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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.

Twitter Doubles Its Character Limit

In case you missed it, on Nov. 7 2017, Twitter granted most of its users the ability to double the length of their tweets to 280 characters. Users had previously been limited to posts of 140 characters, challenging them to be concise in a way that wasn’t required on other social media platforms. For instance, Myspace and Facebook, two of the leading social media platforms at the time of Twitter’s launch in 2006, gave users the freedom to post without limitations. Now that tweet lengths have increased, it’ll be interesting to see how it affects daily users, including PR pros.

To quote William Shakespeare, “Brevity is the soul of wit” and based on this,140 characters should be more than enough space to compose a thought. As Laura Shubel noted in her PR Daily article, “Should you use all 280 characters?”, a shorter character limit typically helps generate better tweets. Shubel goes onto explain how the old Twitter, limited character space forced people to hone their writing skills to create succinct messages. Shorter tweets might take more time to draft, Shubel asserts, but the exercise can make people better writers.

With the 140-character limit, users often had to figure out how to fit a single thought into one tweet. To do this, they resorted to leaving out punctuation, intentionally misspelling or shortening words, and even incorporating the ever-growing list of text abbreviations to save precious characters. Witnessing users work around the limitation truly showed how innovative people could be with their syntax and punctuation.

Because of this change, PR pros may alter how they and their clients use Twitter. With double the characters, communicators will have much more room for flexibility and clarity. For journalists, tweets can now include more context, which potentially means fewer tweets. With more characters available, there is more room to include more hashtags and account “@ mentions.”  In fact, a few companies have already taken to the idea of 280 characters, some with a sense of humor. Here are some examples of brands maximizing this limit:

https://twitter.com/WDWToday/status/928048426994020352

While users may have wanted something different (ahem, an edit button please), I think the update to 280 characters will be a less dramatic change than some users think. Although visually it may seem like word (or emoji) overload, overall it will help many people communicate in a clearer way.

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A Place for Mom: A Wealth of Information on Senior Living & Related Topics

As 2017 rapidly comes to a close, we want to share a summary of some of the coverage we helped position for A Place for Mom throughout the year. For those interested in the issues surrounding senior living, this roundup offers a sense of the topics that attracted the most significant attention of journalists and their readers.

A Place for Mom is the largest senior living referral service in North America. As such, the company provides a wealth of information about senior preferences for housing, care and other vital topics. We were honored to help position this useful, practical  information.

We began the year by sharing data with journalists about the 10 safest cities for seniors that resulted in the following eight articles:

Next, we developed and distributed news about home equity and using it to fund senior care. This resulted in two articles:

Syndicated content from A Place for Mom remained popular throughout the year. We placed stories about finding love in a senior community, the benefits of shared living for seniors, and tips on taxes, as well as travelling with seniors .Stories included:

In the summer of 2017, we had the opportunity to publicize the results from a survey that clearly demonstrated that seniors want to live in walkable communities. This announcement lead to the following coverage:

This is just a small sample of the coverage we earned throughout the year. We are proud that A Place for Mom is able to provide such a valuable, well-researched resource to seniors, their families and its partner communities. For even more content, we hope you will visit www.aplaceformom.com

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Your Virtual PR Bookshelf

Over the years our team has shared its expertise through posts published to the Communiqué PR blog. Some of the posts tie directly to content included in our book, Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR, while other posts dig deeper into practice areas or capture key campaign initiatives and results.

Consistently the most popular content in terms of unique visitors are posts that provide guidance and tips on core PR activities and foundational elements. We recognize there are great books that cover these topics, however, with the fast-paced nature of our jobs today sometimes tracking down the right reference book can be impractical in the moment.

Below I have captured these posts for easy reference. Feel free to bookmark this page and use it as your PR reference “book.”

The guidance provided in these posts is relevant for both experienced PR practitioners as well as communication students and those starting their careers.

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Stay Smart and Informed With Podcasts – Your PR Career May Depend on It

Whether it’s an hour spent in bumper-to-bumper traffic, a 20-minute walk to class, or sitting on the bus through 37 stops, most people have to endure some form of a daily commute. The way we spend that commute time, however, can vary significantly. Some people listen to music, some read books, and others talk on the phone. Personally, after exhausting my music library during my daily morning commute, I discovered a different, more constructive form of travel entertainment: podcasts.

Specifically, I listen to “The Daily” by The New York Times. At around 20-30 minutes per episode, “The Daily” brings a thought-provoking, nuanced approach to exploring current events. Tuning in while driving has quickly become a much anticipated and valuable morning ritual.

“The Daily’s” secret ingredient is its host, former New York Times political reporter Michael Barbaro. Without a background in radio or broadcast media, Barbaro might seem an unlikely rising personality in the podcast sphere. His soothing voice, the obvious intensity in which he actively listens to his guests, and his knowledge of the world we live in make him an ideal face –  or voice – for the evolving New York Times that now streams more than nine podcasts for its active readers and listeners.

Maybe it’s Barbaro’s affable introduction to every episode that keeps his audience hooked (a rough reproduction would sound something like: “From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This. Is. – dramatic pause – The Daily.”). It could be how he encourages banter with his guests, for example, Barbaro playfully began his interview  with the Times’ chief Washington correspondent Carl Hulse with, “I am rudely distracting you from what I imagine is a well-earned cocktail.” But above all, what keeps everyone listening is Barbaro’s unwavering allegiance to his audience.

Barbaro is also not afraid to ask simple, foundational questions like, “So where exactly is Mosul?” or “What exactly does the Justice Department do?” Some podcast hosts may be embarrassed to ask questions that may be common knowledge, but Barbaro’s Everyman style allows him to act as “an advocate for the listener.” Without projecting a know-it-all attitude, Barbaro creates a relationship with his listeners that helps them feel comfortable wherever they are in their own understanding of the world and its current events.

Understanding the different facets of current events requires knowledge of complex political ideologies, international relations and public policy, all of which “The Daily” explains in layman’s terms. As executive producer Lisa Tobin puts it, “‘The Daily’ is about explaining something you’ve always wished someone would explain to you.”

Learning about current events is an invaluable habit to develop both personally and professionally. Staying up to date on breaking news and current events makes us all well-rounded and capable of developing an informed opinion about politics and social issues.

Unfortunately, a significant percentage of U.S. citizens are not committed to making current events a priority. In fact, according to Pew Research, only 22 percent of Americans are “eager and willing” seekers of information and have a strong interest in learning and the news.

As alarming as this statistic may be, it is not surprising. With work, family and a social life life to balance, it is easy to fall out of touch with current events. It takes time and effort to keep up with what’s going on, and even more effort to effectively understand it all. Once staying current on news or other key issues gets shoved to the back burner, it most likely remains there.

Since PR professionals typically represent clients across a wide range of industries, it’s imperative that we be well informed about the business, industry and technology trends being shaped by current events.

For example, the Communiqué PR team recently had an editorial brainstorming session for one of our clients, WGU Washington. The ideas we came up with were based on recent technological advancements including artificial intelligence and how it would affect the job market. Because the team possessed a broad knowledge across several industries, we were able to speculate how these advancements would impact our client’s target audiences, and offer some timely, relevant pitch suggestions.

Not only also does a regular news habit keep PR pros up-to-date with breaking world events, it can provide insight into the elements that journalists need to tell a compelling story for their audience, as well as the language and style they use. This can help PR and communications pros tailor their pitches and writing styles accordingly for different reporters and publications, and ultimately become more effective and successful in their careers.

The importance of understanding current events is irrefutable. To get a jumpstart on your continued learning effort, check out “The Daily” on your next commute. You may be surprised at how quickly Michael Barbaro’s dreamy voice will launch you into podcast Happyland, all the while keeping you informed.

 

 

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Enhancing Your Creativity With Feedback

As many of my friends and family know, I’ve recently begun doing more creative writing in the form of a historical novel and have had many new skills to learn. Fortunately, the classes I’ve taken at Seattle’s Hugo House have been tremendously helpful as I strive to develop compelling characters, put them in interesting situations, and come up with the right balance of scene and summary to tell an engaging story.

Practicing new writing techniques also has helped me realize that writing fiction is incredibly different than the writing that I typically do as a communications professional.

As I build new skills, I’ve received significant feedback from my writing group, my instructor and a few trusted friends. Overall, this feedback has been helpful, but there are times when I have felt discouraged. Other times, I’ve found it challenging to decide whether to accept or reject a person’s input.

For instance, this summer I solicited feedback from an author and teacher of fiction. His opinion was that my plot was flawed and he suggested I scrap my first 100 pages and start over. After mulling over his comments and thinking about whether I agreed with his perspective, I began again. After all, he is the successful author of two novels, numerous short stories and personal essays.

Although it created more work for me, I remain grateful for his feedback because I have never attempted to write a novel and I desperately wanted know how I could improve. Sure, it would have been better if he’d told me that my work was fantastic, but this is a learning process. And it’s probably not realistic to expect to produce a literary endeavor without hard work on the craft of plot development, narrative structure and writing. I also know some of the new skills I’m building will be applicable at work, so I am motivated to keep at it.

But not everyone is so enthusiastic about feedback. According to a Harvard Business Review article, “In a study of seven companies and 11,471 days of creative work, researchers found two striking patterns: First, getting feedback was incredibly rare, indicating that people seemed to avoid it; and second, when people did receive feedback, it generally left a negative emotional residue.”

Negative emotional residue. Yikes! Who wants to create that? I eagerly dove into the article entitled “How to Give and Receive Feedback About Creative Work,” and the research that the author did to address the question: what does effective feedback for creative work look like? Here’s a summary of the main takeaways:

Ask the Right Questions

First, curiosity plays a role in securing feedback. The researchers explain that people who are curious tend to get better feedback than those who are motivated by other desires such as completing a project quickly or eliciting praise. For instance, people who are curious tend to ask more open-ended questions versus asking narrow questions. When professionals ask “What do you think about my work?” or “What else do you think I should cover in this article?” they will elicit very different information than asking something narrow like “What did you think about the ending of my blog?”

The researchers also point out that there are often underlying motives at the root of questions. People may genuinely want feedback, they may want to minimize doing additional work on the project, or they may be looking for affirmation that they have done quality work. Individuals looking to validate their existing ideas tend to ask narrow questions and are often less likely to generate novel or groundbreaking work.

Remember it is an Opinion

The second interesting point in the article was the reminder about the subjectivity of feedback. According to the researchers, “… peers providing critiques who recognized that feedback is a subjective opinion as opposed to an objective statement were more effective in enhancing creativity …”

This is important for those of us reviewing other people’s work. When you give feedback, you are sharing your opinion. The authors of the article remind critics to use first-person pronouns and language like: “What I took away from this is…” or “I really enjoyed … and would like to see more of this.…”

In my writing classes at the Hugo House, students are encouraged to frame critiques in this manner. We often workshop one another’s work and are coached to remember that the authors of the work are vulnerable. We are also encouraged to provide feedback in the form of neutral questions around the craft of writing.

If you work in a creative field and are developing or critiquing creative work, the Harvard Business Review article may offer you some sound and practical ideas for soliciting and sharing feedback, as it did for me. Give it a read and then let me know what you think!

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Creating an Employee Advocacy Program That is Right for Your Company

Two years ago, LinkedIn rolled out its employee advocacy platform, Elevate, a paid mobile and desktop app that makes it easy for its users to discover and share content from experts at their company.

Designed for organizations with 2,000 or more employees, Elevate helps companies create and improve employee advocacy, and helps encourage employees to become more active professionals by providing opportunities to build thought leadership and a personal brand.

The platform works by allowing companies to select and categorize online content from internal and external sources, which will then be distributed to its employees as suggestions for them to share on their social media channels. The Elevate app also offers a metrics-tracking feature that allows companies to measure how the content their employees shared (via Elevate) performed (i.e., leads to website traffic, new hires and sales leads, etc.).

Although Elevate is designed for larger companies, the platform builds on the powerful business practice of employee advocacy – a focus that companies of all sizes can and should prioritize. We all know that brand advocacy is significant and many companies have campaigns in place to build influencer followings, but why not start with closer targets and work with your own employees to be advocates?

Below are three tips smaller companies can follow to create employee advocacy programs that are right for them:

Tap into your company culture: It’s important that advocacy feels authentic to your employees’ communication styles and to the company’s culture. Encourage employees to follow the company’s account on the social media platform that feels most authentic to them (i.e., Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook). Creating an employee advocacy program that is fun and interactive for employees will increase their likelihood to participate, and may also increase their willingness to develop and share advocacy content of their own. Lastly, it is important that content isn’t forced. Applying too much pressure or oversharing company information and messages can create a negative connotation toward your employee and your brand.

Create simple guidelines: When building an employee advocacy program, it can be helpful to create a few rules to give your employees a sense of direction and ensure that they are not feeling disorganized or stressed that the program is creating more work for them. For example, employers can create a quick one-sheet that outlines recommended times for posting, number of posts to share per week, approved and off-limit topics, tips for responding to and engaging with industry experts and target audiences, as well as advice to build and maintain a following.

Measure results: As with any marketing campaign or project, it is crucial to track results to understand if and how your efforts are making progress and adding value. When designing the advocacy program, create a benchmark and set a few KPIs that you can work toward and then track. Reach and influence are two metrics that should be on your radar when monitoring the performance of the advocacy program. After you’ve tracked results, it is important to share them with your employees. Recognizing their results will help them understand how their efforts are creating impact and encourage them to continue participating.

LinkedIn Elevate is just one method companies can use to generate employee advocates. Taking the time to understand the different engagement tools and strategies best suited for your company size and industry will help you design an advocacy program that is valuable to your employees and your brand.

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