Stories by Seth Arenstein

A review of the week’s stories, trends and personnel moves in PR. This week’s edition includes Gutenberg’s spinning off Lumina, the mishandled crisis at an amusement park down under, a false alarm over the use of influencers and Fox’s CCO is leaving.

This weekly feature asks communicators to spot trends and discuss their reactions to them. In this edition we hear from Kira Clayborne, senior manager, digital media, Church’s Chicken. Clayborne discusses how brands should react when it finds fans speaking for them on social.

No matter your industry or subject, creating a plan to reach goals that will help you arrive at your destination also can assist you to better understand the scope of your communications and marketing. A plan will help you stay organized and make adjustments in case you run into unforeseen challenges and obstacles. It also can help you reduce processes into small, achievable chunks for accomplishing tasks that you’ll need to do to overcome challenges. Here are five steps to help you write a strategic communications plan.

A weekly roundup of the week that was in PR and a brief look at personnel moves. This week’s edition includes stories about Dunkin’ Brands, Spong’s new name, Ketchum’s WonderLust 50+ study and the founding of American Women in PR.

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to managing crises in the digital era. On the upside, brands are able to reach their stakeholders directly via social, yet digital tech spreads word of crises, accurate or not. The five minutes that Warren Buffett once said it takes to ruin a reputation is no longer the case. It’s now been reduced to the time it takes someone to create a Facebook post.

A wrap-up of the week’s top PR stories, trends and personnel announcements. This week’s edition includes stories about Wells Fargo and its ousted CEO John Stumpf, EpiPen maker Mylan agreeing to pay a fine for underpaying on rebates to government medical authorities and Bisquick’s tone-deaf Twitter comments.

In a recent article in PR News Pro, pitching expert Michael Smart writes, “When I’m asked to review pitches, anxious clients generally start by inquiring about their subject line, their opening sentence, or their call to action. But there’s a factor that has way more influence on the likelihood of success than the language and phrasing of the actual pitch. That factor is what I call Message-to-Influencer Match. And that’s why the first thing I ask about when looking at any pitch is: Who is the target, and why?”

With the Snapchat environment in flux, what should communicators do to measure their Snapchat efforts now? A sensible approach is to begin with the basics, Baird says. Set goals from the outset. Are you trying to sell product through Snapchat? Gain exposure for your brand, raise awareness and create buzz? “Your goals will dictate your measurement methods,” she says. Indeed, the communicators we interviewed favored various measurement tactics, including unique views, open rates, story completion rates, screenshots and Snapchat’s own Snapchat score.

A look at the week that was in PR, including stories about: Wells Fargo’s troubles in Chicago and its attempt to return to the Windy City’s good graces.

It’s difficult to be at a PR conference and avoid hearing that video and photographs are exploding on social media platforms. Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers estimated in her most recent report that 3.25 billion photos are shared daily on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat. It makes sense then that brand communicators are anxious to capture data related to imagery as they measure their PR efforts and use such metrics to shape corporate strategy.