Functions of corporate communication

by KIMATI ELITRUDAH

MEDIA RELATIONS

This may be the function for which corporate

communication managers are best known. Media

relations work includes writing and distributing

news releases and responding to media inquiries.

Corporate communicators oversee all planning for

news conferences, including selecting the site for

an event, arranging for banners and other

graphics to be displayed at the event, preparing

packets of information to distribute to the media

and preparing executives to speak at news

conferences. Media relations also involves

arranging for spokespersons to appear on local

television and radio programs. Corporate

communicators monitor newspapers, television news

broadcasts and other outlets to see what the

media is saying about the company and to devise

strategies to address misinformation.

Public Relations

Building relationships with customers and

responding to inquiries from the public fall under

the public relations function of corporate

communications. Duties in this area include

producing newsletters, brochures and other

printed materials designed for the general public.

Corporate communicators also manage a company’s

website and social media presence, which includes

monitoring what customers and clients are saying

about the company on social networking websites

and responding to inaccurate posts or requests

for information. Communication professionals may

respond directly to calls and emails from citizens

and customers with questions about a company’s

plans or activities. They arrange for speakers

from the company to make presentations to local

community groups and may facilitate group tours

of a company’s operations.

Related Reading: The Importance of personnel

Staffing to a Business Office Manager

CRISIS COMMUNICATION

When an event occurs that threatens public safety

or a company’s reputation, corporate

communicators function as advisers to CEOs and

senior leaders in managing the crisis. Special

training in the issues unique to crisis

communication helps corporate communicators

prepare for events such as chemical spills, violence

in the workplace, an accidental death on the job,

layoff announcements and allegations of company

wrongdoing. They often work with staff

throughout their organizations to develop crisis

communication plans before disaster strikes. A

crisis may require communications staff to work

with attorneys, government regulators, political

officials, emergency response personnel and

communications staff from other companies when

developing crisis messages.

EMPLOYEES COMMUNICATION

In addition to conveying a company’s messages to

external audiences, corporate communicators may

also be called on to function as employee

communications managers, which includes designing

printed publications and writing emails to

announce company news, benefits information and

training opportunities. Corporate communicators

may facilitate focus groups to learn what issues

matter most to front-line employees. They advise

senior leaders on how to improve relationships with

their staff and gain support for their initiatives.

The corporate communications staff may also

manage a company’s Intranet and internal blogs.

TRADE SHOWS AND EXHIBITION

TRADE SHOWS AND EXHIBITION

A trade fair. trade show or trade exhibition,  is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of rivals, and examine recent market trends and opportunities.  An event at which companies show their products and services to customers and possible customers.

Benefits and risks of trade shows and exhibitions

From visibility to credibility, exhibiting at a trade show has hundreds of benefits for your business. Establishing a presence, whether big or small, for your company at a trade show gives you a powerful platform for meeting new customers, reaching out to your existing client and building a more established and reliable brand

A lot of businesses are put off exhibiting at a trade show because of the cost. It’s true – developing a great trade show exhibit, training your staff members, and travelling to the event itself is not a very cheap process. However, like most forms of marketing, with the right strategy, a trade show can be a very profitable choice

Consider the benefits and risks to your business when deciding to exhibit your product or service. These will be different for each event; however, there can be a lot to gain from promoting your product in person within a different environment.

Benefits

Trade shows are generally targeted at an industry and people involved or interested in that industry. Exhibiting at a trade show can be a great way to advertise to a target market and create brand awareness.

Exhibitions are open to a large and sometimes diverse range of audiences (usually the general public). This provides you with a platform to promote your product or service to a broader group that may have little or no knowledge of your products and services.

Depending on your type of business, product and market testing can be carried out at trade shows and exhibitions to gain industry or general opinion about your offering.

Being involved in a trade show or exhibition can provide you with opportunities to branch out to business-to-business trading and create a customer database from the visitors to your display booth.

Risks

It is also important to ensure that you have thoroughly researched attending a trade show or exhibition, and if you have a business adviser, discuss it with them. There are risks involved and you need to be aware of those risks in the planning stages:

1.    Trade shows require at least a day and probably more of your time.

2.    Travelling to trade shows can be costly.

3.     Displaying at a trade show can also be costly.

4.     There will probably be quite a bit of competition at all shows.

Choosing the wrong trade show to exhibit your business's products or services can result in displaying to the wrong audience. Poor promotion can mean the costs of attending the trade show outweigh any revenue you gain.

BY MKULA DENNIS

By Ally Amina 

Effective corporate communication skills typically involve speaking, listening, writing and reading. To start testing your skills, take an online test, participate in a workshop or complete self-paced training that assesses your ability to function in a corporate environment. On the job, ask for feedback from your coworkers, managers, customers and suppliers about your ability to convey a business message. By incorporating their input into your communication strategy, you increase your chances for making yourself understood without misunderstandings or causing unintended offense.

Step 1

Plan your message. Take some time to figure out what you want say, write or show. Focus on establishing a purpose for your message. To test your skills, validate your assumptions with a coworker. For example, list the objectives for teaching a coworker how to accomplish a task. Ask her if you have provided enough detail to accomplish the chore. Revise your steps if you provided too little detail. Remove some steps if you offered extraneous information that does not pertain to the task at hand. In general, keep your messages short and simple.

Step 2

Create a clear and concise message. Test your message on selected members of your target audience before sending it out. For example, to announce a change in product support, create a paragraph of text that provides details about the changes. Send an email to selected customers and follow-up with a phone call to test your communication skills. Determine if your message conveyed your intentions appropriately. Revise your message if you don't receive the desired results. To communicate effectively, try to anticipate your audience's reaction and anticipate comments and concerns.

Step 3

Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation. Using free online tools, you can test your ability to provide well-written content. Avoid jargon and use a tone that is appropriate for the situation. Avoid humor unless you are sure that that audience understands your intent. Use visual images to support your text. If you communicate with an international audience, verify that you have not used words or phrases that may unintentionally offend your readers.

Step 4

Choose the right mechanism to send your message. Test your ability to choose the best communication channel by following up with the recipient. For example, avoid sending emotional messages by email. Resist the temptation to leave a long voice mail with multiple steps for completing a complex task.

Step 5

Use active listening. Give your attention to the speaker and avoid unnecessary distractions to ensure you fully understand. Test your understanding by paraphrasing what was said, asking questions and repeating key messages.

byJohn Cafrene

Introduction

According to McLuhan (1969), the term “new media” will in general refer to those digital media, which are interactive, incorporate two-way communication and involve some form of computing as opposed to “old media” such as the telephone, radio and TV.

These older media, which in their original incarnation did not require computer technology, now in their present configuration make use of computer technology as do so many other technologies, which are not necessarily communication media like refrigerators and motor cars. Many “new media” emerged by combining an older medium with computer chips and a hard drive. We have surrounded the term “new media” with quotation marks to signify that they are digital interactive media. When we use the term new media without quotation marks we are generically denoting media. What’s new about today’s “new media” is that they are digital, they are linked and cross linked with each other and the information they mediate is very easily processed, stored, transformed, retrieved, linked and perhaps most radical of all easily searched for and accessed. This is why I believe that McLuhan’s stunning analysis of the new media of his day, namely electric mass media, and their total transformation of education, work and society deserves and requires an updating.

Summmary

In brief, the new media have taken over the old media whereby the advancement of technology in this 20^th c have clearly established the boundaries between the old media and new media. Therefore people depend much on the new media for information circulation.

Applicability of New Media

The new media is interactive because it makes the virtual community whereby people interact in various social media such as twitter, instagram, whatsapp and facebook. The difference between new media and old media is that, the new media is interactive and feedback is immediate. Therefore the corporate communication practitioners are able to communicate with the stakeholders.

Interactivity of the New Media

The interaction of these people in social media is what is making the two way communication.

In various businesses and companies, the corporate communication personals make sure that they interact with their customers and other stakeholders.

In most cases the corporate communication professionals interact with the customers when they want their views about the new product. Or about the advertisements.

For example the telecommunication companies like Airtel, have an instagram account in which they interact with their users and customers. The interaction is mostly about the quality of their services and the ability to adapt to the new service. Or their reaction to the promotion.

Also the customers may share the information among themselves, concerning the quality and quantity of the products and the services.

These customers may make the virtual community through creating the groups in whatsapp, instagram and facebook.

Impact of the New Media in Corporate Communication

Helps the corporate communication to communicate well with the stakeholders such as customers, donors and investors.

The corporate communication practitioner sends the information to the virtual community concerning any changes about the organization. These changes could be about the product, services or the branding.

BY KIMATI ELITRUDAH

Introduction: What isn’t new media?
New Media is a 21 st Century catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound. In fact, the definition of new media changes daily, and will continue to do so. New media evolves and morphs continuously. What it will be tomorrow is virtually unpredictable for most of us, but we do know that it will continue to evolve in fast and furious ways. However, in order to understand an extremely complex and amorphous concept we need a base line. Since Wikipedia has become one of the most popular storehouses of knowledge in the new media age, it would be beneficial to begin there:
Wikipedia defines New Media as:
“… a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the "democratization" of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. What distinguishes new media from traditional media is the digitizing of content into bits. There is also a dynamic aspect of content production which can be done in real time, but these offerings lack standards and have yet to gain traction.
Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is an example, combining Internet accessible digital text, images and video with web-links, creative participation of contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a participant community of editors and donors for the benefit of non-community readers. Facebook is an example of the social media model, in which most users are also participants.
Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive. [1] Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs. New media does not include television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications – unless they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity.“
As a consequence of the quick embrace of New Media by business, causes, communications, and a multitude of others, the question of “what is new media?” did not receive an official or standardized response. Instead, responses to this question have often entailed a series of hackneyed keywords or empty phrases whose effectiveness is yet to be determined. The question of new media isn’t a question that merely indexes new toys and tools. Rather, there is a qualitative question that lurks beneath the shining surface of the screen brandishing the images we associate as products or elements of New Media. A good question to ask instead of “what is new media?” is “what isn’t new media?” To be sure, there are some definite signposts to guide the twenty-first century user’s query.
The term “new media” seems to escape its very definition. Loosely, new media is a way of organizing a cloud of technology, skills, and processes that change so quickly that it is impossible to fully define just what those tools and processes are. For example, the cell phone in the late 1980’s could be thought of as part of new media, while today the term might only apply selectively to a certain type of phone with a given system of applications, or even more commonly, the content of those apps. Part of the difficulty in defining New Media is that there is an elusive quality to the idea of “new.” The very prospect of being new denotes an event just beyond the horizon, something that has only just arrived and which we are just beginning to get our hands on. Perhaps in searching for a suitable characterization for this network of tools and ideas is the idea of limitless possibility. Limitless possibility for communication, for innovation, and education is certainly a fundamental element that shapes our conceptions of new media usage from now on.
Nevertheless, in seeking a definition of “New Media” we need some basic tenets that can help us get a better positive understanding of what New Media is beyond what New Media isn’t. New media can be characterized by the variegated use of images, words, and sounds. These networks of images, sounds, and text data are different from old media formats such as hardcopy newspapers because of the nesting characteristic.
Nesting is a way of organizing of the presentation of information according to subjects while paying secondary attention to context. In the place of context, nesting (most commonly seen in text or image hyper-linking) is a format that fosters organization in a way in which elements interact with one another instead of simply following a straight order. This new organization of data does not require a “back story” and each interactive element of information stands alone. New media requires a non-linear interpretation, since many sources are often oriented around the same subject-center, but are not always collated. At the end of the day all this means is that one of the primary characteristics of new media is that it is freed from the linear restrictions of older formats such as newspapers, books, and magazines.
Perhaps this conception of new media is only part of the whole picture and the skeletal outlines of a much more profound discussion. We recognize that many online interfaces enrich university and office experiences, making nested and comprehensible write-ups, drop-boxes, and support-based chat centers. The first thing that anyone using “new media” in the twenty first century realizes is that the technology and capability for innovation does not necessarily determine its usefulness or it’s potential. Of course, that all rests on the shoulders of the user, or does it?

ETHICS IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

ETHICS IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Ethics in Business Communication

Communication is the process by which individuals exchange information between other individuals or groups of people. Throughout the process, effective communicators try as clearly and accurately to convey their thoughts, intentions and objectives to their receiver. Communication is successful only when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information. In today's business environments, effective communication skills are necessary due to the highly informational and technological era.

Regardless of context, communication involves choice, reflects values, and has consequences. For better communication, understanding the obvious and the subtle issues relating to communication is necessary. Any company that aims to be socially and ethically responsible must make a priority of ethical communication both inside the company and in its interactions with the public. In theory, many consumers prefer to do business with companies they believe are ethical which gives those ethical businesses an advantage in the market.

Ethical issues of business communication are one such issue. Some of the vital characteristics of ethical communication are discussed below.

1. Conveying the point without offending the audience

While communicating to the audience, conveying the desired message to them in a significant manner is of primary importance. For instance, the employees in a company can be asked to increase their efficiency in a demanding manner whereas managers and executives will feel offended if the same tone is used on them. There are different ways to explain the exact things to them in a much smoother manner.

2. Maintain a relationship with the audience

Maintaining the same wavelength with the audience is very important for a communicator to ensure the audiences feel at home. Experienced communicators immediately build a relationship based on trust with the audience as soon as they start speaking. Great orators such as Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi always were able to maintain a relationship with their audience because they were masters at striking the same wavelength of the audience.

3. Avoid withholding crucial information

In the modern era, information is vital for all decisions. Hence, it is vital for any organization to be cautious when communicating with the public. The communicated information should be absolute and all vital information must be conveyed appropriately. Purposely withholding crucial information might result in the public conceiving a bad image.

4. Well organized value system:

In order to ensure that this concept is successfully practiced and understood in an organization, a well-organized value system must be established throughout the organization by the top management. If an organization functions on the base of value systems common to both the top management and the employees, mutual respect between them will be present. A sound and healthy value system can make way for ethical communication.

5. Accuracy of information is necessary:

Any information that is to be passed on must be true and accurate. Communicating without checking the truth of the information can be highly dangerous for the organization. Identification of the source and testing the information is necessary before communicating it.

By Mkula Dennis

CULTURE IN DIGITAL AGE

ALLY AMINA

The digital age, also called the information age, is defined as the time period starting in the 1970s with the introduction of the personal computer with subsequent technology introduced providing the ability to transfer information freely and quickly

Digitalization is imposing many challenges on cultural transformation of organizational, practice related to individuals, institutions users and producers

When we think of marketing and social media in organizations it’s often with the focus being on the external environment and our external customers. This is not wrong by any means, but I think we can too often take for granted another key stakeholder we are communicating to, our internal customers, our employees.

Our employees make up who we are as an organization and they have a great impact on our culture. The questions we have to constantly ask as leaders are “What experience am I creating for them?” And, “Is it aligned with the culture I want in the organization?” Social Media and how we use it as an organization can have a great impact in creating experiences that impact the culture. Social Media creates experiences, period. The experiences employees are having, both by external and internal communication, in organizations greatly impact how they think and act at work and if they are truly engaged or not.  Leaders need to recognize that all experiences create culture, and their culture is either working for them or against them that is Change the Culture, Change the Game. Social Media provides a very powerful, viral experience that can help accelerate the needed cultural changes internally. The platforms will come and go, but how organizations leverage people as the media in a smart way 

The web has become the place where young people most find their opportunity to explore and express their identities and their social relations,. The greatest transformation with the web compared with television, radio and print is that the technology puts the kids in the centre as culture creators rather than culture consumers. Not only does this upset traditional top-down marketing models but it also means that a single youth culture is now almost impossible to pin down But now, with so many technological touch points and interest-driven groups, there's no single social change that catalyses them. We are at a period in which our societies are coming to grips with the new technology. Part of the process is watching how people who have never experienced anything else push the boundaries. The Internet has been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where everyone can be heard and all can participate equally. But how true is this claim? It is argues that for all that we tweet  and like  and share in the Internet  in fact reflects and amplifies real-world inequities at least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line.

NETWORK SOCIETY   
By John Cafrene             

 The network society can be defined as a social formation with an infrastructure of social and media networks enabling its prime mode of organization at all levels (individual, group, organizational and societal). Increasingly, these networks link all units or parts of this formation. In western societies, the individual linked by networks is becoming the basic unit of the network society. In eastern societies, this might still be the group (family, community, work team) linked by networks.

In the contemporary process of individualization, the basic unit of the network society has become the individual who is linked by networks. This is caused by simultaneous scale extension (nationalization and internationalization) and scale reduction (smaller living and working environments) other kinds of communities arise.

Daily living and working environments are getting smaller and more heterogeneous, while the range of the division of labour, interpersonal communications and mass media extends. So, the scale of the network society is both extended and reduced as compared to the mass society. The scope of the network society is both global and local, sometimes indicated as “global”. The organization of its components (individuals, groups, organizations) is no longer tied to particular times and places. Aided by information and communication technology, these coordinates of existence can be transcended to create virtual times and places and to simultaneously act, perceive and think in global and local terms.

The network society is a hyper social society, not a society of isolation. People, by and large, do not face their identity in the Internet, except for some teenagers experimenting with their lives. People fold the technology into their lives, link up virtual reality and real virtuality they live in various technological forms of communication, articulating them as they need it.

 However, there is a major change in sociability, not a consequence of Internet or new communication technologies but a change that is fully supported by the logic embedded in the communication networks. This is the emergence of networked individualism, as social structure and historical evolution induce the emergence of individualism as the dominant culture of our societies, and the new communication Technologies perfectly fit into the mode of building sociability along self-selected communication networks, on or off depending on the needs and moods of each individual. So, the network society is a society of networked individuals.

Introduction: What isn’t new media?

By Kimati Elitrudah New Media is a 21 st Century catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound. In fact, the definition of new media changes daily, and will continue to do so. New media evolves and morphs continuously. What it will be tomorrow is virtually unpredictable for most of us, but we do know that it will continue to evolve in fast and furious ways. However, in order to understand an extremely complex and amorphous concept we need a base line. Since Wikipedia has become one of the most popular storehouses of knowledge in the new media age, it would be beneficial to begin there:
Wikipedia defines New Media as:
“… a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the "democratization" of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. What distinguishes new media from traditional media is the digitizing of content into bits. There is also a dynamic aspect of content production which can be done in real time, but these offerings lack standards and have yet to gain traction.
Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is an example, combining Internet accessible digital text, images and video with web-links, creative participation of contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a participant community of editors and donors for the benefit of non-community readers. Facebook is an example of the social media model, in which most users are also participants.
Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive. [1] Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs. New media does not include television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications – unless they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity.“
As a consequence of the quick embrace of New Media by business, causes, communications, and a multitude of others, the question of “what is new media?” did not receive an official or standardized response. Instead, responses to this question have often entailed a series of hackneyed keywords or empty phrases whose effectiveness is yet to be determined. The question of new media isn’t a question that merely indexes new toys and tools. Rather, there is a qualitative question that lurks beneath the shining surface of the screen brandishing the images we associate as products or elements of New Media. A good question to ask instead of “what is new media?” is “what isn’t new media?” To be sure, there are some definite signposts to guide the twenty-first century user’s query.
The term “new media” seems to escape its very definition. Loosely, new media is a way of organizing a cloud of technology, skills, and processes that change so quickly that it is impossible to fully define just what those tools and processes are. For example, the cell phone in the late 1980’s could be thought of as part of new media, while today the term might only apply selectively to a certain type of phone with a given system of applications, or even more commonly, the content of those apps. Part of the difficulty in defining New Media is that there is an elusive quality to the idea of “new.” The very prospect of being new denotes an event just beyond the horizon, something that has only just arrived and which we are just beginning to get our hands on. Perhaps in searching for a suitable characterization for this network of tools and ideas is the idea of limitless possibility. Limitless possibility for communication, for innovation, and education is certainly a fundamental element that shapes our conceptions of new media usage from now on.
Nevertheless, in seeking a definition of “New Media” we need some basic tenets that can help us get a better positive understanding of what New Media is beyond what New Media isn’t. New media can be characterized by the variegated use of images, words, and sounds. These networks of images, sounds, and text data are different from old media formats such as hardcopy newspapers because of the nesting characteristic.
Nesting is a way of organizing of the presentation of information according to subjects while paying secondary attention to context. In the place of context, nesting (most commonly seen in text or image hyper-linking) is a format that fosters organization in a way in which elements interact with one another instead of simply following a straight order. This new organization of data does not require a “back story” and each interactive element of information stands alone. New media requires a non-linear interpretation, since many sources are often oriented around the same subject-center, but are not always collated. At the end of the day all this means is that one of the primary characteristics of new media is that it is freed from the linear restrictions of older formats such as newspapers, books, and magazines.
Perhaps this conception of new media is only part of the whole picture and the skeletal outlines of a much more profound discussion. We recognize that many online interfaces enrich university and office experiences, making nested and comprehensible write-ups, drop-boxes, and support-based chat centers. The first thing that anyone using “new media” in the twenty first century realizes is that the technology and capability for innovation does not necessarily determine its usefulness or it’s potential. Of course, that all rests on the shoulders of the user, or does it?

HOW TO TEST YOUR CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS

By Ally Amina 

Effective corporate communication skills typically involve speaking, listening, writing and reading. To start testing your skills, take an online test, participate in a workshop or complete self-paced training that assesses your ability to function in a corporate environment. On the job, ask for feedback from your coworkers, managers, customers and suppliers about your ability to convey a business message. By incorporating their input into your communication strategy, you increase your chances for making yourself understood without misunderstandings or causing unintended offense.

Step 1

Plan your message. Take some time to figure out what you want say, write or show. Focus on establishing a purpose for your message. To test your skills, validate your assumptions with a coworker. For example, list the objectives for teaching a coworker how to accomplish a task. Ask her if you have provided enough detail to accomplish the chore. Revise your steps if you provided too little detail. Remove some steps if you offered extraneous information that does not pertain to the task at hand. In general, keep your messages short and simple.

Step 2

Create a clear and concise message. Test your message on selected members of your target audience before sending it out. For example, to announce a change in product support, create a paragraph of text that provides details about the changes. Send an email to selected customers and follow-up with a phone call to test your communication skills. Determine if your message conveyed your intentions appropriately. Revise your message if you don't receive the desired results. To communicate effectively, try to anticipate your audience's reaction and anticipate comments and concerns.

Step 3

Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation. Using free online tools, you can test your ability to provide well-written content. Avoid jargon and use a tone that is appropriate for the situation. Avoid humor unless you are sure that that audience understands your intent. Use visual images to support your text. If you communicate with an international audience, verify that you have not used words or phrases that may unintentionally offend your readers.

Step 4

Choose the right mechanism to send your message. Test your ability to choose the best communication channel by following up with the recipient. For example, avoid sending emotional messages by email. Resist the temptation to leave a long voice mail with multiple steps for completing a complex task.

Step 5

Use active listening. Give your attention to the speaker and avoid unnecessary distractions to ensure you fully understand. Test your understanding by paraphrasing what was said, asking questions and repeating key messages.

Cyber politics and globalization

by John Cafrene

 Cyber politics is an international relation involves political system and network society which result into cyber politics (cyber Activism). Involves the political activities or movement that are activated because of the emergence of internet.  The law of politics, though subject to debate among some political

Cyber activism

Is the process whereby a communication technique is used in the internet to create, operate and manage activities in the internet. It allows an organization or individual to utilize social networks and other online technologies to reach and gather followers, broadcast message and progress a cause of movement. Cyber activism is also known as internet activism, online activism or digital activism.

Cyber  activism working principle is to initiate a citizen-based movement toward a specific goal, cause, or objective. The cyber activism uses social networking tools and platforms to share and broadcast mottos and message. This include twitter, face book, YouTube.

As public relation manager can use the cyber politics to motivate the stake holders, to join their promotions advice them on the use of, their products and services and its advantage on them.

The types of cyber activism

Internet-working takes place in the level of the organization and global grass root. These are the communications that take place in the internet in order to initiate a movement within an organization. We use internet in mobilizing people on what they think is right.

The capital and information flow

People may use the internet to generate capital and enhance power the internet can be used to take out the power of those funding political system so that the political system may have no capital and take down the political system. Also people can use the internet to convince people to donate for a certain political system  (the use of the internet to circulate the information that will go viral)

Direct cyberactivism

The direct cyber activism has three types that is

Internet sit(work)in they use internet to spy people movement so that they nay distort the image or reputation of that person.

Hakisim people my hack your internet system so that they may spy your moves, where do you go what are the places that person loves going just to know the person.

Cyber terrorism this involves the use of internet viruses to destroy and create fear to others. For example the fear created to destroy the nuclear system in Iran.

Contesting and construction of the internet people are contesting in finding their political rights in the internet and the solution is to construct the internet in a way that it can be accessed by everyone.

Alternative media people think they need to have a new way of communication. And people can create a certain radio or television station in the internet using their own language that others wouldn’t understand. It is for a specific group of people.

New online community formation internet can form something new in the community. There are community formed where by its purpose is political issue.

Functions of corporate communication

by KIMATI ELITRUDAH

MEDIA RELATIONS

This may be the function for which corporate

communication managers are best known. Media

relations work includes writing and distributing

news releases and responding to media inquiries.

Corporate communicators oversee all planning for

news conferences, including selecting the site for

an event, arranging for banners and other

graphics to be displayed at the event, preparing

packets of information to distribute to the media

and preparing executives to speak at news

conferences. Media relations also involves

arranging for spokespersons to appear on local

television and radio programs. Corporate

communicators monitor newspapers, television news

broadcasts and other outlets to see what the

media is saying about the company and to devise

strategies to address misinformation.

Public Relations

Building relationships with customers and

responding to inquiries from the public fall under

the public relations function of corporate

communications. Duties in this area include

producing newsletters, brochures and other

printed materials designed for the general public.

Corporate communicators also manage a company’s

website and social media presence, which includes

monitoring what customers and clients are saying

about the company on social networking websites

and responding to inaccurate posts or requests

for information. Communication professionals may

respond directly to calls and emails from citizens

and customers with questions about a company’s

plans or activities. They arrange for speakers

from the company to make presentations to local

community groups and may facilitate group tours

of a company’s operations.

Related Reading: The Importance of personnel

Staffing to a Business Office Manager

CRISIS COMMUNICATION

When an event occurs that threatens public safety

or a company’s reputation, corporate

communicators function as advisers to CEOs and

senior leaders in managing the crisis. Special

training in the issues unique to crisis

communication helps corporate communicators

prepare for events such as chemical spills, violence

in the workplace, an accidental death on the job,

layoff announcements and allegations of company

wrongdoing. They often work with staff

throughout their organizations to develop crisis

communication plans before disaster strikes. A

crisis may require communications staff to work

with attorneys, government regulators, political

officials, emergency response personnel and

communications staff from other companies when

developing crisis messages.

EMPLOYEES COMMUNICATION

In addition to conveying a company’s messages to

external audiences, corporate communicators may

also be called on to function as employee

communications managers, which includes designing

printed publications and writing emails to

announce company news, benefits information and

training opportunities. Corporate communicators

may facilitate focus groups to learn what issues

matter most to front-line employees. They advise

senior leaders on how to improve relationships with

their staff and gain support for their initiatives.

The corporate communications staff may also

manage a company’s Intranet and internal blogs.

MARKETING INTELLIGENCE

The internal records system supplies results data, but the marketing intelligence system supplies happenings data. A marketing intelligence system is a set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. Marketing managers collect marketing intelligence by reading books, newspapers, and trade publications; talking to customers, suppliers, and distributors; and meeting with other company managers. A company can take several steps to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence.

 A company can train and motivate the sales force to spot and report new developments. Sales representatives are positioned to pick up information missed by other means, yet they often fail to pass on that information. The company must sell its sales force on their importance as intelligence gatherers. Sales reps should know which types of information to send to which managers. Grace Performance Chemicals, a division of W. R. Grace, supplies materials and chemicals to the construction and packaging industries. Grace sales reps were instructed to observe the innovative ways customers used its products to suggest possible new products. For example, some customers were using Grace waterproofing materials to soundproof their cars and patch boots and tents. Seven new-product ideas emerged in total, worth millions in sales to the company.

                        

 A company can motivate distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries to pass along important intelligence. Many companies hire specialists to gather marketing intelligence. Service providers often send mystery shoppers to their stores to assess how employees treat customers. Mystery shoppers for McDonald's discovered that only 46 percent of its restaurants nationwide met internal speed-of-service standards, forcing the company to rethink processes and training.⁹ Retailers also use mystery shoppers. Neiman Marcus employs a professional shopper agency to shop at its stores nationwide. It finds stores that consistently score high on the service have the best sales. Typical questions their mystery shoppers report on are: How long before a sales associate greeted you? Did the sales associate act as if he or she wanted your business? Was the sales associate knowledgeable about products in stock?.

 A company can network externally. It can purchase competitors' products; attend open houses and trade shows; read competitors' published reports; attend stockholders' meetings; talk to employees, dealers, distributors, suppliers, and freight agents; collect competitors' ads; and look up news stories about competitors. Software developer Cognos created an internal Web site called Street Fighter where any of the firm's 3,000 workers can submit scoops about competitors and win prizes. Competitive intelligence must be done legally and ethically, though. Procter & Gamble reportedly paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to Unilever when some external operatives hired as part of a P&G corporate intelligence program to learn about Unilever's hair care products were found to have engaged in such unethical behavior as dumpster diving.

 A company can set up a customer advisory panel. Members might include representative customers or the company's largest customers or its most outspoken or sophisticated customers. Many business schools have advisory panels made up of alumni and recruiters who provide valuable feedback on the curriculum.
 Kingalu Avin
BAPRM 42697

CULTURE IN DIGITAL AGE

 

ALLY AMINA

The digital age, also called the information age, is defined as the time period starting in the 1970s with the introduction of the personal computer with subsequent technology introduced providing the ability to transfer information freely and quickly

Digitalization is imposing many challenges on cultural transformation of organizational, practice related to individuals, institutions users and producers

When we think of marketing and social media in organizations it’s often with the focus being on the external environment and our external customers. This is not wrong by any means, but I think we can too often take for granted another key stakeholder we are communicating to, our internal customers, our employees.

Our employees make up who we are as an organization and they have a great impact on our culture. The questions we have to constantly ask as leaders are “What experience am I creating for them?” And, “Is it aligned with the culture I want in the organization?” Social Media and how we use it as an organization can have a great impact in creating experiences that impact the culture. Social Media creates experiences, period. The experiences employees are having, both by external and internal communication, in organizations greatly impact how they think and act at work and if they are truly engaged or not.  Leaders need to recognize that all experiences create culture, and their culture is either working for them or against them that is Change the Culture, Change the Game. Social Media provides a very powerful, viral experience that can help accelerate the needed cultural changes internally. The platforms will come and go, but how organizations leverage people as the media in a smart way 

The web has become the place where young people most find their opportunity to explore and express their identities and their social relations,. The greatest transformation with the web compared with television, radio and print is that the technology puts the kids in the centre as culture creators rather than culture consumers. Not only does this upset traditional top-down marketing models but it also means that a single youth culture is now almost impossible to pin down But now, with so many technological touch points and interest-driven groups, there's no single social change that catalyses them. We are at a period in which our societies are coming to grips with the new technology. Part of the process is watching how people who have never experienced anything else push the boundaries. The Internet has been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where everyone can be heard and all can participate equally. But how true is this claim? It is argues that for all that we tweet  and like  and share in the Internet  in fact reflects and amplifies real-world inequities at least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line.

 

CORPORATE IDENTITY

 

KIMATI ELITRUDAH

Corporate identity is often seen as a collection of visual elements, which are used in various applications to promote the image of an organization. Originally, it was synonymous with organizational nomenclature, logos, the house style and visual elements, but in time visual identity and corporate strategy have become inextricably linked.

Some marketing specialists regard corporate identity as the core of an origination’s existence, made up of its history, beliefs, philosophy, technology, people, its ethical and cultural values and strategies. Corporate identity also helps determine the positioning of an organization in terms of its markets and competitors.

Corporate identity: not easy to define

Academics and marketing consultants concur that corporate identity is not that easy to define. Instead of compiling a definition, academics from the Strathclyde, Erasmus and Harvard Business Schools and leading consultants developed the Strathclyde statement which articulates the multi-disciplinary nature of corporate identity:

"Every organization has an identity. It articulates the corporate ethos, aims and values and presents a sense of individuality that can help to differentiate the organization within its competitive environment."

"When well-managed, corporate identity can be a powerful means of integrating the many disciplines and activities essential to an organization’s success. It can also provide the visual cohesion necessary to ensure that all corporate communications are coherent with each other and result in an image consistent with the organization’s ethos and character."

"By effectively managing its corporate identity an organization can build understanding and commitment among its diverse stakeholders. This can be manifested in an ability to attract and retain customers and employees, achieve strategic alliances, gain the support of financial markets and generate a sense of direction and purpose. Corporate identity is a strategic issue."

"Corporate identity differs from traditional brand marketing since it is concerned with all of an organization’s stakeholders and the multi-faceted way in which an organization communicates."

​​Corporate identity: why it is important

In the highly competitive arena within which Stellenbosch University has to operate, factors such as the need for consistent visibility and communication, as well as innovative measures to counter escalating media costs are becoming more important. A clearly defined and positive corporate identity is of vital importance for success and growth. Such a corporate identity, by making Stellenbosch University stand out among its competitors, leads to a positive attitude towards the institution, both nationally and internationally. It helps the University to attract teaching staff, students and administrative staff of the highest caliber, as well as commercial and industrial partners.

The danger lies in the assumption that we only communicate when we set out to, and the complacency that Stellenbosch University is well known. Our corporate image is much more than a common visual identity. It is a picture in the eyes of our various stakeholders, made up of jigsaw pieces ranging from visual elements to perceptions of campus culture, language issues, academic standards and service delivery experiences.

The objective of this Corporate Identity Guide is to establish a strong visual identity for the umbrella institution, which is to be applied with the required flexibility in recognition of its diversity. Flexibility should, however, not be mistaken for a laissez-faire application of the visual identity.

The use of corporate identity rather than reputation or image is not without significance. The word 'corporate' denotes an entity that is large and has many facets - something which 'reputation' or 'image' cannot do. It is an internationally recognised term that gives an immediate impression of a large and imposing organisation. That it is a term usually found in the commercial world does not detract from the nature of our organisation as an academic institution. The term corporate identity has the additional advantage of placing the University firmly among its commercial and industrial partners in the modern world

Corporate visual identity management involves the planned maintenance, assessment and development of a corporate visual identity as well as associated tools and support, anticipating developments both inside and outside the organization, and engaging employees in applying it, with the objective of contributing to employees' identification with and appreciation of the organization as well as recognition and appreciation among external stakeholders.

Special attention is paid to corporate identity in times of organizational change. Once a new corporate identity is implemented, attention to corporate identity related issues generally tends to decrease. However, corporate identity needs to be managed on a structural basis, to be internalized by the Efforts to manage the corporate visual identity will result in more consistency and the corporate visual identity management mix should include structural, cultural and strategic aspects. Guidelines, procedures and tools can be summarized as the structural aspects of managing the corporate visual identity.

However, as important as the structural aspects may be, they must be complemented by two other types of aspects. Among the cultural aspects of corporate visual identity management, socialization  i.e., formal and informal learning processes – turned out to influence the consistency of a corporate visual identity. Managers are important as a role model and they can clearly set an example. This implies that they need to be aware of the impact of their behavior, which has an effect on how employees behave. If managers pay attention to the way they convey the identity of their organization, including the use of a corporate visual identity, this will have a positive effect on the attention employees give to the corporate visual identity.

Further, it seems to be important that the organization communicates the strategic aspects of the corporate visual identity. Employees need to have knowledge of the corporate visual identity of their organization – not only the general reasons for using the corporate visual identity, such as its role in enhancing the visibility and recognizability of the organization, but also aspects of the story behind the corporate visual identity. The story should explain why the design fits the organization and what the design – in all of its elements – is intended to express employees and to harmonize with future organizational developments.