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4 Questions (and 8 Tips) to Help You Master Writing for SEO

September 20th, 2016 by

It turns out that one of those right-brain skills—good writing—may be the best SEO weapon available. Now more than ever, SEO success depends on strategic writing skills. Creating content that satisfies search engines’ need to deliver useful information improves Google search rankings.

Mars Inc. Shows Human Touch in Response to Skittles-Syrian Refugee Analogy

September 20th, 2016 by

Mars Inc., owner of the Skittles brand of candy, waited five hours to release a statement in response to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. that used an image of a bowl of Skittles and the brand name in a political message posted to Twitter. Those five hours were put to good use.

snapchat dunkin

A Taste of Dunkin’ Brands’ ‘Carrot and Cake’ Snapchat Strategy

September 19th, 2016 by

PR pros understand the importance of a great hook in storytelling. But how do you employ such hooks on Snapchat, where you have just one day to get noticed before that crucial opening moment disappears, along with the rest? Melanie Cohn of Dunkin’ Brands says that success lies in crafting an enticing hook that keeps audiences along for the ride, and following through with a matching payoff within the platform’s 24-hour window.

building

4 Guidelines for Building a High-Impact Brand

September 19th, 2016 by

Our job is to develop the visual and verbal brand an organization will use to tell their story, and to write, design and produce the communications that will bring that brand to life. But unless we start with a shared understanding of how brands are built, grown and promulgated, we won’t be as successful as we—and our clients—want to be.

Tips for Creating a Measurable Video Strategy Across Facebook, YouTube and Other Platforms

September 19th, 2016 by

With 8 billion average daily video views on Facebook, 4 billion+ on YouTube and one hour of video uploaded to YouTube ever second, the path ahead for brand communicators seems clear: commit to video. But with that much video in the social ecosystem, how can you compete, especially when videos taken during a Beyoncé concert September 10 showing a pre-arranged marriage proposal for her dance captain receive more than 5 million views? We asked PR pros with video expertise and restricted the conversation to brand video on Facebook and YouTube.

The Week in PR

September 19th, 2016 by

A recap of the week’s news in PR, including announcements about people. The lead item looks at how Twitter might have found itself a good niche live streaming NFL Thursday Night games. Another item notes that Heather Bresch, CEO of EpiPen maker Mylan, this week will be in the hot-seat on Capitol Hill explaining how her company can justify raising prices of the life-saving device by some 400%.

Honesty, Accountability, Apology, Investigation Urged for Wells Fargo

September 19th, 2016 by

You saw the headlines Sept. 8 and 9 discussing the record payment of $185 million Wells Fargo made to regulators. The basic details surrounding the reason for this fine also are well known: Some 5,300 bank employees allegedly created an estimated 2 million bogus bank and credit card accounts. Some were started with fake names. Others used identities and funds of unsuspecting Wells Fargo customers. The 5,300 employees were fired during the past five years, the bank said. How can the bank rebound from this hit to its reputation? We asked a specialist in crisis PR and one in reputation management. Both stressed honesty, transparency and accountability.

YouTube Just Got More Social With Its New ‘Community’ Tab

September 16th, 2016 by

More than a billion people watch countless hours of video every day on the platform, making it one of the largest social networks around. But YouTube’s biggest flaw is that it’s never felt very social. That’s all about to change. YouTube announced the public beta for a new feature called “Community,” which aims to make the platform a much more socially engaging destination.

international

Dealing With International Media: Time Zones, Language, Culture and Other Factors

September 16th, 2016 by

The next time you think you are having a tough day in PR dealing with media in the U.S., count yourself on the lucky side. You could be dealing with media around the world. Time zones, language, culture and other factors make dealing with international media much more complex and difficult than strictly doing U.S. media outreach.

Colin Powell’s Emails and Your Brand in the Post-Privacy World

September 15th, 2016 by

It’s getting to the point where we should start to doubt whether digital privacy is a reliable concept anymore. For PR professionals in particular, it’s time to put that doubt into practice in their internal communications. Email and Twitter DMs are not mediums where one can safely blow off steam or otherwise behave unprofessionally.