#orcom

As the digital age flourishes, the field of public relations faces many challenges. Practitioners can be bombarded with engagement issues, information overload, hyper-fast feedback from stakeholders, and unmanageable digital stakes. Along with these challenges is the confusion of what public relations truly is and what it stands for.

As an Organizational Communication student, I have loved our public relations course. Surely, there are many concepts to be taken into consideration since it proves to be a complex and intricate field of communication, but our professor made us remember the four basic concepts of public relations. Thankfully, I can still clearly remember them even after a whole semester has already passed (can you believe it?).

If you are having trouble with information overload caused by digital media, here are the basics of public relations which can help you remember what the field truly is:

1.)   Performance and Reporting

Public relations starts with good quality of performance. Only then the reporting will follow. Basically, if you are trying to sell a product, you should be focused in improving the product first before talking about it. The message you are supposed to be communicating must be congruent to the truth.

Ultimately, this will make your stakeholders trust and believe not only in your product, but in the brand as well.

2.)   Publics and Relationships

The publics that you must engage with are the customers, clients, employees, investors, business partners, banks, media, the community, and the government. There are the stakeholders that your organization should have an impact on. But you should ask yourself “Who is the most important to me as a brand? Who should I prioritize?” It is important to remember that you have to talk to someone, not anyone.

The relationships you must forge with your target stakeholder should be based on mutual understanding – and not just about selling yourself. To achieve this, you must understand them deeply and completely. It is essential that your brand should not be the only one benefitting from it. You should strike a balance when it comes to the organization’s interest and the people’s interest.

3.)   Process and Results

Public relations is systematic and organized. There is due process before gaining beautiful results. The key is to plan. Research is vital to a public relations campaign. Insights gleaned from stakeholder research are the wind that will propel the plan into action.

Output and outcome should also be in line with the organization’s goals. If you are doing strategies and tactics just for the sake of doing it and without a concrete anchor in terms of insight, then you are simply turning yourself as busybodies. Output, the concrete result, and outcome, the underlying effect towards the organization or the stakeholder’s behavior, must both be achieved without sacrificing the goal of the organization.

4.)   Persuasion and Reputation

Public relations is deliberate and intentional. Thus, in the persuasion part of any public relations campaign, the intent must be clear to the stakeholders or the audience. It is important to establish that there is a difference between persuasion and manipulation. Manipulation, unlike persuasion, does not have the intent to let the audience know the purpose. They do not know what they are getting into.

But by maintaining the transparency, you may uphold your reputation. And reputation, as we know it, is extremely hard to build but can only take a second to destroy. Reputation in public relations is of the essence. No one will trust your brand if your reputations is damaged.

I remember one time when we were excused for a PRSSP event in Gateway with advertising as its main topic. We were asked to do something on the learnings we’ll get from that event. However, I was not able to do so since I have a morning class. So how am I going to deal with this especially towards something that I’m not really serious about?

Of all the marketing strategies that I have encountered, I can say that advertising is not my cup of tea. It’s pretty ironic however that I have no love for this field when in fact, it was one of my stepping stones in learning about a lot of things. In reality, I recognize almost all commercial ads on television. I used to play this game of “Guess the product” whenever we had time and I’d always win. Not to mention my sense of fashion, my food consumption, and even the gadgets that I used, advertisements have made a huge impact on a lot of aspects of our lives. In fact, it is an essential factor in seeing how far our country has gone. Question is: Which side of development are we referring to?

Simple saying: if we look at the good side of advertisements, it will reflect on the good effects it has brought upon our country. Revenues, jobs, better economy, all of these were possible due to the positive reinforcement of ads. However, going on the other side of the plane, looking at the bad side of advertisements would, of course, focus on the bad effects it has brought upon us. It’s not really pure bad advertisements but rather, misused or misplaced ones like political ads. Political ads can be useful at some point but not on a longer period.

My love for my course turned a hundred-fold. All because of a single event. A single night of celebration that opened my eyes as to what is in store for me in pursuing this course. 

BA Organizational Communication is almost unheard of, having only three universities that offer the degree program. Tracing my steps, back when I was applying for UPCAT, I never really did understand what the course was all about. My thinking, back then, was that as long as it's not loaded with math subject, I was up for it. 

Imagine my surprise when I experienced how the course can help transform my skills and potentials into different sets of competencies. As I took more major subjects required of the degree program, I fell more and more in love with it. It's better than I have imagined. The subjects were highly relevant in today's communication situation, and the professors were simply fantastic.

It makes me see the bigger picture of things without putting less emphasis on the small, significant details. 

Basically, it's communication at its finest. 

The course recently celebrated its 30th anniversary since its founding at the BayLeaf hotel, housing students, faculty, and alumni alike. 

As the Vice President for Internal Affairs - Events of the Organizational Communication Society, I had a handful of tasks to accomplish for the 30th anniversary celebration. I also handled the Creatives Committee, the group responsible for the graphics and photography for the OrCom Exhibit where OrCom trivia were included. 

Organizational Communication Society Officers AY 2014-2015

The first part of the day was a bit of a chaos, in all honesty. I was juggling all my responsibilities here and there, running errands, meeting with the faculty for finalization of things, and entertaining students with questions regarding the event. It's hard work, but it was good hard work. It was fulfilling. 

During the event proper, OrCom's prestige was celebrated with strings of valuable talks from professional speakers, a handful of noteworthy performances, and the recognition of OrCom graduates and related persons who served as the pillars of the course and the event. 

Me, Ate Novelle, and Prof. Carol Pulumbarit

There were parts of the event that poked tears through my eyes - especially Ate Nov's recognition, the go-to person for every OrCom student.

What makes the event so memorable is that you will never forget how every single person in the room exudes joy, pride, and excellence, creating an atmosphere full of the OrCom spirit. It's a night I'll remember forever. 

During our last meeting in our Human Resource class, our professor, Sir Reggie Vallejos, bumped into a topic that seemed fitting in today’s situation: the improvement of technologies in different industries. He talked about the changes in these industries: the pros which are easier, and less effort work; and the cons which focus on the loss of some jobs, and the slow progress of these industries towards machine power over manpower.

I am not here to say that these technologies are good or bad but rather make some points of differences for better understanding as well as for appreciation of it.

Do you still remember the games Luksong Baka, Mataya-taya, or Taguan? These were the games that I grew up with. However, after more than 15 years, it seems that these street games are not played by kids these days. The reason? Technology. These children are now gravitated towards computer games, smart phones, and even social media. They are making themselves busy with these things that are usually made use of by older people than them. Yes, they may enjoy the use of these technologies but is it really more enjoyable than playing outside with your friends, sweating, and laughing until all of you are exhausted? Some may agree, some may not.

Technology in the workplace can also be beneficial or harmful depending on the use. Like what was mentioned before, some industries have already adopted technology as a part of their routine to improve work. But is it really all beneficial? For example, the presence of technology for a start-up company, which aims to connect brokers with buyers, is a good idea. Faster communication, easier advertisment, hassle-free market, all will be possible with technology. The problem will arise in the use of the employees themselves. With the availability of these technologies, specifically the internet, distractions are endless. From social media, to search engines, to music and videos, there are a lot of things that could distort the focus of an employee to their work. That said, there is technology present but those who are to operate them are already distracted which may result into low productivity.

Welcome, one and all to my sixth Tumblr blog (Good luck finding the first five; I might be promoting some). I always like to start my blogs with the title explanation.

I am in love with caffeine. It is my drug, most preferable in the form of coffee, tea, and chocolate. And I think I love communication now. I love the way it works anyway. For four years now, I have been putting these two together. Sometimes, I even wonder if the things I submit are from my brain, or just products of a caffeine-induced haze. (Which doesn’t matter as long as I pass)  

I know this is not Geeklister (one of my other blogs), but anyway, here's a list of what to expect from this online madness.

Ten things to expect from this blog

Pop culture will always be my primary inspiration

But I might take inspiration from theatre as well

And probably the 40s

Okay, maybe this blog won’t solely be about pop culture, then

I tend to be quite rambly

And I use “quite” the British way (Please don't kill me, Sir Chadwick)

I am Anglophilic and bibliophilic

I phile a lot of other things

I think I may have fallen in love with OrCom

But I’m still a creative writer at heart.

So there. First post to come soon. (Hint: It's a combination of number 2 and number 9)