Stories by Nicole Schuman

Search and location tools can provide help for consumers according to their saved data preferences. Your browser always seems to find the right ads for you for things you may want to buy, but don’t necessarily need at that moment, thanks to search data. Data can be useful to consumers, but can feel kind of icky, when users realize where it is going.

The Facebook F8 developer conference always causes a stir. Mark Zuckerberg emerged from his social media hive to dish on the latest changes to Facebook apps and products, delivering a sense of excitement and certainty for shareholders, media and users alike. Zucks’s overriding message? “The Future is Private.”

One of the key goals for communicators on both sides of the fence—public relations AND media—is to break through the noise and get your client, product or story noticed. It’s easy for someone to demand, “let’s make this go viral!” but there’s no magic wand to make relevance happen. Practitioners can start with the basics of good writing and constructive conversations, but where should they go from there?

Burger King did a lot of things right in the Impossible Whopper rollout. Audience testing and the role of data played a large part in their decision. Surprisingly, Burger King did not look to coerce vegetarians with this burger. Sometimes the most obvious audience is not the correct audience.

The social media platform Pinterest went big time on April 18, announcing its initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange. ‘PINS’ are now not only being traded between user boards, but investors as well. Pinterest serves as the fourth most popular platform for U.S. adults, only surpassed by Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

One of the most difficult pieces for public relations professionals to measure is the return on investment of earned media and relevance. How much is the CEO’s picture worth on the cover of Wall Street Journal? Did that influencer wearing a brand’s jeans increase mentions on social? Is it about sales or leads or growing community? Or is it about sentiment and reputation? What goals should an organization shoot for?

Some PR pros may find it difficult to know exactly what constitutes a crisis. Calls may increase at your customer service center. A company may appear on Google Trends. Or, as Margaret Standing, director, corporate communications at Designer Brands, put it, “you can watch your Apple watch, and see the increase of beats per minute. That’s when you know there is a crisis.” After that, you must decide how to respond. See how crisis experts advised attendees during PRNEWS’ Crisis Management Workshop.

As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Public relations professionals live and breathe this mantra for their clients, but they should also look inward when it comes to developing relationships with journalists.

Bots and automation can help communicators with audience research and faster response times, and fake followers can make you look important. But consumers are smart and want to find a brand they can put their trust in.

Communicators know words mean everything. What you say in a press release, advertisement or tweet can make or break a brand. So it’s not a surprise that search engine optimization remains an important strategic tactic on a digital level. Proper SEO makes sure brands get noticed in that continuous quest to the first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing.