Evaluating a Blog Post The primary goal of blogs for organizations is effective
ID: 467193 • Letter: E
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Evaluating a Blog Post The primary goal of blogs for organizations is effective public relations (PR). PR is fundamentally about building relationships with employees, customers, communities, the media, and other stakeholders. A primary goal of building these relationships is to improve corporate reputation or credibility. Since a primary goal of PR is to create distinctive brand value for a company, any individual message should be considered a piece in this larger effort. So, the first step is to clarify your company’s brand and, through discussion, gain a shared sense of the brand message. Without this agreement among colleagues, a company may produce non-unified, perhaps even confusing, messages. Many PR messages center on drawing positive attention to products and services, especially those that are newly launched, recently improved, or recently awarded or otherwise recognized. Developing your ideas for PR messages involves understanding these products and services completely and accurately. Furthermore, it involves identifying which products and services the company intends to highlight. Thus, it requires discussions of the company’s strategy for promoting various products and services. Once you have done all this, you are ready to act much like a news reporter. You gather accurate and reliable information that tells a compelling story of what the company has done. In the press-release style, which still accounts for most written PR messages, the main components include a headline, dateline, the story, a boiler plate, and contact information. The headline immediately captures the attention of stakeholders. Next, the dateline allows readers to identify when the story occurred. Then, the PR story—whether it’s announcing a product launch, an act of charity, an event, or many other types of notable corporate activities—is written in third person in what is often referred to as inverted pyramid style. The story should answer the basic questions of who, what, when, where, and why quickly within the first paragraph. The story then provides supporting details—the second tier of the inverted pyramid. At the end of the PR story, a boilerplate or positioning statement briefly explains background about the company: the nature of its business, its products and services, its customers, and its unique selling position, meaning what distinguishes it from competitors. Read the case below and answer the questions that follow. (1) T&R MINING CONTINUES TO SUPPORT STEM PROGRAMS (2) February 15, 2015 (3) T&R Mining continued its commitment to science and technology education by donating $700 thousand to STEM programs in middle schools throughout the country during 2014. In addition, nearly 500 T&R scientists and engineers have volunteered at middle schools as volunteer teachers during the past year. T&R scientists and engineers also created 85 lesson plans that are free of charge to schools. These lesson plans help students learn about chemistry, physics, and math in current and applied situations. (4) T&R CEO Janice Sanchez explained, “We’ve contributed to STEM programs for the last 15 years. As a company, we know how important science and technology are to our economy. We also know how important it is for all students to get training in science and technology when they’re young. Not only do they learn the material intellectually, they form attitudes about what science can mean for their careers. We’re well positioned to help in this effort. T&R is committed to using the best and cleanest technology there is for mining. We want to share what we learn with teenagers so that they can make informed decisions about their career choices and their positions on technology and the environment.” _____________________________________ (5) T&R Mining is a global mining corporation with operations in nearly forty countries. It is committed to supporting the communities located near its mines and leading green mining initiatives. (6) For more information about T&R Mining and its support of STEM initiatives, please contact Ms. Ana Martinez at amartinez@trmining.com.
1. What component of a blog post is item 1?
Headline
Dateline
PR Story
Boilerplate
Contact information
2. What component of a blog post is item 2?
Dateline
Headline
PR Story
Boilerplate
Contact information
3. What component of a blog post is item 3?
PR story
Dateline
Headline
Boilerplate
Contact information
4. What component of a blog post is item 4?
PR story
Dateline
Headline
Boilerplate
Contact information
5. What component of a blog post is item 5?
Boilerplate
PR story
Dateline
Headline
Contact information
6. What component of a blog post is item 6?
Contact information
Boilerplate
PR story
Dateline
Headline
7. This blog post supports T&R Mining’s corporate reputation by sending all of the following messages EXCEPT what?
T&R is a highly profitable company.
T&R is generous in its financial contributions to STEM programs.
T&R is committed to science and technology education.
T&R is committed to clean mining.
T&R supports employee efforts to improve science and technology education.
Explanation / Answer
1. Item 1 of blog post is Headline since it captures the attention of the readers.
2. Item 2 of the blog porst is Dateline since it consists date of publishing
3. Item 3 is PR Story as it elaborates the story about T&R's support to Step programs and how T&R volunteers are contributing in imparting the education. So basically it tells the story about Who, What, When and where.
4. Item 4 is Boilerplate. It briefly tells about comapny's products, technologies, its competitive position and unique selling positions. Also it focuses on how the organization is commited to its promises and its dedication to its social responsibilities.
5. Item 5 is also a part of Boilerplate which briefs about the company and its background.
6. Item 6 is Contact Information.
7. The Blogpost supports all the messages but one that is 'T&R is a highly profitable company'. The blog nowhere mentioning about company's financial position in the current year or previous years, any investment in the business or reveals no financial data directly or indirectly. All the remaining 4 statements are mentioned in either the PR Story or the Boilerplate.
4.
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