Former Principal Advisor – Communication, Reserve Bank Of India
Evolving PR Scene: From Here to Where?
Way back in the late eighties and early nineties, the biggest game changer in the way we communicated was emergence of internet and owned media. Both together enabled direct and instant communication with all the stakeholders without missing out on the nuances of communication. Emergence of owned media also diminished the need for an interlocutor. Now the companies possess the ability to directly communicate with all its stakeholders. Albeit, this requires corporates themselves to write jargon-free, simple messages for all their stakeholders. And that is primarily the job of corp comms and PR agencies.
From PR to Corp Comm
Gone are the days when a public relations (PR) person did very little beyond booking flight tickets of the boss and arranging for corporate gifts. PR was synonymous with keeping good relations, mainly with media on whom it was dependent on reaching its key messages. Through the years, PR evolved much beyond eulogies. It became a communication bridge between the company and the outside world. The role is no longer known as PR but is known as corporate communication or corp comm as it is widely known. From ‘just anyone can do it’ to ‘employing a specialist’ is slowly becoming the norm. Creating and maintaining the image of the company is the main role of today’s corp comm.
Keeping good relations, especially with media has become a means to an end. The role has metamorphosed. Its no longer ticket booking, entertaining or wining and dining. Its about information and education. Its about first building the image of the company by articulating the company’s vision, mission and other information and then maintaining that image by reiterating all that in various contexts. This has to be in an engaging and sometimes even educative manner but never in a preachy way.
Social media, AI and all of that
Comes social media – the media that Millennials and Gen Zs use the most – overtaking the traditional media in outreach and engagement. Social media has changed the way communication takes place. Packaged in small snackable form, content is now consumed on the go. The reading habit among stakeholders has started diminishing. Influencers have found social media to be advantageous and started flooding them with opinions – in exchange for monetary reward or otherwise. Instead of just media, now companies also have to influence the influencers so that they in turn can influence stakeholders. Interlocutors thus have occupied the minds of the stakeholders. The independence of media which gave its reports some credibility has vanished. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the stakeholders to distinguish between independent opinion and opinion that is orchestrated.
Meanwhile, new game changers are slowly emerging – Artificial Intelligence, 5G and Internet of Things. The game is about to change. With AI, AR and VR, people look for more immersive experiences and not just content in snackable sachets. The difference between journalists and influencers is fast blurring. Content making for social media, such as, YouTube, Instagram, X, Snapchat, is quite easy and makes yesterday’s interlocutors today’s influencers. However, a plethora of influencers, AI and Deepfakes have taken the toll on trust factor. It is difficult for the stakeholders to decide whom to trust and whom not to for information that they can use. This is especially true in finance space where frauds and scams which cause financial losses to the individuals are rampant.
The question in the minds of communicators is – From here to where?
A strategist with a seat at the table
A few things are clear. Proliferation of social media and influencers are going to co-exist with traditional media and companies will have to communicate with both. The risk of company’s image quickly being tarnished is much higher now with social media making negative opinions viral in no time. AI is going to be a part of a communicator’s life but it will be upto the communicator to make intelligent use of it. That communication no longer going to be just creating and managing company’s image. It will be more about reputation management.
The world is dynamic today. Soon corp comms will have to become strategists with focus on building and managing reputation of the organisations they work for. This will require knowledge of the organisation’s business and ability to design a strategy to build and maintain a definite image of the organisation in public mind. More importantly, the corp comm persons will not be just employees of the organisation. They will have to be strategists along with other members of the top management. They will have to contribute to corporate decision making by weighing them on the reputation scale. It will therefore be imperative for company’s management to recognise communication as an important function and give the corp comm person a seat at the table. Being a part of the decision making body in the organisation will be a great enabler for the corp comm persons as they will be articulating and communicating the company’s vision better with the outside world by being privy to the rationale of the decisions made and articulation of decisions by the top management. That’s where the corp comm will belongs – occupying a seat at the table.
Communicators too will need to learn how to remain authentic and relevant. They will need to lean how to intelligently use tools, such as, AI to be more effective anad more efficient. Repetitive content and tasks can be assigned to AI for efficiency and freeing up human time for more creative tasks. But human element will remain crucial for emotional connection and insights to build that connection with the stakeholders. Communicators will also have to be aware of the pitfalls of using AI. Biases in data, hallucinations, absence of emotions could lead to avoidable errors. Most importantly, they will have to know about the core of the company’s business in all this and be worthy of that seat at the table.