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It’s traditional to look to the New Year with hope and optimism. As a result, this post, which highlights difficulties communicators will face in 2018, might not be the most pleasant read. On the other… Continued

During a morning session of last week’s PR News Media Relations Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, attendees were asked to discuss professional pain points. In a late-afternoon session, the attendees, working in groups, spent a few minutes thinking about solutions to the issues discussed during the morning session. Here’s a summary of the issues and the ideas proposed for solutions.

When it comes to holiday tweets, should brands play naughty or nice? Netflix’s snarky tweet, calling out fans of its program “A Christmas Prince,” begged the question. In a statement to PR News, Netflix wrote: “The privacy of our members’ viewing is important to us. This information represents overall viewing trends, not the personal viewing information of specific, identified individuals.”

Communicators assume social media and influencers are influential to some degree on peoples’ decisions. The more important questions: How influential are they? Which demographic groups are influenced most? And do people value the advice of influencers and what they see on social media equally across the board? In other words are there particular sectors where social media content and influencers’ advice carries the most weight? A new report attempts to answer some of those questions.

For the third article in this five-part series about measurement-related issues, PR News and partner PublicRelay, a media monitoring and analytics firm, held a Communications Leadership Roundtable in New York during this holiday season. One dozen senior communicators discussed the challenges of refining and cleaning data, among other measurement-related issues.

We’ve been told there are fewer journalists who are being asked to do more. In addition to reporting the news, journalists now are asked to provide content to social media platforms such as Facebook. They’re also being asked to take pictures and provide video. A new survey looks at how much more journalists are being to do. Its findings suggest savvy PR pros should think visually.

An area where data has influenced communicators heavily is in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Instead of addressing social issues based on what communicators felt the public was thinking about, savvy PR pros are using data to assess needs prior to mounting a CSR effort. Here’s how one health organization used data and research before beginning its CSR initiative.

Kate Hardin has a passion for working with corporate healthcare clients and has turned that passion into a highly profitable group within the corporate communications practice at Ruder Finn. And, At Burson-Marsteller, Jane Madden holds a unique position offering clients strategic counsel and acting as an internal expert on CR and sustainability, allowing her to direct new business initiatives.

What’s the proper protocol for brands when an event like today’s attempted terrorist attack in New York City occurs? Should a brand go silent and stop sending out any social media promotions as the dust settles or is it best to send out thoughts and prayers in a show of solidarity?

Crisis management, our author argues, is itself in crisis. The causes of this crisis in crisis PR include challenges in philosophy, technology and ethics, not to mention that some crises (see Lauer, Matt and Rose, Charlie) begin and end so quickly that crisis PR barely has time to roll up its sleeves. What’s a company or a brand in crisis to do?