ONLINE PUBLIC RELATIONS
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION
PR: art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling
organizational leaders, and implementing programs of action that will serve both the organizations
and the public interest.
- Art: you must be creative and design messages
- Social science: based on scientific facts
Public relation:
- Management function: PR is deliberate/intentional
- Mutual lines of communication: not one-sided
- Public: different types of audiences around which relationships need to be built
- Responsibility and public interest: wider duty of care inside and outside organization
PR: management of communication between an organization and its publics.
Reputation: the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.
PR is the discipline which provides reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support
and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
Five core concepts to help define PR:
- Management function
- Two-way communication
- Planned activity
- Research-based social science
- Socially responsible
- Corporate identity: how the organization and its employees see itself (core of organization
that you want to show)
- Corporate image: based on less contact moments/experiences
- Corporate reputation: more stable, based on more contact moments/experiences
,Reputation:
- The beliefs and opinions someone has about another person, organization, or object.
- Foundation on which an organization builds
History of PR:
- Entwined with social, economic, and political developments
- Key date: 1984: study Gunig & Hunt
PR today:
,Basic stakeholder model:
PR: the organization:
- Private sector
- Public sector
- Third sector
Conducted by in house teams, sometimes with PR agency or freelance support
Channels: platforms vary depending on what you are trying to achieve (most are interconnected and
interrelated):
- Owned media (website/blog)
- Earned media (newspaper/TV)
- Shared media (social networks)
- Paid media (sponsored posts)
- Sponsorships
- Face-to-face
- Photography
- Moving images (video/film)
- Print (newsletters)
- Events (conferences)
- Exhibitions
,Publics (stakeholders): vary depending on the organization and what you want to achieve
- Employees (and potential)
- Suppliers (and potential)
- Partners
- Distributors (and potential)
- Investors
- Donors
- Political audiences, decision makers and other political opinion formers
- Media and other commentators
- Online influencers
- Customers
- Etc.
- A: Corporate advertising: advertising by a firm where the company, rather than its products
or services is emphasized
- B: Direct marketing: direct communication via post, telephone or e-mail to customers and
prospects and sales promotions such as tactics to engage the customer, including
discounting, guarantees, free gifts, competitions, vouchers, and demonstrations.
- C: Distribution, logistics, pricing, and product development
- D: Corporate PR (PR activities towards corporate stakeholders, which excludes customers
and prospects); includes issues management, community relations, investor relations, media
relations, international communication, and public affairs
- E: Marketing PR: includes product publicity and sponsorships
Four P’s: product, price, place, and promotion
Main tools Public Relations: news releases and media contact to secure editorial coverage,
sponsorship, events, social media. Aims to be two-way, relationship building but often one-way
Takeaways:
- PR focus on relationships with stakeholders
- Reputation is fundamental
- Different PR types and channels are being used
- PR is a distinct discipline, differs from marketing and advertising but there is overlap
,LECTURE 2: INTERNAL COMMUNICATION (H13)
Organization: the situation where two or more individuals interact to collaborate (structurally, or
incidentally) on reaching a shared goal.
History:
- Internal communication is an important part of the communication mix
- Rather new discipline (> 1980s)
- From tactical to strategic operation
- Increasing complexity due to technical managerial and social changes
Tactic Strategy
Definition Plans, tasks, or procedures that can be Larger overall plan that can compromise
carried out; may be part of a larger tactics
strategy
Perspective Narrow close up Broad, big picture
Time Soon or present Overtime, long periods of time future
oriented
Evolution of internal communication is coherent with the evolution of PR practice
Late 1800s Early 1900s Starting from 1920 Late 20th century
Model Press Public Two-way asymmetric Two-way symmetric
agency/publicity information
Purpose Propaganda Dissemination of Scientific persuasion Mutual understanding
information
From command-and-control approach > to including employees approach
Internal communication definition: The strategic management of interactions and relationships
between stakeholders within organizations across several interrelated dimensions including:
- Internal line manager communication,
- Internal team peer communication,
- Internal project peer communication and
- Internal corporate communication.
Dimension Level Direction Participants Content
Internal line Line managers/ Predominantly Line managers - Employees’ roles
management supervisors two-way employees personal impact
communication (appraisal,
discussions, team
briefings)
Internal team Team colleagues Two-way Employee - Team
peer employee information
communication (team tasks
discussion)
Internal project Project group Two-way Employee - Project
peer colleagues employee information
communication (project issues)
Internal Strategic Predominantly Strategic Organizational /
corporate managers/top one-way managers – all corporate issues
, communication managers employees (goals, objectives,
new
developments,
activities, and
achievements.
Value of internal communication:
- Legal compliance: IC practitioner need to understand the main statutes and regulations that
apply in jurisdictions, especially when job losses or significant personnel change is possible
- Making people want to stay
- Supporting collaboration
- Helping people do the right thing
- Creating advocates
- Supporting organizational changes
What makes people stay:
- Knowing what is expected from them at work
- Receiving recognition or paise regularly
- Having opinions taken seriously (employee voice)
- Understanding the overall mission well enough to see the job as important
- Having regular opportunities to discuss progress
Can lead to higher engagement or commitment
Challenge:
- Multiple goals of internal communication
- Heterogenic audience:
o Different experiences
o Different expectations
o Different types of tasks
o Uses different communication channels
What a communicator needs to know:
- Inputs: resources used for internal communication practices
- Outputs: quality and quantity of communication
- Outtakes: what people pick up from the outputs
- Satisfactions: what people think of the communications
- Outcomes: effects of communications
Internal communicators use four methods to track employees’ understanding and attitudes:
- Informal networking
- Process feedback
- Qualitative research
- Quantitative research (survey)
- Auditing (regularly taking stock)
Planning internal communication
Have a clear objective /goal:
- What do we need organization members to DO? (hand)
- What do they need to BELIEVE or FEEL to do that? (heart)
- To shape that belief, what do people need to KNOW? (head)
Formulate elements of communication objectives SMART:
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION
PR: art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling
organizational leaders, and implementing programs of action that will serve both the organizations
and the public interest.
- Art: you must be creative and design messages
- Social science: based on scientific facts
Public relation:
- Management function: PR is deliberate/intentional
- Mutual lines of communication: not one-sided
- Public: different types of audiences around which relationships need to be built
- Responsibility and public interest: wider duty of care inside and outside organization
PR: management of communication between an organization and its publics.
Reputation: the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.
PR is the discipline which provides reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support
and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
Five core concepts to help define PR:
- Management function
- Two-way communication
- Planned activity
- Research-based social science
- Socially responsible
- Corporate identity: how the organization and its employees see itself (core of organization
that you want to show)
- Corporate image: based on less contact moments/experiences
- Corporate reputation: more stable, based on more contact moments/experiences
,Reputation:
- The beliefs and opinions someone has about another person, organization, or object.
- Foundation on which an organization builds
History of PR:
- Entwined with social, economic, and political developments
- Key date: 1984: study Gunig & Hunt
PR today:
,Basic stakeholder model:
PR: the organization:
- Private sector
- Public sector
- Third sector
Conducted by in house teams, sometimes with PR agency or freelance support
Channels: platforms vary depending on what you are trying to achieve (most are interconnected and
interrelated):
- Owned media (website/blog)
- Earned media (newspaper/TV)
- Shared media (social networks)
- Paid media (sponsored posts)
- Sponsorships
- Face-to-face
- Photography
- Moving images (video/film)
- Print (newsletters)
- Events (conferences)
- Exhibitions
,Publics (stakeholders): vary depending on the organization and what you want to achieve
- Employees (and potential)
- Suppliers (and potential)
- Partners
- Distributors (and potential)
- Investors
- Donors
- Political audiences, decision makers and other political opinion formers
- Media and other commentators
- Online influencers
- Customers
- Etc.
- A: Corporate advertising: advertising by a firm where the company, rather than its products
or services is emphasized
- B: Direct marketing: direct communication via post, telephone or e-mail to customers and
prospects and sales promotions such as tactics to engage the customer, including
discounting, guarantees, free gifts, competitions, vouchers, and demonstrations.
- C: Distribution, logistics, pricing, and product development
- D: Corporate PR (PR activities towards corporate stakeholders, which excludes customers
and prospects); includes issues management, community relations, investor relations, media
relations, international communication, and public affairs
- E: Marketing PR: includes product publicity and sponsorships
Four P’s: product, price, place, and promotion
Main tools Public Relations: news releases and media contact to secure editorial coverage,
sponsorship, events, social media. Aims to be two-way, relationship building but often one-way
Takeaways:
- PR focus on relationships with stakeholders
- Reputation is fundamental
- Different PR types and channels are being used
- PR is a distinct discipline, differs from marketing and advertising but there is overlap
,LECTURE 2: INTERNAL COMMUNICATION (H13)
Organization: the situation where two or more individuals interact to collaborate (structurally, or
incidentally) on reaching a shared goal.
History:
- Internal communication is an important part of the communication mix
- Rather new discipline (> 1980s)
- From tactical to strategic operation
- Increasing complexity due to technical managerial and social changes
Tactic Strategy
Definition Plans, tasks, or procedures that can be Larger overall plan that can compromise
carried out; may be part of a larger tactics
strategy
Perspective Narrow close up Broad, big picture
Time Soon or present Overtime, long periods of time future
oriented
Evolution of internal communication is coherent with the evolution of PR practice
Late 1800s Early 1900s Starting from 1920 Late 20th century
Model Press Public Two-way asymmetric Two-way symmetric
agency/publicity information
Purpose Propaganda Dissemination of Scientific persuasion Mutual understanding
information
From command-and-control approach > to including employees approach
Internal communication definition: The strategic management of interactions and relationships
between stakeholders within organizations across several interrelated dimensions including:
- Internal line manager communication,
- Internal team peer communication,
- Internal project peer communication and
- Internal corporate communication.
Dimension Level Direction Participants Content
Internal line Line managers/ Predominantly Line managers - Employees’ roles
management supervisors two-way employees personal impact
communication (appraisal,
discussions, team
briefings)
Internal team Team colleagues Two-way Employee - Team
peer employee information
communication (team tasks
discussion)
Internal project Project group Two-way Employee - Project
peer colleagues employee information
communication (project issues)
Internal Strategic Predominantly Strategic Organizational /
corporate managers/top one-way managers – all corporate issues
, communication managers employees (goals, objectives,
new
developments,
activities, and
achievements.
Value of internal communication:
- Legal compliance: IC practitioner need to understand the main statutes and regulations that
apply in jurisdictions, especially when job losses or significant personnel change is possible
- Making people want to stay
- Supporting collaboration
- Helping people do the right thing
- Creating advocates
- Supporting organizational changes
What makes people stay:
- Knowing what is expected from them at work
- Receiving recognition or paise regularly
- Having opinions taken seriously (employee voice)
- Understanding the overall mission well enough to see the job as important
- Having regular opportunities to discuss progress
Can lead to higher engagement or commitment
Challenge:
- Multiple goals of internal communication
- Heterogenic audience:
o Different experiences
o Different expectations
o Different types of tasks
o Uses different communication channels
What a communicator needs to know:
- Inputs: resources used for internal communication practices
- Outputs: quality and quantity of communication
- Outtakes: what people pick up from the outputs
- Satisfactions: what people think of the communications
- Outcomes: effects of communications
Internal communicators use four methods to track employees’ understanding and attitudes:
- Informal networking
- Process feedback
- Qualitative research
- Quantitative research (survey)
- Auditing (regularly taking stock)
Planning internal communication
Have a clear objective /goal:
- What do we need organization members to DO? (hand)
- What do they need to BELIEVE or FEEL to do that? (heart)
- To shape that belief, what do people need to KNOW? (head)
Formulate elements of communication objectives SMART:
