Social Media & SEO

The vending machines, styled “Snapbots”—are distinctively bright yellow, with a smiling mouth and one big cartoonish eye, like a Minion without the blue overalls. Also, they are elusive: The Snapbots will only be in one place at a time, for one day only.

Want to create a powerful video ad on Instagram that will get people to stop scrolling and pay attention? First, you have to know your brand story, but then it’s important to communicate in the correct visual language. You don’t want to be salesy, you want to be relational.

At a networking event last week, an industry colleague asked me if I’ve ever Googled myself. She whispered the question to me as if to self-Google were verboten. Fortunately, we were interrupted by a mutual… Continued

The Chicago Cubs taught the world last week that nothing lasts forever, especially when you define forever as 108 years. And Sir Isaac Newton, well before Blood Sweat & Tears’ Spinning Wheel, said, not sang, “What goes up, must come down.”

Those two bits of knowledge explain this week’s Data Dive, where, for the first time in quite awhile, consumer engagement with U.S. B2C brands’ posts are down, according to Shareablee data provided exclusively to PR News Pro.

M&A: W2O Group early today acquired Marketeching Solutions, LLC, a research and social listening consultancy specializing in healthcare and life sciences. Founded in 2008 by Kevin Johnson, Marketeching has offices in New Hope, PA, and Philadelphia. Johnson will remain, operating Marketeching as a subsidiary of W2O. Earlier this year, Mountaingate Capital secured an investment position in W20 to propel growth through acquisitions.

So you’ve been thinking about finally getting started with a brand Snapchat account, and all of a sudden, a new competitor comes along: Instagram Stories. An admitted copycat of Snapchat, Instagram Stories seems like a platform where you could produce the same content, which would be viewed in the same way. What’s your next move? Flip a coin?

From the typically right-brained perspective of PR, securing a high rank in search results can seem like an opaque process. While a comprehensive knowledge of search algorithms and web crawlers is handy, there’s more to SEO success than understanding the numbers. In fact, it’s possible to rank highly on Google with small teams and a tiny budget.

Hype’s only brand adopters as of this writing are News One, MTV and TechCrunch. But for brand communicators who have been looking for “the next Snapchat” now that teens’ parents are sharing Snapchat Stories, Hype might just be the one to watch.

Barack Obama is back on Snapchat. While the president still doesn’t have his own account, Obama will make an appearance on the “Good Luck America” Snapchat story, according to The New York Times. Available for 48 hours starting at 6 a.m. on Nov. 1, the Times reports that this installment will provide a behind-the-scenes look into Obama’s campaign efforts for Hillary Clinton, including footage of endorsements of the candidate and a ride in the presidential motorcade.

Get PR pros together to discuss Instagram and the topic moves to the Instagram Storiesfeature very quickly. That’s to be expected: What some call a Snapchat clone has gained popularity fast. Just weeks ago, barely two months after its introduction, Stories confirmed a TechCrunch report that it already has 100 million daily active users. And, yes, for those in the glass-half-full camp, that means 200 million daily active users of Instagram haven’t availed themselves of Stories. Still, brand communicators are taking advantage of Stories’ capabilities to show a montage-like sequence of photos on Instagram. In addition communicators are excited about Oct. 21 media reports that Instagram is testing live video.