The Public Relations Blog

Your company won a prestigious award. Why isn’t it making the news? The news business is a highly competitive industry. Awards are often not as newsworthy as you think and wish they were. Most media outlets consider awards to be fluff. And if it’s an annual award, it’s tired, they say. And when the award is issued by a competing media outlet, the media acts like a jealous lover.

When Anthony Scaramucci took the helm as White House communications director, he captivated the media. His interviews and public conversations contained unexpected, controversial commentary alongside colorful language that wasn’t particularly suited for all. Many media pundits scratched their heads at the absence of media relations protocol and were surprised at his ill-mannered bluntness. Some believed that, had Scaramucci invoked the phrase “off-the-record,” he could have delivered information to reporters any way he wished without coming across to the public as inept in media relations.

16 ways to promote your award

Congratulations! Your company made it to the Inc. 5000 list. It’s a well-deserved accomplishment that shows your company’s growth over the past three years. Now comes the fun part of promoting your recognition and award. Many companies don’t know where to start.

Often when a company receives an award from a media outlet, other competing news outlets may not write about the recognition, especially local awards from a business journal or newspaper. Lucky for you, a prestigious national magazine like Inc. and its 5000 list tends to gain the attention of the media more than other awards, which means this is your opportunity to share your accomplishment with others. We compiled a list of 16 ways you should promote this company award.

If you manage social media, you may question how impactful your social media efforts are. If you’re unsure about how you’re doing, here are five ways to tell if your company needs social media help from an outside source.

You don’t have to be a consumer brand to succeed on social media. Here are four ways for business-to-business companies to achieve social media success.

6 tips to help you look your best on your LinkedIn profile picture

Whether you’re looking for a new job or trying to position yourself or your company as a thought-leader in your industry, maintaining a top-notch LinkedIn profile is imperative. Along with carefully curating your experience and content, you also want to choose an appropriate photo for your profile.

Even though you look really great in the photo from your beach vacation or in the stands at the baseball game, you should hold off on using these types of photos for LinkedIn. While you want to look approachable and friendly, it’s important that you appear as a professional who takes work seriously.

When people “like” your company’s Facebook page, it means they want to receive the information your company has to offer – whether it’s deals and specials, interesting content or other resources. They’re probably a fan, a customer or an employee, and they like your brand. As a social media manager, gaining page likes is an important objective. Clients enjoy seeing their page growth, and it’s often a benchmark for your social media output.

Content is the key to an effective digital marketing strategy. Sometimes, the idea of creating content from scratch feels overwhelming. One way to have a robust content plan is to repurpose content you already have on hand. Repurposing does more than just give you something to say online, it allows you to tailor your message/content to reach a specific audience. It also allows you to differentiate the way you convey your message, so you reach people on different platforms.

A Q&A with a social media expert

For the “unsocial,” Twitter is a social media platform where users post tweets: messages that must be less than 140 characters. As the fourth most popular social media site (Sorry, Twitter. Instagram took your spot as third, with YouTube as second and Facebook as the most popular social media site), Twitter is a place to find sports updates, local and national news and what’s happening with your family, friends, favorite celebrities and brands. As a social media and community engagement specialist, here are my answers to the five common questions about the channel with more than 315 million users.

Planning proactively for potential crises with 3 key strategies

Lately you can’t turn on the television, log in to social media or pick up a newspaper without noticing a company’s public relations crisis unfolding. We have all seen what happens when a company isn’t prepared for an unexpected situation. It spirals out of control and creates a media storm of negativity. Your company can’t always prevent a bad situation from happening, so the more prepared you are, the better skilled you are to handle unforeseen circumstances.  Preparation can quickly turn a negative situation into a positive outcome.