Entry 1- Internal Communications

The online environment has taken the PR world by storm in the last few years. Social media and the World Wide Web are changing the way that practitioners deal with day to day PR jobs, internal communications have massively improved within PR thanks to the help of the online environment. The use of staff emails and weekly bulletins are no longer how businesses communicate internally, “press releases, email campaigns and blogs” (Varney, C. 2014) are now key forms of businesses communicating internally. These platforms are creating “positive results that occur through employee interactions, e.g. higher retention rate of staff and the creation of brand advocates who are passionate about their work”. (Varney, C. 2014) This allows PR practitioners to communicate with their staff through the use of the online world, it allows employees to have a voice and be heard, creating a happy work environment. “The way the internet has changed is a reflection of a much wider change in society” (R. Brown, 2009, p.2), this quote demonstrates that the online environment is increasingly growing and impacting PR practitioners especially when it comes to internal communications.

A company that I have come across when conducting research is Nokia and their use of internal communications through the use of the online environment. Nokia have a motto about the “connection of people through communication”, (Varney, C. 2014) this is demonstrated through their internal communication channels within the company. They use a tool called “bloghub” which is Nokia’s “powerful internal communication system that allows employees to create their own community through posts and videos”. (Varney, C. 2014) This allows PR practitioners to communicate with their employees on their own level and it allows an “exchange of knowledge and opinions”. (Carr, P. 2014) As well as bloghub Nokia also have platforms such as videohub, Infopedia and Nokia conversations which are also internal communications that allow employees to collaborate with each other and “gets employees in the know about the latest Nokia product news”. (Carr, P. 2014) This example really clarifies how the online environment has affected the way PR practitioners communicate internally with their staff. It highlights the fact that it must be effective for PR practitioners to internally communicate with their employees using the online platforms because worldwide companies such as Nokia are using internal communications on a daily basis.

The online environment has had a massive effect on PR practitioners especially when it comes to communication. Social media has caused waves through the PR world, it can be used to help build a positive reputation but could also destroy a reputation with one bad tweet. These online communication channels are important to PR practitioners as this is what they use on a daily basis to communicate. Internal communications and the online world have changed the way employees communicate, it’s now so much easier for them to voice their opinion and share their knowledge and experience within the business.

To conclude, this quote sums up nicely that the online world has affected PR practice especially when it comes to external and internal communication. “Various new and emerging technologies have significantly empowered a wide variety of strategic publics by giving them dynamic ways to communicate with a variety of internal and external audiences” (Donald K. Wright and Michelle Hinson 2014). PR practitioners can now communicate with their employees internally within the company as well as sharing their knowledge and experience of the company with other team members.

References

Chelsea Varney (2014) Using social media for internal communications [blog] 17^th January 2014. Available at: https://www.brandwatch.com/2014/01/internal-communications-a-look-at-the-untold-story-of-marketing/ [Accessed on 26^th November 2015]

Donald K. Wright and Michelle Hinson (2014) Examining How Social and Other Emerging Media Are Being Used in Public Relations [blog], 22^nd July 2014. Available at:  http://www.instituteforpr.org/examining-social-emerging-media-used-public-relations/ [Accessed on 27^th November 2015]

International Public Relations Association, (2015) An approach to the practice of external communication: global trends inside a hyper-mediatised context [online] Available at: http://www.ipra.org/itl/02/2015/an-approach-to-the-practice-of-external-communication-global-trends-inside-a-hyper-mediatised-context [Accessed on: 27^th November 2015]

Peter Carr (2014) Nokia Actively Communication with Employees Worldwide [blog] 5^th June 2014. Available at: https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2014/06/nokia-actively-communication-with-employees-worldwide  [Accessed on 26^th November 2015]