If you run a business in today’s world, then you are probably overwhelmed with all the tasks and operations you need to manage. The world is much more complex than even a decade ago, with social media and digital technology evolving ever more rapidly. That is why it is crucial that you use the right strategies to tackle PR, which is how you are perceived by the outside world. And HR is a key component of that, here’s why:
Time
When your company was smaller, you might have thought you could do it all: hiring, managing, training, PR, marketing, and accounting. However, as you grow, you notice that each sector of your company requires more and more of your time. The key mistake that many entrepreneurs make is trying to do it all themselves. In doing so, some things simply fall through the cracks and they don’t have time for the most important job of a leader: growing your business.
This is where leveraging HR to save you time is crucial. The reason why HR is important in outsourcing your time is that you can hand it off to a whole team of people whose only job it is revolves around carrying out your PR mission. They are the evangelists of your company and understand that without great PR, they won’t have a job. This frees up your time for all the other things on your plate.
Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, which is what makes them human. And if you don’t want to make mistakes, you need to be able to focus on just a few tasks at a time. Letting HR take over the PR lets them focus on this strategy and avoid mistakes. Multi-tasking by asking your marketing team to do too much, or even yourself, is a recipe for failure.
Recruiting
Public relations is about managing how you come off to the general world. In a day and age of social media, this is more important than ever. One way that your human resources team can help you with PR is in better recruiting.
HR already has the job of finding and hiring the right people based on your company goals. They do the payroll, the taxes, and the training, and the onboarding. They are the perfect people to know what kind of PR will attract better candidates for job openings by running your social media with that in mind. After all, your company needs great talent in order to grow and innovate with the competition, and not to stagnate.
Crises
Every company will face their fair share of crises. This cannot always be avoided. However, HR can certainly help you minimize it. They understand the social and even the legal ramifications of certain issues, whether it be a refund, an angry customer, or a hit piece designed by your competitors. HR’s job is to protect the company’s interests, so they can lend their insights and extend it to positive PR spin no matter what happens.
Training and Systemizing
Social proof is still alive and well in the internet age. While it used to be more about in person word of mouth, today employees of your company will share their experiences not just in person but online. Having a great PR presence managed by your HR personnel means that people will be proud to share that they work for your company and it will be easier for them to recruit their friends onboard. To ensure employee satisfaction, consider using technologies such as a time card calculator. This is huge especially when it comes to competing for rare talent with other brands.
When it comes to having the best reputation you can have online, you need great PR. When a disaster strikes, people flood social media to see the response of the company and make their decision on the character of that business. Use the strategies above and incorporate more HR into your PR so you can control the message and set your company up for better branding going forward.
