Communications

Complete the following for Part 3 of the PR Plan Project:
Write a 150‐200 word plan for how social media might be used in your PR campaign. Include the following:
Choose three popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
Identify any niche social platforms that may be a good choice for the client, if applicable.
Compare advantages and disadvantages of using each platform.
Write a 250‐500 word plan for how blogs, might be used in your PR campaign. Include the following:
List five potential blog post headlines that would be appropriate for your client.
Describe why the potential blog post topics you selected good choices.
Using Google keyword tool, identify relevant keywords you would use to improve search engine optimization techniques.
Describe how similar companies use blogs.
Compare advantages and disadvantages of using blogs as part of your PR strategy.
Write a 250‐500 word plan for how a website might be used in your PR campaign. Include the following:
Identify website considerations for the client or campaign.
Suggest ways to improve the user experience if there is an existing website.
Identify what must be considered or included if there is not an existing website for this client or campaign.
Describe how similar companies use websites.
Compare advantages and disadvantages of making changes to the website.
Add screen shots if possible to help clarify and display thoughts and ideas.
Include a minimum of 10 scholarly resources.
This assignment uses a scoring guide. Please review the scoring guide prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
APA format is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

My PR campaign has been about Amazon and the Amazon Alexa, Amazon delivery, and Amazon grocery.

ANSWER

Introduction

This is a public relations campaign word plan on Amazon and the Amazon Alexa, Amazon delivery, and Amazon grocery. Amazon is a 1994 American multinational technology company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States, focusing on e-commerce, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital streaming. Amazon is one of the top technological companies in the world. Its products and services include components such as the Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistance artificial intelligence technology, Amazon Grocery, an online service that delivers groceries to customers’ homes and Amazon Delivery, a service that delivers products from one location of production to another location of consumption.

How Social Media could be used in a PR Campaign

Public relations is about creating and maintaining authority and reputation while building goodwill with regards to the brand. “PR is the art and science of growing trust” (Brown 2009). To do this, Amazon could use three popular social media platforms, among them Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Amazon has more than 310 million active customers globally with 90 million of them being Prime members spending an average of $1300 every year (Amazon.com). Most if not all these customers are on social media and proper management of these platforms could mark the difference between a successful PR strategy and failure. Currently, Amazon in Facebook has about 28.7 million likes which very huge clientele. To ensure this remains to be a positive thing and as a form of a PR campaign, Amazon has to engage these users with their various questions about products and services. With this replies, personnel tasked with this duty have to reply promptly, politely and with additional information in the form of links and photos. To engage on a personal level, the social media managers must sign their first names below the replies and address the customers using their first names as well. Figure 1 below shows an example of such a reply.

Figure 1. Sample Reply to Customer Review

Source: https://web.facebook.com/

On Twitter, Amazon could use the platform to promote its other products such as Amazon Grocery, Amazon Kindle and Amazon Music among others. Additionally, the company could use its 2.7 million followers to promote their blog content containing various issues in the industry. Basically, twitter could be “a platform for content marketing rather than driving direct sales” (Hazlett 2010). Lastly on Pinterest can be an extension of the main Amazon online website store and application. Pinterest is about coming up with purchasing ideas and Amazon can use to push sales for lines such as Handmade at Amazon, Amazon Style for Women and Amazon Home Services as shown in Figure 2 below (Etail Web Research).

Figure 2. Handmade at Amazon

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/

How blogs could be used in a PR campaign

According to Cass (2007), “advertising and public relations were the best ways to connect with a company’s audience through traditional media but now blogs are the best way to connect with millions of customers through the medium of online consumer-generated media. To understand how Amazon can employ the use of blogs, it is paramount to understand how the online store works. First, it encourages small businesses to sell their products on the platform, then it ensures that potential buyers are waiting on the other end to buy from these businesses through the Amazon platform. While buyers are taken care of by social media platforms as already observed sellers need blogs and Amazon can offer different types of information on the advertising,amazon.com blog.

Samples of topics that could be covered in blogs include:-

1. How to Keep Up Supply during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Marketing Strategies to Help Grow your Amazon Business.
3. One on one Interview with Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos.
4. New studies connect Amazon Advertising to Positive Brand Outcomes
5. 5 new Stores features to Engage Shoppers and make Updates Easier#

The selected choices for these topics ensure that both buyers and sellers are engaged with content that associates with them. Firstly, the aim at improving the visibility of Amazon store to an even bigger clientele. The blog must use keywords frequently used in the business and have a lot of varying information about products that customers are always looking for. It is also important to note that blogs allow the display of more information without clogging up of the main website. Secondly, blogs improve the presence of the company online. As earlier discussed, on the Twitter feed, there could be links to blogs and the two of them could work hand in hand to ensure information flows smoothly and clients stay informed. Thirdly, it establishes some form of reputation by swaying public opinion and perception. Providing extra information about products and services, “demonstrating expertise about your product and industry will make you a trusted, go-to source, and customers need to trust the companies they do business with” (Scott 2009). Lastly, blogs make a PR strategy more efficient. Every time a blog is posted, it “lives on the internet forever, continually driving traffic, increasing leads and improving your ranking” (Scott 2009). It becomes a little investment into the business that become beneficial in the long run.

How a website could be used in a PR campaign

Considering that Amazon is already an online store, it stays up to date with different web technologies including machine learning and artificial intelligence. The introduction of the review system where customers can leave a review after a purchase has ensured that the products sold are of good quality and are exactly as advertised. Another additional strategy that Amazon has employed is using social media to both push products and maintain the authority of the company (Paek 2013). With all these mechanisms already in place, there are few recommendations or alterations that can be done to an already successful website.

References

Brown, R. (2009). Public Relations and the Social Web: How to use social media and web 2.0 in communications. Kogan Page Publishers.

Cass, G. J. (2007). Strategies and tools for corporate blogging. Routledge.

Etail Web Research. Amazon’s Social Media Marketing Strategy to Inspire Buyers. Retrieved on 23^rd July 2020 from https://etaileast.wbresearch.com/blog/amazons-engaged-buyers-drive-social-media-revenue

Hazlett, K. (2010). Public Relations and the Social Web: How to Use Social Media and Web 2.0 in Communications. Journal of Consumer Marketing.

Paek, H. J., Hove, T., Jung, Y., & Cole, R. T. (2013). Engagement across three social media platforms: An exploratory study of a cause-related PR campaign. Public Relations Review, 39(5), 526-533.

Scott, D. M. (2009). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases. Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing, and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly, Your Coach In A Box.