#SOUTHAFRICA (CURRENT ISSUES FACED IN SOUTH AFRICA)

STRATEGIC USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN A CORPORATE CONTEXT

The constant increase in the development of technology has made the business world much easier to conduct. Social media has allowed so many businesses to engage with their customers through the usage of different social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

HOW CORPORATE BUSINESSES MAKE USE SOCIAL MEDIA

-  Organisation’s hire Professional Public Relations Practitioners to build authentic relationships with the external stakeholders by understanding their expectations from the business on different social media platforms.

-  The Public Relations Practitioners will create a business blog where the newsworthy information about the business will be posted.

-    External stakeholders (customers) are also able to purchase goods online and get them delivered straight to their doors.

- The Public Relations Department will create social media platforms where customers can raise their opinions and complaints about the business services.

-   Social media allows corporate businesses interact with external from different paths of the world hence this increases the ability to reach a larger target audience.

#SOUTH AFICA (CURRENT ISSUES FACED IN SOUTH AFRICA)

Since the begging of the New Year (2018), South Africa has experienced a lot of negative and positive changes that have affected South African citizens in different ways. The top three issues that are currently been faced are, the increase of Taxation, The new discovery disease found in Enterprise products and the resignation of the former president, Jacob Zuma.

INCREASE OF TAXATION

After the former president, Jacob Zuma step down the South African tax increased from 14% to 15%. The increase of tax has impacted so many people’s lives in a positive and negative manner.( https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/226899/vat-to-increase-to-15-from-1-april/)

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF INCREASED TAX

-       An increase in fuel levy

-       South Africa’s low income earners will be affected the most because they will have to pay more tax by 1%.

-       Increase in Alcohol.

POSITIVE IMPACT OF INCREASED TAX

-       Increase in grants( Children, Disable and old age)

-    NSFAS has been changed to a bursary and not a loan for fellow South African students.

-       Increase in the South African budget

THE NEW DISCOVERED DISEASE FOUND IN ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS

Over the past few weeks of March, the minister of health ( Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi) has announced to South Africa that a new disease or virus was found in any enterprise products. The virus was firstly discovered at Polokwane Enterprise manufacture. The virus has killed over 180 people in South Africa. The Enterprise CEO (Lawrence MacDougall) is still not taking accountability for the damages the products caused to Enterprise customers. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za

MEASURES TO AVOID LISTERIOSES

-       Ensure you return all Enterprise and rainbow products to the nearest store you bought to get a refund until the 30^th of March.

-       If you have already ate any Enterprise or Rainbow  products, consult your doctor as soon as possible

-       Tweet about the disease to raise awareness

-       Also stay away from Rainbow chicken due to rumors that it also contain the virus. 

THE RESIGNATION OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT ( JACOB ZUMA)

On the 14th of February, Jacob Zuma resigned as the president of South Africa. The former president had to resign due to the public pressure wanting him to step down because of his illegal actions as the president. Ramaphosa C will be the new president of the country if the ANC party wins the elections vote. Your thoughts?

 The following link is a resignation speech of the former president, Jacob Zuma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0slU_w21Q

PUBLIC RELATIONS OPPORTUNITIES

Public Relations strives to maintain a positive image and reputation for an organization by making sure the organization is represented well on social media. The opportunities that Public Relations departments may encounter based on the current issues of South Africa are very slim.Due to the increase of taxation, Public Relations Practitioners can conduct a Quantitative research were they will post online questionnaires for external stakeholders birder to discord the impact of the increased tax. This will help the Governing Body understand the impact of increased tax and if the negative impacts outweighs the positive imp, the Government might have to reduce he tax back to 14%. By doing a Quantitative research, Public Relations Practitioners will help form an authentic relationship between the Government and its citizens.

CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

In most cases, Public Relations departments are always find accountable for the bad reputation always of an organization. In these case, the Enterprise Company’s reputation has been negatively affected due to the discovery of the listeriosis virus. It is up to the public relations practitioner to try to regain the company’s reputation by using different social media platforms like twitter, and Facebook to try to apologize and hopefully regain the long existing relationship with Enterprises customers. The PRP also has to come up with different research method like questionnaires, interviews and observations to try to understand what the virus has caused in order to come up with measures on how to stop the virus and continue with business as usual.

STRATEGIC USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

There are four most commonly used and most effective social media platforms that public relations departments use too build authentic relationships with the organisation’s external stakeholders which are:

-       Facebook

-       Twitter

-       Instagram

-       YouTube

TWITTER

Twitter is mostly used to publish newsworthy information that the public finds interesting or important. In this case, the Practitioners can tweet about the upcoming Vote for the next governing body. This will have a huge influence on South Africa citizens on their decision to vote for the body that will help uplift the country and help create new opportunities that will develop it.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is mostly used to share photos, Videos or statuses that mutual friends finds as interesting. The Public Relations Practitioners will post about the Listeriosis found in in Enterprise products and share photos of the brand that have the virus that will help raise awareness. The target audience will also have the opportunity to share and like in order to raise awareness to their mutual friends too.