The explosion of blogs, social networking sites, video-sharing sites and other powerful digital communication platforms may be the biggest game-changer to impact business since mechanised manufacturing. In today’s Web 2.0 world, company stakeholders including employees, customers and investors are empowered in ways unimaginable a few years ago and traditional corporate hierarchies are yesterday’s news. International corporate communications guru, Paul A. Argenti, provides a lively, up-to-date review of the Web 2.0 landscape and analyses the increasingly central role corporate communication plays in virtually every organisational function. Argenti and co-author Courtney Barnes advise corporate leaders on how to deploy proven strategies for using new and emerging digital platforms to
* manage brand identity and company reputation
* build a culture of engagement and transparency
* turn stakeholders into ‘company evangelists’
* manage internal communications across time-zones and language barriers
* recruit and retain the best talent
* develop compelling messages based on customer and investor needs and desires.
The book discusses the application of digital strategies to corporate communications and how they have changed the rules of the game in every part of the field. From the most obvious changes in how the media operates, who is part of the media, the ways in which digital strategies are affecting the investor relations, crisis communications and corporate social responsibilities — everything we know about communications has been turned upside down in the last decade. Stakeholders control the means of production in communications today as never before. Giant companies can be brought to their knees by lonely bloggers operating in every part of the world and the chance for corporations to seize this as an opportunity rather than to see it as a threat offers us one of the most exhilarating challenges of our time.
The complex business environment, driven by these individual stakeholders in needs, wants, opinions and whims, underscores a harsh reality for corporate leaders. They have all but given up control over their organisation’s regulations and messaging to a dissonant public. This evolution or revolution in business did not spark off overnight. It had been brewing and simmering for some time before it had such an impact that it left executives without any strategy for thriving, let alone surviving, in their new environment.
This book sets out to define the current business environment as it is shaped by the new technologies and offers incentives and strategies for understanding them and using them to the advantage of their organisation. While revising long-held business beliefs and practices, this approach will empower an often-overlooked organisational function – corporate communication – to lead the movement to digital supremacy.
The growing role of digital media in defining corporate brands and reputations initially put many business leaders on the defensive, but many are now finding they don’t have much of a choice when it comes to joining the conversation. When the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in, it’s step up or step aside.
The book brilliantly explores the catalysts for corporate crises in the modern digital environment by considering the evolution of crises communications to the present day. Through case studies of crises, it outlines a plan that companies can use to anticipate, manage, mitigate and even prevent crises.
This book will help you deploy the full range of digital communication platforms available today and effectively manage your relationships with stakeholders on your own terms.
(Tata McGraw-Hill Education Pvt Ltd, 7, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi-110 008.)
