Latest Posts

Our weekly roundup of news, trends and personnel moves in PR and marketing. This week’s stories include Mark Zuckerberg’s successful trip to DC, Marian Salzman’s moving to Switzerland and what PR firms fail to understand about inclusion and diversity.

Communicators can never be too prepared for a crisis, especially in the age of social media. Luckily, there are dozens of tools—many of them free—your company can leverage to assist in planning for and managing crisis communications swiftly and effectively. Barry Reicherter, executive vice president and senior partner/director of insights at Finn Partners, lists three key priorities for monitoring social before, during and after a crisis and an artillery of programs for each.

Starbucks found itself in hot water that had nothing to do with brewing coffee when the manager at a downtown Philadelphia location called the police on two black men who were sitting in the shop, waiting for a colleague to show. For communicators, this crisis offers substantial takeaways about the power of social listening and the need for timely accountability.

The USPS responded to President Trump’s executive order by aligning with his frustrations and acknowledging that it has several opportunities to improve. As a case study, this statement provides communicators with a practical, tactical example of how to handle criticism and calls for reform when those calls come from the very top.

There’s no question that measuring the value of PR is one a communicator’s biggest challenges. Whether you’re charged with handling your brand’s media relations, social media campaigns or both, a pointed question from the C-suite lingers: “How does this tie to our bottom line?”

Not every communicator has time to study the best technical practices behind creating an effective image, of course, but understanding why certain images engage the eyes more than others requires no advanced study. Having shot news events and concerts for the better part of a decade, PR News’ Justin Joffe shares some common characteristics among his featured images that have garnered the most love, shares and engagement.

How are brands building relationships with micro-influencers to launch collaborations that result in compelling, authentic content, and what types of content resonate the most? Those are the central questions examined by “Major Insights From Micro-Influencers,” a survey of 400 micro-influencers from across the nation, conducted by Atlanta-based Everywhere Agency.

The key to Mark Zuckerberg’s fine April 10 performance before a Senate committee on Capitol Hill, which resulted in his becoming billions richer when Wall Street approved of what it heard, is something so basic it often is glossed over in PR training courses. While Zuckerberg’s vast resources no doubt helped his preparation, any PR pro can avail herself/himself of many of the same tips and tactics his handlers used.

As Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress, speculation is swirling as to whether Facebook will integrate portions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into preventive measures it’s taking against future data leaks and election meddling. Brands operating solely in the U.S. now have strong reasons to fear (and begin preparing for) GDPR.

Criticizing a brand or famous individual on social can be a great way to blow off steam. For the critic, there’s much less of a price to pay than if you blow off steam face-to-face or on email with family members and co-workers. In that sense, social media fills a great human need—to vent without repercussions for those who vent. You know where this leaves brands—on permanent 24-hour alert.