COMU 1152 Media Conference 3

Luke Royes is this week’s guest; he is an ABC online Journalist. The topic he came to talk is the use of social networking. Most of people have been using social networking such as Facebook or Twitter, but the key is how to use it as a tool in public relations? Luke shared his ideas with us on this question.

Firstly, he talked that back to 2008, his boss didn’t allow employees to post things about their work and life on social networking websites. After about 2 years, they started to realize that social networking is very helpful on the business, as it can connect the company with its audience more closely! Then he listed some popular social networking in the last decade, and talked about their unique strengths.

For example, Instagram (I used everyday!) is used to post photos and helpful for brand recognition in business. This year, EKKA has used Instagram to show people their activites and food to attract more visitors (which can be seen in the second picture).

  

ABC started to use social networking five to seven years ago, Facebook and Twitter were used as platforms to communicate with their audience and show a variety of activities. As an online journalist, Luke uses all social networking, and the most used one is Twitter as he thinks it’s more professional compared with others.

For the advises on how to use social networking professionally, Luke said was “Don’t be a dickhead”—When using the social networking for public relations, we need to be conscious about what to post on these websites. Once things are out there, our professional quality would be reflected, and the entire company’s reputation can be affected.

Luke also mentioned that importance of making contacts. It’s helpful when you have network to use, as people are always willing to help those they know. So it’s important and necessary to follow up and build a good relationship with your contacts.