Stories by Caysey Welton

Storytelling is becoming one of the most common buzzwords in marketing and communications today. Everyone stresses the importance of telling a good story that relates a captivating narrative to your brand, but they forget to talk about how to cut through the swell of cluttered information to deliver an on-point message to the right audience.

In an effort to bolster its employee relations program, McDonald’s launched a microsite aimed at helping staffers balance their finances. The seemingly positive gesture has, however, backfired on the fast-food giant because the budget is unrealistic and suggests employees should seek a second job.

Increasingly, brands are being told that they need to tap into the limitless potentials of content marketing. However, some confusion remains in terms of what kinds of stories your brand can tell, and how they should be told.

Google+ is celebrating its second birthday this week in addition to celebrating its place as the world’s second largest social network. While platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram seem to grab up most of the headlines, G+ has been growing at a steady pace and now hosts 500 million users–359 million of which are reported to be active monthly users.

As PR pros you likely have one irreplaceable communications tool that is tethered to you at all times: your mobile phone. These days, it’s hard to argue that a communications professional could get by without his or her phone.

A Kemptville, Ontario, Walmart employee was fired this week after urging a customer to not leave his dog in his car while he shopped. The story quickly grew legs and amounts to yet another PR black eye for the company.

One of the biggest trends in social apps has been ephemeral massaging capabilities, or sending messages via social channels that are wiped out after a certain amount of time. This week Secret.li became the latest app to enter the iOS space.

By now, most agree that social media is a necessary tool for doing business. However, a recent report from Social Media Examiner’s “2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” shows that although social media is valuable, not all networks will benefit your brand equally.

It’s been five years since Eliot Spitzer resigned as Governor of New York amid a prostitution scandal. However, after a short-lived stint as a pundit for several networks, Spitzer has announced that he is ready to give politics another go and is bidding for a spot as New York City’s comptroller.

As a measure to better serve its advertising clients, Twitter announced that it is experimenting with techniques to push custom ads. Soon brands will be able to leverage email addresses and browser cookie IDs in order to deliver targeted ads to users who’ve shown interest in a brand or product.