Other fields of interest- PR as crisis management tool

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Due to the recent doping scandal involving Lance Armstrong, Nike has cut ties with the world famous cyclist. In cases like this crisis management is highly important to convey accurate facts and data to the general public and to specific publics in order to prevent or minimize negative publicity that could impact the success of the company. Nike reacted to the scandal by terminating the contract with Lance Armstrong but stated that they will continue to support the “LiveStrong” anti-cancer campaign founded by him (maintaining their image through corporate responsibility). In a MA thesis approach one could compare best practise examples to cases where crisis PR went horribly wrong and which factors and techniques used by the companies/brands made the difference.

Each crisis situation is unique and needs a tailored response, which makes it interesting to analyse how companies deal with crisis situations in the era of social media, where mistakes and news spread like wildfire. Companies must take into consideration that their audiences are now highly fragmented, pulling the information they consider relevant instead of filtering through what mainstream media throws at them. As a result, crisis approaches pre-social media could be compared to crisis handling post-social media, analysing whether social media is a helpful tool for PR practitioners dealing with crisis situations or not.

The German Stock Exchange - possible thesis material

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I worked 1,5 years for the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt in the Human Resources department and had the opportunity to gain insight into their communications sector, as we worked closely together. I was part of the Innovation Management Team and supported the High Potential Circle of the German Stock Exchange by organizing events as well as on-the-job trainings for the members. Looking back it would also be interesting to analyse the Exchange’s use of social media and compare it to their US competitor NYSE. If the planned merger had taken place a lot of things would have changed regarding the social media engagement, following the stronger approach taken on by NYSE. 

After reflecting on what I have learned in my social media studies so far I can already say that the German Stock Exchange should be more active on online social networks, keeping their customers informed in the most efficient way, not only on new products but also on upcoming events (up to now they do not have a Twitter account). For events also Pinterest or Instagram could be of use, making the stock exchange more interesting as an employer among students/potential employees. This would also direct the problem of staff becoming older rather than younger on an average scale. 

This approach could also be used in terms of internal communications. Pictures of in-house events could be posted on the Exchange’s Intranet page via Instagram and a blog about upcoming events and news could be integrated- also introducing the “older” staff to new channels of communications. For a MA thesis approach one could analyse the use of social media so far  (1,500 followers on Facebook vs. 90,000 followers on NYSE’s page) and how it has increased revenues so far as well as making recommendations how the company could enhance their overall social media engagement. 

Taking a global perspective & looking at industries of interest

Most PR research is conducted in the United States and it is argued that the PR discipline, especially in terms of media relations and social media, is more advanced than in the United Kingdom or Germany.  It would be interesting to take a look at the PR development in my country, knowing that in Germany PR has evolved from the propaganda regime of World War II. This could still depict a problem among customers relating PR with spin doctoring. A MA thesis approach then could be comparing German companies and their use of social media with the supposedly more advanced American ones (either proving that the US are still ahead or demonstrating that Germany has caught up). To narrow the field for research down a certain industry should be considered.

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Due to the recent crisis the financial sector is facing it could be an interesting industry to take a closer look at, especially in terms of regaining their costumers’ trust as well as re-establishing their reputation through social media engagement. However, the level of commitment and understanding of social media by the financial sector is argued to be relatively low compared to other corporate sectors (according to Cicero Group), which makes it an interesting field of investigation. The success of a financial company is based on its ability to build client relationships across the world and incorporate the latest technology to move ahead of the competition. All these qualities are essential when making the most of social media, which makes it a perfect fit for financial companies. Here my hometown Frankfurt could serve as the main point of investigation, given it is the biggest German banking district. The main focus would be on the use of social media by German banks (such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank) and to what extend they integrated online social networks into their overall PR Strategy. Those findings then could be compared with the banking sector in Manhattan, New York; looking at comparable American banks in terms of size and profit.

Frankfurt is also famous for the “Frankfurt International Airport” and with that is home to many German airlines, offering another interesting sector that could be examined, namely the air traffic industry. Big German airlines such as Lufthansa are facing immense pressure on their prices due to low budget competitors like Ryanair.  One could take a look at their long-term relationship building effectiveness through their use of social media in comparison to an American airline such as Delta. Low budget airlines are creating short -term relationships with their customers, which works for their business concept. However, I assume that Lufthansa needs to find a different approach in competing with them, which could be done by their overall PR strategy.

In this context it would also be interesting to look at the companies corporate reputation in terms of corporate communications and corporate branding. Unfortunately, that course won’t take place until next year. However, I will take it into consideration again once I’ve participated and learned more about theories and concepts regarding corporate communication. 

PR and social networks – potential MA thesis material

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Thinking about possible MA thesis topics brings me back to my BA thesis. The topic of my bachelor thesis was “Forms of Address in Online Social Networks-A Contrastive Analysis of English and German”.  I looked at Facebook and a German social network site (StudiVZ), and analysed the linguistic elements of language displayed. This linguistic approach was rather interesting, given the limited space people had to depict their thoughts and convey their messages. This analysis concentrated on individuals using Facebook as a private sphere addressing their friends and loved ones.

However, I think Facebook has expanded to being a PR tool by opening their site to organisations and as a result businesses have quickly picked up on including online social networks into their overall PR strategy. Furthermore, companies are becoming aware of the fact that there is only limited space, even more so considering Twitter (people have to make most of their 140 characters). The way of communicating with their audiences is crucial for doing business, messages have to be to the point, catch people’s attention and trigger that extra click to the main article or video being referred to. For my MA thesis it would be interesting to analyse how companies use Facebook and Twitter, and whether they are communicating effectively or ruining their reputation with their tweets and posts.

A relevant theory in this analysis would be the “6 part model of cyber-interactivity” established by Ferber, Foltz and Pugliese. The audience’s response behaviour as well as the way of communicating used by the company could draw conclusions on the relationship they have established with their audiences. After getting familiar with this theory by applying it to an NGO’s use of social media in our group project, I thought it would be interesting to draw on it when looking at a company’s social media involvement, in particular when taking social networks into account. In my opinion, that’s the part where it gets tricky, considering that Facebook as well as Twitter were initially seen as private spaces, which are now invaded by companies. In that sense, companies need to be careful about how they communicate their messages and try not to come across as trying too hard. They have to be transparent in their communications while trying to build a trust worthy relationship with their costumers. In addition, they need to establish a long-term relationship with their costumers through their use of social media, and unfortunately most companies do not do too well. To analyse the use of Twitter and Facebook by companies one could look at the most successful companies (those with the most followers/retweets/shares etc.) and analyse what tactics they are using to grab their followers attention.