Archive: April 2017

We recently surveyed attendees for the upcoming Social Shake-Up, asking them a couple of basic questions: which social media platform is their main focus in their work life, and what do they want to learn about most at the Shake-Up. Judging by the responses to the first question, the past—in the form of relatively ancient social media platforms—has a pretty firm grip on the professional communicators who responded to the survey.

Rob Rakowitz, the global director of media at Mars, has done some compelling content marketing for varied consumer brands like Snickers, the cat food Whiskas and Uncle Ben’s. So what can the man from Mars tell us about his content marketing strategy? Well, among other things, “keep it simple.” In his view, the more you can simplify your vision, the better an idea travels. Gone are the days when you could just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Instead, marketers need a targeted approach informed by data, and they need to set a simple goal.

Communicators know one word that can shake up an organization is crisis. But have you pondered how you would deal with such a situation if you were to ever face it? Survey after survey indicate most firms lack a solid crisis plan and fewer practice crisis scenarios regularly. In this digitized world, a well-worded press release is no longer enough to pacify your audience. Here are a few tips to help you use content to control a crisis.

Social media sites are popular targets when it comes to hacking. Just last month, hackers managed to access the Twitter account for McDonald’s and send out a derogatory post aimed at President Trump. But McDonald’s is a well established, multinational brand and they could gain control of their account quickly. Could your business do the same? Here are six steps to help keep your company’s social media accounts secure.

In this second of a three-part series about the PR pro’s role in communicating change, the author discusses how to assess what attitudes your stakeholders have regarding change. This is easier said than done as attitudes likely will differ between groups of stakeholders, regions and professions. Owing to its importance and sensitivity, change requires communication that is multi-dimensional. This is a time for two-way communication.

A random act of senseless violence stunned the United States April 16: In a video posted to Facebook, a man driving through the Cleveland area sees a pedestrian, stops the car, announces his intention to kill, walks over to the victim and shoots him. The victim, 74-year-old Robert Godwin, was on his way home from an Easter meal with his children.

In Q4 2016 (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31), consumer engagement, or total actions, defined as the sum of reactions, comments and shares on Facebook, rose 6% year over year for U.S. B2B brands, according to Shareablee data. Video engagement jumped 151%, though. Data were provided exclusively to PR News Pro. Enterprise data integration and management software firm Informatica maintained its top spot on the B2B list that it established in Q3 2016. Consumer engagement with the brand’s posts rose 38% compared with the same quarter last year, says Shareablee’s Nathalie Nuta. Video was just 8% of Informatica’s engagement. Its top post was an image wishing all a happy Diwali, which is the Hindu festival of lights.

PR pros know it’s important to adapt to change. Yet it’s also comforting when some of the basics of PR can be applied to new platforms. Take Twitter, whose newsworthiness President Trump has cemented. We asked Rebecca Matulka, deputy director of digital, U.S. Department of the Interior, about creating engagement and growing a community on Twitter. Before setting out the tactics her organization uses, she noted that goal setting, a key component of nearly every PR effort you can think of, should comprise the start of your Twitter endeavors.

Recently I got a phone call from Marion McDonald, chief strategy officer of Ogilvy PR Asia Pacific. She was preparing her presentation for the AMEC Summit in Bangkok, May 17-18 (www.amecorg.com). Now, Marion’s a great presenter, and I always will try to see one of her talks. In fact, at the AMEC Summit in Amsterdam a few years ago, she used the famous scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally as part of a discussion on how advertisers and PR people might work together.

Sharp Claws: Maybe the biggest beneficiary of United’s woes was Wells Fargo, whose 113-page board report about its 2 million bogus accounts barely registered in the news cycle when it was issued Apr. 10. In short, it fingers a pair of former Wells employees: CEO John Stumpf and community banking chief Carrie Tolstedt. An encouraging note: The two will lose an additional $75 million through clawbacks, the largest clawbacks in banking history. In all, clawbacks will cost Stumpf $69 million; Tolstedt, who did not cooperate with the investigation and whose lawyer challenged its findings, will forfeit $67 million.