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India
healthysoch
Chandigarh, April 09, 2021 :
In the ever-changing times one just can’t get ahead in life as well as in his or her profession without indulging in PR practices. Surprisingly we are all into it – some are consciously doing it and a large number of people are into it subconsciously. With the advent of technology, individuals are conducting PR in a changed manner. The younger generation is more adept at using social media to build public relations professionally as well as personally. They are making use of social media platforms, networks, and tools to interact with people online. The social media part is the content and conversations on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
To succeed in life we have to become storytellers, but unlike short story writers, we have to create narratives to advance our agenda. The process to employ a narrative can be different for different people although the main agenda remains the same. The agenda may be to keep a well-earned reputation intact or enhance the same. For the latter, we have to have always a fire-fighting formula with us and formulate the best response to mitigate the damage. But most of the time we indulge in building reputations. So we employ the media – social media and self-produced communications.
We try to generate positive publicity for our work and enhance our reputation. We have to constantly invent ways to keep the public informed about our activities. We have to somehow expand our business contacts via personal networking or attendance at events. These are the traditional ways. We use social media platforms, networks, and tools to interact with people online which are the content and conversations on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube, etc.
We mostly promote an idea, or try to convince people. Sometimes we have to ‘create’ an atmosphere, a favourable ambiance so people or our probable clients support our position. This we do applying a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between.
We constantly try creating news about ourselves. Remember there are only two ways to make news: either create a story or follow a story. Creating a story is the more common form. We create personal news or stories and share them with people we are targeting. The audience could be personal like family friends and well-wishers and could be the bigger audience where we need an aura about ourselves to get an order, a contract, or just have a lasting relationship which could be mutually beneficial at a later stage. So in principle, there has to be a reason to connect with someone. We can’t just pick up the phone and come to the point. First, we need to be compatible, bring the person at our wavelength, or vice versa.
Everyone wants to be successful in whatever field they are. Success needs cooperation. Co-operation needs mutual respect and empathy. And to respect someone we need to know about him or her and to know we need communication. So PR is far more important for an individual who wants to be successful. The internet has created several avenues to get connected and we must use modern tools. It is of course time-consuming but not expensive. But it guarantees success. It is easier to conduct simple phone and email connections with peers, clients, and would-be clients.
The second way is to follow a story. Suppose something happens. You notice a story in the news, which could be a political scandal or the economic effects of Covid or drought, increasing cost of petrol or anything like this. You have your opinion and you try to share it with as many people as you can. With some quick thinking, reaching out can lead to great new connections and media attention. And networking is all about this.
Author : Dr. Ajai Kumar Agarwal
“Dr. Ajai Kumar Agarwal is a veteran Public Relations person. Recently Public Relations Council of India in its global conclave held in Bangalore conferred on him its prestigious Dr. KR Singh Memorial Life Time Achievement Award in the field of PR at the national level. It speaks a lot about the achievements of Dr. Ajai Kumar Agarwal. Presently, he is VP Corporate Relations of the CBSL group of companies and former national president of the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI). He was heading Corporate Communications of Central Bank of India before retirement. He is an advisor SME Chamber of India and was a keynote speaker at an international conference on Media held in Rome.”
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