Managing Public Relations
What we see in the media is real and coincidental. — I’m kidding. One of the most significant things I have learned since my use of social media, is that it is not all real and it does not all apply or compare to your own life. Of course, I know not everything we see being promoted in public or exposed in the media is fabricated or fake, but it has always interested me how studying this industry has changed my perspective of the media I spend hours mindlessly analyzing in my free time.
The press and media coverage we see everyday is curated to a viewers interests so that brands, influencers, social issues, etc., get exposure that build a reputation and career. Managing that exposure is what a public relations (PR) manager is responsible for, by using their resources and relationships to their clients advantage. To create success you must have a decently positive reputation that is significant in one way or another, as well as use your resources and personal aspirations to climb whatever ladder it is your trying ascend. Now I know a lot of people like to fantasize about independent success, which don’t get me wrong is admirable, but often times this success comes with a few helping hands. In the PR world, public relations managers are those helping hands that develop a client's reputation and success. There is nothing wrong with this or most of the public relations industry for that matter, but it is the influence these reputations and levels of success have on the public that can tarnish how the PR world is perceived.
Those countless hours I spend deciding whether or not I envy famous socialites or analyzing news on significant organizations, I always remember that that exact coverage I am seeing, is exactly what they want me to see based on their own motives. Public relations managers use their clients motives to network and create relationships with various organizations that have a public presence, so that they can give the audience a story or image that benefits the client. Obviously there are an unimaginable variety of motives both good and bad, that we can try and do our job as consumers, to understand, but it’s not always that simple. We don’t all think the same, live the same or desire the same things from life, so one intention can affect an audience in significantly different ways. This is why I am so interested in the connection from media and public presences’ to the public relations industry specifically. I can better understand the initial motivation of a public presence, which allows me to avoid the distress of questioning a story or image I may not fully understand in the media or comparing it to my own life in negative ways.
I can’t say I know everything about the ins and outs of public relations managers and their clients’ intentions, but I will say that what I do know brings a deeper interest to mind. That being the strategic thinking of the public relations manager in how they respond to the audiences’ positive and negative feedback. A job always has good and bad feedback, and a public presence is no different. But to build success in that job or public reputation, you have to evaluate all feedback and strategize where you go from there. This is much more intricate than the initial networking and definitely tests my understanding of PR strategy, but it shows me that there's typically so much more to what we are seeing from the public eye than we know.
So, you can mindlessly critique what you see in the media as much as you want, but understand that you shouldn’t judge how your life compares to it and you shouldn’t be quick to judge how a fabricated presence may compare to your authentic expectations. Everything you see is managed and designed to provoke a response from the audience, such as you.
