1. Communicating on the
web: one size does not fit
all
Jennifer Brannock Cox
Salisbury University

2. beginnings
Communications Majors:
• Journalists
• Public relations
• Human communication
• Business
Assignment:
• Wordpress blog for portfolio
• Two posts per week for six weeks

3. Four approaches
• Journalists – news beat
• Focus on university or city of Salisbury
• PR – promotional
• Choose one SU or city of Salisbury organization (get
approval)
• Management (2 choices): Internal or Marketing
• For internal: choose an organization to which you
belong or for which you work (get their approval)
• Marketing: choose one SU or city of Salisbury
organization (get approval)

4. Common ground
• Use inverted pyramid
• 4-8 paragraphs; 1-2 sentences per graph
• Use descriptive headlines
• Include alternative storytelling features to text
• Use links
• Be professional!

5. Journalistic blogs
• Share news with audiences quickly
• Share items that won’t fit in the newspaper
• Give behind-the-scenes accounts of the reporting
process (build transparency)
• Interact with/ solicit responses from the audience
• Live-blogging of events for an interactive experience
• Politics blog

6. Pr/marketing differences
Marketing goal – to generate profit
PR goal – to make sure profit-making abilities are unharmed
• Public relations:
• Focusing primarily on influencing reputation/peoples’
perception about organization
• How can we do this?
• Marketing:
• Influence peoples’ desire for a product or service
• How can we do this?

7. PR/Marketing blogs
• Promote an event/service/product
• Build an image/idea
• Keep consumers abreast of changes/information
• Get direct feedback from consumers
• Provide industry/internal news
• Different platform for press releases
• Mary Kay marketing blog
• Sorority public relations blog

8. Internal communications
• Keep people informed
• Informed workers = happy workers
• Increase knowledge of company’s
products/services
• Provide resources & tips for better
productivity/relationships
• On-the-job coaching/training
• BE CAREFUL!
• Blogs are public, even when set to private
• Good news/bad news – very few exist!
• Communication Association blog

9. Thank you!