Note from the Editor-in-Chief: We are pleased to share Volume 6, Issue 1, which offers our readers three research articles, two teaching briefs and two book reviews. The articles cover a variety of topics: public diplomacy training around the world, a comparison of expectations for PR graduates made by practitioners at different levels in their careers, and suggestions for helping students increase their knowledge and confidence in using statistics. We believe you will gain both inspiration and guidance from the teaching briefs, as they explore multicultural training through writing assignments and building recognition of the connections within and across personal networks. Finally, the book reviews offer helpful insights into how these two books might fit into your classes.
The editorial team expanded in November 2019 to include Dr. Kelly Vibber. We are grateful to have her join us as Dr. Lucinda Austin transitions deeper into leadership within the AEJMC PR Division. Dr. Austin has been a great help these past 2 years and will be missed. I am thankful for this entire team, which invests countless hours into proofreading, formatting and preparing each issue. Their service to the field is greatly appreciated. I also want to express my gratitude to our reviewers who offer useful advice through the blind- review process and help us maintain a solid reputation. Thank you!
A publication of the Public Relations Division of AEJMC Copyright 2020 AEJMC Public Relations Division
The Journal of Public Relations Education (JPRE) is devoted to the presentation of research and commentary that advance the field of public relations education. JPRE invites submissions in the following three categories:
Research Articles
Teaching Briefs
Book/Software Reviews
Learn more by visiting the About JPRE page and the Authors/Contributors page for submission guidelines. All submissions should follow the guidelines of the most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Editorial Record: Original draft submitted to JPRE June 13, 2019. Revision submitted August 13, 2019. Manuscript accepted for publication September 23, 2019. First published online January 21, 2020.
Author
Arhlene A. Flowers Associate Professor Integrated Marketing Communications Department of Strategic Communication Roy H. Park School of Communications Ithaca College Email: aflowers@ithaca.edu
ABSTRACT
Studies and reports from public relations scholars,
educators, and practitioners have shown that public relations students should
gain intercultural competencies and multicultural perspectives before they
enter the public relations industry. This article explains how a blog calendar
and social media assignment for specific global markets can help students
acquire international and multicultural competencies in the area of writing for
the public relations classroom.
Keywords: writing, blog, social media,
diversity, teaching
In today’s increasingly
multicultural and globalized world, public relations professionals and students
alike need to develop skills to communicate with diverse communities within
their own country and abroad. In addition, communicators must create verbal and
visual content to reach multicultural and international audiences, particularly
with the increasing use of online platforms around the globe.
The author developed an assignment
for students in a public relations writing class to create social media content
and an editorial calendar for a blog on behalf of a fictitious retailer seeking
to connect with diverse audiences in a specific international market. This
assignment not only provided students with greater challenge and creativity but
also required them to research and learn about multicultural populations and
cultural traditions abroad.
Economic Reality and Shifting Demographics
Today’s
U.S. public relations practitioners, regardless of where they work, most likely
will communicate with global markets. For example, foreign sales based on a
percentage of total Standard & Poor’s 500 sales exceeded 40%—43.6% in 2017, 43.2% in 2016, 44.3% in 2015, and 47.8% in
2014 (Silverblatt, 2018). The U.S. Small Business Association (Glaccum,
2019) touts on its website that “nearly 96 percent of consumers live outside
the U.S., and two-thirds of the world’s purchasing power is in foreign
countries” (para. 2).
The world is also experiencing shifting populations, geographical distribution
of the middle class, and religious adherents. Demographic trends show a
significant rise in global migration—among a population of 7.3 billion people, one
out of every 30 residents resides outside his or her country of birth
(International Organization for Migration, 2018)—bringing increasing diversity
to countries with existing generations of multicultural people. In 2015, half
of the 3 billion people classified as the global middle class were from Asian
countries, while the proportion of the middle class is estimated to increase to
two-thirds from Asia by 2030 (Kharas, 2017). Predictions also indicate that the
world’s religious populations will continue to shift by 2050, with Muslims
almost equaling Christians, the largest religious faith. The Buddhist
population is predicted to remain stable, while Hindu and Jewish populations,
various folk religions, and other religions (such as Baha’is, Jains, and
Sikhs) will grow in size (Pew Research Center, 2015).
Global Interconnectivity
Interconnectivity steadily rises
with more than half of the world online—56% of the world’s population are
active internet users (Statista, 2019a). In 2019, almost 3.5 billion people
used social media platforms, a 9% rise over the previous year (Chaffey,
2019). Facebook draws 1.47 billion
desktop daily active users and 1.57 billion mobile daily active users, with 85%
of daily active users coming from outside of North America (Omnicore, 2019a).
YouTube has over 2 billion logged-in visitors worldwide every month, with
content in 80 languages and local versions in over 100 countries (YouTube,
2019). Instagram has approximately 1 billion monthly active users (Omnicore,
2019b) with the United States leading, followed by Brazil and India (Statista,
2019b), while 79% of Twitter’s accounts are from outside the U.S. (Omnicore,
2019c). In addition, the blogosphere remains vibrant, with an estimated 505
million blogs (SoftwareFindr, 2018).
Need for Multicultural Perspectives in Public Relations
A number of scholars over the past few decades have recommended a greater emphasis on global perspectives, as well as multicultural, intercultural, and international skills for public relations students in the U.S.; they also recommend an integration of global and cultural diversity learning experiences in the classroom and overall curriculum (Bardhan, 2003; Creedon & Al-Khaja, 2005; Sriramesh, 2009; Zaharna, 2000). Taylor (2001) called for “internationalization” in undergraduate education to enable students to become competent and culturally sophisticated public relations professionals in the global arena. Over the past decade, studies have examined other dimensions of global public relations education. Tsetsura (2011) recommended that students learn multidimensional diversity, with an analysis of master characteristics and interactional identities, to prepare for communicating within a global marketplace. Azionya et al. (2019) addressed the benefits of a value-based education approach that fosters an ethical and poly-contextual examination of diverse societies in public relations education. Wolf and Archer (2016) looked at successful learning outcomes for communicators to effectively manage in a global and digital era, which acknowledges not only technological skills, but “more importantly [demands] excellent on- and offline communication skills, tolerance, empathy and diplomacy” (p. 9).
Connection to Practice
The Commission on Public Relations
Education 2017 Report on Undergraduate Education (2018) ranked writing for all
platforms as a top skill for public relations. It addressed the desirability of
diverse multicultural perspectives for entry-level job candidates in public
relations. The report included diversity and inclusion results from the 2016
omnibus survey and found that public relations practitioners and professors
rated diversity and inclusion as important KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and
Abilities) for new hires to have; for practitioners, the concept of diversity
and inclusion was one of the top three ranked areas of knowledge needed by new
hires. Practitioners “value candidates who demonstrate a multicultural
perspective, but also indicated that they are not seeing that perspective” (p.
143-144). Not surprising, writing ranked as the most desirable skill (4.88 out
of 5), followed by communication (4.76) and social media management (4.33). The
report also examined preferred characteristics for new employees, which again
pointed to writing performance as highly desired by practitioners (4.88), but
not found as frequently as desired (2.90).
The Global Communications Report
(USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, 2019) surveyed both public
relations practitioners and students about their views on the future impact of
technology in the field. Following the PESO model (paid, earned, shared, and
owned media), CEOs selected shared media (social media and online influencers)
as the most valuable media for the future at 38%, whereas students ranked shared
media as even more important at 70%. Another finding was the importance of the
storytelling characteristics of imagery in the future: “YouTube and Instagram,
whose popularity are based on photographs and videos, are projected to be the
big winners in an era of decreasing attention span” (USC Annenberg Center for
Public Relations, 2019, p. 30).
Assignment and Implementation
A multicultural blog and social
media assignment was introduced in a 300-level Writing for Public Relations
course that requires students to create an editorial calendar for a new blog
and write content and select visual imagery for specific social media platforms
for a certain country. The author created a fictitious American-based retailer
of home accessories and food products (a blend of Williams Sonoma, Sur La
Table, and Pier 1), which was launching stores in a new international market.
The fictitious co-founders of the retailer are a man and woman, with one from
the U.S. and the other from another country. The retailer sells home décor,
kitchenware, dinnerware, serving dishes, seasonal decorations, and food
products from around the world. This context provides students with the ability
to draw upon rich opportunities for storytelling and visual imagery. Food, for
example, plays an important part in cultures of all kinds and continues to be a
tradition handed down from generation to generation, particularly during the
holidays and special occasions. Avid cooks of any background also enjoy trying
recipes from other cultures. Croatian-Italian-American celebrity chef Lidia
Bastianich (PBS, 2017) explains the cultural significance of food: “Food feeds
our souls. It is the single great unifier across all cultures. The table offers
a sanctuary and a place to come together for unity and understanding” (para.
1). In addition, the fictional retailer’s holiday decorations provide content
to illustrate diverse secular and non-secular celebrations on online platforms.
To date, the assignment has covered
Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. The
country or countries for new markets can vary by semester. Students are
required to reset the English language setting on Microsoft Word, which
currently offers 16 versions of English. Although the computerized English
language settings do not capture all nuances, they do help students grasp key
differences between American English and other versions of English.
Before students work on the
assignment, the instructor should cover the following topics:
Intercultural and multicultural writing considerations on editing U.S. idioms
and applying culturally sensitive verbal and visual content that avoids ethnocentrism
and othering (i.e., avoid language “used to
communicate instances of perpetuating prejudice, discrimination, and injustice
either through deliberate or ignorant means,”
MacQuarrie, 2010, p. 635);
An overview of social media strategies, such as establishing clear
communication goals and building brand awareness with relatable, shareable, and
interactive content appealing to specific audiences, and writing tactics to
attract a following;
Preferred terms (following the latest edition of The Associated Press Stylebook), ethics,
and decorum for blogs and social media platforms, along with real-world
examples of blogs, tweets, and posts with impactful and appropriate visual
imagery.
Students are required to research a
specific country’s diverse population and religious preferences, as well as its
national, secular, and religious holidays, in order to create content that
makes the retailer’s products relatable with a soft-sell approach to the new
market. The first part of the assignment is preparing a 12-month editorial
calendar for a new blog. Students develop various story ideas (headline and
first few sentences) that address the opening dates of the new stores;
religious holidays celebrated by the diverse population; leading secular and
national holidays; and other special events that celebrate the country’s
diversity (a few examples in Canada could include National Indigenous Peoples
Day, Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Small World Music Festival, TD Mosaic Fest,
and Pride Toronto).
Drawing upon the topics in the blog
editorial calendar, students then create content for Twitter (three tweets with
proposed handle, hashtags and image), Facebook (three posts with images,
hashtag, and copy), Instagram (three posts with image, hashtag, and copy), and
YouTube (explanations for three different videos describing visuals, story
concept, and storytellers).
Students would require a minimum of
one week to work on the assignment, which can be completed on an individual
basis or in collaboration with one other student. Instructors should allocate
one class session for in-class writing, where instructors can review and
discuss drafts with students. A debriefing should take place after the
assignments are graded and returned. The professor can show examples of both
high- and lesser-quality student work (without identifying the students) on
PowerPoint and engage in a discussion on culturally appropriate and respectful
content with the entire class.
An assignment example with Canada as
the new market is included in the Appendix.
Assessment
The key learning objectives for the
multicultural blog and social media assignment are as follows: 1) to identify
cultural traditions and holidays that showcase the diversity of the population
in other countries; 2) to compose visual and verbal content for the blog
calendar and social media platforms; and 3) to develop intercultural writing
skills in communicating with specific global audiences and their diverse
populations, as well as skills for communicating online with the LGBTQ
community.
Assignments are evaluated on the
students’ ability to accomplish the following: 1) to demonstrate knowledge of a
range of holidays and cultural traditions covering diverse religions and populations
in a specific country; 2) to write culturally respectful copy and select
supporting imagery; 3) to incorporate the retailer’s founders and types of food
and home accessory products in the blog’s editorial calendar and social media
platforms as appropriate by using a tasteful, soft-sell approach; and 4) to
edit and proofread copy thoroughly. This assignment counts for 10% of the total
grade.
Conclusion
The author has observed that
students seem to enjoy learning about cultural traditions in other countries
and find the assignment engaging yet rigorous. One challenge has been helping
the students learn how to write with an authentic voice, not one that sounds
like hard-sell advertisements. Other students may need help learning how to
avoid American idiomatic expressions. The solution can be to show examples of
real-world tweets and posts that highlight various respectful, soft-sell
approaches.
Although this assignment was
designed for the Writing for PR course, it could be used in an International
Public Relations course. With technology constantly evolving, the social media
platforms could be adjusted to apply the most popular social media platforms
worldwide. In addition, the instructor could change the “client” from a
retailer of home accessories and food products to another type of organization.
As noted earlier, the country selection could vary and include more than one
country.
References
Azionya, C., Oksiutycz, A., & Benecke, D. R. (2019). A model for value based public relations education in a diverse and poly-contextual society. Public Relations Review, 45(3), 101767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.04.001
Bardhan, N. (2003). Creating spaces for international and multi(inter)cultural perspectives in undergraduate public relations education. Communication Education, 52(2), 164-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520302473
Creedon, P., & Al-Khaja, M. (2005). Public relations and globalization: Building a case for cultural competency in public relations education. Public Relations Review, 31(3), 344–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2005.05.021
Tsetsura, K. (2011). How understanding multidimensional diversity can benefit global public relations education. Public Relations Review, 37(5), 530-535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.09.020
Zaharna, R. S. (2000). Intercultural communication and international public relations: Exploring parallels. Communication Quarterly, 48(1), 85-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370009385582
APPENDIX
ASSIGNMENT (EXAMPLE FOR CANADA):
EDITORIAL CALENDAR FOR BLOG AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
Assignment Guidelines: Your new “client,” Home Decor & Celebrations (a fictitious company like a blend of Pier 1, Sur La Table, and Williams Sonoma), is a retail chain based in Chicago, with 10 stores across the U.S., with new stores opening in Toronto, Ontario, in September 20XX and in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March 20XX. The company sells home accessories, such as rugs, lighting, and window treatments; decorations for the holiday indoors and outdoors; dinnerware sets, cutlery, serving dishes, cookware, table linens, glasses, and barware; and coffees, teas, sauces, rubs, spices, oils, vinegars, pastas, condiments, baking mixes, cocktail mixes, and food gift sets. The company focuses on selling distinctive decorative, culinary, and utilitarian products from around the world.
It
also has hired a team of experts to prepare tips on how to decorate and
entertain for various holidays and celebrations; how to use spices and sauces
to liven up dishes; and how to decorate your home or apartment with
international flair.
The
founders are James Chandler, who was a chef at one of Chicago’s most celebrated
steakhouses, and Amanda Chang, who is from Vancouver and an award-winning
interior designer in North America. They both have traveled to all continents
and started an online business selling cookware, spices, and home decor from
their journeys, and they later set up retail outlets in major cities in North
America.
Your
“client” needs your help in creating an editorial calendar for a new blog and
social media content that announces the opening of the new stores and
celebrates different holidays and religions in its new market, which reflect
the multicultural diversity of the country’s population. The company wants to
appeal to diverse consumers at different stages of life—young professionals
setting up their first home, newlyweds, and parents. The retailer sells low
budget to higher-end products, many of which would be hard to find elsewhere.
Facts
of interest on ethnicity, religion, holidays, and special events in Canada:
1. Create a 12-month Editorial Calendar for the Canadian Market.
Develop content for a new blog that
provides how-to advice and tips on decorating one’s home and celebrating
holidays and special events in Canada, as outlined in required topics. Give the
blog a creative name and prepare an editorial calendar for a 12-month period,
with three different story ideas for every month of appeal to this market. You
can make up guest bloggers and add expert advice from the founders for some of
the topics. Think about tips, fun trivia, and top ways to make things better or
simpler.Write a headline for each
story idea and a brief description (using full sentences) of two to four lines.
Please use the template posted on Sakai.
Required Topics: The blog calendar must include the following events and holidays that tie in social gatherings, cooking, celebrations, holidays, decorating, and the seasons:
Acknowledgement of the opening dates of the two new stores in Canada;
Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holidays, as well as Lunar New Year, Vesak Day, and Diwali;
Secular holidays, such as Thanksgiving and National Indigenous Peoples Day;
National holidays celebrated in Canada, such as Victoria Day;
Special events in both cities that celebrate Canada’s culture and diversity, as well as the LGBTQ community.
2. Develop Examples of Social Media Content for the Canadian Market.
Create content for a variety of
social media that would position the retailer as the go-to source for advice on
home décor and recipes for special occasions and holidays for its multicultural
markets. You will have to use your imagination and find relevant images
online—and identify special occasions and holidays in the country. Remember the
retailer is trying to sell its products—but use a soft sell approach. Please
address the country’s diverse audiences and religions, as well as holidays and
special events. Refer to the blog calendar for ideas on topics.
Prepare content for each of the
following social media platforms targeted to the country:
Twitter (three tweets with a
maximum of 280 characters and proposed handle and hashtags plus image)
Facebook (three posts with
images, hashtag, and copy with full sentences)
Instagram (three posts with
image, hashtag, and copy with full sentences)
YouTube (concept for three
different videos; describe in full sentences—visuals, story concept, and
storytellers/spokespeople)
English: Reset the Review/Language setting to English (Canada). In the real world, the copy would be edited to Canadian English, which mostly uses Oxford English spelling, along with a French-language version. Apply such writing characteristics as culturally appropriate and respectful language; authentic and human tone, not institutionalized and hard sell; helpful and engaging tips and news; and relatable verbal and visual content for people to like, share, comment, or bookmark. See Sakai Resources/Social Media for links to articles about creating social media content for businesses and developing verbal and visual content for international audiences. Refer to your stylebook for usage of terms (gender, race, and religion, etc.).
Scott Kuehn (left), Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Andrew Lingwall (right), Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Abstract
This study explored student self-perceptions of writing skills in mass communication programs at 13 public state universities in the Mid-Atlantic region. Responses to three open-ended questions revealed heavy student concern with their basic skills, a desire for extensive faculty contact and feedback, and for many respondents, an immaturity or naiveté regarding professional standards. This study addresses implications for faculty members who wish to better understand their students in order to devise more effective writing instruction.
Kuehn, S., & Lingwall, A. (2015). In their own words: A thematic analysis of students’ comments about their writing skills in mass communication programs, Journal of Public Relations Education, 1 (1), 19-30.
