New face of media redefining acceptable corporate behaviour

At a recent roundtable discussion, public relations practitioners, business personalities and journalists revealed the extent to which new media are influencing interactions of corporations with their publics.

Social media like Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs have democratised public communications, making available information and open discussions about businesses that have for long been accustomed to a cloak of secrecy.

“The good old days where businesses had all the power and influence are over. In just 30-40 years, corporations have moved from a comfort zone where they decided what to tell the public through paid advertisements to the current situation where scrutiny comes from every direction,” said Mr David Robinson, CEO of Hill & Hamilton, an international public relations firm.

The user-created internet content has serious implications for Kenyan companies who are yet to appreciate the changing face of communications.

Kenyan bloggers are now posting their bad experiences with products and services from different companies.

The frequently bashed are service firms like telecoms.

The World Wide Web is set to change the practice of public relations.

Apart from good writing skills for traditional media like newspapers and television, PR officers will have to acquaint themselves with the informal and fast nature of online communication platforms.

Current PR scholars are emphasising the need for PR professionals to monitor and make appropriate responses to online news content coming from bloggers’ websites, really simple syndication (RSS) feeds, and online fora like Facebook or Twitter.

As more people access the internet, negative statements about an organisation, true or false, can easily spread and harm its image and bottom-line, especially if the firm does not correct the problem or issue a honest reply.

One blogger, for instance, has written about poor customer service he experienced at a Nairobi branch of a mobile company when he went to register for its money transfer service.

The next day, he wrote a scathing article on the company and its products, while providing evidence to back his claims of poor treatment.

He later wrote that the branch manager called and apologised on behalf of the customer care representatives, promising to “take stern action” and train the staff to “develop customer-centric attitudes.”

The blogger accepted the apology.

A similar incident happened, involving Comcast, a US-based communications service provider and a user.

“Most bloggers are protesters whose primary goal is not to harm the organisation but rather to make it change for the better,” Robinson said.

According to analysts, as government regulations of businesses tighten around the world, corporate reputation is emerging as an important asset whose depreciation can mark the collapse of a company.

In a survey of executives done two years ago by the European Commission, reputation was ranked as the second most important asset after products and services.

Big businesses are finding it hard to win the public’s hearts and minds as cynicism towards them grows, attributed to the collapse of major financial institutions, that set off the financial crisis, and exposure of mega fraud like Bernard Madoff’s.

In a bid to gain trust, firms, apart from meeting government regulations in various jurisdictions, are providing information on their websites, detailing their processes, products, and associations.

Consumers in the developed world, for example, research about products, often online, to find out about a company’s operations.

Consumer lobby groups exist to shun goods made in sweatshops abroad as a protest again workers’ oppression.

A sweatshop is a factory where the workers put in long hours for low pay, usually in uncomfortable or dangerous conditions.

Panellists agreed that the world has become a global village, with information about any organisation being accessible from smart phones and computers in a matter of seconds.

Get it right

For as long as businesses have existed, managers have been concerned about how to mange communications about their organisations.

But according to Robinson, the very word manage is a wrong starting point, since it implies defending what the organisation believes is right.

He says there is there “is no longer anywhere to hide,” thanks to a more connected world.

There are, however, four general principles to be observed.

One is that this is the age of accountability.

Corporations must ensure that in their process of making profits, their actions or omissions do not harm the society they operate in.

Trafigura, an international oil company, last month agreed to pay 30,000 Ivorians about Sh116,000 each in an out-of-court settlement after it was accused of dumping toxic wastes in the country that infected hundreds and caused the death of 15 people.

Trafigura received a lot of bad press and threatened international press with legal action.

The bloggers, enjoying anonymity of the internet, tore into the company with their uncensored comments.

Smart audiences

Secondly, businesses should take a reality check.

“Reality is the new dynamism. Hype and over the top statements no longer wash with smart audiences,” Robinson said.

Thirdly, thorough research is necessary in order to understand consumers and their needs.

In Kenya, for instance, several brands have been introduced and failed, a phenomenon which analysts attribute to lack of insightful consumer studies.

Finally, businesses have to listen to their stakeholders.

Multinationals, in particular, run the risk of replicating policies and projects developed in one country to the rest of its branches, ignoring inherent cultural and political differences.