Topics

Your organization finally has taken the plunge into podcasting. You’ve chosen a host, show title and theme music—you have the right equipment, too. Congratulations, but you’ve only just begun. If you expect to release a podcast weekly, biweekly or monthly, where can you find content on a regular basis? Think like a journalist and use your eyes and ears with the following three possibilities.

Delta Air Lines jettisoned the bland, cheery persona employed typically by social customer care representatives in favor of stoic sarcasm in two now-notorious Twitter replies to author and political commentator Ann Coulter. Execs may have felt like heroes for an hour or two—now they just have to deal with the full-on conflict.

Delta Air Lines jettisoned the bland, cheery persona employed typically by social customer care representatives in favor of stoic sarcasm in two now-notorious Twitter replies to author and political commentator Ann Coulter on Sunday, July… Continued

One of the most successful kinds of live stream videos is when the audience is waiting for something, some kind of countdown. Counterintuitively, nothing much is happening in these videos for most of the time; the audience is simply anticipating something happening. But the real action can be in the discussion around what’s on camera, not what’s actually on camera.

Reebok’s Twitter account took a satirical streak July 14 when it mocked President Trump’s comment to France’s first lady Brigitte Macron that she’s “in such good physical shape…beautiful.” The post has since gone viral, with more than 46,000 retweets and nearly 79,000 likes as of this morning. The tweet is a rare example of a big consumer brand challenging President Trump on his favorite social media platform. “We saw this as an opportunity—as a learning moment,” says Inga Stenta, senior director of brand management at Reebok.

In her latest installment of Image Patrol, Katie Paine looks at how USA Gymnastics is handling its sexual scandal and contrasts it with Bell Pottinger’s mishandling of its crisis concerning an account from a South African company with ties to that country’s president.

Podcasts are becoming more mainstream and so are finding their place in the tool kits of brand communicators. Are they right for your brand? If so, what should the podcast cover? Should it be a thinly veiled sales pitch or a storytelling vehicle that barely mentions your brand by name? We ask a pair of podcast veterans for best practices.

There are many things even a supposedly staid brand can do on social media to enhance awareness. Here’s what the Chartered Financial Advisor Institute has been doing on social media to humanize its brand and make it a bit more human and fun.

In PR as in any profession, it’s important to keep learning. Educational resources for PR pros abound, of course. Fortunately, PR practitioners also can gain a tuition-free education by being keen observers of the political process. Watching televised briefings and political talk shows provide plenty of takeaways, especially about what to do and avoid when dealing with the media.

Cynthia Martinez has handled some of the worst crises you could imagine. As director of global corporate communications for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Martinez has dealt with everything from fires to a guest committing suicide by jumping overboard. And since any of Royal Caribbean’s guests can tweet or post a video the moment a crisis arises, her team needs to be quick, transparent and, most of all, prepared. Martinez, who will speak at PR News’ Digital and Marketing Show Oct. 17-19 in Miami, shares a few tips on how to own the narrative.