Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Since it went public in January 2016, Facebook Live has earned significant attention, with many live streams going mainstream. Streams that have received major national attention include “Chewbacca Mask Lady,” the U.S. House of Representatives sit-ins, as well as numerous videos of shootings, public protests and arrests.
There have also been some very interesting and entertaining company and brand uses of Facebook Live. PR Week recently published an article, “The six most innovative brand uses of Facebook Live so far.” The article describes how McDonald’s, Benefit Cosmetics, Dunkin’ Donuts, Popeyes, GE and Airbnb have used Facebook Live to reach new audiences and increase social engagement.
In short Facebook Live offers brands a unique opportunity to tell stories and engage audiences via video. Live streaming video services allow company spokespeople to share stories spontaneously, or they can evolve their stories organically as they answer questions or respond to comments in real-time.
According to Michelle Michalak, director of social media for Slyde Handboards, another benefit of Facebook Live is that you can see when viewers are dropping off and adjust your messages or begin to wrap up your broadcast.
With 1.7 billion Facebook users, more and more companies are deciding to leverage Facebook Live and some clear best practices are emerging. Below is a list of the things to keep in mind if you decide to leverage Facebook Live for your company:
- Consider the timing of your live stream. It is always a good idea to think through why your content is relevant on a particular day or at a particular time. McDonalds timed its live stream to coincide with National Hamburger Day. With so many other national days, other brands can follow McDonald’s lead. A quick glance at the national days that are upcoming include National Tailgating Day (Sept. 3), Stand up to Cancer Day (Sept. 9), and National TV Dinner Day (September 10) among many more. It will be interesting to see if any organizations leverage Facebook Live in conjunction with these days.
- Make sure the length of your live stream is appropriate. You don’t want to drone on and lose the attention of your viewers so think about the value you want to add and how to communicate in the most succinct, compelling or relevant manner.
- Be consistent with your brand voice and identity. If your brand is laid-back and fun, you may want to take a laid-back and fun approach to your live stream. If your brand or company has a more serious mission, your live stream probably should reflect this.
- Outline your talking points. Before you get online, it is an excellent idea to have a script or talking points. Gabby Wallace, video marketing expert at GabbyWallace.com recommends that you have a strong call to action or next step for your audience that you repeat twice once at the beginning and once at the end.
- Make sure you have the right technology and technical skills. You need to produce video that people want to watch. This means you need good audio quality, you need compelling visuals, and you do not want to have any technical glitches during your live stream. Think about how you will produce a successful and engaging stream, and have a contingency plan in the event something goes wrong.
- Know how you’ll measure success. Some things you might consider measuring around your Facebook Live video include the number of views, impressions, comments and shares. With your first live stream you can always establish a baseline around these metrics and then work to continuously improve them.
- Consider promoting your Facebook Live stream. Facebook offers several different ways to boost content so it might be worthwhile to look into this option if you need some extra help generating awareness or engagement for your live stream. You can either promote your live stream before it happens or during your broadcast.
If you have leveraged Facebook Live, please share your story. And, for more on how Facebook Live is affecting journalism, please check out this New York Times article by Liz Spayd.
For more of our thoughts on Facebook, please see the following articles:
Facebook Provides Increased Competition for News Media
Lessons from NPR’s Survey of its Facebook Fans
The Why and How of Deleting Your Facebook Page
Traditional Seafair Embraces Modern Social Media
With average life expectancy the highest it has ever been, it is no surprise that more than 40 million people over the age of 65 are currently living in the United States (U.S.). In fact, global life expectancy has increased by about six years over the past two decades. And that number will only continue to rise as advancements in healthcare and technology enable people to live longer, fuller lives.
The importance of planning for senior living and care cannot be understated, particularly now that life expectancy is at an all-time high. A Place for Mom (APFM), the nation’s largest senior living referral service, understands this fact and, as reported in March 2016, Communiqué PR is partnering with them to support PR efforts around a series of research findings, tools, and quarterly reports to help people prepare for senior living. As the second part of this series, APFM just released new research about how long it takes to find a senior living solution, and Communiqué PR had the opportunity to drive media coverage and awareness around this important topic.
New Research
APFM’s new research examines the different factors that impact senior living search time, showing that care needs are the key indicator of search length, while finances, relationships, time of year and search-area income level also have an impact. Below are some of the key findings from the data:
- 50 percent of families searching for a senior living solution find one within 46 days, and nearly a quarter find one within three weeks
- The urgency of care needed by a senior is the strongest predictor of how long it takes to find a senior living solution, and is twice as important as all of the other factors combined
- Seniors searching without the support from family, friends or a professional take about twice as long as someone with assistance (51 days for retirement communities; 47 days for assisted living)
- Seniors with higher incomes and larger monthly budgets for senior living typically take more time to find a senior living, unless they need assisted living, which creates the need for an immediate solution (11 days faster than families in similar situations with lower monthly budgets)
- Families searching for senior living in wealthier areas find it faster than seniors searching in middle-income areas, while families searching in low-income areas also have faster search lengths because limited resources and options cause them to move into the first community they can afford
- The peak search times for senior living solutions are immediately following end-of-year holidays (6 percent longer than the average month) and August (7 percent longer) after family members see aging loved ones
- Nearly five percent of seniors take one and a half years to move into a senior living solution, while three percent take two or more years
This data is based on a sample of more than 125,000 families APFM helped move into retirement communities, senior apartments, assisted living communities, residential care homes or memory care communities in the U.S. between 2012 and 2015. The statistical models are built from thousands of competitions between simpler models containing only a subset of the predictors. Predictor importance is measured by the percent of competitions won by a particular set of predictors. In addition to building these statistical models, key summary statistics were queried from APFM’s database.
Planning Tool
As a part of the new research, APFM also created a new tool that gives families an estimate of how long it will take to find a senior living solution based on their situation. Aptly named Chart Your Course, the tool helps families plan their senior living search by showing them the typical search length for consumers with similar care needs, finances and relationships to the senior. Chart Your Course is free to use and accompanies the Senior Living Cost Index tool, which APFM developed earlier this year and allows families to map and rank senior living costs by county, state and region.
Media Interest
National, regional and trade media all covered the story, demonstrating the news value of hard data and interest in senior-related topics across the country. Because of APFM’s efforts to educate the public about the length of senior living searches, millions of families across the country now have new information and better resources to help them plan for the future. Highlights from the media coverage include:
- MONEY Magazine: 4 Ways to Ease the Search for Assisted Living
- McKnight’s Senior Living: Care needs greatest determinant of senior living search length
- Long-Term Living Magazine: Window-shopping or moving in? Seniors take their time choosing housing
- Senior Housing News: Top Factors Slowing Down Senior Living Move-Ins
Congratulations to APFM for their continued efforts to help people find the right senior living solution.
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As you probably know, one of the world’s most elite competitions recently ended. This event featured an incredibly talented group of men and women who dedicated countless hours to perfecting their craft, pushing themselves to be a star among their peers. From your couch, you acted as any good spectator would – cheering them on to victory as they accomplished feats you could only dream of and commiserating when they fell short.
I’m of course talking about The Great British Baking Show.
I’ve been a fan of this British reality show, which features amateur bakers competing for the title of “Star Baker” and an engraved cake stand, ever since my colleague introduced me to it last year. (Thanks, Molly!)
Watching this season, I picked up several lessons that can be applied to the PR industry.
- Manage your time – Like baking, certain PR activities can be extremely time sensitive. With internal meetings and client deliverables to juggle, it’s easy to overcommit and find yourself rushing at the end to complete projects. Try blocking time on your calendar for specific tasks. There are two major benefits to this approach. First, it will help ensure you’ve allotted enough time to complete the assignment. Secondly, scheduling it on your calendar will let colleagues know you’re unavailable during that period of time and limit interruptions.
- Keep your client’s objectives in mind – Most clients would agree that it’s wonderful when a PR firm goes above and beyond to exceed their expectations. However, executives are more likely to be irritated than impressed if a PR firm fails to execute on their original request and instead presents them with extraneous details and eye-catching graphics. On the show, the judges repeatedly admonished and eventually eliminated a baker for failing to follow their most basic instructions. In PR, we’re conditioned to search for ways to add value for our clients, but it’s important not to lose sight of their ultimate objective. Before investing your client’s time and resources on an activity, ask yourself if it maps directly to helping achieve a business or communication goal.
- Try new things – From combining unexpected flavors to brainstorming ways to incorporate augmented reality (AR) into PR, experimenting in the kitchen and the office is a must. One of our firm’s strengths is our creativity, which we rely on when writing proactive pitches, problem solving and developing communication plans. In new business meetings, potential clients will often cite stale ideas and lack of strategic counsel as reasons why they parted ways with their previous firms. Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your team and explore other mediums (Instagram stories, anyone?) to deliver your clients’ messages.
- Trust your instincts – For the technical challenge portion of The Great British Baking Show, the judges give the bakers a recipe with certain critical information omitted, such as what temperature the oven should be set at or if the dough needs proofing. Often, these recipes are for obscure dishes the contestants have never heard of, let alone know how to make. PR professionals face their own version of the technical challenge on a regular basis, as it’s rare to know beforehand every question a journalist will ask and clients will sometimes provide limited direction. When you find yourself in a situation that requires an immediate response or action, have confidence that your training and knowledge will lead you to the best solution.
- Lend a hand – One of the reasons why I enjoy The Great British Baking Show so much is because of how genuinely pleasant and supportive the contestants appear to be. Yes, they are in a competition and yes, they are often working until the last second to execute their show-stopping cakes, but they still find time to help one another. We all have deadlines to meet and projects to manage, but volunteer to assist when you have bandwidth. This strengthens the team dynamic and your colleagues will be eager to return the favor in the future.
With the newest batch of contestants announced last week, I’m looking forward to another season of over-the-top treats and sharing more PR takeaways with you. Until then, I’ll be spending the rest of the summer perfecting my replica of contestant Paul’s King of the Jungle bake.
Hi there,
Hope this blog post finds you well. I’m reaching out to you on behalf of Communiqué PR, a boutique public relations firm in Seattle. We have broad experience in media relations and content development, and over the years we’ve learned some solid practices in sending email pitches to reporters and editors.
In today’s digital landscape, email is often the first and only communication PR professionals have with reporters. Securing media coverage for brands is at the heart of public relations, so it’s imperative to know how to pitch in a way that generates interest and trust from the journalist.
Email and pitching can each be difficult on their own, but together they form a task that requires artistry and precision. We have some insight on this topic that we think will be of interest to you, the readers. Please find below some of our key findings on how to craft successful email pitches:
- Immediately communicate the importance of your story. Journalists are pressed for time – you need to be direct in expressing the significance of your news. Start by having a subject line that reads like a headline, stating what the story is in a way that highlights the key information. For example, “Survey shows 59.1 percent of journalists prefer 2-3 paragraph pitches” is a compelling subject line. An email titled “Contributed article opportunity about journalist preferences” is going to be sent to the trash bin.
After that, use your first sentences to tell the reporter 1) who you’re representing, 2) what news your client has and 3) why this news is important to the writer and their readers. Journalists are taught to start every piece of writing with a nut graph, i.e. a concise introduction that conveys the value of the story. To successfully engage writers, PR professionals must speak in their language.
- Do your research and offer exclusivity. Every day, reporters are inundated with pitches. Thus, they’ve developed a sixth sense that detects whether a pitch has been carelessly sent or mass-produced. First off, send them the pitch specifically using the “to:” line; cc- or bcc-ing is a sign of a group send.
Perhaps most importantly, you need to research both your target publication and its writers. Read some of the publication’s popular articles and take a look at their official guidelines to get a feel for their voice. Then, identify the exact writers you need to contact for the pitch. Get to know their topics of interest and general beat. And if it’s your first time pitching to a specific reporter, start your email by indicating that you’re familiar with their work and therefore know that they are a good target for your pitch.
You could say something like, “I’ve been following your work and I thought your recent piece on the rise of Snapchat was particularly compelling. It was timely and provocative given the recent social media scandal surrounding Twitter and Snapchat. I have some related data that your readers might be interested in, and I am offering it to you exclusively.”
Cite one of their recent articles, give an intelligent comment on it and present your pitch. Then let the reporter know that you have given them the right of first refusal.
- Be considerate of their time. By now we’ve established that time is of the essence, especially for reporters. When writing a pitch email, you need make it as easy as possible for the writer to consume. Send the pitch in the morning, when they have the most time to review your proposal. Format the email so that the information is easy to see: Use bullets, bold key points, include relevant hyperlinks and break the text into short paragraphs.
Finally, end the email with action items for the journalist to consider. Be straight to the point, for example, “Would you be interested in covering this for Forbes? Please let me know as soon as you can. Thank you.”
- Build credibility. Before hitting send, you should thoroughly look over your pitch and reinforce its value. Fact-check all of your statements. Connect your client’s brand to the broader industry. Offer an interview with the related experts.
And don’t forget to proofread your pitch. Read it out loud and have a colleague look it over and give you feedback. Pitch emails are the most important part of the relationship between PR people and journalists. Make them count.
Reporters are a tough breed and can rightfully get irritated if you’re perceived to be wasting their time. As PR professionals, we must pitch effectively and respectfully if we want to maintain strong relationships with our media contacts.
Would you be interested in using some of these tips in your next email pitch? Please let us know and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments; we’re looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your time.
Very best,
Alexa & team
P.S. If you found this information useful, here are some additional resources on the general art of pitching and pitching pitfalls to avoid for your consideration. Cheers!
With the NFL season right around the corner I, along with most of America, have had football on my mind. Will Seattle’s Seahawks make it to another Super Bowl? How will the Denver Broncos play without Peyton Manning leading them on the field? With all my thoughts about the upcoming season, I realized that football and PR have a lot in common. I understand that helmets and pads are not needed in PR, and football games do not take place in cubicles, but PR professionals can still learn techniques from football teams.
If At First You Do Not Succeed, Try Again
In football, you hardly ever see a team give up after losing a game. Instead, they go back to practice the next day with an even more determined attitude. Players will watch game tapes over and over again taking notes of what they did wrong and dissecting what should have happened. Then they will practice the improved plays until everyone on the team knows how to properly execute the play. PR professionals need to do the same thing. If you do not win a client or secure an article, you reevaluate your methods and change them for the future. It is not the amount of wins that defines your life – it is the way you handle your losses and rise above.
Winning Requires Teamwork
The most successful teams — whether they are football teams or PR agencies — realize that strength lies within the team. In football, when one person scores a touchdown the credit also goes to their team, coach, and even fans and family. Same goes for PR firms – just because one person’s name is at the bottom of the email does not mean that other people did not work on the project. Behind every successful person is a team of people armed with strong resources.
Preparation is Essential
If an NFL team was to go into a game without any previous knowledge of their opponent, there is but a sliver of a chance that they will be the victor. Football teams spend hours studying other teams’ game tapes and learning their strengths and weaknesses. As with football, one of the most critical parts of PR is research. We research prospective clients, clients’ competitors and journalists. In PR, knowledge is the key to success. A PR agent needs to be able to familiarize themselves with news circulating about their client so they are able to take the next proactive step.
Evaluate
If a given route or plan does not seem to be driving the anticipated results, football teams will typically either alter the play or come up with a new one. By consistently updating and improving the plays, football teams are confident in knowing that they have all of the proper tools to succeed in a game. In PR it is necessary for agencies and professionals to analyze and evaluate their campaigns to see if they were successful at accomplishing their goals. If there are any areas that they could strengthen for future accounts, then it would be best for the professional to be aware.
While PR might not be a contact sport, and football players’ jobs don’t depend on keeping up with the newest trends, they do have similarities. In the upcoming season, put your thinking helmet on and start attacking the PR world like a football game.
You have been running to meeting after meeting, answering countless e-mails and taking endless phone calls all day, yet when work is finally over you feel as though you have accomplished nothing. Sound familiar? Don’t worry, you just have a case of busyness disease, and it’s incredibly common. Agencies have always had the tendency of being afflicted with “being so busy,” but now a majority of America’s workforce seems to have caught the bug as well. This is because we firmly believe that the busier we are, the more meetings we attend, the more emails we reply to, the more work we are getting done. The problem is that being busy is not the same as being productive.
Marketing and PR agencies are especially prone to this problem because they are used to billable hours. Having every hour of the day tracked causes agency employees to cram as many meeting, phone calls, and emails into their days as possible to increase how productive they appear. Unfortunately, it is having the opposite effect.
What agencies, and all companies, need to do is slow down. Employees need to block out chunks of time each day to do uninterrupted work – no emails, no calls, no meetings. As harmless as replying to an email may seem, it can be surprisingly detrimental to work efficiency. In fact, Microsoft did a study that found it took an average of 15 minutes for employees to go back to their important projects after being interrupted by an email or phone call. That means that if an employee only got 20 emails a day, an average of five hours would be wasted on replying and the distractions that come with it.
Seagate Technology did a similar study using VoloMetrix, a data-mining tool that helps track employee activity, which found that a single consulting firm was using up 8,000 hours of Seagate’s employees’ work time each year from nothing but emails. If productivity is the goal, cut down on the number of emails being sent each day, make sure emails that are sent are only going to people they actually apply to, and make sure the content is clear and concise, to avoid a flood of responses asking for clarification.
In PR cutting down emails can be especially difficult because of the volume of communication necessary when you are constantly talking to reporters and working with strict deadlines. However, it is still important to block out some email-free time during the day, even just an hour, to make sure you are meeting important deadlines as efficiently as possible.
Emails aren’t the only problem though – meetings are just as bad, if not worse. One of the biggest issues is that we like meetings. When we have back-to-back meetings all day, it makes us feel important. This idea brings to light an important factor behind the busyness disease, which is that being busy is a type of social currency. The harder it is to schedule a meeting with an executive, the more important and sought after they must be.
This goes hand-in-hand with the idea that an empty schedule means no work is being done. There is a fear of idle time in the workplace so pervasive that executives and employees are scheduling meetings that are either too long or completely unnecessary. A study done by Bain, using VoloMetrix data of 17 large corporations, found that senior executives devote more than two days each week to meetings attended by three or more co-workers, and that these meetings are, more often than not, scheduled “just because.”
Meetings are an important way to connect with colleagues and employees, but only when they are necessary. Back-to-back meetings all day make it nearly impossible to sit down and actually put the ideas and decisions made into motion, making the entire “busy” day a waste. One way to be more effective is to have a smaller number of meetings each day with fewer employees, followed by a block of time that will allow the attendees to actually implement the ideas discussed.
As technological advances continue to make it easier to be distracted by emails, calls and other forms of communication, it will become increasingly important to stress uninterrupted work time. Keep emails, calls and meetings to a minimum and only include those that are absolutely necessary to help cut down on wasted time. The more time that is devoted to spending time on, and completing, one project at a time before moving to the next, the more productive the workforce will be, and saying, “I was very productive today,” is much more satisfying than saying “I am so busy.”