Internet-Based Communication and Commercial Banks Activities in Benue State Nigeria: An Evaluation of the Extent of Social Media Usage

In the study “PR strategies and Activities Select Banks in Benue State Nigeria Use Social Media for†the researchers sought to find out the Public relations activities that social media can be used for, the study is anchored on two-way symmetrical model of public relations propounded by Grunig and Hunt. To elicit data for the study, the researchers adopted survey research method and questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Finding revealed that the select banks used social media to manage their image online this is evident on table 4 where a huge percentage of the respondents 77% strongly agree and 13% agree respectively. It was further revealed that, creating awareness and building relationships are public relations activities that the select banks used social media for. In table 5, 90% of the entire respondents were of the view that creating awareness is a PR activity that banks used social media for. It was again discovered that building relationship is another public relations strategy that banks used social media for. This was the view of 91 % of the entire respondents in table 5. It was concluded that Public relations practice in the 21st century cannot be devoid of the 21st century media because specific target audience of banks can be reached faster and at a cheaper rate. It was recommended that, social media team of banks must always monitor and respond swiftly to comments and reactions of the audience, and nip in the bud comments that could result to crisis.