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It was big news Monday when Google unveiled a redesign for AdWords to select users of its cash cow product. The product of years of observing reportedly hundreds of global clients using AdWords, this first redesign in forever is expected to make it easier for users to track the words they’ve bought. Deploying Google’s Material Design strategy, users will find a series of graphs called Overviews replacing pages of data about specific words.

Dashboards must start with your company’s communications and business goals, along with objectives that you know are measurable. You also need to know your audiences and tailor your dashboard to their needs. With all that knowledge in hand, you then pick metrics. If the dashboard is intended for senior leadership, your metrics should be based on what the C-suite’s inhabitants want to see tracked.

Governments and world leaders are increasing their presence on social media. And like brands, some are committed to it, while others use a Facebook page as a placeholder, posting mundane announcements or no content at all. Indeed many of the trends brands have observed on social are apparent with the social accounts of world governments and leaders.

Journalists are busier than ever, consumers are savvier today than they were yesterday and the flow of information is massive and neverending. In other words, the heat is on for PR practitioners everywhere. These days, an interesting narrative is non-negotiable, and sharing it across multiple media is standard operating procedure. After all, giving your audience what they want, when they want it and how they want it is tantamount to keeping them engaged with your brand.

Sometimes it’s best to let your audience speak for itself. Brands can get bogged down in trying to develop messaging that aligns with their targets or speaks in a similar voice. Often brands need to step back and stop speaking to their customers, and instead offer them a place to share their unique voices. With this in mind, Taco Bell Foundation and Edelman used two specific tactics to galvanize their audiences around the fight to lower high school dropout rates.

April 1 is a great day for brand PR. Everyone gets a pass to joke around and show off their lighter side, and audiences take it in good humor when they get suckered. And though it’s expected, it’s not expected—that is, nobody is going to be upset at your brand for not taking part.

…except maybe when it comes to Google. They stepped up to the plate this year, along with other prominent brands.

The official account of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, using the hashtag #springbreakingbadly to warn travelers about scams they might encounter, reminded readers that they’re “not a 10” and therefore to use caution when someone shows interest in them abroad. As is often the case in these matters, the advice may be solid, but the delivery is suspect.

Once you’ve developed a program and set your KPIs, how exactly do you go about doing the work of measuring? The communications space is now inundated with a motley collection of tools ranging from free to prohibitively expensive. And they all promise to be the alpha and omega of your measurement needs. But PR pros looking for a little guidance on some of the tools available to communicators needn’t worry.

PR pros no longer have to try and stuff their messages into a confining 15-second window. With its decision to sort posts in a user’s feed algorithmically instead of showing them in reverse chronological order, the extension of Instagram’s video limit will give communicators more room to create content that users are sure to engage with, which will help brands secure a top spot in users’ feeds.

Are these signs of the times? Last week a sports announcer was pilloried for what some felt was an inappropriate remark. The University of Virginia men’s basketball team in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament had what seemed to be a comfortable 15-point lead over Syracuse with fewer than 10 minutes to play. When… Continued

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