Social media can build or destroy, it depends on who is behind the screen.

 Social media can make things easy or difficult for the Public relations

professional in addressing #SayNoToXenophobia. #SayNoToXenophobia

was formed in 2015 at time where South Africans were brutally attacking,

torturing and killing foreign nationals. Read more about it here

https://www.chr.up.ac.za or https://www.backabuddy.co.za

Advantages of PR professionals using Social media on #SayNoToXenophobia.

The PR professional uses social media to bring awareness and spread the

word about the campaign. Social media gives the PR professional the opportunity to inform the Public about the campaign anytime and any day.

Social media is easily accessible for the PR professional to work on content

for the campaign. The professional can use social media to engage on

#SayNoToXenophobia with the audience. Social media is a quick way to get

noticed, it also helps the campaign gain a loyal and committed support

system. A loyal support system can tell the story of campaign to people who

do not know about it.

Disadvantages of PR professionals using social media on #SayNoToXenophobia.

Just like everything in the world, using social media on campaigns has its

own disadvantages. Fake news about #SayNoToXenophobia can spread

quickly, and it won’t be easy to control the damage which may cause the risk

of the campaign getting cancelled. There can be negative feedback. There

can be things that leak about the campaign that are confidential. Some

people may not have a clear understanding of the content the PR person is

posting.

Recommendations

I believe honesty is the best policy. PR professionals should be honest when

creating content for #SayNoToXenophobia so that there is no confusion.

The content created should not be offensive to anybody. The PR

professional should try to reciprocal. If an audience writes a comment about

the campaign, the PR person must reply. They must also be very

transparent. They must also know their target  audience, know who is likely to value #SayNoToXenophobia. 

As daunting as it is, Social media runs the world.

Social media has given people the impression that silence is disloyalty. #BlackLivesMatter is a campaign formed in 2013.It was formed in the United States. Find more information here https://blacklivesmatter.com. #BlackLivesMatter had people talking about the ill treatment of black people globally through social media.

Advantages of a Public relations professional using social media to address #BlackLivesMatter

Social media is very impactful. It is good place for Public relations professionals to address #BlackLivesMatter. The Public relations professionals becomes an advocate for the campaign encouraging people to get involved in the campaign. #BlackLivesMatter can reach as many people as it can through post sharing in different social media platforms. It can gain a large audience. The public goes to social media to hear the story of #BlackLivesMatter and it can get more influencers who will support, donate and engage in their events . The Public relations professional can communicate directly with supporters or the whole community. Social Media also gives the PR practitioner the upper hand in terms of making it easy for him/her to focus on the public. 

Disadvantages of a PR professional using social media to address #BlackLivesMatter.

However, there are things the PR professional cannot control. Such as negative comments or feedback, see https://rdcu.be/cljLV. For example, I saw one comment on Facebook where the person was saying it wasn’t fair for the campaign to say Black lives matter, the campaign must have been All lives matter. Another article said the campaign was racist. Surprisingly this comment got about 10000 to 16000 likes. Social media needs the PR professional to be available all time to give information and that is time consuming. There can be uncontrolled exposure.  Misinformation can spread much quickly through post sharing.

Recommendations

I think #BlackLivesMatter is a success, but it could be more successful if the PR practitioner was more available to interact with the audience, for example comment on posts that give out untrue information. They also need to control exposure efficiently. The PR practitioner also need to know real-time crises management as much as social media is time consuming, you need to be on alert all the time in case a crisis surface. Some people buy plants and never water them, they leave them to die that’s what PR professionals do. They build relations and never manage which is their downfall. They should manage each relation they build by creating content and answering the audiences question on #BlackLivesMatter.