Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and now … Facebook. Yes, the news is out that Facebook is the latest to solicit Hollywood and other sources for original “TV” programming for the binge-watching crowd. This should not shock anyone. Video, both live and entertainment, is the future for all these platforms as they battle to become what the TV networks were to Americans in the late 20th century. While the over-the-top (OTT) providers like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and others lead with programming first to generate community, the social channels…
Read MoreLinkedIn’s self-serve ad platform has been going through a few recent changes in the last six months. Earlier this year, company page managers and advertisers should have noticed design changes and even new tools such as conversion tracking and the ability to save target audiences. Just recently, three additional changes should have advertisers (that aren’t spending $25,000 a month) jumping for joy! Retargeting website traffic If you have a decent amount of quality traffic to your website, retargeting can be an expensive way to remind…
Read MoreSo, let’s say you’re planning your Facebook Live event. The first thing you want to do, is plan out a promotional campaign. We’ve been experimenting with this and we like the two weeks out rule. So, again figure out who your audiences are and where they are on social. Create graphics and encourage everybody in your organization to share and post everything you’re posting related to the Facebook Live event. As part of that, the next thing is you want to solicit questions before and…
Read MoreIt’s been over 50 years since Marshall McLuhan famously stated, “The medium is the message,” kicking off countless arguments about whether that’s true. It’s my impression that as PR people, we have a bias toward the message. But technology’s rapid evolution, especially the past few years, has dramatically impacted how we communicate, tipping the scales toward the medium. Arguably the biggest example of this – the proliferation of mobile devices. Increase of mobile devices At first, smartphones were a secondary means for accessing the internet….
Read MoreYou really want to start integrating social even before the event, to promote the event. So, think about who your audiences are and where they are, and then put together a content plan to promote the event — at least a couple of weeks out on social — and get the word out of, not only what you’re doing, what opportunities they have, but also which hashtags they can use of the event to promote the event and interact during the event. Then, obviously, during…
Read MoreMy affinity for live, streaming videos of baby animals began in 2013. It was a big year for babies. Bao Bao the Giant Panda debuted at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Lana, a cheetah at Richmond Metro Zoo, had a litter of five cubs. These live cams helped generate an awareness for the populations of these endangered species (and the zoos that care for them). Fast-forward to 2017 and the latest live-streamed animal phenomenon is April the Giraffe, the 15-year-old leggy lady at Animal…
Read MoreMillennials apparently have the same attention span as a…ooh, look at this cute video of cats dinging bells to get a treat! Adweek talked a bit about the longevity of live video viewing, and it looks like it’s here to stay – for now. In the article, Adweek mentions that Facebook users are 10x more likely to comment on a live video than on a static one. Not only is video important, but live in-the-moment video is what people are drawn to. I’m currently waiting…
Read MoreIn the past, folks — companies, organizations — were not inclined to use social channels during times of crisis, because of the commentary and questions that they would get on those social platforms. Now, however, companies and organizations are more used to using those social platforms in a way that they used to use their websites. In the past, when there was a crisis, companies would put out a statement. They invariably would put those statements on their websites and they drive all of the…
Read MoreI have a love/hate relationship with social advertising. On the one hand, there’s always something new to learn, meaning my work helping clients develop social advertising strategies is never boring. I’m always feeling like there’s something new to understand/master. On the other hand, there’s always something new to learn, meaning once I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code, something changes, and I feel like in many ways I’m back to square one. Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed a few changes to…
Read MoreIt’s great to get that earned media hit online, or in print, or on television. The question we’ve always had after we get that hit is, “what do we do with it?” We now have the advantage of having social platforms as a way to communicate to all our different audiences. So, of course you want to take that print hit, or the online version, or that video hit, and post it on all your social channels. You want to encourage all of the people…
Read MoreThis is a question that we’re debating in house right now. It depends what your goals are. In our case, our goal really is to drive traffic to our website, to our blog. The reason why we want to do that is because our experience is, once people go to our blog, they then bounce around the rest of the website, and we get more visits and more interest in the rest of the things we’re doing. Even though it’s great to post it directly…
Read MoreAre you one of the 91% of businesses on social media? Probably so. Here’s an important question you may not have asked yourself: Should you make your employees part of your social comms strategy? There’s a good chance you’re thinking a definitive “no.” But there are two trends that may make you reconsider your answer. Employees don’t know what’s going on in the company In the early days of social media, most businesses took a strong anti-employee participation stance with their social strategy. The problem…
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