Media Relations

Every brand tailors its image on social media. Every brand engages in crisis management on social media. From intranets for internal communications to publicizing CSR, social media is at the fore of what we do—except for media relations. Somehow, many PR professionals are still timid to venture beyond email when contacting journalists. It’s an understandable instinct. People don’t like their social life mixing too much with work. But social media made it easier than ever for PR pros to stay involved with journalists, and that kind of relationship now comes with the territory for them.

It’s official: Snap Inc. has gone public. Today, the parent company of Snapchat began trading under the ticker symbol SNAP, a day after pricing its eagerly anticipated IPO at $17 a share. That might’ve been a conservative estimate: When shares began trading this morning, they opened at $24 a share, which would value the company at more than $30 billion. But the real question hanging over Snap isn’t about its short-term luster, but its long-term prospects.

Treating your professional relationships similar to your personal ones can be beneficial. Here are five tips that will help communicators begin and maintain relationships with reporters.

Coming just days after the Women’s March, PR News’ Top Women in PR awards luncheon in NYC was an ebullient event that brought the PR industry together to celebrate female leadership and the individuals who’ve… Continued

“Flack” is an ugly word to those of us in the public relations discipline, and it seems that for a while—thanks to the principled work of those in modern PR—it had been riding an ebb tide out to sea. That tide may now be coming in again; The Washington Post, Politico and Wired, among others, used the term in reference to White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in effect the nation’s PR-pro-in-chief, in his first week on the job.

What’s the secret sauce for injecting authenticity into today’s competitive college market? A solid influencer program, according to some. PR News spoke with Christina Sponselli, director of social media at University of California, Berkeley, about the school’s influencer recruitment and relationship-building strategy. Sponselli will be speaking at length on influencer marketing at PR News’ Digital Summit on Feb. 24 in Huntington Beach, CA.

Shopping for a 2017 wall calendar for my office over the holiday break, I had a hard time deciding between the zoo animals in yoga poses, all things Tuscany, or an adult coloring calendar.  My… Continued

Social media provides a great opportunity to connect directly with journalists, who often turn to platforms like Twitter to find sources, track breaking stories and promote their work. But how can you best use social media to get their attention? Michelle LeBlanc, social media strategist with Industrium, offers up this quick checklist of do’s and don’ts.

Every brand under the sun wants influencers to act as ambassadors, but as with any partnership, the right fit is key. Influencers should have more than a large following—they should be able to lend an authentic voice to your brand’s story. But how to find the right match? John Walls, director of brand PR, luxury and lifestyle brands at Hilton Worldwide, makes use of influencers regularly, and notes that authenticity is all about understanding potential influencers’ aesthetic and tone. He discusses influencer relations with Doug Simon of D S Simon Media in this brief video.

When it comes to framing news in a flattering light to the right audience, Boeing has just pulled a deft PR judo maneuver that’s worth studying. On Dec. 11 Boeing signed a deal to sell 80 aircraft to Iran for $16.6 billion, a deal only possible because of the nuclear deal framework the Obama administration negotiated in 2015, which lifted economic and financial sanctions against Iran. But there’s a huge obstacle that could cause trouble come Jan. 20: Donald Trump.