Archive: January 2017

Although Twitter has been around for a decade, never in its history have 140 characters had the power and influence they’ve enjoyed since Nov. 9. Sure, when the Pope began tweeting, it made headlines but it didn’t move markets the way @realdonaldtrump has in the last few months. One outlet estimated that one 140-character screed about Lockheed Martin cost the company $28 million per character.

Tech Initiative: If 2016 was an indication, Finn Partners rarely sits still. After a slew of acquisitions last year, this week it will announce it’s created an initiative catering to brands in the cutting-edge technology space. Called Next Tech, it aims to help brands in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies explain their businesses.

We gathered select members of PR News’ Social Shake-Up Conference board of advisors for a roundtable on social trends for PR News’ premium PR News Pro (and offered to you for free). We also asked about best practices for social storytelling, how to spend little and get a lot from social and how to surmount obstacles to social media in regulated industries, all topics related to sessions on the agenda for the Shake-Up (May 22-24 in Atlanta, socialshakeupshow.com).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can strike fear into PR pros and communicators, who are concerned that robots eventually will take their jobs. In fact, AI combined with human intelligence is the most powerful combination. As such, communicators should embrace technology.

Communicators looking to jump on the Facebook Live trend should spend some time seeking inspiration from brands doing it well, and one of the foremost brands of that category is matchmaker eHarmony. We asked social media director Kerianne Mellott for some best practices, and she obliged us with these four Facebook Live tips.

For years, podcasting was overshadowed by other forms of emerging media, but it continues to steadily grow in popularity. In fact, more than 10 billion podcasts were downloaded and streamed on Apple devices alone in 2016, an increase of more than 2 billion from the year before. Here, Jason Hoch, chief content officer for HowStuffWorks, offers three considerations for those brands just beginning to explore podcasting.

James Chong, senior manager of social customer engagement at TOMS, is tasked with managing TOMS’ social budget while spreading its cause-related messaging to new audiences. Chong, who will be speaking at PR News’ Digital Summit Feb. 24 in Huntington Beach, CA, shares the arguments for paid social that he’s made to senior leaders.

Rocked by several crises, Delta begins providing diversity training to cabin crews. This a good move by the air carrier as diversity incidents rose fast in 2016, prompting the Department of Transportation to issue guidelines to airlines and passengers recently. The larger question for communicators, though, is any industry immune to social media-driven crises?

There’s good news and bad news surrounding media reports Jan. 17 that Delta cabin personnel will be receiving diversity training. The good news, of course, is that the brand is providing important training to front-line employees at a time when social media, full flights, small seats and perhaps the charged political climate have combined to… Continued

The post Responding to Crises, Delta Provides Diversity Training to Cabin Crews appeared first on PR News Blog.

Canadian brand Tweed, North America’s first federally regulated producer of cannabis, scored a coup in 2016. It struck a deal with Snoop Dogg, one of the world’s most prominent hip hop icons (and marijuana enthusiasts), to market Leafs by Snoop, the artist’s own line of cannabis products. To the layperson, a perfect marriage like this sounds like a product that would sell itself. PR pros know better, though; a good campaign is everything.