Say what you will about the latest social platforms, email continues to be the old reliable when it comes to marketing. Email yielded a median ROI of 122%—more than four times higher than other marketing formats, including social media, direct mail and paid search—per a 2016 US marketers survey. On the other hand, most peoples’ inboxes are more crowded than a subway train during rush hour. The challenge is breaking through the noise. We provide three tips to help your marketing email rise above the din.
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2 New Desktop-Based Social Media Tools to Try
October 11th, 2017 by Ian James WrightSocial media pros looking for ways to make their lives easier have some new options this week. Twitteriffic and Windowed offer users working on desktop or laptop more powerful and feature-laden experiences for Twitter and Instagram, respectively.
What ESPN’s Suspension of Jemele Hill Means for Your Brand’s Social Media Guidelines
October 11th, 2017 by Steve GoldsteinWe’re deep in month 10 of the Trump administration, and it’s playing out as expected. As it was during the 2016 election, public discourse continues to be bitter, divisive and full of rage, and it’s… Continued

What ESPN’s Suspension of Jemele Hill Means for Your Brand’s Social Media Guidelines
October 11th, 2017 by Steve GoldsteinESPN’s social media guidelines boil down to “if you wouldn’t say it on our TV or website screens, don’t say it in social.” That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, especially in today’s highly charged climate, but it’s a rule of thumb most of us understand. We all know it’s much easier and safer to express fury and strong opinions on social media than it is to express them in face-to-face situations or on, say, national television. But still—there’s that gray area between personal expression in one’s own social media accounts and one’s responsibility to an employer.

Snapchat Rolls Out Context Cards, a New Marketing Feature, Escalating Its Battle With Instagram
October 10th, 2017 by Jerry AsciertoThe battle between Instagram and Snapchat for more users and marketing dollars continues its heated pace. This morning, Snapchat introduced a new marketing tool called Context Cards giving Snapchat users a way to get instant information about a business featured in a Snap. Meanwhile, Instagram announced a couple of new features in the last week, including an interactive polling sticker for Stories that closely resembles Snapchat’s third-party Polly feature.

At PRSA Conference, PR’s Big Umbrella Covers Dark Social, Alt Sites and Change Management
October 10th, 2017 by Seth ArensteinThe dark weather on Monday night in Boston was a perfect complement to some of the darker topics communicators need to wrestle with today, including dark social, rogue sites and hackers and executive terminations. Fortunately, good advice rained down on attendees as well.

Internal Comms: 7 Tactics for Crafting Internal Communications for a Global Audience
October 10th, 2017 by Dan DunnInternal communications sometimes is relegated to the back burner when large corporate announcements are planned. That’s unfortunate, because employees should be told first when a significant change will touch their lives. Here’s how to edit internal communications for a global audience.

PR Needs to Transform Its Mindset on Data to Focus on Growth and Analysis
October 10th, 2017 by Allyson HugleyWith AMEC’s Measurement Month just completed, we asked Weber Shandwick’s president of measurement and analytics Allyson Hugley to reflect on the state of PR measurement as well as how PR pros can change the mindset about the importance of measurement and using data to glean business insights as opposed to proving the worth of the PR function.

PRSA Notebook: LEARNING, Technology Dominate; Spurlock Pushes Ideas Not Products
October 9th, 2017 by Seth ArensteinThe opening of PRSA’s International Conference featured a bevy of technology exhibitors, a plethora of PRSSA members and the wisdom of filmmaker and storyteller Morgan Spurlock. The super-sized presentation from Spurlock was highly entertaining and contained several good tips about content creation.

Dove’s Latest Ad-Related Crisis and How Brands Can Avoid ‘Missing the Mark’
October 9th, 2017 by Sophie MaerowitzDove is in crisis mode after running a Facebook advertisement many are calling racist. The ad, a GIF which featured a black woman removing her shirt to reveal a white woman, was pulled after being widely shared on social media and covered in national news outlets. Given how many brands fumble in getting across respectful messaging around race and diversity, it’s crucial for all communicators to ensure their brands have an internal review process for all content, including an employee culture that nixes off-mark messaging long before it reaches the public.