Social media poses challenges for public relations, as discussed in Francine Charest's article. To
build trust internally and externally, organizations should be transparent and authentic on social
media. Internally, they can use social media to engage with employees, fostering open
communication and inclusivity. Sharing updates, acknowledging achievements, and addressing
concerns helps create transparency. Encouraging employees to contribute to social media presence
enhances trust and collaboration.
Externally, organizations build trust by consistently delivering valuable content aligned with their
brand values. Sharing informative posts, responding promptly to questions and feedback, and
showcasing capability, establish reliability. Maintaining a consistent tone across platforms reinforces
credibility.
Social media can address public relations issues by providing instant and direct communication
channels. During crises, organizations can share accurate information, address concerns, and
provide real-time updates. Proactive, transparent, and sympathetic communication helps manage
public perception and control the narrative.
Additionally, social media supports an organization's culture, vision, values, and mission. Regularly
sharing content reflecting these aspects reinforces identity and creates a sense of community.
Showcasing initiatives, events, and employee stories humanizes the organization, strengthening
connections with stakeholders. Employee advocacy amplifies messaging and creates a unified brand
image.
In my experience, social media builds trust, addresses public relations issues, and supports
organizational values. Strategic and authentic use of social media establishes credibility, engages
audiences, and effectively communicates messages. Adapting strategies to the evolving social
media landscape is crucial to meet audience expectancies.
Although many people think that social media for business is mainly used for external purposes, I
have had first-hand experiences with it being used internally. The company that I am working for
now uses social media to share the fun and interesting activities that the firm does with the
employees. Although the events are necessary for “content planning”, there is content being put
out for every event. (Chareat & Zajmovic, 2016) The firm shows a wide variety of activities with
different employees every time. This gives the atmosphere of a very inclusive workplace that is
looking to engage with their employees on different levels. My place of work likes to focus on the
culture of the firm and honed in on the relationships we build through work. The old saying it takes
a village to raise a child can be synonymously used with tax season. It takes a village to survive tax
season. This method of focusing on our company’s culture and employees leads to external trust
building. The firm does a wonderful job of like Charest and Zajmovic state, creating a presence for
every audience. (Chareat & Zajmovic, 2016) Our firm works with a lot of local businesses, and the
firm can build trust through social media seeing the company going out and supporting local
businesses. In addition, our company supports volunteer and non-profit work, which is displayed on
the social media platforms. This is another way to build external relationships showing the
company’s values – ethically and morally. I think building trust and sharing the values or the
organization are one and the same. As a company if they have strong morals, they will not want to
build trust without showing their values at the same time. This would lead to relationships with
individuals or entities that are not virtuous, since there are not shared morals.
Social media can be a great tool to address public relation issues. The reason why it is so great is
because it is ever-changing. When addressing a public relations issue, social media can be a tool to
express how the company reacts to the news and the goals moving forward. After that the social
media platform can go back to “normal” in most cases. This allows for the business to keep a
confident and unified look externally, even if they do not feel that way in the halls of the office.
Social media should never be the only use to address public relations issues but merely a tool to
assist companies.
Companies use social media for many purposes, to market themselves, to create brand awareness,
to maintain relationships with stakeholders, etc. Social media are used for communication both
internally and externally. The company I work for uses the intranet as a source of information. We
can look up the directory, company values, and code of conduct. We can also open a ticket for IT
help and read the company's resources, such as new policies, new locations, new hires,
promotions, charity events, etc. For external communication, others see us through the company's
main website. There, we talk about who we are and what products and services we provide. You
can also find the company's mission and other information, such as news releases and links to the
company's other social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
To gain the trust of stakeholders, we not only talk the talk but also walk the walk. We use social
media to demonstrate our innovation for sustainable products. We repost or link to the news
release about our company, our rewards, and our recognition in the industry. We built an image of
a big corporation, a leader in our industry. We have over 300 locations worldwide and employ
thousands of workers of all levels, including scientists, engineers, designers, and other experts, to
drive innovation. We list our leadership team, including their photos. We create corporate values,
company visions, and missions that help the communities we live in and make the whole world a
better place. Without social media, delivering this information to stakeholders with constant
updates would be challenging. When internal and external stakeholders find our company on social
media, they learn about us and notice that we deliver our mission. They see our integrity and
transparency and will put their trust in our company and do business with us (Gleeson, 2012).
Social media can be used to address public relations. Companies can post new releases,
recognitions, and rewards. Companies can correct any issue, misrepresentation, or mistake in the
past. Social media pages such as Twitter and Facebook allow stakeholders to post comments and
interact with companies directly. It is an advantage because companies can build online
communities, and the communities help spread the word about the brands (Johnson, 2020).
Companies use social media to address concerns and comments in real-time, but carefully not to
damage the brand, such as getting into an argument or posting unauthorized or confidential
information. Social media, such as Twitter, delivers the news in real time to subscribers, which is a
great way to use it for public relations.
My company uses social media to support our culture, strategic vision, values, and mission. We
strive to give back to our communities through charity work. We have multiple charity events going
year-round and encourage employees to participate. For example, we plant trees, pick up recycled
items at a baseball game, clean up community parks, and give advice to students on career days.
Charity events always take up a large corner of our intranet front page with photos of team
members volunteering. This is very encouraging and creates a positive vibe and a smile for most
employees when we open a web browser because the intranet is set as our homepage. Our
company also uses social media to state our corporate values, such as 'integrity' and 'excellence'.
Team members can recommend and vote for their peers who live out the company values. We also
list our mission to become 100% recyclable by 2025. Internally and externally, social media helps
others understand our goals and learn more about who they are working with and why they want
to work with us.
References
Gleeson, Brent (2012, October 31). 6 ways brands build trust through social media. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2012/10/31/6-ways-brands-build-trust-through-social-
media
Johnson, Jamie (2020, March 4). 6 ways to use social media for public relations. US Chamber.
https://www.uschamber.com/co/grow/marketing/using-social-media-for-public-relations
Charest, F., Bouffard, J., & Zajmovic, E. (2016). Public relations and social media: Deliberate or
creative strategic planning. Public Relations Review, 42(4), 530–538.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.03.008
Charest, F. (2015, August 10). Public relations and social media: Deliberate or creative strategic
planning. Public Relations Review, 42(4), 530-538.
