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Some communicators believe that a brand should always keep its head down during a crisis, focusing on containing any issues internally and speaking to as few members of the media as possible. This is not always the best course of action, though. A sound media relations strategy can not only mitigate your crisis once it becomes external, but also help educate your audience and retain brand trust.

Just in time for the holiday season, Instagram has expanded its offerings for brands handling their e-commerce through the platform, while also giving users the ability to track how much time they spend scrolling through their feed and Stories. New shopping features include the rollout of clickable video tags, collections and a special “Shop” section for businesses selling on the platform. Meanwhile, a “Your Activity” dashboard helps users track how much time they spend perusing their friend’s posts and favorite fashion brands.

Engagement isn’t just for social media anymore. It can be one of the most critical parts of a brand’s ability to recruit and retain the most-talented employees, argues APCO Worldwide’s Kimberly Gardiner. And with budgets tightening, improving employee engagement is a cost-effective way to bolster your employment strategy.

It’s unclear how accurate the NY Times’ account of how Facebook responded to two PR crises is; Facebook says it contains many inaccuracies. The Times says it stands behind its 5,600-word story that took more than one month to craft. As a case study for students and practitioners of PR, however, it’s loaded with important lessons.

PR practitioners understand the need for proof and empirical validation through analysis, measurement and evaluation. However under pressure to deliver results and meet targets, they will naturally default to the simple (sometimes simplistic) over the complex. This contributes to evaluation stasis.

Communicators and marketers often devote a lot of effort to choosing the right words to use in their messages. While words matter, there is an argument or two to be made for also considering the heart when creating a message. And believe it or not, emotion counts when creating messages for both B2C and B2B audiences.

Vaporizer manufacturer JUUL Labs has gotten out in front of looming regulations on the e-cigarette industry by transforming its brand into stewards of legitimate and responsible vape use. Yesterday, the brand announced it would cease sales of its four flavored vape pods in all of the 90,000+ retail stores that currently carry its products, and delete all social media accounts but Twitter.

Transparency is important in all areas of communication, but particularly in health care. The need for transparency has focused on consumer communications, yet a transparent internal culture is necessary to provide safe, effective care. Google’s decision to hire Dr. David Feinberg to lead its health care effort is a vote in favor of transparency.

Imagine a world where your pre-coffee company tweet, sent with an accidental typo, could be edited before the world sees it. That world could be coming sooner than you think, after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hinted at a soon-to-come feature. Here are four elements of the change for communicators to be aware of.

AI will greatly affect the communications business, whether we understand it or not. Just last week, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency debuted the world’s first AI news anchor. AI clearly has big plans for communicators, but how do communicators plan to use AI?