Public relations and managing reputation

In the rush to become social media experts, and to grab the largest slice of its revenue, responsibility and thought leadership pie, public relations pros are at risk of missing the main digital game: that of providing meaningful, resonant and useful content for corporate websites that is search engine optimised and customised to the needs of organisational stakeholders.

As people have a proven preference for visual learning, we are increasingly suffering from information overload and humans process visuals 66,000* times faster than text, you would think getting professional communicators and senior management to adopt visuals as a communication tool would be easy and straightforward…but, there are several reasons why companies or organisations may decide against using visual communication or visual thinking.

With its ability to share ideas and communicate more effectively, visual thinking can play a major role in storytelling, aiding public relations and marketing professionals help organisations achieve their communication and business objectives.

“Can annual reports actually be used to create a positive communication outcome, rather than just report and be ignored?” was a question that generated a lot of interesting comment from PR professionals around the world, some of which I feature in this post.

The most crucial decision for PR professionals in the annual reporting process is to determine how you’re going to view the task and what its endgame will be for that year.

People’s preference for visual learning, the increasing levels of information overload and the fact that images help us process information quicker, provides a unique opportunity to PR professionals to take visual communication more seriously.

Working in a PR agency often grabs the headlines, but there are far more public relations positions working in the in-house environment, conceivably a far more satisfying milieu in which to work – read the views of a very experienced in-house PR leader, who shares his views on what it takes to carve out a successful career in public relations.

Nationalism is the antithesis of public relations, as the former is inherently opposed to the notions of diversity, multiculturalism and the sharing of power and is not representative of two-way symmetrical communication: nationalism, then, is bad PR. Or is it?

If you can get past the statutory and legal requirements, annual reports can be an extremely effective weapon in the public relations arsenal as long as: discipline is instilled amongst the troops, expectations are clearly articulated and seniority is used as a strategic motivational tool.

A joint-managing director of leading Australia’s technology and business PR consultancy shares his views on what it takes to carve out a successful career in public relations: experience and literacy in social media, passion and an ability to take it on the chin – they all help build the ‘personal brand’.