Corporate communication’s types of activity
- Managerial: planning, coordinating, counseling CEO’s and senior managers
- Tactical: producing messages and disseminating them
What makes corporate communication more complex than it already is is:
- The wide geographical range, like multinationals
- The vast variety of services and products that exist
- How hard it is to get to a consensus within the organization
Key concepts of corporate communication to have in mind:
Mission: aligning purpose with the values and expectations of stakeholders
Vision: the aspiration of the organization
Corporate objectives: statement of overall aims in line with the overall purpose
Corporate identity: the values that are communicated by the organization
Corporate image: the set of associations of an individual in response to one or
more messages from/about a particular organization at a particular point in
time
Corporate reputation: collective representation of past images of an
organization over time
Stakeholders: group or individual that can affect and be affected by the
achievements of an organization’s objectives
Market: a defined group for whom an organization produces
Integration: coordinating all communication to both internal and external
groups
Social media brought the need for organizations to be more proactive, leading to
corporate communication 2.0:
Traditional media (before): the communication approach used was the
“broadcasting”, where the stakeholders were seen as audience and received messages
from the organization in a controlled way. The communication model used was “one-
to-many”. The underlying principle was “corporate positioning”, because the transfer
of corporate messages and campaigns was planned and controlled. The key metaphors
were “medium, channels” and the rules of communication were that they were fixed
and controlled.
New media (now): the communication approach is “crowd-casting”, where the
stakeholders are seen as participants that produce and forward content about the
organization. The communication model is “many-to-one” and “many-to-many”. The
underlying principle is “content generation”, where there is free generation and
dissemination of corporate content. The key metaphors are “platforms, arenas” and
the rules of communication are “messy and emergent”.
,3 types of media content:
Owned media: any web property that you can control and that is unique to
your brand
Bought media: marketing you pay for
Earned media: publicity or exposure gained from methods other than paid
advertising
Corporate communication professionals MUST:
- Engage with influential bloggers/vloggers, opinion leaders, industry analysts
and journalists
- Sponsor their own corporate blog/vlog because it makes them look more
humane, it allows them to engage in a direct and unfiltered conversation
with the audience
Why blogs?
- The majority of journalists use company blogs when researching a story
- They create a personal connection with users
- They facilitate positive attitudes towards the company
- They encourage positive word of mouth
Social networking sites are also a good way!
- The organization should create a profile about themselves where they
present personal information they would like to share
- They can create a small network or community of friends and colleagues
- It is a rich medium where they can send messages, emails, pictures, videos,
etc.
YouTube
- Companies can set up a YouTube channel
- To present a corporate video, keynote speeches, press announcements,
adverts
Challenges within the new media for the corporate:
Copyrighted material
The share of corporate documents without permission
Illegally acquired or reproduced content
Negative videos
The relationship with the media – media relations: a company’s interactions with
editors, reporters and journalists
Why is it important? It generates publicity and provides media coverage that
influences the stakeholders
, News organizations/copy editors: they edit stories before they get printed
Understanding journalists
They consult sources and write news stories
BUT, different organizations mean different angles and positions
They have limited control over news because they do not decide on the final
printed story, the first paragraph, the layout and design, the images used, the
headline or the fact checkers employed
News often do reflect the ideologies and politics point of view of a
journalist/editor – AMPLIFICATION effect of media coverage (Cornelissen)
Amplification = media coverage can have this effect on a company’s reputation when
both good and bad news are reported. This can cause impact on the reputation of the
organization by: highlighting issues and increasing already determined views about
an organization.
Agenda-setting = The influence organizations try to have on the media agenda.
Therefore, they spread corporate information through news conferences, press
releases, campaigns, newsrooms. (Ex: a media stressing on what type of work each
gender should do, completely neglecting the idea of gender equality, creates similar
mindset in the people)
- There are 2 levels:
Level 1: the object of the news (organization/person)
Level 2: how to think about that object, facts, issues, scandals, problems
about that object
Agenda building = how often the media report on a public or political issue determines
issue salience in minds of public.
Organizations can influence the media through:
News conferences
Press releases
Campaigns
Journalists vs. Corporate Communication professionals (despite their differences,
they are interdependent, the have mutual dependence)
Journalists find that CC professionals are not focused on the public interest
Journalists find that CC professionals are not always objective
Journalists find that CC professionals withhold information
CC professionals find that journalists frame based on the ideology of the news
organizations
CC professionals find that journalists may frame company news in line with
their news routines
CC professionals find that journalists have their own agenda