Hello everyone, this is my second blog entry and it
feels like time is flying by!!!
Throughout my internship at The
Breakwater I have learnt the importance of clear and concise communication and
role this plays for PR professionals. Communication is such an essential
element within any organization and through my internship I have seen it in a
practical approach. Weather it be communicating to the clients or communicating
with the staff, having a clear and direct communication avenue can make or
break a PR plan.
PR professionals use social media
every single day to get the word out about clients, to communicate with
customers and to respond to questions or problems. There are many uses for
social media and can be used to benefit an organization, marketing, reaching
influencers, answering questions by participating in conversation and reaching
out to stakeholders in a number of ways.
Recently the Breakwaters update the
facebook page for the upcoming weekend of father’s day,
August 30
“Take a break with Dad this weekend at
The Breakwater. The best place to celebrate Father's Day!”
Social media can help reach a larger
number and also build brand identity and continue customer loyalty to the
Breakwater. Facebook is the main and only social media device that is used by
the venue, they express promotions on there, unique product advertising such as
the Moet ice that was exclusively sold at The Breakwater. Also they promote
upcoming events. They have used social media to reach a generally younger
audience.
Throughout my learning at Curtin
University I have understood how social media can be a useful tool for PR
professional and has shown to be a strong medium to reach many stakeholders.
The organisation uses this medium very well updating and promoting products on the page, this is something I will talk about
more in my final report.
Facebook update for the Breakwater.
People Talking About This 199
Total Likes 23,602
Page Insights
July
15, 2012
Most
Popular Week
Perth,
WA, Australia
Most
Popular City
25-34
years old
Most
Popular Age Group
35,919
photos
Photos
Tagged Here
April
8, 2012
Most
Visited Week (416 people)
16
People
Largest
Party
3 comments:
Hi Beth!
Was attracted to your blog because I agree whole-heartedly that communication is vital in all public relations activities! I guess it is the central idea of all that we learn at university. As Grunig pointed out in his Excellence Theory, the best and most ethical practice of PR is through his two-way symmetric model of communication. I think social media is the most practical platform for this to happen on at present. At the same time I think it is important to approach this medium with communication in mind and not just another avenue for advertising. I had a look at Breakwater’s Facebook page and noticed how popular it was. That is exciting because links will continue to be shared on pages and more awareness will be a result. I did have another suggestion however to engage this public and create better interaction. Facebook competitions and polling questions could be added to get users more involved in the page and offer some valuable feedback on certain products and aspects of the Breakwater. Instead of just promoting a new product or event, it would be more beneficial to engage users by ‘calling them to action’ at the end of your posts. My Marketing and Communications Coordinator at PMH Foundation told me she went to a social media conference recently where they really stressed this idea of prompting the public to DO something…whether it is just click ‘like’ or make a comment, follow another link, post a picture of themselves or even call a number to score some sort of special deal. I guess I just thought I’d throw some ideas out there to get thoughts flowing on how Breakwater can better used Facebook to facilitate conversations with its key publics. After all…communication is key ;)
Sounds like your placement will be really exciting and there is a lot you can get involved with and do while you are there! I wish you good luck with it! :)
Caitlin
Hi Beth!
Your Internship sounds fantastic!
Your comments on social media are so true, at my placement their main issue is that they are struggling to implement a social media policy that works for them!
Having always during my studies that social media is the go to technique in this day and age i can certainly say that i now totally agree with that, when a company uses social media and uses it well it can really open up the channels of communication and change the image and brand of the company!
I think that every single blog post i have read recently has reiterated the importance of communication and it seems like you have noticed that too within your placement, without communication public relations techniques and practices become useless!
your blog post was fantastic and it sounds like you are doing really well at your placement!
good luck
Hayley
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