Web sites as public relations tools: a case of the Kenya Commercial Bank’s web Site

Abstract

While the number of research studies conducted in the topic of the Internet increases in other parts of the world frequently, the researcher felt that the number of studies that investigate how public relations, the Internet and the banking industry relate with one another is quite low. not only in this country but in other parts of the world as well. Thus in this study, the Web site of the Kenya Commercial Bank has been investigated with the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of how a bank’s Web site can be used as public relations tool. More specifically, this study has investigated the objectives of the KCB Web site and the publics served on that site. In addition, the issue of design of the site has been a point of focus. The data was gathered through personal interviews with internal publics (public relations officer, information technology specialist and the bank teller) and external publics (the rival banker, bank customer, and a media representative). The findings and conclusions indicated, in part, that improving communication between the bank and its customers is a more important objective of the KCB Web site than communicating with the media. Moreover, the study revealed that the closer the publics are to the bank, the more these publics are served by the Web site. Finally, the provision of strong, relevant, newsworthy and credible content to diverse publics was found to be more important on the Web site than FAQ’S, bulletin boards and chat line discussion groups.