Social media use by public relations practitioners in Malaysia examined whether social media was used by the practitioners of Public Relations (PR) in Malaysia in order to communicate relevant information about the organization and about their constituents. Previous study that was carried out by Fitch revealed that the PR practitioners within Malaysia were reluctant to make usage of social media as it led to loss of human connection. An online survey was used that helped in arriving at a conclusion. The reliability test was conducted was carried out in three different questionnaires revealed a 0.95 Cronbach Alpha that showed that there was high amount of internal consistency (Gabriel and Koh 2016). The result suggested that a large number of PR practitioners made use of social media in order to communicate with the various constituents of the organization. Kind of communication involved that of value statements and mission statements and important announcements (Scott 2015).
Social networking site was the most widely used social media and it helped in producing effective results. Social media led to an increase in brand awareness and helped in making the organization popular. It led to increase in sales on account of the marketing on the platform of social media. It was found that brands that communicated with the help of social media post and made use of human language was successful in tapping into the emotions of the people (Weeks, Ardèvol-Abreu and Gil de Zúñiga 2017). It led to successful advertising of the brand and enabled the audience to take notice of the popular brand. Social media can help in setting benchmarks that can help to a great extent in measuring the success. Most of the respondents felt that social media can help in effective promotion, there were however other practitioners who believed that social media cannot act as a standalone tool in relation to public relations (Gabriel and Koh 2016). It highlights that it is not solely about the tool that is being used but rather about the content that is being spread. Social Media has drastically changed the rules in relation to PR game and it has brought new challenges along with opportunities to the profession.
With the emergence of social media, a message can be widely spread to a large community and it even helps in spreading message to audience that has been neglected previously. Social media along with traditional media can help in supporting the objectives of public relations. Direct audience engagement can also serve to a great extent in contributing effectively to public relations (Trainor et al. 2014). Audience engagement is essential for hosting events that are successful. It can help in transforming the attendees into that of participants. Taking opinions and asking questions can help in enhancing engagement. These can lead to wider reach and create a powerful impression about the product or service (Charoensukmongkol 2014). This study is of immense value as it helped the researchers in getting responses from the practitioners that may not have been previously available. It showed that the public relations practitioners within Malaysia were ready to make use of new social media for promotion.
One of the important features of Twitter is to broadcast message that is short and efficient within 140 characters that are referred to as “tweets”. It is a micro blogging tool that gives power to people to share ideas instantly. The Australian listed companies in Malaysia that make use of Twitter are that of Abacus Property Group, Accent Group Limited, Pegasus Metals Limited, United Networks Limited and Talga Resources Limited. Many organisations are monitoring the content on social media in order to track regarding what is being said about their companies. They help the business in realizing about the opportunities in relations to public relations by targeting the “bloggers”. Twitter was being used by the Australian companies in order to get feedback about the new company product, to elucidate on the company results and to announce the upcoming events (Xiong and MacKenzie 2015). Almost 20 % of the micro blogs had some expression of brand sentiment but Twitter helped in sharing about the personal experiences of the customers with the product or service (Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom 2015). Corporate managers should learn about the importance of micro blogging tools at the outset by adopting them for informal purpose before they are fully adopted for the purpose of formal business communication. Social media tools allowed the corporations in sharing information at a low cost and in a more efficient manner. It can help in strengthening the ties with the consumers and understanding about their business value can help in increasing their corporate use (Leonardi 2017).
The use of twitter in Australian companies for their customer service was a straightforward process. Its use in revealing finance related information needs a greater understanding of strict rules that govern financial reporting obligation of the companies. The corporate use of the social media platform of Twitter should start with that of company promotion along with customer service enquiry. It can thereafter be used for distributing information related to that of finance. It will require a thorough understanding of legal risks that is associated with the publishing of corporate information that is market sensitive (Xiong and MacKenzie 2015). Staged learning approach of Twitter can be co-related with the innovation theory of Roger’s diffusion.
The “innovator” along with “early adopter” corporation prove to be the most effective way that can help in leveraging the business value. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory was developed by E.M. Rogers and it is one of the oldest theory of social science (Dibra 2015). It started from communication and how with the passage of time the product gained momentum and spread through a specific social system (Vromen, Xenos and Loader 2015). The innovators are the first people who try the innovation and the early adopters enjoy the roles of leadership and embrace the changing opportunities. It can then be followed suit by that of the “majority”. The majority stands for the people who are not leaders but they adopt the new ideas before that of the average person. They want to see the evidence that the innovation has worked before they implement the strategy.
The theory of Rogers states that the process of innovation is a process that has different steps. Knowledge should be gained in the beginning, an attitude should then be formed, deciding whether to adopt or reject it and then implement the decision (Newman 2016). The complex learning along with decision making process helps in highlighting the critical role that is played by the innovator and that of early adopter. It can help in shaping the norms that consequently give best practice examples that can be institutionalized by the mainstream organizations. It is of extreme importance that the kind of organisation that can become early innovation adopter should be identified in the beginning and one can learn from their efforts (Scott 2015). It can also help in leveraging new technologies that can provide a better insight into the characteristics of the business entity. The large size organisations that do not have a formalised structure are found to be more receptive of the new ideas and innovation adoption.
Conclusions:
Brands and companies can communicate effectively with the help of twitter and the human language that is taken recourse to can help in effectively engaging the people. It can appeal to the consumers and makes the audience to take cognizance of the brand. Social media can help in measuring the efficacy and success of the brand with the help of response from the customers. Social media cannot act as a standalone tool and the role played by traditional media can help in achieving the objectives of the company in relation to that of public relations. Traditional media should also be taken recourse to in order to spread brand awareness and spread important messages about an organization. Social media should be used in the proper manner so that it can spread the right message to the people. The content that is spread should also be legitimate and of high quality so that they can move the people. Twitter can be used by the Australian companies so that they can get feedback about a new product that is being launched by the company. Twitter can help the public to share personal experience that can serve the purpose of promotion of the brand. Company promotion along with customer service enquiry comprises of the two arenas that can take the help of Twitter. The exposure of information related to finance needs an in-depth understanding of the rules and regulations that govern the companies. Some of the corporate information that is related to finance can be very sensitive and the company should very carefully examine them before publishing such kind information. The company may face legal hurdles and if any information that is confidential gets exposed in the wrong manner. Acquiring knowledge will pay the way for forming an attitude and the decision should then be reached regarding whether the decision should be implemented.
References:
Charoensukmongkol, P., 2014. Effects of support and job demands on social media use and work outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, pp.340-349.
Dibra, M., 2015. Rogers theory on diffusion of innovation-the most appropriate theoretical model in the study of factors influencing the integration of sustainability in tourism businesses. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, pp.1453-1462.
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C.J., 2015. A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.
Gabriel, S.P. and Koh, C.H., 2016. Social media use by public relations practitioners in Malaysia: An exploratory study. The Journal of Developing Areas, 50(5), pp.469-477.
Leonardi, P.M., 2017. The social media revolution: Sharing and learning in the age of leaky knowledge. Information and Organization, 27(1), pp.47-59.
Newman, T.P., 2016. Tracking the release of IPCC AR5 on Twitter: Users, comments, and sources following the release of the Working Group I Summary for Policymakers. Public Understanding of Science, p.0963662516628477.
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), pp.1201-1208.
Vromen, A., Xenos, M.A. and Loader, B., 2015. Young people, social media and connective action: From organisational maintenance to everyday political talk. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(1), pp.80-100.
Weeks, B.E., Ardèvol-Abreu, A. and Gil de Zúñiga, H., 2017. Online influence? Social media use, opinion leadership, and political persuasion. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 29(2), pp.214-239.
Xiong, F. and MacKenzie, K., 2015. The business use of Twitter by Australian listed companies. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6
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