London,
13
October
2014
|
08:36
Europe/London

Social business is the future of public relations, says CIPR President

Washington DC – Social business is the biggest opportunity for the public relations profession in a generation. This is the view of CIPR President Stephen Waddington speaking yesterday on the opening day of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) International Conference in Washington DC.
 
The PRSA is a community of more than 20,000 practitioners in the US. Its international conference Leading the Way: A Fearless Future for Public Relations is taking place in Washington DC from 12 to 14 October. You can follow the event on Twitter via the hashtag #PRSAICON.
 
In his session Stephen spoke about the change management challenges facing the industry in shifting through four stages of development from publicity to influencer relations, community management and social business.
 
He described the opportunities in each area for progressive public relations agencies and communications departments, and the organization model and evolution that each requires.

Stephen Waddington MCIPR, Chartered Practitioner, European Digital & CIPR President 2014
Organisations are moving beyond the tactical use of social media to embed social technologies into their business processes that enable communication, collaboration and insight into customer, employee, supplier and partner behaviour. This is open business and it is impacting every area of organisational design. It’s the future of public relations.
Stephen Waddington MCIPR, Chartered Practitioner, European Digital & CIPR President 2014

Stephen’s speech at the PRSA International conference in Washington DC is part of a broader initiative for 2014 that has seen the CIPR engage on issue relating to the future of the profession with different sectors and geographic markets. 

In his year as President Stephen has spoken on behalf of members CIPR at events including BledCom, Bled; PRSA International Conference, Washington DC; the World PR Forum, Madrid; and Upload, Lisbon. 

Stephen's SlideShare presentation from the PRSA International Conference is available, along with a paper that he wrote to support the event, How to modernise a public relations agency or communication team.