Digital Communications and Social Media

Digital Communications and Social Media
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Digital Communications and Social Media
The advancements in digital communications platforms have triggered notable changes in key global industries. Presently, businesses and institutions have a wider reach when it comes to customers. On the same note, information flows faster than it happened a decade ago. With all such changes, industries such as public relations must revitalize their architecture to address the new needs. However, even amidst the positive outcomes that social media and digital communications have created, some concerns still arise for PR firms. Ethics and understanding the wide-range consumer needs mark the challenges that PR organizations face in the pursuit of social media-led campaigns. This paper focuses on the changes that social media and digital media continue to impose on the scope and practice of public relations. Understanding the nature of social media and digital communications and their implications in the scope and practice of public relations should help in constituting the best practices anchored on the viability of such platforms.
Social Media/Digital Communications
More people are seeking the inputs of social media and digital communications in their lives. Social media usage statistics indicate that more people are becoming accustomed to digital interactive platforms. At the end of 2020, 3.96 billion people were using social media. That was a significant increase from the 2.07 billion people who used social media in 2015 (Thayer et al., 2021). The average person also holds 8.6 social media accounts in 2020 compared to 4.8 accounts per individual in 2015. The average growth of social media usage has stood steadily at 12.5% since 2015 (Davis, 2021). The growth is also global, and the developing world is leading in the influx towards social media platforms. In the 2019-2020 period, Asia led in the number of users joining social media with 16.98%. The other regions also showcased a significant amount of developments in social media usage, including Africa at 13.92%, South America at 8%, North America at 6.96%, Europe at 4.32%, and Australia at 4.9% (Cindy et al., 2020). Every region in the world is showing an affinity to escalating usage of social media tools.
The increase in the applications of social media platforms has instilled changes in communication and the general human interactions in society. Communication has grown to be more efficient and fast over long distances (Thayer et al., 2021). People can easily share and receive information through social media tools. The outcomes of sharing on such platforms are instantaneous, thereby differentiating it from traditional communication tools. Studies indicate that people feel more connected with friends and family using social media tools more than any other platform. Individuals have also indicated that they find it simpler to develop friendships using social media tools. Social media has also become a platform where organizations can learn about their customers. In most cases, businesses need fast and efficient feedback from their customers, something that digital platforms and communication through social media have enhanced. With more people opting for social media inputs, organizations must be prepared to retrieve even more feedback from their consumers.
Various concerns must be addressed with the increasing reliance on social media and digital media platforms in executing campaigns. While the speed of sharing information through social media platforms has increased, it comes with the challenge of reliability. Brands that intend to keep their image intact find it more necessary to invest in countering fake news (Davis, 2021). Social media has simplified people’s ability to share information without verifying the validity of whatever they share. Unfortunately, even some corporations have indulged in the fake news wave to promote their brands, something that has ended mainly with more damages. Social media is also becoming an ethical concern, something that keeps affecting interactions on such platforms. For a long, social media organizations such as Facebook and Twitter targeted their users with specific pieces of information. Bearing the personal pieces of data that they provide on such platforms, individuals were easily targeted with some pieces of information, which is unethical on many grounds. Primarily, targeted sharing of information alienates some brands. That implies the inability to counter some information or the challenges for some brands to have their voices heard. Conducting a social media campaign must come with the sanity of understanding the scope of ethics in every public relations endeavor.
Social Media/Digital Media on PR Campaigns
Social media bears profound impacts on the present nature and inputs of public relations. Often, social media prospers in creating opportunities while instilling more challenges for PR campaigns. Social media and digital media have allowed eased consumer and brand engagement across a variety of platforms in real-time. That makes it possible to address the challenges experienced in such relationships. The platforms have also eased the emergence of powerful digital influencers that push brands with much ease. As such, brands do not need to spend much in fueling their campaigns with affordable influencers available online (Cindy et al., 2020). Conducting a social media or digital media public relations campaign should emphasize three factors such as:
Two-Way Communication
Communication has advanced beyond singular avenues. Through social media, brands showcase the opportunity to reach their consumers using a variety of channels. Each channel offers a different and unique avenue for the brands to share their content. It means that brands can easily segment their customers and reach the customers individually through different social media tools (Cindy et al., 2020). With the variety of platforms offering brands opportunities to showcase their abilities, consumers are also engaged in personal and deeper relationships with their brands through such platforms. Sharing, liking, and commenting can help in spreading PR campaigns or even brand awareness. Tow-way communication that social media tools offer in PR campaigns creates an efficiency that traditional PR mechanisms could not match.
The use of two-way communication in PR campaigns can also be challenging to brands in various ways. Principally, social media outlets give individuals a powerful voice in expressing their criticism. The fact that the platforms are open for every individual implies the possibility of spreading negativity to other consumers (Cindy et al., 2020). Consumers can be alerted of various ill elements of brands in campaigns that are poised to better the brands. The power of expression that social media delivers also gives PR a challenge. Organizations must react quickly and efficiently to the ills that come with consumer sharing powers. Bearing the speed by which information travels o social media, a simple negative opinion on a brand can easily escalate into a PR disaster even if it is untrue.
24/7 Engagement
Social media also accords PR firms and brands to engage with their consumers endlessly. At any time, brands can communicate with their consumers and address issues that they find vital to their operations. With such efficiency comes responsibility (Cindy et al., 2020). Continuous engagements raise consumer expectations. Consumers need to engage their brands whenever they are willing, and failures by the brands to respond accordingly may just lead to PR disasters. Gone are the days when consumers engaged their brands only during business hours. Most brands have been forced to extend their social media monitoring with such changes in consumer demands. PR teams presently monitor online activities to help them in engaging the necessary issues. Continuous monitoring of online activities, even though it could be expensive, helps brands to counter PR challenges at the right time. Waiting to engage consumers in specific hours in some situations can be disastrous as brands will be forced to be reactive rather than proactive (Davis, 2021). Hence, changes in engagement durations must be taken into consideration in every attempt towards developing social media campaigns.
Citizen Journalism
People are fast becoming powerful in sharing their opinions and delivering content courtesy of social media. Hence, the definition of journalism has broadened, especially with the increasing collaborations between PR professionals and powerful influencers on digital or social media platforms. More people are becoming reliant on influencers rather than mainstream media outlets to stay updated to the current events (Tang-Mui & Chan-Eang, 2017). Brands can promote their activities through multiple individuals, including spokespeople, experts, contributors, vloggers, and bloggers. The expanded citizen journalism eases the travel of information. It also disengages people from traditional tools of journalism that were time-consuming. With the advancements in citizen journalism comes the challenge of dynamism and reliability. Not every information on social media can be considered reliable (Cindy et al., 2020). People can share any piece of information they deem necessary with little scrutiny. Social media is also dynamic. N...