Stories by Seth Arenstein

Those outside the corporate world can be blissfully unaware of how unwieldy a corporation can be, especially when it comes to getting new initiatives implemented and everyone on board, paddling in the same direction. But effecting change across large organizations is more often like slaloming the Titanic through a gantlet of icebergs. The lurking danger, just under the surface, is lack of communication.

Without Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appearing in your brand’s YouTube video, and lacking the professionals and budgets of the major broadcast, cable and Spanish-language networks, does your brand’s video stand a chance? Indubitably so, communicators tell us. In this first of this two-part series we’ll concentrate on bolstering your YouTube content; part II, in a future edition, will focus on measurement and analytics.

You’re having a non-work-related party at your home Saturday night. Invited are neighbors, relatives, friends, including me, a journalist by day, to enjoy drinks, an elegant diner and a terrific view of the city from your high rise. It’s a perfect night until I, a journalist, overhear two of your guests talking about something that could be a big story.

One nonprofit essentially is like every other nonprofit, except for size and the causes it supports, right? Not really. While less unique than snowflakes and fingerprints, some of the most-engaged nonprofits on Instagram in Q2 took different routes to amass their impressive figures.

For those representing academic institutions online, the task of evaluating yet another new social network or social media offering from established outfits can feel overwhelming. Several years ago, it was tempting to think the world would cleave neatly into Facebook and Twitter camps. With some extra effort, we could adjust our messages to both, engage with their respective audiences and respond to new features. The market for social networks seemed almost mature.

What are your toughest challenges? What would help you do your job better? The Conference Board asked those questions of CMOs and CCOs who said analytics and silo busting two important topics.

The reviews were a bit better for Wells Fargo after CEO John Stumpf’s second visit to Capitol Hill in as many weeks. The pre-hearing sentiment on the Hill was a bit better than it had been for his earlier visit to the Senate Banking Committee. Preceding his Sept. 29 visit to a House banking panel the CEO, on Sept. 27, voluntarily agreed to return $41 million of unvested equity and to forego his 2016 salary during an independent board investigation.

With White House aspirants and professional footballers live streaming, what are the best ways for brand communicators to take advantage of these live streaming tools? We asked communicators for insight about content strategy and content creation, selling these live (read “unpredictable”) tools to the C-suite, measuring effectiveness and working with influencers.

Integration of communications and marketing is more than just a good thing to do, it’s critical to success in the digital age, a new report from The Conference Board says. The report is being sent to Conference Board members later this week. It was provided by The Conference Board exclusively to PR News Pro.

Life is live, but so much of what we watch on screens is taped. For brands wanting to control their messages, avoiding in-the-moment tools would seem to make sense. Still, for brands there’s much to be gained by using Snapchat. With many brands getting started on Snapchat, and plenty timidly staying away, we asked Sarah Maloy, director of social media and external video at Fuse Media LLC, parent of national television network Fuse TV, to tell us of Snapchat traps to avoid.