Stories by PRNEWS

As the new year starts and content planning begins in earnest, marketers should be on the lookout for the next big moments in social. Lucky for the marketing community, the team behind social media management tool Hootsuite has released a list of what they deem to be the most likely social media trends in 2020, following a survey of over 3,000 marketers. Their top picks included personalized messaging, bold political statements and the continuing rise of TikTok as a platform giant, among others.

Where is PR heading over the next year? When new crises see brands falling into the same old mistakes, and tone-deaf messaging makes you look back at your calendar to double check the year, it sometimes seems that communications isn’t innovating fast enough. But take a closer look at the new tools, applications and multi-channel campaigns being dreamed up by the most impressive brands and agencies in our field. Innovation is clearly happening—and gazing ahead into the new year indeed brings much to look forward to.

As a public service for PR pros and those who care about them, we provide a quick guide to gifts every communicator could use as we head into the new year. The good news is that communicators aren’t necessarily interested in big-ticket items. Gifts that save time and make life a bit more comfortable top the PR pro’s wish list at holiday time.

Amy Rosenberg saw the initial messaging in its controversial ad as progressive, displaying how fitness isn’t about pounds and inches — but letting endorphins and commitment take center stage for a woman who brings exercise back into her crowded life. However, with Peloton straying from the norm, Rosenberg believes the messaging also could have used another look—by those with a more feminine perspective.

Press releases may be fading in popular PR practice, but in some cases they’re part of the regulatory regime. Business Wire, a distributor of press releases, and the data firm Onclusive collaborated on a survey of 17,000 press releases. Some of its findings are surprising.

In our regular Lessons Earned feature, former Cargill and State Farm CCO Mike Fernandez recalls three examples when it was advantageous to be fearless. This attitude led a 23-year-old Fernandez to confront a senior member of the Senate. It also prompted him as a new CCO at two well-known companies to whack at sacred cows.

When you think of financial services, references to pop culture and current trends are likely not the first things that come to mind. Yet in a recent campaign, investment firm Vanguard managed to leverage some pop culture staples, along with adopting a more relatable vernacular across social media channels. In its “Invest Like You Own the Place” effort, Vanguard’s social team empowered and engaged current and potential clients with a combination of bold red visuals, humor, contests and fan stories.

While some communicators have the benefit of focusing solely on social, the majority of us must take a marcomm approach for our organizations, merging public relations with social media management. For those of you tasked with media relations on top of social, I’ve got a major grievance with the online media relations world to air: the current state of pitching is infuriating. Online communicators need to break the cycle of bad pitching practices and start giving media relations the strategic attention it deserves.

Most companies remain silent when a competitor makes news. An unorthodox approach is to seize the moment to get your company’s views and executives into the conversation. Just as important is to make sure your customers are aware that you have their best interests in mind at a time of unsettling industry news.

On Oct. 25 Google debuted BERT, its biggest algorithm update since RankBrain in 2015. And BERT is definitely big. Google says BERT will impact one in ten search queries. In short, BERT improves Google’s understanding of language and should benefit authentic content that addresses readers’ pain points.