Public Relations Campaign Objectives and Ethical Analysis Report

This report analyzes a new Public Relations (PR) campaign, focusing on setting objectives and addressing ethical implications. The campaign aims to leverage social media and paid promotions to increase traffic, visibility, sales, and engagement. The report uses the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound) to define objectives for Marks and Spencer. It emphasizes the importance of selecting appropriate social media platforms, targeting the right audience, and seamlessly blending organic content with advertisements. The report also delves into the ethical considerations of social media promotion, including respecting community guidelines, avoiding spam, maintaining content value, and adhering to copyright laws. It highlights the need for integrity, honesty, and careful consideration of ethical practices to ensure the campaign's success and maintain a positive brand image. The report concludes that social networking is a valuable tool for PR when used responsibly.

Running head: COMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC RELATIONS
Communications: Public Relations
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1COMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC RELATIONS
Setting of Objectives for the New Public Relation Campaign
The Public Relations (PR) is effectively used for communicating vital messages to
diverse public (Seitel 2017). In other words, the basic principle of public relation lies in
nurturing and establishing long standing relationships with the editors, reviewers, bloggers
for getting coverage of stories and ensuring the relevance of the company. The publishing of
a company name through trusted news source leads to substantial validation and ensures that
the brand is not only trustworthy but credible.
The contemporary PR techniques include the limitation in the usage of the traditional
press release along with thought leadership becoming priority of the increasing PR budget
(Hall 2016). There has been an increase in content amplification with prevention of ad
vocation of negative brands. There would be need for online reputation management and
endurance of its true influence will gradually win over increased number of the followers. In
addition, there would be increased demand for social ads and paid promotion (Meerman
2011).
Thus, the objectives of the new PR campaign using the SMART model include (Keith
2011):
Specific: Marks and Spencer needs to increase its traffic, visibility, sales, lead
generation and engagement through the usage of the paid promotions and social media
advertisement. This will clearly help it in defining the objectives of the new PR campaign.
Measurable: For the new PR campaign Marks and Spencer must involve careful
selection of the various social media platforms based on criteria and consider whether the
demographics of the channel matches the brand and whether the target audience is consistent

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with such platforms. However, the common social media platform includes, Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
Actionable: The new PR campaign for Marks and Spencer must involve itself in
finding the ground for targeting the social audience. Targeting audience with social media
advertisements is a tough task as hours needs to be spent on selecting the best content for the
target audience.
Realistic: The new PR campaign for Marks and Spencer must involve the seamless
blending with the organic content. Once the goals and networks for promotion have been
chosen, it is important for choosing the content type to be used for advertising.
Time Bound: The new PR campaign for Marks and Spencer must set a deadline
along with having a particular funnel for the users arriving from the advertisements that
encourages them to buy the product. This involves awareness, consideration and transaction.
Analysis of the Main Ethical Implications of the New PR Campaign
Social media promotion represents an advertising means that makes use of various
social media platforms for building business presence over the internet. The very first thing
that holds importance is the need of realizing that joining a social network means being a part
of a community that exists in reality(Chretien and Kind 2013). This ensures giving the
business a space within the community without invading in someone’s privacy. The PR
campaign will fail if one seems pushy. Although the social media platforms will help in
driving traffic to the site, one must not use the spam the boards or the auto friends software
otherwise traffic will be driven away. The new PR campaign must also not undertake
intentional spamming which might also have a negative influence. Enough time should be
given for meeting the members before undertaking the campaign. It is also necessary for

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participating as a member and joining various communities that closely relates to the
business. Contribution should also be made in terms of making friends with the members of
the community who seems interested in the campaign undertaken.
It is also very important to coming out right with a suitable content. The content used
should not only be interesting but also have a genuine value (Scott 2015). The campaign
should not mislead any members since they might be the potential clients. Moreover, titles
should not be overdone for luring clicks. Another ethical practice that needs to be followed is
paying attention on not criticizing the beliefs of other members. One should however keep in
mind that there exists a real person behind the post who might become a potential client and
hence integrity and honesty is maintained in undertaking the new PR campaign. Before the
final postings are made one must be aware of the copyright laws and study the issues related
to the media law with proper understanding. Attention is essential on sections related to the
intellectual property, infringement of copyright and invasion of the privacy. Thus, social
networking acts as a great means for undertaking the new PR campaign provided it is
undertaken correctly.

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References:
Chretien, K.C. and Kind, T., 2013. Social media and clinical care: ethical, professional, and
social implications. Circulation, 127(13), pp.1413-1421.
Hall, J. 2016. 7 PR Trends You Need To Know In 2016. [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2015/12/13/7-pr-trends-you-need-to-know-in-2016/
[Accessed 25 Mar. 2018].
Meerman Scott, D. 2011 The New Rules of Marketing and PR. John Wiley & Sons Butterick
Keith.2011 Introducing Public Relations. Theory and Practice. SAGE
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online
video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers
directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Seitel, F.P., 2017. Practice of Public Relations. Pearson Education.