Archive: March 2017

Most of us are familiar with the core KPIs of Google Analytics such as users, sessions, page views, bounce rate, average time on page, search and CTR. These metrics are important to The Coca-Cola Company too. But do they provide the holistic view the company needs? The answer is, no, because they alone do not capture engagement. So, the company created its own KPI.

Journalists and influencers believe that factual content ranks higher with online audiences than emotional content, according to a recent Cision report. Yet at a panel discussion in New York this week, communicators said that emotionally driven content has undeniable power to attract audiences and can even build trust in a brand.

Timely content is king. The good news in today’s digital world is that companies are now in the content driver’s seat. But with so many channels and platforms at their disposal, many brands struggle to be relevant on all of them, all the time. That is leading some to make poor decisions about content type, timing and topic. Here are two examples of how Southwest Airlines strikes while the iron is hot.

PR News will celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of its 2017 Social Media Awards at its annual Social Media Awards luncheon at the Yale Club in New York City on May 2, 2017. The Social Media Awards showcase the top social media campaigns and honor the individuals behind them. Dunkin’ Brands CCO Karen Raskopf will deliver a keynote address.

The social media giant has launched Stories, a Snapchat clone that gives Facebook users access to the two most unique aspects of the Snapchat interface: content that disappears after 24 hours and augmented reality lenses. This is the first Snapchat-pioneered feature to make its way into the central panel of Facebook’s marquee app.

Forget about Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer marketing for a moment. Instead, consider Human-to-Human. If you treat your customers like the humans they are and communicate with them in human ways, you are more likely to succeed on social media. Whether you are tweeting, posting, gramming or snapping, your human customers expect to be educated, enlightened or entertained.

Customers have four kinds of needs: functional, emotional, life-changing and social. How do communications professionals incorporate values that meet these needs into strategic PR, social media and content development plans? We should begin with why: People in every industry “don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” which spurs us to examine the underlying causes of buyer behavior.

PR is a fairly young industry. The average age of a person in the industry is 35-39, according to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. This is why it’s such a vibrant and exciting space. Yet millennials are known for job-hopping more than generations past. How can employers in PR retain millennial talent? An experienced executive shares a few tips.

Whatever one’s stance is regarding United’s decision to uphold its dress code policy, one thing is clear: United’s response has been swift and consistent across channels. Responding and listening in a crisis, though, are two very different—and sometime disconnected—things.

In both of the Arthur W. Page Society “New CCO” Podcasts she has hosted, Home Depot CCO Stacey Tank asks her guest a version of this unlimited resources question: “If you had an unlimited budget, what would you do differently?” In an interview after we had exclusive access to the second podcast, we decided to turn the tables on Tank, asking her the same question. In addition, we queried Tank and Aflac CCO Catherine Hernandez-Blades, Tank’s guest on the second podcast that will be available in mid-April, about a theme that runs throughout their session: how brands integrate digital and traditional communications.