Examining how advocacy groups build relationships on the Internet

Abstract

In 2006, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) became American law after brief Congressional discussions despite the public outcries from animal rights organizations. The AETA made it a federal terrorist crime to harm any animal enterprise financially, which could include legal forms of protests and boycotts. Members of the ''Stop AETA'' coalition failed to draw attention to the legislation. The relationship management theory of public relations provides a framework to determine how well the coalition members developed relationships with like-minded individuals and the media. Results from a content analysis of the coalition members' Web sites revealed that nonprofit organizations and citizen-advocacy groups attempted to develop relationships through a variety of strategies, including making the visit a positive experience, being open and transparent in their advocacy efforts, and providing access to coalition leaders. The results suggest that the coalition was unable to generate much news coverage for the issue because coalition members did not sufficiently reach out to cultivate relationships with journalists. Specific suggestions are provided for future advocacy groups to use the Internet to develop and cultivate relationships with key stakeholder groups.

Transferring social marketing knowledge through third sector CoPs

“…Similar results regarding the lack of relevant marketing expertise in the third sector have also been reported in the Czech Republic (Starr-Glass & Bulla, 2006). It is unsurprising then that many TSOs do not efficiently use both rudimentary and advanced marketing concepts (Bennett & Gabriel, 2000;Napoli & Ewing, 2005;Weir & Hibbert, 2000). We may infer therefore that there is a relationship between a TSO's accessible level of marketing knowledge, and the sophistication of marketing tools and techniques it can effectively utilise.…”

“…In the UK, TSOs are filling gaps left by the receding role of government in providing social/ welfare services and becoming increasingly professionalised in line with exposure to market conditions (Bennett, 2005(Bennett, , 2008Brady et al, 2011). Nonetheless, the adoption and implementation of marketing techniques is by no means uniform in UK TSOs (Weir & Hibbert, 2000). The most important marketing activities in non-profit organisations in the US, UK and Australia are promotional in nature (Dolnicar & Lazarevski, 2009).…”

Local civil-mindedness on the Internet as the basis for fundraising segmentation: sociological, marketing determinants and the empirical analysis

“…Nevertheless, usage of new Internet opportunities for marketing seems to be quite limited (Pope, Isely, & Asamoa Tutu, 2009). This includes deficiencies in the field of online public relations (Saxton, Guo, & Brown, 2007;Taylor, Kent, & White, 2001;Waters & Lord, 2009), especially in using the democratic potential of online communication (Kenix, 2008).…”

Examining how industries engage the media

“…European organizations were likely to provide organizational backgrounders on policy issues pertaining to the organisation (Alfonso and Miguel, 2006). Other items found in online newsrooms included financial data and annual reports, the text from executive speeches, and organisational histories (Waters and Lord, 2009). …”

“…Organisations most effectively build relationships through engaging in two-way communication, or dialogue, with key publics (Grunig, 1992a). Web sites, if they are created in a way that facilitates dialogue between the organisation and its key publics, can be one means of building effective relationships with various stakeholders, including journalists (Waters and Lord, 2009). Shin and Cameron (2003) found that dialogue between journalists and public relations practitioners greatly influenced the outcome of an organisation's media relations efforts, even if the dialogue occurred over the internet.…”