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The topic of issues management has been around for decades. It’s examined and debated regularly in the PR industry mainly because it can be a very broad, overarching concept.

When the pressure of crisis management and an often-thorny public policy process are added to the mix, a conundrum can develop, especially for communicators with little to no experience in one or all of these areas. Issues management around public policy must be woven into an organization’s culture early, not just when things are tanking.

The media shouldn’t feel too badly medical-testing firm Theranos is ignoring it ( PRN, Dec 21, 2015). Even Walgreens, which has a deal to set up thousands of Theranos blood-testing sites in its drugstores, received a cold shoulder. The pharmacist never even got a proper look at Theranos’ main testing device, Edison, The Wall Street Journal reported May 26 in a page 1 story.

Just as compound interest can grow money quickly, Instagram posts bolster consumer actions, defined here as the sum of likes and comments. The most-engaged U.S. nonprofit on Instagram, PETA, saw Q1 2016 engagement jump 79% vs Q1 2015, although it increased posts just 17%, according to data provided exclusively to PR News by Shareablee. PETA knew what its audience wanted, posting photos of animal-loving celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio. Other posts that worked included salutes to Armani and SeaWorld for taking steps to end animal cruelty.

Open communication between leadership and employees is integral to building employee trust, morale and engagement. Dry business language and performance metrics through company emails barely scratch the surface of who a leader actually is. More important, they do very little to make a company’s leaders relatable and connected to employees.

We reported late last year that members of Chipotle’s brass mentioned during an investor conference that they were upset with the piecemeal way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was reporting to the public about the brand’s cases of E. coli (PRN, Dec 14 & 21, 2015). Apparently the burrito maker also put its complaint in writing.

At its core, successfully marketing a product or service is about fostering a positive relationship with the consumer. In developing this relationship, a brand needs to actively dedicate itself to building trust.

You had to love the photo of a baseball catcher falling, heels over head, which CNBC ran on its site accompanying a story about pharma brand Valeant ( PRN , Mar 28), whose stock fell 5%+ May 12. The decline

Here are some procedures to build an infrastructure that prepares you to monitor and use social media during crisis communication.

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Keyword-based SEO is a trap. Most of us know that keyword stuffing is a bad idea, but many aren’t aware that most of the effort put into keywords is of low consequence.