One of the best ways to achieve this feat is through positive public relations. Karl Marx, a renowned philosopher, wisely stated that "society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand." In essence, we are all connected to one another, especially with technology advancing at such a rapid pace and with the use of the Internet. Because of this, organizations must incorporate effective public relations strategies that aid with painting a positive picture about the firm in an effort to achieve true success. So what is public relations? Probably the best definition that I've found for public relations (PR) came from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) who defined PR as the following:
"Public relations is a distinctive management function that helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its public; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively employs change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.
The rise of the Internet and social media has offered companies unparalleled opportunities for communicating and interacting with large numbers of individuals globally. For instance, organizations could reach and interact with customers, including potential customers, through RSS feeds, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Webcasts, YouTube, etc. Through these different technologies, and with the assistance of social media conglomerates, such as Facebook and Twitter, mass communications is enabled to global societies. Although many benefits are associated with mass communication, people must also be conscious of organizational and societal implications of using this medium that may lead to negative PR. Implications, such as appropriation, publication of private information, intrusion, and false light which are all considered invasion of privacy. To me, this is why so many successful organizations have PR professionals that help them paint a positive picture to global societies through PR campaigns involved with volunteer work, donations, food-drives, etc. This is not to say that these entities do not care about their communities. I'm just stating that doing these good deeds creates a win-win situation because it also helps companies with positive PR, thus increasing the companies bottom-line in parallel because it highlights the firm's goodwill and corporate social responsibility endeavors.
"Public relations is a distinctive management function that helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its public; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively employs change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.
The rise of the Internet and social media has offered companies unparalleled opportunities for communicating and interacting with large numbers of individuals globally. For instance, organizations could reach and interact with customers, including potential customers, through RSS feeds, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Webcasts, YouTube, etc. Through these different technologies, and with the assistance of social media conglomerates, such as Facebook and Twitter, mass communications is enabled to global societies. Although many benefits are associated with mass communication, people must also be conscious of organizational and societal implications of using this medium that may lead to negative PR. Implications, such as appropriation, publication of private information, intrusion, and false light which are all considered invasion of privacy. To me, this is why so many successful organizations have PR professionals that help them paint a positive picture to global societies through PR campaigns involved with volunteer work, donations, food-drives, etc. This is not to say that these entities do not care about their communities. I'm just stating that doing these good deeds creates a win-win situation because it also helps companies with positive PR, thus increasing the companies bottom-line in parallel because it highlights the firm's goodwill and corporate social responsibility endeavors.
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