Stories by Seth Arenstein

It’s arguably the communicator’s main stage: providing messages and data to the CEO and the C-suite. What are the best ways to report data and difficult issues to senior leaders? We ask communicators for tips and tactics.

For a change of pace we asked data partner Shareablee to find the TV shows with the most consumer engagement during Q1 2018. The list of top 10 shows spans the gamut from new, tween-oriented series to morning news shows and an aged comedy series in syndication.

When life gives you lemons, you can cry or make lemonade. So your company is not yet GDPR-compliant and doesn’t seem to be too eager to change its status. That’s a shame because you might be missing a good chance to raise your brand reputation and increase employee advocacy. Most important you might be leaving money on the table.

Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but when it results in the flatterer eating your lunch much of the enjoyment associated with flattery evaporates quickly. This is the case with Snapchat’s features, which Facebook has copied without mercy. Facebook’s features, though, are pulling ahead of Snapchat’s in terms of usage.

The latest and greatest usually is the rage at industry events such as last week’s Social Shake-Up Show in Atlanta. Beneath all the talk about social media, though, Shakers found top-flight influencers urging them to mix social platforms with good, old-fashioned PR tactics. And at least one influencer believes the secret power of social media calls for brands to be social instead of pushing sales.

The influencer with the largest audience certainly has a leg up on the competition, yet there are other factors involved when generating consumer engagement. This week we examine Travel influencers and how they’ve fared in getting consumers to engage with the content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

A weekly roundup of news, trends and personnel moves in communications and marketing. This week’s stories include unusual times in journalism as exemplified by Univision, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Splinter, the NY Times and the Denver Post; and more tight-lipped treatment from Nike as more senior executives are jettisoned, including a senior female.

Burger King scotched its Have It Your Way slogan back in 2014, but it still urges customers to personalize their burgers. That was part of the conception behind a recent campaign in Spain, where the brand’s Instagram account polled visitors to pick their favorite toppings in exchange for a free Whopper, customized with toppings from the survey. The effort turned out to taste good for both the brand and Instagram respondents.

Journalists and consumers know the feeling well: each wants a personalized experience but usually they receive a generic email or marketing message. The issue may be more than poor communications practices. It could be a lack of technical knowledge on the part of PR pros and marketers, a new study argues.

Customers want personalized experiences, but brands, despite the plethora of technology available to them, are failing to provide them in a satisfactory way, a new survey from Accenture says. The key, it argues, is to guide consumers through experiences as opposed to dictating them.