Letting a social media influencer temporarily take over your brand’s accounts can be a great tactic to bring in new followers and engage with your audience in an authentic way. But there are some important tricks of the trade to keep in mind.
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The Week in PR
March 6th, 2018 by Seth ArensteinOur weekly roundup of news, trends and personnel announcements in communications and marketing. This week’s stories include U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun’s dark departure, gymnast Ally Raisman’s lawsuit against her sport’s governing bodies and more trouble for Wells Fargo and Equifax.

PR News Survey: Communicators Largely Satisfied With Salaries; 75% Got Raises in 2017
March 6th, 2018 by Seth ArensteinIs the glass half full for communicators? The just-released PR News Salary Survey of some 900 communicators shows PR pros seem to be a satisfied group in terms of the money they make for the work they do. Base salaries best the average for American professionals and raises are rewarded often, although most are modest. On the other hand, more than a few communicators told us they weren’t completely satisfied with their salary. Finding the right balance of salary, bonuses, soft benefits and intangibles to recruit and retain the most talented staffers is an issue that adept communications leaders will continue to address.

Marriott’s Firing of Social Media Employee Highlights China’s Sway Over Global Brands
March 5th, 2018 by Sophie MaerowitzIn the fast-paced world of social media, careers can be made or broken in the blink of an eye—sometimes even the click of a button. The latter is the case with former Marriott social media employee Roy Jones, who has been fired for liking a Jan. 9 tweet by a group called Friends of Tibet, which drew the ire of the Chinese government and its supporters on social media.

3 Ways Oscars Influencers Echoed Activism Beyond Hollywood
March 5th, 2018 by Justin JoffeAt the Oscars, celebrity influences spoke out as conscious, mindful advocates instead of talking heads. Some of the most significant moments include the snubbing of Ryan Seacrest, a passionate advocation for dreamers and the suggestion of a rider that would make inclusion in productions a requirement. These tactics have implications that reverberate for beyond the Hollywood Hills.

How Brands Can Survive and Thrive in the Post-Organic Apocalypse
March 2nd, 2018 by Jerry AsciertoThe “Facebook Apocalypse” dominated conversations at Social Media Marketing World 2018, as brands prepare for a post-organic new world order. But for communicators, the future doesn’t have to be a dystopia of direct deposits into Facebook’s bank account. By mastering short-form and live video, focusing on storytelling and remembering to keep the humanity intact, your social media strategy can shift focus away from the brand and toward the consumer.

Three Areas Where AI Can Help Communicators Right Now
March 2nd, 2018 by Jared Carneson, FleishmanHillardArtificial intelligence (AI) has been around since the 1950s, though you’d think it’s brand new judging by the number of recent news articles mentioning it. Communicators can take advantage of AI now and they needn’t be engineers to do so, argues Jared Carneson, global lead, social innovation, for FleishmanHillard. There is a slew of tools that flirt with the AI space that can ease communicators’ workload. Carneson offers a look at several and urges communicators to experiment.

Measurement Prep: 3 Social Media KPIs That Help United Way Accomplish Its Mission
March 1st, 2018 by Sophie MaerowitzSix years ago, Carly Keeny had a hard time convincing her colleagues at United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey that social media was anything more than a place to store content. Since then, however, Keeny has led the organization to viewing social media as a powerful and cost-efficient way to promote its mission. Keeny’s team focuses primarily on three social media KPIs: applause (likes), amplification (retweets/shares) and conversation (questions and comments).

Spotify’s True Value for Brands
March 1st, 2018 by Hayley JenningsSpotify went public and valued the company at $23 billion, but it has been providing value for brands since it revamped the Spotify for Brands program last year. The company utilizes user data in multiple ways to aid brand advertisements, but can it withstand scrutiny over how much data it collects from users now that it has entered into the open market?

PRSA Chief Blasts Hope Hicks’ Self-Confessed ‘White Lies’
February 28th, 2018 by Seth ArensteinEarlier this month a prominent columnist, writing about White House Communications chief Hope Hicks, essentially said it is the job of PR pros to lie to the media. PRSA chief Anthony D’Angelo promptly disputed that idea. Now Hicks apparently herself told House investigators that yes, she must tell white lies sporadically as part of her job. Once again D’Angelo says such a claim is wrong.