Friday, May 28, 2010

PR in Kenya 2015 and beyond

I gathered four friends( Media planner, two Journalists, a Banker and I )yesterday evening to discuss the PR industry trends and we concluded that the following salient points are going to shape near future of communication, marketing and PR trends before 2015.

* Social networks (facebook, twitter) are going to be used for accelerating the spread of "trusted" news and info. For instance, after the Safaricom twenty billion result would have reached thousands even before the one o’clock news had it been shared immediately after the press conference?
* Communication is going to be democratized as an organizational function both within and outside the organization .It will no longer be the role of the PR and marketing departments to communicate; everyone MUST be your brand ambassador.

* We are also predicting a drastic growth of mobile channels and services as the dominant e-commerce platform and sales driver, respectively. For instance instead of having billboards in Embu town because you are launching a certain product in that region, you can approach one of the mobile companies and pay them to send a broadcast text to people in that region only...

* The realignment of media relations wherein individuals, versus organizations, will have the ability to create a viral story ....An OpEd by a writer in the Daily Nation will lead to viral discussions to get the consumer oriented solution ....Media will only set the agenda but not necessarily sway our opinions. (ke-internetusers@bdix.net is already doing this)

4 comments:

Tom Kwanya said...

Hi Paul. True, technology will largely drive Public Relations operations in the new future. The main challenge, however, is how to catalyze a paradigm change amongst PR practitioners who normally use the one-way communication models. Press releases, letters to shareholders or even the SMS solution you have predicted here, all come from one "trusted" source. That is how most PR currently works. To utilize ICTs effectively, the practitioners will have to figure out how to embrace social media and apply multidirectional communication and engagement models. Remember, that the ultimate objective of PR is really not the numbers reached or "mass" audiences (remember demassification?) but the quality of engagement leading to sustainable mutual understanding and benefits. Cheers!

Paul Barasa said...

True Tom.
But again as PR practitioner,we are jailed by unseen golden chains that categorically states we should be the custodians of positive information from the brand or company,As much as am embracing social media as a duo communication channel am not sure if i want to lose control of the message.For instance if I start a company fan page(facebook) will I let every Dick Tom and Harry to comment???What if the comment is from a disgruntled customer.? or competitor aiming to derail my campaign?

Paul Barasa said...

Fri, May 28, 2010 11:50:43 AM
Re: [ke-internetusers] Whats your opinion on the prediction on PR trends.
...
From:
Tom Kwanya [Chat now]
...
View Contact
To: paul Barassa
Yes, that challenge lingers but remember that PR ought to be objective and true. So, allowing third parties to reinforce your message would be ideal and, perhaps, even more beneficial. From a PR perspective, should a company fear disgruntled customers? Again, should it not be great to let third parties counter the disgruntled customer and put a good word for you on the Fan page? I understand your concerns, and indeed it is the concern of many, but we must urgently figure out how to let go of the message without jeopardising our corporate/clients' missions. We cannot maintain "the disgruntled customer be damned" attitude or should we?

KN said...

Thanks for the info....