Public Relations 3.0, where are we going?

Based on the approach of Bernays, 1922, the goal of public relations consultant should know, interpret the organization to the public and the public to the organization … Today, 2012, ninety years later, we see that it remains a constant in the communicative and relational management of the brand / company with its various stakeholders, and essentially with customers / consumers.

Dr. Michael Wu, Principal Scientist of Analytics of Lithium, in his presentation at the SugarCon 2012, held from 23 to 26 April in San Francisco, California, refers to the «science of the relationship.« It makes clear that the human need to socialize and train community has been dormant since the Stone Age. Evidence, perhaps, that many companies fail to capture their understanding organizational culture. But back to back in time, this time in the 40’s where Pimlott British researcher says that the function of PR was critical, especially in the steering gear of the United States. For Pimlott, public relations help to cross «the chasm that, despite advances in education and communication between» us «-the millions of ordinary men and women, and they: the thousands who are in the area business …”

If we understand the concept that have tried to convey to researchers in Public Relations, and Dr. Wu can establish, based on Wu’s proposal, that to achieve a force on the bond, equal to the force of the «relationship» or relationships should be taken into account:

Time: based on the amount of time spent together or shared.

Intensity: refers to the emotional intensity and sense of closeness that is seen or felt.

Confidence: understood as intimacy or mutual confidence (transparency) in the actions and messages transmitted.

Reciprocity: included in the amount of reciprocal services, or the expectation of receiving in the same proportion in which it occurs.

If these are the foundations to be taken into account so that the «relationship» between the brand / company and their audiences coexist sustainably. The question is, what the business really understand the implication of the relationship and communication for sustainable development? Again we quote to Bernays. He believed that public relations should be based on knowledge of the social sciences. So the conclusion might be that the public relations professional to manage a broad social science information that can lead to an information overload and thus better able to lead and manage the relationships between the organization and its various stakeholders. With this little show I want to express academic concepts that today, public relations, become a necessity to foster understanding between the current «social business» and «society» composed of all stakeholders that the company has. For Sam Black, in 1962, public relations are «the effort planned, deliberate and sustained to establish and maintain mutual understanding between the organization and its public.» Not invented gunpowder, what has happened is that she has forgotten how to use it or where it comes from and what it does.

In this context and in the present, we must consider that in order to manage good communication and relationship, and thus better position our brand / company on our customers / consumers should understand. Social Media, the bidirectional channel, becomes the bridge, solid and perfect, to improve understanding between the parties as mentioned by the precepts of public relations.

However, as we must always be a step forward in managing communication and relationships with our stakeholders, then the Social Customer Relationship Management becomes the best channel to monitor and identify a number of insights that will enable the business to meet its adequacy and sustainability, not just «social», but «commercial».

Jesus Hoyos, an expert in CRM and SCRM in Latam, launched a post yesterday talking about the importance of generating command centers for the proper administration of social networks and communities. In the clear, fairly well, the need to create a special area devoted to the interpretation and content management as important to improve the «relationship and communication» of the company on our continent. It’s not just about «engagement» and associate it with the numbers of followers or fans on a page, you also have to measure the buzz and the consequences of that feedback to improve the progress of the company, not only to create new products and services, pleasing the consumer need-Marketing first-rather, look beyond the commercial and social interest. 2.0 channels both Social Media, such as Social CRM, to identify and recover data to manage, too, plans for Social Responsibility, which are necessary for sustainable development of both parties.

The imperative of public relations professional involves being investigated and innovate in ways to improve the communication and customer relations. To end with this proposal, technological convergence is allowing us to be increasingly more closely with our stakeholders, therefore, to analyze the evolution of the mobile platform is a particular issue in the management of communication. The apps, although they are an interesting alternative, in practice become expensive items in the budgets of businesses, small and tools they need to imbue in the social and economic ecosystem. However, the exploration of new ways of accessing the mobile environment is emerging. Everything leads us to believe that in the not too distant future, and because of the mobile connection to various networks, it is easy to predict modes and user behavior. It sounds quite «trend» but that we are targeting, if you analyze for a moment, Google has all your information, like Facebook, if you have GPS enabled account associated with Google, they will know exactly what daily routine, like Facebook photos with your location and places. Similarly Twitter also has the action. Analyzing all that information, process it and distribute it to various areas, but especially to the «senior management» is something the public relations area should be managed. All that action determining or affecting the image and behavior of the firm should be managed by the PR.

Where are we going, far away? But getting away involves understanding the environment, analyze it and understand it. Social CRM and Social Media give us all that data, but the company really knows decode for a social benefit and not just commercial. What do you think?