Social Media

Are you up-to-date on the biggest brand players on social media? Take this quiz to find out.

Social media has made listening easy, right? Not so fast. There’s listening and then there’s critical listening. It’s not hard to figure out which kind is more advantageous for communicators. Tips and thoughts about listening will help your career blossom.

Anything can be politicized, however, it takes a very serious turn when the safety of people is at stake. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, home of the National Weather Service, continues to be at odds following a tumultuous week with the White House on the communication of disinformation regarding Hurricane Dorian and the state of Alabama.

With the continual introduction of new platforms and instant response, management and moderation becomes a key skill for any brand. Contrary to popular belief, the titles social media manager and community manager are not interchangeable. Both work towards the positive promotion of a brand underneath the direction of the marketing department, but the similarities really stop there.

Trying to plan out or refurbish a social strategy can seem overwhelming. Gone are the days where brands can set and forget a strategy for a year. A social plan evolves with not only brand changes and promotions, but also platform innovations and announcements. Before you sit down and decide on content and where to post that content, you need to take a look at the intended audience and goals.

Instagram is growing like a social media mushroom, doubling its monthly active users in two years and eclipsing the 1 billion mark last year. The picture-centered channel also is constantly adding features. We asked several Instagram users about some of their favorite new features. In addition, we asked about features they’d like to see on Instagram in the future. Three of the speakers will be featured on the Sept. 19 PRNEWS webinar, “How to Use Visual Storytelling on Instagram to Build New Audiences.”

PR pros can learn much from the messaging of businesses, organizations and government agencies during hurricane season, from communicating in a calm, measured tone to what language should be avoided. While some may lose reception in the thick of a storm, a sound social strategy during prep and recovery can help many withstand, and, if necessary, rebuild.

Many communicators have added games or game-like elements to their brand messaging, including making games a significant part of internal communications. We take a deep-dive into gamification, looking at its pros and cons. Communicators need to be aware of pitfalls before they begin gamifying their messages.

To get you ready for this month’s PRNEWS webinar on Instagram storytelling, our monthly roundtable addresses recent and future Instagram features that are influencing storytelling. The respondents in this roundtable also will be speaking during the webinar.

Instagram is growing like a mushroom. It doubled its active monthly users during the past two years, eclipsing the 1 billion mark in 2018. On top of that it has a relatively young demographic. With our webinar