Stories by Seth Arenstein

There was good news and bad news this past weekend. The good news is that most people are heeding health best practices that communicators are broadcasting in a variety of ways (hand washing, distancing, remaining home etc). Unfortunately, a significant number of people in globally are ignoring these health communications. Assigning blame is not the issue. Getting nearly universal acceptance is.

With so many communicators seeking to take physical events online, we asked PR pro and video specialist Doug Simon how to get started. We also asked how communicators can make their video and social video productions more engaging.

For many communicators and nearly everyone else, the past few days have been a whirlwind. Today, communicators from large and small brands and organizations were racing to react to the coronavirus’s new normal. Here’s a roundup of how brands were handling events of the day.

In a PR crisis, consistent messaging is important. In communicating about a potential health crisis, consistent, factual messaging becomes paramount. The country’s coronavirus situation is rapidly rising beyond politics. It is imperative for all communicators, including the president, to speak from the same script.

Our regular look at data features exclusive figures from Shareablee about the most-active nonprofits for the first months of 2020. Overall, nonprofits enjoyed a slight jump in consumer engagement with their social posts, though engagement was off on Instagram and Twitter.

As measurement of communications becomes more mature, vendors are scrambling to add capabilities to their platforms. We talk to two vendors about this and all things measurement, including the future of measurement and AI’s role in it.

PR pros continue to consider earned media a valuable tool, according to a snap survey of 150 communicators. On the other hand, a majority say gaining media coverage is harder than ever. Perhaps as a result, 90 percent of those surveyed told us they spend very little time pitching and developing relationships with media.

Here’s a brief guide to what communicators should be doing and thinking about as the virus begins to make its way across the country.

We often hear about the adversarial relationship of PR and legal departments. Replacing that traditional viewpoint is one that advocates for a collaboration between communicators and lawyers, particularly as PR becomes a strategic advisor in the C-suite and boardroom. Exploring that collaboration in the regulatory space finds the lines are blurring between PR and legal.

In this update to our first story about coronavirus and PR, we focus on the fallout over communications, or the lack thereof. Our first story included comments from PR pros insisting that transparency and fact-based communications are critical during a health crisis. At the start of the virus, China went in the opposite direction, clamping down on communication about the virus, giving the killer several weeks head start.