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With emergency approval of vaccines, the need to communicate the importance of prompt vaccination seems obvious: Without 75-80 percent of Americans vaccinated, herd immunity, leading to a return to normalcy, will not be reached. And now, with the discovery of an additional, more contagious virus strain, getting Americans vaccinated promptly seems even more critical.

Excluding healthcare providers and media (the most obvious entities to post about the vaccine), the top poster by volume of content was AARP. Confusion over who is next in line for the vaccine continues, and with older adults as one of the highest risk categories, it’s not a surprise that AARP content reigns over these platforms.

If you are a crisis consultant, 2020 was your banner year. When we look back at the year, clearly there were societal changes that contributed to a proliferation of attacks on brand reputation.

If 2020 taught media relations professionals a lesson, it’s about the importance of relationships.

Meeting media contacts in person, securing press tours and catching up over coffee have taken a backseat amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For savvy practitioners, though, continuing to build relationships with the media endured, and in many cases, thrived.

Podcast host and musician John Roderick, now known to the Twitterverse as “Bean Dad,” found his parenting philosophy under fire over the weekend, following a viral Jan. 2 (now-deleted) 23-tweet thread. Here are some PR takeaways from Roderick’s and podcast co-host Ken Jennings’ responses to the viral blowback.

Data is data, right? Not if it’s dirty. Considering how many businesses have downsized, closed temporarily or shuttered completely, it’s a good bet that a significant number of contacts on your marketing lists are out of date. Ditto employees, some of whom were furloughed, terminated or work from home (do you have their correct address and phone number?). Now’s the time to begin cleaning.

Those who thought PR crises were finished for the year probably hadn’t counted on Hilaria Baldwin’s identity issues popping into the news just days before 2020 ended. OK, so Ms. B. isn’t who she’s claimed. Instead of coming clean, she and her husband have made things worse. Fast, someone, get them a PR pro!

It’s said that life sometimes imitates art. For many PR pros in 2020, it was difficult to separate life at home from life at work. For at least one PR pro, the confluence of home and work was beneficial as she learned that training in PR helped her stage a wedding during the pandemic.

It’s nearly time for a break. Yet social media never really takes a breather. That’s why it’s crucial that brands continue to monitor the social conversation during the 2020 holiday season.

TikTok can be friendly to brands, or a terror. Here are tips to help brands navigate the sometimes-difficult waters of the hottest new social media platform.