Platform Prater: You can’t say Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and crew aren’t listening. Addressing a significant pain point, Facebook said in a June 30 post it’s added a slew of features to enhance the experience of advertisers. One of the features, Landing Page Views, lets advertisers know the number of users who’ve clicked on an ad and subsequently visited their mobile landing page. Another new feature lets advertisers know whether or not a visitor who clicks on an ad had done so previously. These features are part of a larger effort that will be rolled out periodically. The platform ran afoul of marketers last year when it admitted it had been inflating average video view time figures for a while. – Instagram is following parent Facebook in fighting vitriol posted on the platform. In a June 29 post, Instagram says users can access a filter designed to block offensive content by clicking the “…” settings menu from the profile and scrolling to tap “Comments.” The filter will work on comments in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, German, Russian, Japanese and Chinese, as well as English.
Why Network Communicators Have Headaches:In a story indirectly related to the Facebook ratings item above, did you see the July 6 WSJ article about TV networks intentionally misspelling the names of nightly news shows so that ratings for low-rated nights, such as the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, can essentially be discarded? Instead of watching Nightly News did you realize you might be vueing Knightly Newz? Fine, these spelling tricks basically are legit when it comes to manipulating Nielsen ratings, but what do they mean for brand reputation and authenticity? Damning: Network execs assure reporter Joe Flint that doctored ratings are used “only for publicity purposes” and advertisers are able to obtain accurate ratings. Ouch.
Post Time: Here’s another best-times/days-to-post survey, this one from CoSchedule, which says weekends rule, especially for B2C. An interesting tidbit, since 80% of the country lives in the Central and Eastern Time zones, if a U.S. audience is your target, those are the time zones to keep in mind. Best posting days/times for Facebook are Sunday (9am), Thursday (1pm), Friday (2pm) and Saturday (3pm). Best times are Sunday (9am), Thursday (1pm), Friday. For Twitter the magic happens Sunday (noon) and Wednesday (3pm). LinkedIn rocks most from Tuesday-Thursday, with peak posting hours being before and after work. The best formula, though, is to use analytics to measure times and days that are prime time for your target audience.
Growth: Gatesman of Pittsburgh acquired Noble Communications, adding offices in Chicago and Springfield, MO. – Agency33 Publicof Nashville opened its doors, specializing in publicity tour press and focusing on LGBT business. Former Sony and Webster PR exec Joey Amato is principal. – ARPRadded a San Francisco office to locations in Atlanta and New Orleans. – Healthcare PR group Huntsworthof Britain acquired The Creative Engagement Group, which includes creative agencies WRG, The Moment and Just Communicate.
Study Haul: While some brands are reevaluating the use of paid influencers, particularly those who come with a hefty price tag, a study from Alison + Partners, Powerful Connections, says influencers can help cause-related efforts. Of those who follow digital influencers, 35% engaged with a cause due to an influencer’s recommendation. Of those, 51% made a donation to the cause and 37% volunteered with the organization in question. – A survey from PR firm Greentarget and Zeughauser Group affirms what communicators have long known: Content overload is a big issue. This particular survey looks at in-house counsel; nearly all of them polled say they suffer from information overload. Still, CMO at law firms plan to release more content, the survey says, yet a majority have yet to define their content strategy. This reminds us of what American Chemical Society senior video producer Elaine Seward counseled in PR News June 19 referring to video content (but it applies to all content): Make sure your content is authentic, “adds to the conversation” and that you “personalize it”.
Corporate Communications, Bioasis Technologies
People: eBay communications VP Claire Dixon is joining VMware as CCO. – Former WSJ staff writer and Netflix corporate communications chief Ann Marie Squeo is headed to IBM as VP, communications. – Bioasis Technologies named Catherine London EVP, head of corporate communications and investor relations. – Lewis named former FleishmanHillard exec Robert Collins SVP. He’ll lead Lewis’ Boston office. – Current Marketing’s Chicago office named Leah Hattendorf SVP, planning (photo, p. 1) and Matt Sulzer as creative director. In NY, Sarah Anderson (photo, p. 1) joins as EVP, integrated media.