ADPR 3850 Exam 3

Spiral of Silence

- Society threatens with isolation those people who violate moral consensus
- We fear this isolation and try to prevent it from happening
- Therefore, we constantly monitor our environment and have developed a quasi-statistical sense of the climate of public opinion
- We share our opinions when we believe they are the dominant opinion, or the opinion on the rise (i.e., a bandwagon effect)
- The media often gives a platform to the loudest voices (even though they may represent a minority opinion)
- Together, this results in the spiral of silence ...

"Public Opinion”

The collection of views or opinions held by people about issues concerning them

Self-interest

_____________ plays a role in public opinion, including making opinions resistant (or open) to change

elites & major events

But, ______ & ______ ______ can have dramatic impacts on public opinion

+ Ryan Braun accused of steroid use
- My friends (Wisconsin baseball fans) said there should be no punishment; called the report erroneous and accused many of lies and incompetency
- Maintained this stance even as evidence mounted
- After Braun admitted steroid use, many still maintained this stance, or shifted to the “everyone is doing it” argument


+ Johnny Manziel vs. Todd Gurley
- With no interest in the Aggies season and a general dislike of Manziel, my opinion was that rules were (likely) broken and he should be suspended
- One year later and I felt the rule was ridiculous and no suspension warranted

Self-interest plays a role in public opinion, including making opinions resistant (or open) to change… EXAMPLES:

Opinion Leaders

_____ _____ are:
- Highly interested in a given subject or issue
- Better informed than most (often college educated)
- Avid consumers of media
- Early adopters of new ideas /technologies
- Have higher income
- Active in the community and with recreation activities
- Good organizers who can galvanize action

Oprah's Book Club

Example of Opinion Leaders

Media

The _____ play a key role in influencing opinion as they are a crucial source for information

Agenda Setting theory

The media don’t tell us what to think, only what to think about
+ Of course, public relations specialists are responsible for anywhere between 50-60% of all media content

Agenda Setting

What are the current issues that the media are telling us are important? It probably depends where you look ...

Priming

A memory-based effect whereby exposure to a stimulus influences later thinking

Framing

+ A theory related to the presentation of information
+ Defined a number of different ways by a number of different people
1. As the selection of specific facts or pieces of information that journalists use in a news story (media frames)
2. Different packages of otherwise equivalent information

Gain Frames and Loss Frames

Two major Frames

Gain Frames

+ Emphasize the advantages of a given action
+ EXAMPLE: “If you quit smoking you will live longer”
+ Work better for motivating prevention behaviors (e.g., using sunscreen)

Loss Frames

+ Emphasize the disadvantages of failing to comply
+ EXAMPLE: “If you do not quit smoking you will die sooner”
+ Work better for motivating detection behaviors (e.g., cancer screenings)

Prevention Behaviors; Detection Behaviors

Gain Frames are to _____ as Loss Frames are to ____

Frames

+ _____ are not about offering new facts
+ Rather: ____ differ in how they present issues
- Estate tax vs. Death tax
- Drill for oil vs. Explore for energy
+ In media, _____ help audiences
- determine why an issue is important
+ e.g., Is secondhand smoke a health issue or rights issue?
- efficiently process new information by connecting it to what we already know
+ e.g., Habitual offender laws ... 3-strikes and you’re out!

Persuasion

_____ is to:
+ Change or neutralize hostile opinions
+ Crystallize latent opinions and positive attitudes
+ Conserve favorable opinions

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

one Model of Persuasion

Another model of Persuasion

+ Audience Analysis
+ Source Credibility
+ Making Appeals to Self-Interest
+ Ensure the Clarity of your Message
+ Work in Audience Participation
+ Carefully Determine the Content and Structure of your Message

Keys to Persuasion

Audience Analysis

+ Know who you’ll be communicating with
+ How involved are they? What do they think? Etc.

Source Credibility

Who can we have deliver our message? Recall those attributes we just discussed (expertise, sincerity & charisma)

Making Appeals to Self-Interest

+ Structure your message to appeal to your target
+ People also are driven by altruism

Ensure the Clarity of your Message

+ Make the message accessible
+ Have a clear call to action

Work in Audience Participation

+ Major growth in user-generated content
+ Participating reinforces their beliefs and adds credibility to the message

Carefully Determine the Content and Structure of your Message

Will you use statistics? Exemplars? Appeals to logic? Appeals to emotion? Testimonials? Celebrity endorsements? Links to normative behavior ...

+ Self-Selection
+ Selective Perception
+ Hostile Media Effect

Limits to Persuasion

Self-Selection

+ Let’s say we get our message to the target audience …
+ We live in an information age and it does not make sense for most of us to:
a) attend to all the messages that come our way
b) process those messages, and
c) develop an in-depth attitude or understanding of the issue in question
- We are “cognitive misers”

Selective Perception

+ ... and, we’re biased processors
+ We process information through various perceptual filters, including
- religious beliefs
- Trust
- political ideology
- etc.
+ As a result: Any given “fact” may mean different things to different people …

Hostile Media Effect

+ Another indicator of how we process mediated content
- When we give an equivalent piece of communication to different partisan groups, each group tends to feel that the communication is biased against their point of view

Competition

Two or more groups fighting for the same resource

Conflict

When groups direct their efforts against each other, often through verbal attacks

*** Contingency Theory

+ PR professionals monitor for threats, assess those threats, arrive at a desirable stance, and begin communications efforts
- Influenced by Situational demands and Resources
+ The stance is dynamic; It changes as events unfold

Situational demands

nature of crisis, duration, severity, size, complexity; influence of actors, etc.

Resources

time, money, knowledge, expertise, etc.

1. Regret
2. Responsibility
3. Remedy

The three R’s of apologizing:

express empathy ... and do so quickly

Regret

Avoid the blame game and be transparen

Responsibility

be part of the solution

Remedy

+ Pepsi and Syringes
+ Tylenol Poisonings

Examples of Contingency Theory In Action

Further complicating this process: public concern can be difficult to predict or disproportional to the actual risk..

The Amplification (Or Attenuation) Of A Crisis

The Conflict Management Life Cycle

1. Proactive
2. Strategic
3. Reactive
4. Recovery
5. Repeat

The Conflict Management Life Cycle: The Proactive Phase

+ To prevent a conflict from arising or spreading
- Environmental scanning: reading, watching, paying attention to matters of interest to organization
- Issues tracking: a more narrowed version of above
- Issues management: create strategic plans or begin modifying behavior to address emerging issues
- Crisis plan: preparing for the worst

The Conflict Management Life Cycle: The Strategic Phase

+ Emerging conflict is identified as needing action
- Crisis management: filling in the current logistics for your specific crisis plan
- Risk communication: communicating the risk to vulnerable publics
- Conflict positioning strategies: how can the organization best position itself in the “court of public opinion” and in preparing for possible litigation?
- These two areas may be in conflict with one another

The Conflict Management Life Cycle: The Reactive Phase

+ Must react when conflict reaches a critical level of impact
- Crisis communication: putting that planning into effect; help victims; communicate plans through media
- Conflict resolution techniques: reduce the conflict and/or bring about resolution
- Litigation public relations: preparing for legal actions

The Conflict Management Life Cycle: The Recovery Phase

+ Strategies employed in the aftermath to bolster or repair reputation
- Reputation management: Research-based approach to understand and bolster reputation
- Image restoration strategies: An extreme form of reputation management when damage to an organization is large
- ValuJet acquires AirTran and takes their name

Eighty-six percent of business crises are “smoldering crises,” meaning there are clear warning signs

Smoldering crises vs. sudden crises

Crisis Communication Management: Filling The Void

+ Principle 1: when a crisis occurs, an information vacuum is created
+ Principle 2: when a vacuum exists, it will be filled
- By whom? With what?

Crisis Management: How To Communicate During A Crisis

+ Set up a central information center
- Monitor news coverage and the phone
+ Designate a (strong) spokesperson
+ Be accessible and honest
+ Communicate with key publics
+ Provide information often (understand the needs of media)
+ Be careful about saying, “no comment”
+ Put the public first
+ Take responsibility – Ryan Braun vs. Roger Clemens

1. Control or Efficacy
2. Complexity
3. Familiarity
4. Message consistency
5. Consequences

Risk Communication: Five Variables Affecting Risk Perception

Control or Efficacy

how much control do you have over risk avoidance? (e.g., smoking versus chemicals in my water)

Complexity

How hard is it to avoid the risk (e.g., flu shots vs. changing my diet and exercise habits)?

Familiarity

How familiar is the risk and the behavior required to avoid the risk (e.g., hurricane preparation)?

Message consistency

Are your messages consistent?

Consequences

Do your audiences believe the consequences apply to them?

Risk Communication: Extended Parallel Processing Model

+ Fear & Smoking
+ Four factors are believed to influence the outcome a fear appeal message:
- Self-Efficacy
- Response Efficacy
- Susceptibility
- Severity

Self-Efficacy

Can I perform the tasks needed to control the threat/risk?

Response Efficacy

If I perform those tasks, will it prevent the threat/risk?

Susceptibility

Does the threat/risk impact me?

Severity

Is the threat/risk large enough to worry about?

Important Factors Related to the Public Relations Audience

1. Diversity
+ Geography, history, culture, religion, etc.
2. Expanding international audiences
3. Use of technology
+ Used to segment audiences and compile data (e.g., Google AdWords)
+ Formation of online communities … like the nerds I play (online) hockey with!
4. Support for single issues
+ Finding like-minded others through technology often leads to singular focus on issues for people ... but what about other important issues?
+ Bill Gates vs. Filter bubble
5. Visual orientation
+ Compounded by smart phones, tablets, etc.
+ Shortened attention spans and the importance of the “sound bite”
6. Emphasis on personality and celebrity
+ Who is a “celebrity”? Can we trust “celebrity” tweets? Or are these just paid advertisements?
7. Distrust of authority & polarization
+ Makes PR crucially important, but also difficult

Generation Z (born ~ 1997 to 2015)

- a.k.a., the Post-Millennial Generation, iGen
- Make up 26% of the U.S. population – slightly more than Millennials or Boomers
- Spend only 8 min. per day online via PC
- Online time is almost exclusively mobile
- Less accepting of the idea of the “American Dream”
- Self-identify as loyal, compassionate, open-minded, and determined, but see others in their generation as competitive, spontaneous, adventuresome, and curious
- More risk-averse than previous generations
- Lower alcohol and drug use rates
- Interested in “making the world a better place”

Millennials (born ~ 1981 – 1996)

- a.k.a., Generation Y, E-Generation
- 80 million Millennials in U.S. equals high buying power
- Spend 1/4 to 1/3 of their lives online
- Foster relationships online
- (Some) trends among Millennials:
- Are not influenced by advertising
- Review blogs before making a purchase
- Value authenticity
- Want to engage with brands on SNS
- Want to co-create products with companies
- Use multiple tech devices
- Brand loyal
- Expect brands to give back to society

Generation X (born 1965 – 1980)

- Independent
- A generation of latch-key kids
- Tech savvy & resourceful
- Work to live rather than live to work
- Not particularly employer loyal
- Value freedom in the workplace
- Disdain being micro-managed
- Generally tolerant of “alternative” lifestyles

Baby boomers (born between 1946-64)

- Came of age during advent of TV, giving them appreciation for visual advertising
- Question authority & take a strong positions on social issues (60s mentality)
- May retire later than their parents due to improved health and financial uncertainty
- Competitive in their careers and define themselves according to their profession
- Great appreciation for leisure time
- Educated & take pride in accomplishment

Seniors

- Approximately 13% of today’s population
- Are less easily convinced than young adults
- Active in voting, reading media (senior women flocking to Facebook)
- Excellent source of volunteers given free time and strong health
- Extremely health conscious
- Nintendo Wii/Norwegian Cruise Lines partnership
- Savings eroded since the 2008 economic crisis

Women

- Have significant purchasing power
- Traditionally “male” businesses trying to capitalize on this by campaigning to women
- Harley Davidson: Female-only garage parties and instructional videos
- Exercise great influence as opinion leaders
- Large networks of friends
- Have been labeled “multi-minded”
- Able to balance roles as professionals, mothers, wives, etc.
- e.g., NFL marketing

The LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning Community)

+ Brand loyal and tend to support companies and brands that reflect their views
+ Disposable income:
- 29% of same-sex households have median incomes over $90,000
- 20 million LGBTQ adults have buying power of ~ $1 trillion / year

Religious groups

- Growing in market & political power (e.g., Catholics; Evangelicals)
- Movie studios developing projects in the aftermath of the success of “The Passion of the Christ”
- Notes on the film Noah:
- Paramount hired a faith-based consultant
- Special trailers screened at Christian conferences & high-profile pastors invited to screenings
- “You're going to see Russell Crowe as a superhero, a guy who has this incredibly difficult challenge put in front of him and has to overcome it.”

Diversity media

- The number of options for reaching minority audiences has increased
- Research concerning these publics has also shown impressive growth
- And we’re seeing a growth in targeted info based on race/ethnicity

Hispanic Audiences

- Fastest-growing ethnic group in U.S.
- Heavy use of social media and texting
- Heavy consumers of radio and TV
- e.g., Spanish-language KLAX #1 during L.A. morning drive time
- Traditionally passionate and brand loyal demographic that is skeptical when they believe campaigns have simply been translated into Spanish

Black Audiences

- Rise in affluence
- Buying power reached $1.2 trillion in 2016 and jumped to ~$1.5 trillion by 2020
- Black audiences recognized as pop culture trendsetters
- e.g., The evolution of Mountain Dew:
- Heaviest TV consumers ... and networks (finally) taking notice

Asian Audiences

- Relatively small, but educated and affluent group
- Often ignored by communicators due to issues of complexity
- Small group with much diversity
- Heavy reliance on digital communications
- Smart products, gaming, streaming services
- Multi-generational homes where families watch content together

Mediasphere

- Top-down
- Controlled by gatekeepers
- Expensive
- One-way communication

Blogosphere

- Widespread or horizontal
- Meritocracy
- Inexpensive
- Mobile, two-way communication

Social media

Blogosphere is synonymous with

Leveraging the Power of the Internet: Risks

- You lose control of your content ... can support or destroy a reputation
- A half-hearted attempt will hurt business
- Social media works when you listen to consumers, facilitate conversations, engage in those conversations, otherwise it alienates
- There is a need to be on multiple platforms that evolve quickly

Leveraging the Power of the Internet: Benefits

Is convenient (easy to use and update, cost-effective), interactive, no space constraints, can be targeted, casual, less sanitized, & accepted with less cynicism

Real-Time Content & Casual Content

Social Media Promotes _____________ & __________

Dangers of Social Media

+ Do corporations have a place on social media?
+ How can we leverage real-time communications while avoiding these mishaps?
+ But further, have we given proper consideration to how others might respond?

Facebook

The most popular Social media platform

~70%

Facebook is used by ~ __% of American adults overall

Facebook

+ Organizations establish a presence on Facebook for:
- Audience engagement and involvement
- Because they feel they have to
+ Public relations materials will need to stand out in a sea of content
+ ***It is inclusive in demographics though users tend to be older

Misinformation (EXAMPLE: Zika virus)

What goes viral on Facebook? False information, apparently

Twitter

+ Used by about 22% of American adult internet users and 20% of all American adults
+ In PR, Twitter is a distribution platform for:
- late-breaking news,
- to refute a viral rumor,
- or to provide real-time updates on developing situations
+ Also used for marketing and promotional purposes
+ Using ____ can put out PR fires
+ *** Younger than Facebook, more Urban/Suburban than rural

- Make direct appeal for others to share (e.g., “retweet”)
- Imitate news headline style
- Produce longer, more informative tweets
- But, keep vocabulary simple
- Produce messages with commonly used words in the target community. Authors write: “Although distinctive messages may attract attention, messages that conform to expectations might be more easily accepted and shared”

Best practices for getting read on Twitter

Viral Marketing

+ “Buzz” or awareness about a product or service, particularly those with limited budgets
- e.g., Dumb ways to die

Internet Memes

+ Organizations increasingly attempting to build interactive content for sharing in social spaces
+ The marketing team behind Straight Outta Compton produced the “Straight Outta Somewhere” meme generator, which allowed users to insert their hometown into the film’s logo

Pinterest

+ Strong interest in _______ from a PR perspective because the format often pushes users toward goods
- Used by ~ 30% of American adult internet users and 25% of American adults overall
+ Dominated by women in their 30s ... a group that does a disproportionate amount of the shopping
- Strong links from Pinterest to company websites (second to Facebook)
+ Pinterest presence must incorporate high quality visuals to be successful

Snapchat

+ Has emerged as arguably the most important platform for reaching young Millennials/Gen Z
+ Audience: ~62% of 18-29 yr. olds are on the platform
+ There’s actually a divide within that age range:
- Nearly ¾ of 18-24 yr. olds vs. a little less than half of those 25-29
- Only ~3% of those 65+ are on the platform
- Roughly 1/3 of users between the ages of 13 and 24 claim to use it, “because their parents did not”
+ Reports more than 200 million daily active users
+ The platform reports approximately 18 billion video views per day
+ 61% of users are female
+ Young audiences are especially engaged and a strong majority use the platform everyday and multiple times a day

Instagram

+ Recently eclipsed 500 million users
- Used by 28% of American adult internet users
- Used by 24% of American adults overall
+ Users tend to be quite active
- Nearly 60% of users go on everyday
- About 35% use it multiple times per day
+ Teens list it as their second most important social media platform (Snapchat is #1)
+ Emphasis on quality images, but also quality captions to contextualize your message
+ *** Lot of POCs and young people

Virtual Reality

+ Virtual reality is poised to be an integral part of future PR efforts
+ Some are already taking advantage of the technology …
- Jurassic World Apatosaurus app
- Time Magazine and the March on Washington

Dark Patterns

tricks in websites/apps that make you do things that you didn't mean to

Sneak into Basket

A website sneaks an additional item into your basket, often through an opt-out button or checkbox on a prior page

Roach Motel

You find it hard to get out of a situation that was easy to get into (e.g. a premium subscription)

Privacy Zuckering

Being tricked into publicly sharing more information about yourself than you intended to

Hidden Costs

When unexpected charges appear at the last step of the checkout process, e.g. delivery charges, tax, etc

Disguised Ads

Advertisements that are disguised as other kinds of content or navigation

Confirmshaming

Decline options worded to shame user into compliance