Earlier this month Instagram announced that it was making its ad API (application programming interface, which allows users to access the platform’s analytics to help monitor and drive marketing campaigns) available to marketing partners. More simply, much of the same audience and campaign data that’s available on other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn now will be accessible also on Instagram, opening the floodgates for new brands wanting to advertise on the platform. Back in spring of 2014, (yes, just a little over a year…
Read MoreThey say imitation is the best form of flattery, and it seems that Twitter is following once again in Facebook’s footsteps. This time the imitation comes in the form of auto-expanding link previews. This change shouldn’t be surprising considering Pew Research Center’s latest report showing that the percentage of users who get their news on Twitter is up 11 percent since 2013. What links look like on Facebook: What links used to look like on Twitter: An example of the new auto-expanding link previews: At this…
Read MoreYou may have seen this recent story in the news about a teacher mailing letters students wrote to their future selves 20 years ago. Today, I received a letter I wrote to myself when I was a senior in high school (in 2008), mailed to me by one of my high school teachers. My letter was just one page and to my surprise I have the exact same handwriting as I did seven years ago. Here are some of the best excerpts from the letter:…
Read MoreIf you’ve been reading our blog lately you’ve probably seen these four words together: owned, earned, paid and shared, as it relates to the future of public relations. Not only is it important for organizations to have a media relations strategy (earned), create original content such as blog posts or microsites (owned) and a social media strategy (shared), but it is now imperative for organizations to have a social advertising strategy (paid). Next week, Emily Shane and I will be giving a presentation on the…
Read MoreEarlier this month, Jon blogged about the “walls tumbling down” where he referenced Snapchat’s new Discover feature. Discover launched at the end of January and is Snapchat’s newest iteration in its effort to monetize. And it makes sense; the latest stats are saying that Snapchat has more than 100 million monthly active users, an estimated 700 million ‘snaps’ (photo or video messages sent between users that ultimately disappear within a few seconds) are viewed daily and ‘stories’ (photos or videos that can only be viewed for…
Read MoreWe’ve been fans of The Dog and Pig Show since the day it opened (Paulyn loved the food so much she visited two days in a row during its first week of operations in December). The husband and wife duo who own the shop focus their efforts on a small but extremely flavorful menu. Local news outlets have described their menu as Louisiana flavor with an Asian twist including offerings such as a pulled pork po’ boy and shrimp and grits. They also have sweet…
Read MoreIf predictions about the most recent State of the Union (SOTU) address are correct, a little more than 30 million people watched the SOTU from the comfort of their home on their television sets. That’s a significant drop from an average of 42.3 million people watching the speech during the past two decades. When you compare that statistic to the 125 million Americans that log onto Facebook every day, 30 million viewers starts to sound quite small. On Facebook alone, President Obama boasts more than…
Read MoreWorking at an agency means that 90 percent of the time you work with external clients. A majority of my days are spent writing blog posts, pitching media, creating media lists and developing social content for our clients, but at an agency of our size it’s important to remember that to make the machine run smoothly (and pleasantly) there are many internal, behind-the-scenes tasks that require attention. According to a survey by PwC, millennials place a “high priority on workplace culture and desire a work…
Read MoreAfter turning my internship at Hodges into my first real job, no one has been able to scare me away, yet. During my first year working in an agency I’ve had a variety of experiences – writing pitches, helping to plan the office holiday party, creating social content for clients and keeping the supply of caffeine and sugar at an all-time high. Here are the eight lessons I’ve learned during my first year in PR: Time management is important. Working at an agency means you’ll…
Read MoreDuring the last couple of months, many of us at Hodges have caught the running bug. (If the opinion piece that ran—pun intended— a few months ago in the Wall Street Journal, Ok, You’re a Runner. Get Over It. resonated with it you, this might not be the blog post for you.) Here in Richmond, The Monument Avenue 10k is kind of a big deal and this year almost half of our office will be running it—look for us wearing some cool shirts on the…
Read MoreBirmingham, Ala. and New Delhi, India are two places you wouldn’t think have anything in common. But lately, we’ve been pitching like it’s our job (read: it is our job) and I’ve been corresponding with hyper-local reporters across the United States and international reporters in India. Through this firestorm of media pitching, I learned that some of the basic rules of media research apply when pitching media anywhere in the world. Take a lesson in geography Google Maps can be your best friend when pitching…
Read MoreLast month, I spent two weeks traveling through China to complete my final class as a graduate student at VCU. The course, Public Relations & Journalism in China, was a cultural and educational experience that I will never forget. Before the trip I tried to prepare myself for culture shock by attempting to brush up on some Mandarin—total fail, I entered the country knowing how to say “hello,” “thank you,” and “I love you panda bear”—but one of the things I was most unsure about was what…
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