Evolution of Corporate Communications, Essay Example

Introduction

Corporate communication has an increasing importance in modern business environment. Ethical and corporate social responsibility campaigns are needed in order to maintain public trust within the organization. According to Cornelissen (2009, p. 5), the main purpose of corporate communication should be “ establishing and maintaining favorable reputations with stakeholder groups”. Argenti (2009) created a flowchart for corporate communication, which determines the four main elements as: strategic communication objectives, meaningful messages, internal and external constituencies, and responses. The below article review will examine how these elements can relate to an emerging corporate communication method: social media.

Article Review

Matthews (2010) state that social media, as an emerging corporate function, is extremely effective to deliver “meaningful messages”. One critical issue the author brings up in the article is that “the success or failure of any company hinges on public perception” (Matthews, 2010, p. 18). The author states that the best possible way to describe public relations campaigns is to use Marston’s (1963) RACE model. This model consists of four steps: research, action, communication and evaluation. Similarly to Argenti’s (2009) flowchart, the four steps are built upon each other. This means that both of the models of corporate communication are applicable for social media public relations and communication. However, Matthews (2010) indicates that the popularity of social media communication in the corporate world has several added benefits compared to traditional methods. These aspects and strengths will be assessed and described below in order to evaluate the benefits of social media for corporate communication, using the above two frameworks (Argenti, 2009 and Marston, 1963) .

According to Matthews’ (2010) article, social media offers new opportunities for developing meaningful messages; one of the elements of Argenti’s (2009) flowchart, through effective targeting of the audience. Further, Matthews (2010, p. 21) state that research (Marston’s RACE model) can be conducted online, and real time responses (Argenti’s response element of flowchart) can be obtained from the public and stakeholders.

One further benefit of social media in corporate communication, according to Matthews (2010, p. 22) is flexibility. Campaigns and messages can be changed and tailored to the views of the public, based on the observation of trends and conversations (internal and external constituencies). All individual elements of Argenti’s flowchart can be improved by social media implementation in corporate communication. Meaningful messages can be developed based on monitoring public opinion and discussions within social media sites and concluding surveys. Research also helps developing strategic communication objectives. Internal and external constituencies can be evaluated, received and distributed faster and in a more flexible way through social media than traditional channels. Responses can be gathered and evaluated to improve and adjust strategic communication objectives. Further, According to Matthews (2010), this interaction method allows two-way interaction; the ideal model for corporate communication.

Conclusion

As the above review of Matthews’ (2010) article has shown, social media as an emerging corporate communication method is suitable for strengthening not only public relation campaigns, but also the individual elements of Argenti’s flowchart and Marston’s RACE model. The RACE model’s each element is supported by effective technologies for real-time and flexible communication; research can be concluded at a lower cost online, action can be taken to create meaningful messages real time, communication channels can be developed through company Facebook like pages and brand social media accounts, and evaluation of results can also be made simpler, faster and more effective using interactive communication technology.

References

Argenti, P. A. (2009). Corporate communications. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Cornelissen, J. (2009). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Marston, J. (1963). The nature of public relations. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Matthews, L. (2010) Social media and the evolution of corporate communications. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications Vol. 1, No. 1  Winter 2010