Stories by Erika Bradbury

Building a communication structure when you’re a team of one isn’t easy. We asked Taya Jarman, communications director, Institute for Public Health Innovation, how she’s doing it.

This month’s question stems from a scenario we heard about recently. A crisis communicator entered a potential crisis situation. The crisis pro didn’t know the company. He discovered it lacked a crisis communication plan. In addition, it did not have PR pros or media relations personnel on staff.

Should your organization invest in podcasting? Is there value from a brand perspective in producing a podcast?

In light of an increase in cyberattacks and to honor Cybersecurity Awareness Month this month, we asked data partner Shareablee to track consumer engagement with cybersecurity terms on several social media platforms.

With the flood of new direct-to-consumer brands to market, some startup founders might question whether they need, or could vastly benefit from, PR. As entrepreneurs evaluate their business strategies and budgets for how to launch and grow their brands, where to spend branding dollars is among the top of the list. With so many areas to consider, from digital ads to social media content, one that may feel a bit more elusive is PR.

This month’s reader question asks whether it’s ethical to pitch positive stories as a way to deflect attention when you suspect a crisis is about to hit your organization.

A national food distributor discovers potential contamination. The company initiates a recall. David Ball of Ball Consulting Group explains what happens next.

In a broad-reaching conversation via virtual roundtable, we discussed the impact the pandemic has had on the deaf community, the lessons learned about communicating during crises,  how so-called mainstream communicators can work to make accessibility part of their DEI conversations and what corporations looking to embrace DEI and accessibility should do to push forward inclusive campaigns.

Social engagement around mask mandates peaked several times this year. Content mentioning mask mandates generated nearly 24 million consumer actions this year, with more than one-third (7.7 million) occurring between 7/26/21 and 8/25/21,

With the in-person Social Shake-Up Show coming Sept. 22-23 in Atlanta, we’re giving readers and soon-to-be attendees a chance to meet members of this year’s speaker roster. In this interview, we meet #SSU2021 speaker Mara Butts, PR pro and social media strategist at Hexagon, who will focus on the importance of internal social media policies and how to identify high-priority governance issues—the main subjects of this brief interview.