The Public Relations Blog

Per-follower engagement on Instagram is 58 times higher than Facebook and 20 times higher than Twitter.

If your company isn’t on Instagram, there’s no time like the present. Instagram is bursting with the opportunity to boost brand awareness and connect with your audience, altering company storytelling. Don't let fear or inexperience hold you back from what Instagram could do for you. Instead, focus on all that you could accomplish with a little bit of direction. 

In the world of public relations, things are always changing. New trends pop up and disappear every day. Information is constantly shared and as a PR professional, it's imperative to stay aware, act swiftly, and formulate subsequent steps wisely. In an industry that never sleeps, here are five tools every PR practitioner should use to stay ahead. 

The year 2020 started with a focus on the latest public relations trends. Niche targeting, live streaming, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data integrations generated the most buzz, and they continue to do so. Although they haven’t faded in the background, the focus on how to use them has drastically shifted.

Brands have started to actively market to a niche audience through influencers, self-publishing platforms, social media, and informative content. The top players from brands have started to use live streaming to get in front of the audience. 

Artificial Intelligence and big data have become the go-to source for brands to monitor social media platforms, predict consumer needs, and develop targeted content based on causes impacting their audience. Handling it all from behind the curtain is an experienced public relations agency. 

Public relations agencies are well-aware of the changing times and have doubled down on their efforts to point brands in the right direction. We want to highlight how PR has changed in 2020 and what to do about it.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have decided their best course of action is to suspend their ad spending and limit their PR expenditures. This could wind up being a big mistake.

Ghostwriting is a commonplace practice in public relations and can be found everywhere, from your favorite books to the most notable speeches. But what exactly is ghostwriting?

It may be easier to start with what ghostwriting isn’t. Ghostwriting isn’t plagiarism. Plagiarism is the theft of original work with no attribution or permission given by the original author. Plagiarism is a one-route selfish and unethical act of theft, whereas ghostwriting drives down a two-way road of collaboration. 

Commercial newswire services charge companies to distribute their news. 

The big players in this space – at least in the United States – are Business Wire, Cision PR Newswire, Cision PR Web, GlobeNewswire, etc.

These are often confused with newswire services, also known as news agencies.

When it comes to media relations and corporate communications, PR pros should follow AP Style

Anytime you communicate with a client or customer, you make an impression on behalf of your company. You want to represent professionalism and quality of content, and your written communications are simple ways to do that.

Spelling and grammar mistakes make your company look unprofessional, sloppy, and uninterested. If you don’t ensure all your written communications are error-free, it looks like your company didn’t put forth the time and effort to produce its very best work. Clear, consistent copy editing improves your company’s corporate communications.

Earned media is the coverage your company gets without paying for it. This isn’t done through self-promotion or advertisements nor posting news releases on PR newswires.

Earned media shouldn’t be confused with paid media, which would be paying influencers or running social media ads. It is distinctly different from owned media as well, which is the attention your company’s website attracts.

Sending a perfect media pitch can feel like a balancing act. Structure and timing are everything. To avoid becoming a mere drop in an ocean of emails, here are nine media pitching tips directly from journalists, according to PR software Muck Rack’s research.

In most cases, Facebook can be a delightful asset to your company, generating goodwill between you and your customers or generating strong leads that allow the inbound marketing strategy to fall perfectly into place. However, at times, Facebook can breed negativity. 

When that happens, you don’t want to waste time being unprepared.