Stories by Lisa Roberts

It’s nearly time for a break. Yet social media never really takes a breather. That’s why it’s crucial that brands continue to monitor the social conversation during the 2020 holiday season.

TikTok can be friendly to brands, or a terror. Here are tips to help brands navigate the sometimes-difficult waters of the hottest new social media platform.

You thought 2020 was difficult? It was. But what about 2021? Successful communication amid the coming year’s highly sensitive environment will require more authenticity, empathy, and innovation to meet new and evolved expectations.

This holiday season will be different from others. As a result, the margin for error is slimmer. This means if you employ influencers, vet them a bit more than normal. Perhaps even restructure their contract to reflect the moment.

Vaccines for COVID-19 have arrived and logistics for distribution seem to be in place. Now another hurdle exists: convincing enough of the public that the vaccines work as advertised and that they’re safe and necessary. Reciting data and statistics to bolster trust will work only to a point. The communication piece of the vaccine effort must proceed carefully, speaking to people in language they can understand.

There are many reasons why people bounce from a web site. Most people think a high bounce rate equals low page performance. Not always. We offer a look at some of the most common reasons for bounces and how to overcome them.

PRNEWS is pleased to announce this year’s Top Women in PR honorees. Our honorees demonstrated significant passion for their work even beyond their (virtual) office doors, often taking on pro bono communications work, in addition to advancing women leadership and/or diversity initiatives, both inside their respective organizations as well as in volunteer capacities outside of office hours.

In a sense, the public has become inured to data breaches. Everyone seems to have one. Yet when one of the world’s top cybersecurity companies gets hacked, it’s a very serious situation. Fortunately, cybersecurity leader FireEye was transparent in communicating its breach, which it said occurred “recently.”

Message testing is a valuable and essential part of communication strategy. Ensuring it is part of the planning process for a PR effort can make the difference between an effective campaign and one that fails to deliver.

It’s flattering when someone asks for your opinion, which essentially is what a media interview entails. PR pros can use that knowledge and two words that will bolster relationships with content creators. These two words also will increase response rate to media pitches, says Brandon Watts, who recently wrote an e-book that required a lot of pitching.