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Crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter burst onto the scene in the late 2000’s, providing startup companies with an innovative and unique way to generate buzz around new products. Recently, media have tired of the crowdfunding angle and often will not cover campaigns at all. While crowdfunding can still be successful, entrepreneurs must be prepared with a strategic plan for setting and reaching their goals.

For a brand that so aligns itself with happiness and childlike wonder, it must be difficult even to address the tragedies that have occurred on and near its property recently. But since addressing them is necessary, brevity has been the name of the game when it comes to official messaging from Disney.

When House Democrats began their sit-in on June 22 to force a vote on a gun-control bill before the House of Representatives begins a scheduled vacation recess, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) put the legislative body into recess, which meant the cameras and microphones were switched off. Soon afterward, C-SPAN began broadcasting Periscope and Facebook Live feeds of the sit-in shot by various House Democrats.

With Snapchat raking in over 100 billion video views a day, it’s well past the time to say “Snapchat isn’t right for my brand.” But once you’ve locked down a witty username…what, exactly, should you be snapping to reel in the platform’s rapidly growing demographic? Carolina Valencia, senior director of corporate communications at Univision Communications, shares some jumping-off points to help you generate fresh ideas for your Snapchat content.

In many ways, Facebook is using a time-tested PR tactic to increase the popularity of live video—influencers. By tapping some of the most popular media outlets and celebrities to create live video Facebook will have an incredible stockpile of content. Communicators should take a page from these prominent media companies and celebrities and jump on this burgeoning trend. Those who make a name for themselves now are sure to reap the rewards after live video inevitably becomes a main feature of the platform.

Twitter and YouTube have brought the visual storytelling game to new heights. Recently YouTube unveiled its free YouTube Director for Business app, part of a suite that allows businesses to create video ads straight from their mobile devices. The first portion of the suite gives creators access to design templates, text overlays, animations and music, all in a user-friendly step-by-step tutorial framework. Twitter has released Engage, an all-in-one measurement and posting app that allows for a longer video format.

With the emphasis on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, video and other forms of digital marketing, the basics of writing, editing and media training can get overlooked. In truth, as someone responsible for brand communications, your remit includes all this and more. Being asked to personify the brand you represent by speaking with groups or participating in a one-on-one interview with media, or preparing executives or spokespeople to do so, remain critical to communications. With this in mind, Melissa Baratta, SVP at Affect, a NY-based agency, shares tips for effective interviewing.

It’s the equivalent of spraining your ankle during warmups for the big game: Lots of people are expecting something great from you, and you fail to deliver. Sunday night’s Game of Thrones episode, “Battle of the Bastards,” was one of the year’s most highly anticipated, but when they went to log on to HBO Go or HBO Now, the GoT network’s streaming services, would-be viewers across the United States were greeted with error messages.

If you don’t have your head in the cloud yet, it’s time to start. You won’t need any advanced tech skills; in fact, you’ve probably already used cloud-based tools like Docusign, SurveyMonkey or Google Drive for basic administrative needs. Most other cloud tools are just as intuitive and user-friendly, and some can help you take PR performance to another level.

Scrap the App:We seldom get a pitch like the one we received June 15. An email promised that a new study contained “qualitative and quantitative data” revealing “that women would rather forego sex AND makeup… Continued