Social media is having a profound, but not yet fully understood impact on public relations. In the 24/7 world of perpetually connected publics, will public relations function as a dark art that spins (or tweets) self-interested variations of the truth for credulous audiences? Or does the full glare of the internet and the increasing expectations of powerful publics motivate it to more honestly engage to serve the public interest? The purpose of this book is to examine the role of PR by exploring the myriad ways that social media is reshaping its conceptualization, strategies, and tactics. In particular, it explores the dichotomies of fake and authentic, powerless and powerful, meaningless and meaningful. It exposes transgressions committed by practitioners—the paucity of digital literacy, the lack of understanding of the norms of social media, naivety about corporate identity risks, and the overarching emphasis on spin over authentic engagement. But it also shows the power that closely networked social media users have to insert information and opinion into discussions and force "false PR friends" to be less so. This timely, challenging, and fascinating book will be of interest to all students, researchers, and practitioners in Public Relations, Media, and Communication Studies. Winner of the 2016 NCA PRIDE Award for best book

This title, by social marketing pioneer Deirdre Breakenridge, teaches and demonstrates the eight new skills and mindsets PR/marketing pros need to build brands and engage customers in a social world.

Each consumer now has the power to be a journalist, reviewer, and whistle blower. The prevalence of social media has made it possible to alter a brand’s reputation with a single viral post, or spark a political movement with a hashtag. This new landscape requires a strategic plasticity and careful consideration of how the public will react to an organization’s actions. Participation in social media is mandatory for a brand’s success in this highly competitive online era. Managing Public Relations and Brand Image through Social Media provides the latest research and theoretical framework necessary to find ease in the shifting public relations and reputation management worlds. It provides an overview of the tools and skills necessary to deftly sidestep public affronts and to effectively use online outlets to enhance an organization’s visibility and reputation. This publication targets policy makers, website developers, students and educators of public relations, PR and advertising professionals, and organizations who wish to better understand the effects of social media.

Given the high rate of social media use by the public, organizations are compelled to engage with key audiences through these outlets. Social media engagement requires organizations to actively participate with public groups, and this highly-interactive exchange raises a new set of ethical concerns for communicators. In this rapidly changing communications environment, the long-term implications of social media are uncertain, and this book provides the much needed research to understand its impact on audiences and organizations. Through an examination of a broad range of ethics concepts including transparency and online identities, policies, corporate responsibility, and measurement, this book explores a variety of topics important to public relations such as diversity, non-profit communication, health communication, financial communication, public affairs, entertainment communication, environmental communication, crisis communication, and non-profit communication. The chapter authors, expert scholars within their fields of public relations, offer insights drawn from original research and case study examples of ethical dilemmas raised by social media communication.

This new edition continues to give students a foundation in the principles of digital audience engagement and data metrics across platforms, preparing them to adapt to the quickly evolving world of digital media. It takes students through the processes of social listening, strategic design, creative engagement, and evaluation, with expert insights from social media professionals. Thoroughly updated, this second edition includes: • new strategies to guide students in the initial campaign planning phase • added content on influencers, social care teams, and newsjacking • coverage of research evaluation, the implications of findings, and articulating the ROI • expanded discussion of ethical considerations in campaign design and data collection and analysis. The book is suited to both undergraduate and post-graduate students as a primary text for courses in social/digital media marketing and public relations or a secondary text in broader public relations and marketing campaign planning and writing courses. Accompanying online resources include chapter reviews with suggestions for further resources; instructor guides; in-class exercises; a sample syllabus, assignments, and exams; and lecture slides. Visit www.routledge.com/9780367896201

Sophisticated problem solving in strategic communication or public relations (PR) is done through planning, strategic communication planning. The focus of this book is to meld current trends in social media to strategic communications planning in the field of PR. The definition of social media used here is channels delivering web-based information created by people to improve communication. This work used the strategic communication plan based on Wilson and Ogden's (2014) work for basic structure and an operational definition of strategic communication developed by one of the authors. The steps in a typical strategic communication campaign that will be affected include goals, measurable objectives, the big idea, key publics, message design, strategies and tactics and evaluation or return on investment. This book covers the major social media platforms and addresses branding, crisis communications, entertainment and sports, citizen journalism, and analytics. The contribution to the body of knowledge should be highly significant, affecting the way PR professionals go about devising and conducting strategic communication campaigns in light of the effect of social media as well as how academics teach the process in their classrooms.

From Web sites to wikis, from podcasts to blogs, Internet-based communication technologies are changing the way today's public relations campaigns are conceived and carried out. New Media and Public Relations charts this exciting new territory with real-life case studies that explore some of the ways new media practices challenge and expand conventional thinking in public relations. This comprehensive new volume charts the leading edge of public relations research, drawing on insights from both scholars and practitioners to question outdated models, discuss emerging trends, and provide numerous examples of how organizations navigate the uncertainties of building mediated relationships. Global in scope and exploratory in nature, New Media and Public Relations is an indispensable reference for contemporary research and practice in the field, and essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students in public relations and mediated communication.