Stories by Erika Bradbury

We asked chief communicators about their 2022 priorities, lessons from the pandemic they’ll use moving forward, hiring practices and more.

After examining consumer engagement with B2C brands last month, this month we’re looking at B2Bs. Overall, consumer engagement was down 38 percent in Shareablee’s business services category, vs the period (Nov. 1-Nov. 30) one year ago.

With the holidays coming, B2Cs are looking to interact with core audiences on social. A slight surprise: the number of posts year-over-year was down 8 percent, yet a far larger surprise was the considerable fall in actions, or consumer engagement, off 35 percent year-over year (YOY.

It’s hard enough to get media placement for a launch, initiative or campaign. Indeed, obtaining “coverage in the new news cycle” and “finding relevant angles for pitches” are PR pros’ biggest concerns, according to a Muckrack report. Let’s add another hurdle: getting coverage in a crowded media landscape when your organization or product is perceived as dry or unsexy.

In this brief Q&A, we talk to Sarah Brown, Director, Corporate Media Relations at Marriott International., about some opportunities and challenges in training spokespeople at an organization.

Building a communication structure when you’re a team of one isn’t easy. We asked Taya Jarman, communications director, Institute for Public Health Innovation, how she’s doing it.

This month’s question stems from a scenario we heard about recently. A crisis communicator entered a potential crisis situation. The crisis pro didn’t know the company. He discovered it lacked a crisis communication plan. In addition, it did not have PR pros or media relations personnel on staff.

Should your organization invest in podcasting? Is there value from a brand perspective in producing a podcast?

In light of an increase in cyberattacks and to honor Cybersecurity Awareness Month this month, we asked data partner Shareablee to track consumer engagement with cybersecurity terms on several social media platforms.

With the flood of new direct-to-consumer brands to market, some startup founders might question whether they need, or could vastly benefit from, PR. As entrepreneurs evaluate their business strategies and budgets for how to launch and grow their brands, where to spend branding dollars is among the top of the list. With so many areas to consider, from digital ads to social media content, one that may feel a bit more elusive is PR.