SOCIAL MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS

COMM 3335: SOCIAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

 AGENDA

History of PR
•PR Theories
•Challenges of PR with social media
•PR tactics & strategies
PUBLIC RELATIONS
 •What are some of the first things that
come to mind when you think of PR?

PUBLIC •"the total communication strategy

RELATIONS conducted by a
person/government/organization
attempting to reach and persuade an
audience to adopt a point of view"
ADVERTISING VS. PR
ADVERTISING PR
• Simple, fixed messages
• Transmitted directly to
public
• Goal: Convince people to
buy something or act
• Source is usually known
• More complex messages
• May reach the public
indirectly
• Goal: Convince people to
think a certain way
• Source is often hidden
Shift towards professionalism

"From P. T. Barnum’s circus to early

practitioner Edward Bernays, PR began
to shift from wild and false claims to
“professionals as comparable to
attorneys, counseling clients”
founders of modern PR: Ed Bernays

Clients Education
Taught 1st PR classes (@ NYU)
Time Wrote 1st PR textbook
General Electric
GM
Govt of India
American Tobacco
RCA Kind of evil
Pres. Coolidge Made smoking more acceptable for women
Cigarettes = "torches of freedom"
Hated actual freedom
"engineering of consent" by
the "higher strata of society"
 • When an event occurs that can negatively impact an
organizations public image, PR steps in to manage

Early Crisis
Communication • This practice was originated by Ivy Lee after Standard
Oil and John D. Rockefeller Jr hired him to improve
the company image after the Ludlow massacre
 • Rockefeller visited Colorado,
visited families, listened to
concerns

• Was photographed doing so

PR Response the entire time

• Helped recover his image

• The first photo op,

distributing ”fact sheets” and
openly communicating with
press
PR techniques: Messaging

• Press releases
• Video News Releases
• Public Service Announcements
• Events/Sponsorships
• Promotional websites (Keep Colorado Working)
PRESS
RELEASE
•provides information to
journalists
•who/what/where/when
•example ->
VNRS
https://youtu.be/09NTUwp1s6U
EVENTS

•can be actual events sponsored

such as sporting events
•https://wbcalaredo.org/
•can also be purely press related
such as a press conference
•https://youtu.be/7nPQeSCjQN
w
CRISIS PR
•how effective were the following
responses to controversies?

•https://youtu.be/_AwD_7yNzKo
CRISIS PR

how effective were the following

responses to controversies?
https://youtu.be/Oeapkmn-xIQ
THEORIES
THEORIES RELEVANT TO PR

Agenda Setting – what is

it again?
Cultivation Theory
Models of PR
 CULTIVATION AND MAINSTREAMING

• its not one message solely that influences audiences ideas,

rather ideas are shaped cumulatively by many messages – this
is what we mean by cultivation
• the more television someone watches, the more their views of
the world are distorted by it for example
• mainstreaming makes some ideas seem normal and others
abnormal. Mainstream views are considered common sense
while others are not. The media cultivates mainstream views
over time by agenda setting
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE PEOPLE
RECEIVE?
 MODELS OF PR
"Press agentry/publicity – “propagandistic”
PR seeking “media attention in almost any
way possible”
Two-way asymmetrical – the Bernays
approach uses research and sophisticated
manipulation methods “to identify the
messages most likely to produce support of
publics without having to change the
behavior of the organization”
Public information – “journalists-in-
residence” disseminating “generally
accurate information,” but “do not
volunteer negative information”
Two-way symmetrical – has “effects that a
neutral observer would describe as
benefitting both organization and publics”
through “bargaining, negotiating, and
strategies of conflict resolution to bring
about symbiotic changes.”"
 SCENARIOS

• A PR specialist puts out a press release stating

that “a study confirm people who use our
product rate their life satisfaction highly.” They
don’t mention their competitors products also
do the same.
 SCENARIOS

• https://youtu.be/zFMgpxG-chM
SCENARIOS
 SCENARIOS

• A film production company conducts a focus

group to determine what is resonating with
their audience. They edit and do reshoots to fix
the film afterward.
• https://youtu.be/wxL8bVJhXCM
CHALLENGES
 MAJOR CHALLENGES

• Decline of traditional media

• Fractured audiences
• The public can talk back
• General chaos, constant change
DECLINE OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA
 FRACTURED AUDIENCES

• Even on digital platforms, there are many

different ways to get information
• Not everyone follows the same twitter,
facebook, or other social accounts
• Is there even a public anyone?
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/artic
le/Meta-tweets-at-HEB-metaverse-16582277.ph
p
 • Platforms are constantly changing
• Fb used to emphasize video but
doesn’t anymore
CHAOS • TikTok has become extremely
popular but uses a different type
of brand sponsorship model
https://www.socialbakers.com/blo
g/brands-that-rule-tiktok
ADAPTING TO
SOCIAL MEDIA
5 APPROACHES TO DIGITAL/ONLINE PR

• Curation
• Co-created
• Original
• Consumer generated
• Sponsored
 CURATED CONTENT

• Where a brand collects, combines and presents

content that doesn’t come from them, but helps
build their brand
• https://www.adweek.com/agencies/the-10-best-
super-bowl-ads-of-2022/
 CO-CREATED

• Content that invites the user to add on, remix,

and share(!)
 ORIGINAL

• New and unique brand content that can’t be

copied easily
• Brand is a part of the story telling but is not
necessarily center stage
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APoGHH1
Ns2M
 CONSUMER GENERATED

• Spontaneously produced by the consumer

• Ideally is positive
• https://www.youtube.com/user/GoProCamera
• https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/warby
hometryon/?hl=en
 TREND SPOTTING

• Keeping track of the most popular trends online

and commenting on them to build your brand
as relevant
• There are platforms to do this..
http://trendspottr.com/
• https://youtu.be/enMwwQy_noI
 SPONSORED CONTENT

• Paid for by brand and placed on platform

• Presented to mimic the platform it is on
• A sponsored news story will look like any other
news story
• A sponsored fb post will look like any other fb
post
 WHERE DOES THIS FIT?

• https://vimeo.com/515731371?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=3
355584

• https://youtu.be/0Bk2U0hp5wY
 A recent example of crisis
QUIZ (IF WE HAD communication using social
ONE) media
What is trend spotting?
What is sponsored content?
Emoji use by brands