These days, it seems like social media is standing in as an assignment editor for many different media outlets. Tune in to just about any cable show and, sooner than later, you will hear or see Twitter or Facebook or Instagram mentioned. But, does that mean the rules for contacting media sources on social media have shifted? Have we entered an era in which connecting with a journalist on social media is acceptable as a best practice?

The answer to that question is “yes and no.” While, yes, it can be acceptable to communicate with a journalist on social media, there are a few guidelines that you may want to consider if you want to be more effective in your efforts.

Good events don’t just happen. They require intensive planning and a successful public relations promotion to get the word out, create interest, and compel action. PR will help increase the awareness of the event and, when properly targeted, will get that message to the people best positioned to help you generate the buzz you need to fill the venue.

One of the best ways to build buzz for an upcoming event, is to create and nurture an online community. This community could be connected by interest in you, your brand, or a common activity related to your brand.

Direct to customer marketing and PR has become increasingly popular in recent years. Today, merchants selling everything from mattresses to pet foods have seen that it’s more effective to speak to their customers directly, than to attempt to sell through major retailers in the modern age. According to a recent study by IAB, named the rise of the brand economy in the 21st century, the future of retail will be painted by direct to consumer relationships. The biggest problem is that many companies don’t know how to get started with direct to consumer PR.

The first step in taking advantage of the direct to consumer model is understanding what it is that makes this sales model so effective. It’s safe to say that eCommerce has changed dramatically in recent years, and it’s continuing to change more as we move forward in 2019. Now, the multi-channel retailer is no longer as popular as they once were, and instead, customers are looking for brands that they can build a genuine connection with.

Influencer marketing campaigns are making waves as a marketing strategy since it provides third party credibility and brand awareness to the right audiences. An influencer can enhance a brand’s visibility and social reach, usually beyond the capabilities of traditional media outlets.

Tapping into influencer marketing requires some planning and dollars so it’s important that our influencers are making a positive impact on the brand in terms of return on investment. It’s impossible to determine if your influencer marketing campaign is actually improving your business if you’re not measuring the effective of the campaign. Here are some tools to help keep track of how successful your influencer marketing campaign is:

The rise of the Influencer cannot be overstated, and Influencer Marketing can be your firm’s best secret weapon. Still, as with any industry, the world of influencers is not immune to fraudsters. Here’s five ways to tell if your future Influencer is really more of a follower.

Commit this formula to memory:

For many people, sharing their message is easy. The real hurdle is how to get people to listen. The fact is, that can be a moving target, but there are some guidelines you should understand in order to craft messages that are heard, understood, and acted on.

The first part of step one is to understand your own key message. What is the core of what you want to communicate. If you had to take one thing and say “this is it, this is what they MUST understand,” what would it be? You may want to say “everything,” but that doesn’t get you any closer to where you need to be.

As the importance of digital marketing continues to reach new heights for modern businesses, SEO has become a critical component in getting the right people to a business website at the right time. Search engine optimization has emerged as an important consideration not only for marketing teams, but PR groups too – particularly as marketing and PR become more intertwined.

Here, we’ll take a look some of the ways that you can align your PR strategy with the trends in SEO most important for companies this year.