills need to be emphasised and leveraged:
• Online constituent intelligence;
• Communications architecture;
• Dialogue facilitation and community building; and
• Mastery of new communications tools (IMT Strategies, Available: http://www.prfirms.org/docs/internet_impact.pdf/)
Sophie Best 04:14, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
Virtual Communities in Public Relations
Goldstein, S. (unknown) 'Corporate Communications: A Futurist Vision' in PRSA Practical Public Affairs in an Era of Change, United States of America: (unknown).
IMT Strategies. (2003)The Impact of the Internet on Public Relations and Business Communicators [Online]. Available: http://www.prfirms.org/docs/internet_impact.pdf [Accessed: 15 October 2004].
PR Opinion. (2004) PR Opinions Survey: March 2004 - the major trends impacting PR [Online]. Available: http://www.natterjackpr.com/stories/2004/03/02/prOpinionsSurveyMarch2004HowIsTheInternetChangingPr.html [Accessed: 15 October 2004].
Sophie Best 11:33, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
