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.
Scrolling through Twitter can sometimes feel disorganized and overwhelming, but Twitter Lists can give you more control over the tweets you see.
Lists help you organize your feed by allowing you to group different accounts based on why you follow them. Lists are also more convenient than your default feed because you don’t need to follow an account to add them to a List. Lists can be made public or private. Private Lists are only available to your Twitter account, but public Lists are shareable and when an account is added to a public List, they get a notification.
For example, at Communiqué PR, we’ve grouped the members of the Public Relations Network that have Twitter handles into a Public Relations Network List. This allows us to view a feed from just the firms and executives of our network in one place, making it easier to see and react to their content.
Finding Lists to Follow
To begin using Lists to help focus your Twitter feed, start by looking for existing public Lists in your network. To find a relevant List, identify an account that you admire or that fits within a List topic. After navigating to their profile, select the ellipses button and then “View Lists” on the drop-down menu. This page will show you any public Lists made by that account. Selecting the ellipses in the top right corner will show you the Lists that include that account, including Lists they didn’t make.
Creating Your Own Lists
To make your own List, choose the Lists section in the main menu of Twitter and select “Create a List” or the New List icon. A window will encourage you to create a short name for your List, add a description, and decide if you want the List to be public or private. Public Lists should have easily understood names and descriptions that make it easy to share and follow. From there, Twitter will offer suggestions of profiles to add to your list and allow you to search for more accounts. You can also add handles to a List by visiting a profile, clicking the ellipses, selecting “Add/remove from Lists,” and choosing the List that fits the account.
When creating a public List applicable to your account as well, make sure to add your handle to your List to promote your tweets in the context of your List topic. Also, check the Lists that your account has been added to and make sure that none of them cause you concern or are a bad association for your brand. To remove yourself from a List, block the creator of the List (at least temporarily).
List Suggestions
Here are some Twitter List ideas that might help your brand:
- Staff Directory. Group all your staff members or people related to your team into one List. This will allow you to easily see any updates from your staff.
- Grouping accounts for the same brand. If your company or brand has required more than one Twitter handle based on geography, language or products, use Lists to group them all. For example, Microsoft’s List Microsoft Core Brands includes @microsoft, @xbox, @windows, @bing, @skype, and 11 more of their handles.
- Competitor’s accounts. We recommend you keep this list private. Amalgamating a list of your competitors allows you to keep tabs on their updates, monitor their tweets and observe their interactions without following them.
- Industry thought leaders. Is there anyone in your industry that you admire? Add them to a list to look at when seeking inspiration.
- Industry peers. Help support your peers in the industry by grouping them (and yourself!) into a List. This can act as an endorsement, help them grow their professional network, and allow you to keep track of their professional progress.
- Event guest lists. In-person experiences may not be in the works at the moment, but whether it’s a virtual event or a meeting in the future, add the participants to a List to help people stay connected and find each other after the event.
- ‘Notice me’ Lists. If you’re trying to attract accounts to follow or interact with yours, try creating a List with a title and description designed to intrigue and draw awareness to your account. Keep these Lists limited and focused to show the List’s purpose.
- Resources for your clients. These resources depend on your business, but a List that includes accounts that could be good resources or tweet insightful content can be easily shared.
- MVPs (Most Valuable Profiles). Grouping accounts that like and retweet your content into a public List allows you to recognize their interactions and engage in social listening without following those accounts.
- Location-based Lists. Create or find a List that keeps you up to date on local topics, news and public sentiment.
Once you’ve found or created your Lists, share them with your followers, your organization or your clients. Work to keep your Lists up to date by adding new accounts as you find them and culling inactive profiles. Maintaining your Lists will support how you interact with the content you’re interested in and help you grow and share your network.
For many businesses and organizations, the top priority is often profitability. However, as a new generation rises during civil unrest and a pandemic, we are beginning to see the spotlight shift to a focus on purpose-driven values.
Public expectations are higher than ever, and many consumers want to see companies make a positive impact on society. Breaking through and building a reputation grounded in purpose takes time, but it creates stronger customer loyalty, increases employee engagement, and can help protect a brand’s reputation.
In a recent PR council webinar, I had the chance to learn about why purpose is critical for a company’s success in today’s culture. With the current attention to social injustice and systemic racism, businesses have an opportunity to not only speak out about fairness and equality but create meaningful action to change our society.
We’ve seen companies step up to the plate, such as Ben & Jerry’s statement addressing white supremacy, and this is only the beginning of a collective shift to a transparent two-sided dialogue between brands and their consumers. As an ice cream company created to eliminate injustices in communities, Ben & Jerry’s has created a page dedicated to highlighting the issues they are fighting to change.
But that is not all they’re doing. For instance, one of the issues they care about is climate change. They understand that the greenhouse gas released when producing ice cream is significant, so they’ve worked hard over time to have reduced their emissions. They’ve also set climate goals across their entire value chain. This is a great example of not only talking the talk, but also walking the walk to carry out their claims.
Finding and defining purpose boils down to being authentic and seeking out opportunities to make an impact larger than simply driving revenue. Purpose should remain one of the core values of an organization and can have a far-reaching impact on the following:
Drives Customer Loyalty
Today’s customers base their purchases not just on a product, but on the background and reputation of a brand. Many consumers take the extra step to decipher how brands reflect their stated values within the community.
Enhances Engagement
Employees are much more motivated to work for companies whose values align with their own. Some 76 percent of employees state that working within a strong company culture promotes their productivity and efficiency. Performance often improves as they not only want to be apart of a successful company but to help guide the change in society they desire.
Protects a Brand’s Reputation
In a time of crisis, performance is not just evaluated by revenue, but rather how a company’s leadership team makes decisions that are equitable and addresses the interests of employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Leading with grounded and purpose-driven communication is one of the many ways to come out of a sticky situation with confidence that it was managed properly. For more on crisis communication and the importance of fairness, please check out “Understand Trust and Why It Matters.”
Today, many companies must take the first step to look inward, examine their values and make sure they align with their stakeholders.
I recently came across an article that gave name to a practice I’ve relied on for years: timeboxing. At its core, timeboxing is the act of assigning a task to a fixed period of time and scheduling it in a calendar. Timeboxing takes a typical to-do list and transitions it to a calendar, which gives a visual representation of the time investment allotted for each task and is a practice that helps boost productivity immensely.
According to the article by Marc Zao-Sanders, CEO and co-founder of Filtered.com, timeboxing is an effective form of time management for the following five reasons:
- It focuses our options
Traditional to-do lists can easily overwhelm us because they compile everything competing for our attention in one place. When we timebox, we narrow our tasks to manageable items, spread over several days, weeks or months. - It balances the simple and difficult tasks
We are naturally drawn to simpler tasks, which can leave us bottlenecked later when the more difficult tasks can’t be put off anymore. By timeboxing, we can create a balance of simple and difficult tasks and ensure we meet all our deadlines without exhausting ourselves. - It creates time for “less important” tasks
We are rarely drawn to important-but-not-urgent tasks, like setting aside time for learning. However, these sorts of tasks are equally valuable. When we timebox, we can assess our needs ahead of time and create space for them in our calendar, so they don’t get overlooked or put off later. - It ties a task to time
To-do lists on their own lack the essential context of the time required and available to complete them. When thinking about adding a task to a calendar, it’s necessary to envision how much time it will take. When planning our workload, we can better assess what additional deadlines we can meet if we can visualize the time we actually have available. - It acts as a commitment device
Calendars can help keep us honest, especially if they’re shared with our team members. If all of our work is in our calendar, colleagues can see it. This visibility enables team members to check that our work schedule aligns with expectations and that our availability aligns with theirs, which helps schedule meetings or check-ins.
Timeboxing also acts as a record of the work we’ve accomplished. Often, we get so wrapped up in our day-to-day that we forget what we did that week or in previous months. Looking back can feel like a blur. By timeboxing, we have a comprehensive journal of everything we’ve done. When we approach a performance review, for example, we can more easily recall and evaluate what we’ve contributed.
With timeboxing, Zao-Sanders notes:
“ … you will be substantially more productive. Parkinson’s law flippantly states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Although it’s not really a law (it’s more of a wry observation), most of us would concede that there is some truth to it (especially as it pertains to meetings). A corollary of this observation in practice is that we often spend more time on a task than we should, influenced by the time that happens to be available (circumstantial) rather than how long the work should really take (objective). Disciplined timeboxing breaks us free of Parkinson’s law by imposing a sensible, finite time for a task and sticking to that. Although it’s hard to precisely quantify the benefits of any time management or productivity measures, this is clearly enormous. Just take a commonplace example: do you habitually take two hours (cumulatively, often drawn out over multiple sessions) to complete a task that really could have been done in a single, focused, time-boxed hour? If the answer is yes, then your personal productivity might be double what it is right now.”
I utilize timeboxing in both my professional and personal calendars. It is a practice that has helped me manage my stress and productivity during some of the busiest chapters of my life. It gives me autonomy over my time and workload, which helps me feel more in control of my professional and personal life.
In my personal calendar, I take it one step further by color-coding. Color-coding helps to differentiate my priorities and send me visual cues of when various types of activities will begin and end. I currently use seven colors that represent a wide range of activity, from work, to play, to exercise and church-related responsibilities. That way, when I look at my calendar, I can tell with a glance the events I have going on that day and week. I can clearly see where work ends and errands begin, and where errands end and socializing begins. When planning my week, the colors help me get a sense of what other activities I can group together to cater to the mood I anticipate being in after their completion. For example, getting work done on my car may align with returning a shopping item.
Getting the hang of timeboxing can feel tricky at first, but it certainly pays off in spades. As we practice estimating how long a task will take, our skills will improve, and in turn, we can find more time in our days.
A few weeks ago, my Communiqué colleague AnnMarie wrote an excellent blog post about leveraging data in storytelling. The post was inspired by the New York Times and the work its journalists are doing tracking and analyzing the data related to COVID-19, and it contains some terrific reminders for PR professionals as well.
Following up on this topic, I came across another Times article about using data in storytelling that I found to be helpful. Appearing in the Tech We’re Using section, it’s titled, “In Data Journalism, Tech Matters Less Than the People.”
I found this article to be helpful and a great companion to AnnMarie’s piece for its reminders about the importance of combining the stories of people – as individuals – with the data or its insights.
Ben Casselman, an economics reporter for the Times, explains the data might provide you with insight about trends, but talking with an individual will be of more help. He cited an example from 2018 when he was working on a story about investors purchasing single-family homes and was using data from millions and millions of real estate transactions. The data was evidence of the trend, but the story behind the trend was better illustrated by focusing on one home and talking with people, in this case, the investor who fixed it up, the family who eventually bought it, and others who unsuccessfully bid on it.
Given this insight, I think the primary lesson for marketers and communicators is as follows:
- Compile the data set and analyze it, or find someone who can help you analyze it. If you’ve got basic math skills but are not an expert in statistics or adept in statistical programming, find someone to assist you. In the past, when we’ve needed help this this type of work, we reached out to Creative Circle, a talent hiring firm, and they helped us find a freelance data scientist.
- Develop graphs and charts to help you spot the key trends. These can be done initially in Excel, and then later, if you decide you need images to accompany your story, you may want to have a graphic artist illustrate them and make them attractive and easy to digest for readers.
- Identify a specific example that you can highlight to better tell your story. And as you think about the story, don’t forget about the narrative arc. Your story should have a beginning, rising action, a climax, falling action and resolution.
If you consider the above example of investors snapping up single-family homes, it’s easy to imagine what that arc might look like:
- The beginning might be the investor coming across an ideal single family home to buy.
- His or her work to fix it up would be rising action. During this stage of the story, there might be conflict. For instance, contractors might not show up, or costs for flipping it might be more than anticipated.
- The climax would be the completion of the home and putting it up for sale.
- Falling action would be the sale of the home.
- Resolution would be the new family moving into it and the investor making (or losing) money on the deal.
The next time you’re looking to leverage data in telling your client’s story, think like the New York Times data journalists and remember, as Ben Casselman says, “At the end of the day, data isn’t the story; people are the story.”
For more on Ben Casselman and the technology he uses, check out: In Data Journalism, Tech Matters Less Than the People
A rendering of Spaceflight’s Sherpa-FX vehicle. Image courtesy of Spaceflight Inc.
In mid-July, our client Spaceflight Inc., the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, announced its plans to launch its next generation orbital transfer vehicle, Sherpa-FX, on a fully dedicated rideshare mission with SpaceX. Spaceflight’s Sherpa-FX is the first innovative orbital transfer vehicle and will be the debut vehicle in the company’s Sherpa-NG (next generation) program. The vehicle can execute multiple deployments, providing independent and detailed deployment telemetry, and flexible interfaces, all at a low cost.
In early August, the company published two more announcements. One focused on a variety of new initiatives that will continue to improve the company’s ability to offer an unprecedented amount of flexibility to its customers. The second announcement revealed an exclusive partnership agreement that will enable propulsion capabilities for a later generation Sherpa vehicle.
In our work with Spaceflight this year, we have been focused on demonstrating how the company uniquely provides launch flexibility through its comprehensive offering of launch services. In addition to speaking opportunities and pitches, announcements play a key role in our public relations strategy. These announcements demonstrate key steps Spaceflight is taking to further its ability to create launch flexibility. The innovative solutions and partnerships revealed through the releases provide key proof points that clearly illustrate how Spaceflight is tackling one of the industry’s biggest problems (delays and schedule changes) and delivering on its promise to enable launch flexibility.
The announcements garnered coverage in key industry and technology publications. Below are a handful of articles that resulted from the announcements. Congratulations to the Spaceflight team on the impressive momentum it is generating around its new initiatives, capabilities and services.
Spaceflight Coverage
- Spaceflight Inc. debuts new orbital transfer vehicle for satellite rideshare rocket launches – TechCrunch
- Spaceflight Reveals Sherpa-FX Vehicle to Fly Aboard SpaceX Mission – Via Satellite
- Sending Something to Space? Book Your Launch Now in Spaceflight Inc. and Avail Their Latest Offers – The Science Times
- Satnews Perspectives Video Interview with Curt Blake, CEO, Spaceflight – Satnews
- Benchmark to provide propulsion for Spaceflight’s Sherpa-NG – Space News
- Benchmark Space Systems Merges Tech with Tesseract, Signs Green Propulsion Deal with Spaceflight – Via Satellite
- Spaceflight reveals array of launch initiatives for smallsat customers – Satellite Pro
For many organizations worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. We’re more reliant on collaboration technologies than ever before.
The pandemic has forced an abrupt dislocation of how employees work, how customers behave, how supply chains function and even what ultimately constitutes busines performance. With a sudden shift to a remote workforce a new era of leadership is emerging.
One of the most important skills leaders have to develop is facilitating interactions to succeed in a changing environment. Findings from a McKinsey & Company report indicate that continuous learning in the workplace must become the new norm and that leaders need to work on “enabling the best in their people, rather than commanding it from them.”
This shift requires leaders to move away from telling their teams what to do and instead empowering employees to be self-organized.
A recent Forbes article highlights takeaways from the McKinsey report and four practices that will help leaders become more agile: connect, attend, respect and empower.
Connect during crisis
With the turbulence of today and the uncertainty of tomorrow, leaders have a unique role to play in alleviating fears and demonstrating care while maintaining a connection to purpose. Connection reduces stress, increases the sense of purpose and drives innovation.
Defining what the purpose of your team is can help employees connect their actions to that purpose, beyond being profitable. Checking in with your team frequently to see how each of them feels they are contributing to it can help spur active engagement and intent.
Communicating with your staff regularly and consistently, will both provide routine and ensure a safe space. To increase engagement, the Forbes article suggests leaders should reduce meetings to 30 minutes or less and invite every single member to speak up.
At Communiqué PR we have a daily, 30-minute morning meeting where everyone briefly reports on their action items for the day, we collaborate on projects and, when time allows, we even manage to quickly check in on personal activities. While some people may see this as a painful exercise, I personally look forward to it. It helps me get organized for the day and provides a much-needed sense of connection with my team – who I miss dearly and have not seen in person for more than five months.
Actively attend to your clients and your employees
Feeling safe is a basic human need, and a crisis will challenge this need, especially if there is a lack of communication. Leaders must embrace the role of an observer and help coach team members. While communicating critical updates is crucial, active listening is even more important.
As leaders, we must balance our intensity and desire to perform with compassionate attention to our employees’ needs. Being more mindful of another’s stress and their tension points before they impact the business requires us to boost our emotional intelligence.
The Forbes article encourages leaders to create a safe place to make mistakes and to establish an environment where employees feel comfortable asking questions.
Respect: Every employee matters
A leader’s job is not to cheer up their team or tell them what to do. The focus is more on building trust, providing support and offering flexible options to accommodate different needs. Now more than ever, empathizing with employees helps leaders determine how to best assist them.
These actions can be simple. Some companies that used to provide snacks and beverages at the office are sending care packages to employees’ houses. Other companies are providing flexible schedules.
Another tactic is to do more frequent one-on-one meetings instead of, or in addition to, regular team meetings. Especially when work is remote, feedback through email or, even worse, no feedback at all can damage employees’ motivation. The Forbes article suggests that concrete positive reinforcement has to be continuous, while negative feedback has to be straightforward and provided sooner than later.
Empower teams and unleash their strengths
After several months of working remotely, some employees have honed the ability to collaborate and be successful virtually while others may still be struggling. During challenging times, some leaders immediately gravitate to a micro-management style. However, the Forbes article encourages leaders to empower employees instead.
Encouraging associates to set up goals and to be owners of their own work can empower and inspire employees to take a more active role in their decision making and ultimately their success. When leaders empower their employees, they will become sensors to help detect and independently deal with issues in the future more quickly than if you had to do it all by yourself.
A new leadership era
In the age of continuous evolution, as cited in the Forbes article, leaders need to learn new skills: “Connect with them and their purpose more intentionally. Attend more actively than ever to detect unforeseen issues. Respect and value their skills, their personal needs and also their differences. And last but not least, empower them to decide how to do their work remotely with less supervision. It is just the beginning of a new way of leading.”