Social Media & SEO

Donald Trump’s use of Twitter has often influenced entire news cycles, and his proclivity for the platform is well known—often tweeting 10 times a day, once as many as 59 times in a single day. But the question remains: Is Trump actually the person behind his famously contentious Twitter presence?

Twitter is staying committed to its 140-character limit, but in an effort to free up coveted real estate the micro-blogging network announced that it will stop counting media attachments and other content towards its iconic character limit. Many of the changes will allow users to have more control over their messages by doing away with its current practice of factoring in usernames and media attachments to the total character count.

Brand communicators beware: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declared open season on social media influencers who fail to disclose that they are paid for endorsing a brand’s products and services. Not only that, disclosures must take a specific form; they also should be ubiquitous in some cases.

Late last year the FTC issued a long-awaited policy statement regarding native advertising and influencers, which was a follow-up to an earlier FAQ on the topic. Not even three months after it issued the later document, it “put industry on notice,” says Allison Fitzpatrick, partner at Davis & Gilbert in its marketing, promotions and PR practice groups, by slapping a penalty on high-end retailer Lord & Taylor ( PRN, March 21).

Just as compound interest can grow money quickly, Instagram posts bolster consumer actions, defined here as the sum of likes and comments. The most-engaged U.S. nonprofit on Instagram, PETA, saw Q1 2016 engagement jump 79% vs Q1 2015, although it increased posts just 17%, according to data provided exclusively to PR News by Shareablee. PETA knew what its audience wanted, posting photos of animal-loving celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio. Other posts that worked included salutes to Armani and SeaWorld for taking steps to end animal cruelty.

Instagram is currently testing new analytics tools and business profiles, which will be rolling out in the coming months. Along with the heightened analytics offerings, businesses will now be able to have specialized profiles that include a contact button, access to maps and directions and categorize the business by type.

After a recent afternoon of listening to social media experts, it’s clear many of us are unknowingly interacting on virgin land on a daily basis. Certainly social media has been legitimized. Nearly every business has a social presence, as do nearly 90% of the 193 U.N. country governments and world leaders, even the Pope, a Burson-Marsteller report says.

“I just want to get away from it all” is a popular refrain, especially around vacation time. It could be one of the reasons reality shows about Alaska have been so popular—uncharted territory can be… Continued

Digital technology is wonderful, right? The digital world can be at your fingertips. Yes, but that digital world, in the form of a mobile phone or laptop, can be a tempting distraction to tune out a speaker during a meeting, a conference and especially a webinar.

While there is much agreement on the wisdom of working with influencers on behalf of one’s brand, the hard work of finding, vetting and developing ongoing relationships with them can be daunting to the uninitiated. Dell’s Konnie Alex-Brown offers some tips to help you select those highly trusted subject matter experts who could have a real impact on the success of your brand messaging.

Snapchat had to be happy with what occurred during the Digital Content NewFronts, which began May 2 in NY. Despite Snapchat’s absence as a presenter at the annual marketing confab, there was considerable buzz about the brand. We ask Snapchat experts how brands can use it to reach millennials.