Social Media & SEO

Nearly everyone in PR has heard the order from someone in the C-suite: “I want to be in The NY Times or the Wall St. Journal.” Getting your story in a major outlet is not a media relations strategy. Michael Brito, an EVP at the Zeno Group, proposes a balanced media relations approach, including pitching stories to smaller publications where they may resonate better with readers. He uses data to bolster the logic of his proposal.

We know influencer marketing can provide third-party authenticity to brands. It also can raise awareness and bolster sales. On the other hand, it means allowing an outsider to be your brand ambassador and losing some degree of control. Here are three tips to reduce your anxiety when working with influencers.

It’s a given that social media is critical to many if not all companies. And you’d agree that culture flows from the top in most organizations. Fine, then why do more than 60 percent of CEOs lack a social presence? It’s becoming more difficult for the C-suite to ignore the influence social media has not only on consumers but shareholders, team and brand.

Rather than displaying posts as a messy mix of all three formats, consider what story you want to tell when choosing each post’s square, landscape or portrait image layout. Captivating Instagram’s visually overstimulated audience requires intensive attention to detail.

The popularity of various social media platforms across different demographics is constantly in flux, as illustrated in this new infographic from Jones PR. “The Demographics of Social Media in 2019” begins with the revelation that Instagram and Snapchat are rapidly gaining popularity among users under 30, threatening to unseat YouTube and Facebook, which still rank among the most popular platforms.

Late last month, cyber crime whacked yet another large brand. On the evening of July 29, Capital One , the nation’s largest issuer of credit cards and the 10th largest bank by assets, issued a statement that millions of its accounts were compromised. While brands are concerned about their sites and servers, few seem to take seriously the security of their social media platforms, a new study finds.

Even with something as relatively new as social media, it’s good to have a brand with years of name recognition. In addition, size can be beneficial. Harvard leads U.S. colleges and universities in consumer engagement with social posts for the first half of 2019, according to data provided to us exclusively by Shareablee.

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of the major platforms’ updates in real time—especially in the summer, when half of your staff is likely on vacation. In recent months, there have been a number of rollouts and announcements of what’s to come from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snap. Here are the features and updates to start experimenting with, and changes to come that your team will want to keep an eye on.

The New York Times reported Facebook receiving a record $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission in regards to “deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal data.” Facebook also received a $100 million penalty from the Securities and Exchange Commission for neglecting to inform investors about the risks of utilizing private data. To top it all off? The FTC ordered Facebook to hold themselves accountable and increase transparency surrounding data practices by creating a privacy committee.

More, more, more seems the catchphrase of the digital way of life. Perhaps, though, we’ve reached an inflection point. Several social media and digital thinkers lately have started to espouse the need for a less-is-more viewpoint. The latest is John Shehata, a Condé Nast VP, who argues that instead of creating more and more content that few will read, a path to success is to use SEO analysis to pick evergreen content that can be strategically refreshed and re-published.