Digital & Technology

A new survey corroborates what PR pros have heard for years, but not necessarily heeded: Social media platforms require constant attention.

As they wade into the 2015 pool communicators will be on the hook to show positive returns for a growing number of disciplines, ranging from online analytics to content marketing to mobile apps.

If you can’t say it in 140 characters or fewer, does it need to be said? It does. Public relations is not a 140-character profession.

Communicators are still trying to figure out how to create content for social media that will enhance media relations, boost brand visibility and—here’s the Holy Grail—tie social channels to sales lift.

It may have seemed like a good idea, at least on paper. Aggregate pictures and posts as a way to remind users of some of their milestones this past year. But the effort backfired miserably.

We are living through a creative and transformative period in professional communications. With each passing year comes a time to reflect on how far we’ve come and, perhaps more important, how much we still have left to figure out.

Whether you’re a technophile unable to contain your excitement about the latest release of your favorite product or a Luddite lamenting the days of pen, pad and typewriter, it’s a certainty that the brands that stay abreast of the latest digital trends will have the best footing in 2015.

For a cohesive and integrated program, it’s necessary for both PR and content marketing to collaborate in order to create a comprehensive marketing plan that will improve an organization’s market awareness and increase lead generation and nurturing capabilities.

Content marketing. Brand journalism. Branded content. Call it what you will, but communicators are increasingly on the hook to produce editorial-based content that can help tell their brand’s story and, with any luck, put more fannies in the seats.

The growing challenge of how to develop (and sustain) content marketing programs was cast into the spotlight earlier this month when Verizon Wireless shuttered its Web publication, SugarString, a little more than two months after its debut.