1.  Security breaches

• Hacks and breaches are an unfortunate and all-too-common occurrence these days. While data security is critical work, it is not terribly accessible to those outside the industry or for executives who must balance security demands with a hundred other priorities. As such, Sterling’s Kawika Holbrook described in January the supercut that Sterling developed to illuminate the world of breaches and security through short video clips from film and TV.

2. Super Bowl ads

• Why certain advertising campaigns work is something that requires a deeper look nowadays — particularly when it comes to Super Bowl ads! Yours truly delved into the winning ad campaigns from February’s game and found Twitter, timing and titillation to be this year’s keys to success.
  

3. Twitter’s birthday

• March 21, 2013 marked the 7th anniversary of the first tweet. For a service that was initially met with much skepticism, Twitter has steadily become a necessary PR tool, taking its place alongside (or in some industries, ahead of) the traditional press release. In honor of Twitter’s 7th anniversary, Sterling’s Amanda Hoffman compiled 7 ways Twitter has changed the PR industry as we know it.

4. Boston Marathon

• As PR and Social Media Managers, it is often our responsibility to handle communications when a crisis occurs. One can’t even imagine having to deal with a catastrophic event like the one that unfolded in Boston in April. But, Sterling’s Ross Coyle detailed the importance of having a communication plan in place to control and effectively respond to a crisis as quickly as possible.
  

5. Google Glass

• There’s been a lot of buzz around the new Google Glass and its capabilities. There have also been a few predictions floating around on how the technology will change our society. Sterling’s Natalie Wolfrom offered her thoughts this month on how Google Glass will change the game for public relations professionals.
  

Jordan Hubert can be reached at jhubert@sterlingpr.com. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jahubert.

Photo credit: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57560230/3-financial-predictions-for-2013/

So, in honor of its birthday, here are 10 tips to optimize your company page for a business audience:

1. Optimize your profile for search. Use the keywords in your profile that you think your target customer is searching with. 
2. Showcase your brand. Your banner image is the most prominent feature someone sees on your page. We live in a graphically driven age; make sure your photo communicates something about your brand or is engaging.
   
3. Humanize your company. Feature employees in some of your updates. The point is to be approachable so more people want to engage with your brand and your updates. Photos get up to 20 times more engagement than text-based updates.
4. Participate in groups. Having your executives participate in groups promotes thought leadership and keeps your name in relevant conversations. Eventually, you could even start your own group.
5. Advertise job openings on Careers. While this doesn’t directly promote your company, it exposes job seekers to your company’s name .
6. Share relevant content. We all know content is king, and the company with the best content wins the page views. Make your page the one people go to for information by having the most interesting and relevant content.
7. Share surveys and conduct polls. Surveys and polls are a great way to engage with your audience and learn a thing or two about them in the process. This tactic can also help you tailor the kind of content you share.
8. Tailor your about section. Don’t just copy and paste your boilerplate; take time to customize it for a B2B audience. What do you want potential customers to know about you?
9. Don’t ignore the products section. Take time to add in some of your products or service menu. Heck, while you’re being visual, add a video that talks about a product or service offering.
10. Link to a landing page. Most companies link to the homepage, but this is a missed opportunity to redirect potential customers to a more meaningful page like your services/products page or “why us.”

Monika Hathaway can be reached at mhathaway@sterlingpr.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jazzpatron.

Over the past few days, I’ve been consuming the news coverage, reading the latest online reports and viewing the responses stream across Facebook and Twitter, and it amazes me the power that social media has over traditional media channels. This coming from an old TV guy. At the time of the blasts, people began sharing the images of the chaotic scene across social media channels. It continues today with a tremendous outpouring of support for the City of Boston and the victims of this unspeakable tragedy. Folks from around the globe – celebrities, politicians, even the rival New York Yankees have joined together to demonstrate to all this city’s unity, strength and resilience. Seeing hashtags such as #BostonStrong, #PrayforBoston and #OneBoston littered across Twitter reinforces my belief that social media is not just another medium to promote the news, but a means of connecting human beings especially in the face of adverse conditions.

Yankee Stadium had Fenway feel as fans sang “Sweet Caroline” in tribute to victims of Monday’s tragedy: atmlb.com/10dwKcz #BostonStrong

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 17, 2013

Thoughts and prayers with my hometown Boston today.

— Mark Wahlberg (@mark_wahlberg) April 16, 2013

I’ve ordered all State buildings to fly flags at half-staff tomorrow to honor the victims of the #BostonMarathon tragedy. #PrayForBoston

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) April 17, 2013

As PR and Social Media Managers, it is often our responsibility to handle communications when a crisis occurs. One can’t even imagine having to deal with a catastrophic event like the one that unfolded in Boston, but regardless of the situation, it’s our job to have a communication plan in place to control and effectively respond to a crisis as quickly as possible. Disseminating accurate information in a timely manner during a crisis is a priority, but social media has certainly changed the game. Too often media outlets put a priority on getting the news out first rather than getting it right. The Huffington Post learned this the hard way when it incorrectly reported that BU graduate student Zhou Danling was one of the fatalities of the Marathon bombings, when it fact, she survived the ordeal. They’ve since posted a retraction. This rush to report and scoop your competitors mentality can backfire and has certainly drawn its share of criticism.

I hate to sound like an old fart, but when I worked for AP many years ago, we had sourcing rules and breaking them got you fired.

— Steve Wildstrom (@swildstrom) April 17, 2013

CNN simply reported what they believed to be true.First Reports are sometimes a negative side effect of 24 hour news media.Lay off.

— Nick Nash (@NickNash) April 17, 2013

@nicknash But that doesn’t mean we should blindly accept it, like sheep. There used to be a journalistic code of ethics…

— Amber K (@SousLeRadar) April 17, 2013

You can never be too prepared when it comes to crisis management. Having a plan in place will help you deal with a terrible event like the one we saw this week. Here are a few guidelines to remember when dealing with a crisis situation:

• Plan ahead – Don’t wait until crisis hits to put a crisis management plan together.
• Act like a human being – Express empathy and concern when victims are involved.
• Activate appropriate mechanisms to keep the public and media informed on an ongoing basis.
• Integrate social media into your plan – Be quick, but get it right.
• Keep your message simple and clear.
• Select a primary spokesperson to represent the organization throughout the crisis process.
• All communications should go through one channel.
• Respond to incorrect information that may be circulating as necessary.

Ross Coyle is an Account Supervisor at Sterling Communications. Follow him on Twitter at @rossjcoyle

Before I get into a (hopefully) logical discussion of what brands should do in these circumstances, let me offer a brief disclaimer: this one is personal. I grew up in Massachusetts and went to college in Boston just a short distance away from the spot where the bombs went off. During my misspent youth, I often wandered down the same streets that were yesterday covered in bodies and blood. So I’m not entirely objective on this subject. But that, in effect, is the point. Our reaction to tragedy is anything but objective.

And that’s something brands need to recognize. There is a reason that people who conduct the social media activities for major brands are often called “community managers.” Before social networks were invaded by brands, they were primarily a way for individuals — that is to say real people — to make connections and share information. They were and are communities in a very real sense.

Now social media experts often talk about how brands should use social networks to “engage” with their customers, have a “two-way dialog” and, above all, to be “authentic.” But underlying this approach is the dirty secret of social media marketing; that social networks are increasingly seen as just another channel to push products. Sure, you have to use a different style of communication and, you know, actually listen to customers from time to time. But at the end of the day, the goals are the same as any other marketing channel. Sell! Sell! Sell!

Perhaps I’m being naïve, but the authentic human reaction to tragedy is to stop what you’re doing and pay attention. Real people personalize tragedy. They empathize with the victims. They want to help. It’s human nature.  In the midst of tragedy, carrying on as if nothing has happened is the opposite of authenticity. Nor is it particularly human. Imagine yourself walking down the street with a group of friends. One of them falls and cracks his head on the sidewalk. The most normal reaction would be stop and help. But if one of your friends kept talking about something else or, worse, just kept on walking, you probably wouldn’t be friends much longer.

So why respond to some tragedies and not to others? Do we treat every tragedy equally? No. Given the scale of human suffering in the world, that would be impossible. But that brings us back to the notion of community. A number of commenters, in reaction to both Brogan and Pirillo’s questions, raised the old trope of “American exceptionalism.” They argued that the Boston bombings were only a big deal because they happened in the U.S. If they’d happened anywhere else, no one would be suggesting that brands stop auto-tweeting or, in Pirillo’s case, delay a live unboxing of a “new” product (that’s actually been shipping for more than two months).

But again, these arguments miss the point. Even in a modern, globally connected society, our notion of community is still largely rooted in geography. For good or ill, it’s basic human nature — and not just an American affectation — to be more concerned with events closer to home. I suspect that if the bombings took place at the London Marathon next week instead of the Boston Marathon yesterday, the hue and cry for brands to take a breather from their online marketing activities would be just as strong among British citizens.

If brands want to be regarded as full-fledged members of a community, and not just faceless, unfeeling corporations that care about nothing more than shilling products, they need to behave like humans. Real humans (generally) don’t break into a highly charged, emotional conversation to offer their own mundane, off-topic updates. Real humans don’t ignore what’s happening right in front of them.

No one wants to wallow in tragedy. But when it strikes close to home, it’s not too much to ask brands to try to be relevant and empathetic in their social media communications or, alternatively, offer a brief, respectful silence. The selling can wait.

Kevin Pedraja is a Vice President at Sterling Communications. Follow him on Twitter at @kpedraja.

So why do so many PR pros continue to use these words in press releases? Well, laziness, for one, but that doesn’t offer much help for a remedy. Instead, if we look closely at how overused words come to infect our prose, and what effect they have on readers, we uncover deeper patterns of bad writing. Fortunately, we can also find ways to correct these bad habits.

But first, let’s get back to laziness. Buzzwords usually find their way into press releases because they’re easy. These words serve as a shortcut to some idea that takes more time and effort to explain. Though it’s almost always better to be brief, use these shortcuts too often and they drain all emotion from your writing.

Studies show that words, especially when used in metaphors, trigger strong emotional responses in various parts of the brain. That’s how an apt metaphor or an authentic description can focus our attention on something and make it stick in our memory, almost like we experienced it firsthand. But the same studies show that once people hear a word often enough, their emotional response diminishes, like a patient building up a tolerance for a certain drug.

So instead of taking the brief shortcut, try referring to another rule of good writing: show, don’t tell. Don’t just say that your company is “a market leader,” show what makes it so. For example, “Our company has installed the most solar panels in California,” or “CNET ranked our anti-virus service as the most reliable.” An anecdote or fact will be much more effective and memorable than an adjective that the reader has already heard a dozen times that day.

However, there are times when you can’t get a quick statistic or story that backs up the desired description, which brings up another reason people use these words — to make something sound more important than it is. The buzzword wants to confer importance, but in a vague way that nobody investigates too much. Unfortunately, this half-hearted usage does double damage. People reading your message quickly will scan past the overused word as if it didn’t exist, and start to feel bored. But if they’re reading closely and come across an inflated word that doesn’t match the subject, it will only highlight the fact that you’re trying to make up for some shortcoming.

Because it’s part of a PR pro’s job to drum up excitement about news, we are tempted to use words that imply major activity but actually describe very little. I think the word “announce” in press releases is a major offender in this category. You’ll often find it in the opening line because it’s an easy way to attribute action to the company you’re writing about, without actually examining what’s going on. But unless it’s a bankruptcy filing, the fact that your company has an announcement probably isn’t an important part of the story. Besides, announcement is already implied in a press release, why waste the precious first line on something redundant? Instead, get to the real action in your message: what does this new thing do, what changes will it bring, and why should people care?

Of course, sometimes there’s absolutely no better word to describe what you mean than the one that everyone else is using. In these rare cases, go ahead and use the popular descriptor. If it really fits the brand you’re writing about in a unique way, people may see the word in a new light. As long as you’re thinking about the meaning behind your words, your readers will be thinking along with you.

Ben Marrone can be reached at bmarrone@sterlingpr.com. Follow him on Twitter @Maronay.

“The internet is inherently a visual medium,” says Lee Sherman, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Visual.ly at an event titled How to Employ Multimedia Content for Compelling Storytelling. “When you combine data with visuals, you’ve really got something.”

Some key points made by one speaker, Lou Hoffman, of The Hoffman Agency, on why visual content is so important:

• Video with content gains FOUR TIMES the views as content without video.
• Cost is the biggest obstacle – GO IN HOUSE.
• 15-20% of article content is ANECDOTAL.

Brian Solis makes the point that “Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world.” When creating video content, think of the zero-moment of truth – this is most often when something is shown to someone else for his or her first time. One must picture the impact this will have; the message one wants the viewer to walk away remembering.

Patricia Sellers, Executive Director of Live Content at Time Inc., says that the best stories are about people who have a vision, who achieve, fail, learn, and are able to achieve again. “If that’s not a part of the story, I’m not interested,” says Sellers. CAT, a company known for giant tractors, produced this video, which employs great storytelling to sell their product, without overselling their product.

“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.” -Frank Zappa

At one point Frank Zappa was right, but as of today, that has all changed. People now look to their computer for an emotional story. With the average amount of time being spent online steadily growing, how does one expect their message or product to stand out among so many others? The answer is simple: tell a good story.

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” -Rudyard Kipling

Please send all autograph requests for Wes Warfield to wwarfield@sterlingpr.com. Follow his stream of consciousness @WesWarfield.

1. Information dissemination. Perhaps the most tangible use of Twitter today is the ability to quickly distribute news to a mass audience. Twitter moves fast, and its users are constantly checking to see what’s happening now. The downside is that it’s easy to miss the opportunity if you don’t jump in quickly, and in some industries or organizations, a lengthy approval process can translate to missed opportunities for the organization. The solution? Sit down with executives, legal, investor relations, and anyone else who may be skeptical of the process and come up with a list of best practices and approved topics.
2. Scandal. No doubt about it, Twitter can be a double-edged sword for PR pros. While the ability to quickly distribute news and opinions makes for more timely and relevant opportunities for a brand, it can also spell disaster when tweets are not thought through carefully before posting. Just a quick search in our own blog archives shows numerous instances where a Twitter faux pas has been the cause of a major cleanup job for a brand’s PR team (none of our clients, of course!).
3. Engagement. PR used to primarily serve as a one-way communication function — and often a third party function at that. The traditional chain of command was brand –> journalist –> target audience. With Twitter, conversations look more like brand <–> target audience.
4. Media relations. In addition to serving as a great channel for connecting brands to their audiences, Twitter has also become a great way for journalists and PR pros to converse, giving journalists story ideas and real-time feedback on their articles, in addition to discussing industry news in general.
5. Humanization of brands. Whether a large enterprise, your neighborhood coffee shop or a celebrity, Twitter has enabled consumers to feel personally connected to people and organizations they wouldn’t have such close contact with otherwise. This human touch can go a long way in terms of making consumers feel more connected to a brand, knowing there’s a real human on the other side of the computer screen.
6. Customer service. In the same vein that Twitter has humanized brands, it has also provided a valuable customer service channel. While some brands may shy away from having their dirty laundry aired for all to see in the way of customer complaints, how a brand chooses to address these issues can go a long way in shaping public perception. A brand that’s responsive – even if it’s just to say “email me at ___ and we can discuss this further” – looks more in-tune with the customer than a brand who turns a blind eye to customer complaints. Remember, conversations are happening about your brand, whether you’re a part of them or not.
7. Viral tactics. How did things go viral before Twitter? Or was this term even a part of our lexicon before then? Whichever the case, there’s no denying that Twitter has been essential in viral marketing campaigns. The very nature of the retweet makes sharing as easy as one click, enabling links, videos and articles to spread like wildfire across a large audience.

So there you have it. 7 ways in which Twitter has changed PR as we know it. Did I leave anything off? Fellow PR pros – how has Twitter changed how you work?

Amanda Hoffman can be reached at ahoffman@sterlingpr.com. Follow her on Twitter @hoffmandy.

Journalism is at a crossroads. The industry is insolvent and to try to fix the issue they’re laying off staff while at the same time wanting to deliver more, faster to their audiences.  Well, I’d advocate that a well-written and relevant press release can really help resource- and time-constrained reporters by delivering the who, what, when, where, why and how elements of the news (ideally supported by independent third-party validation) in a single , easy-to-digest and excerpt from electronic package.

That said, most reporters get hundreds of press releases in their email inbox each day, far more than they can open, read and digest. So, how do you make sure your press release gets noticed? Here are a few tips worth considering:

• The subject line of your email should make them want to click. To get to your release, they first have to open your email. So, unless the reporter is someone who knows the value of what you’re delivering just by seeing your name in the email address line, take the time to write a compelling (and ideally personalized) subject line (e.g. “Per your 2/21 data breach story, perimeter security is failing”) as opposed to a non-informative subject line (e.g. “Security company press release- please open”).
  
• Write release copy for the audience, not your CEO. Unfortunately, too many press releases are still crafted to stroke the ego of a company’s CEO or other senior executive, rather than to convey the information that really matters to the intended audience(s). Make sure your news is useful to your audience, which means only releasing news that is newsworthy. Write for people, not at them.
• Include photos and video when appropriate. There is a huge push toward visual content and press releases are no exception. An awesome image or video could be the difference between your story running or one of your competitors getting the real estate instead. An estimated 65% of the world’s population comprises visual learners, so make sure they get the whole picture (pun intended). A good experience can help you build stronger reporter relationships (especially if they get tons of hits off of your media). Oh and did I mention that images receive as much as 20x  more engagement than any other media?
• Make it flexible. Your press release should be easily sharable whether that’s on Facebook, LinkedIn, a click to tweet, or a headline of around 70 characters that easily fits into a tweet with a link. Twitter refers 4x as much traffic as you might think.
• Integrate your content across channels. Can you turn your press release announcement into a thoughtful (not salesy) blog post? Can you turn stats from your press release into snackable tweets? Can your financial release be turned into an interesting infographic that you can share on multiple social media channels? Don’t think about news as just something that goes over the wire and is posted to your website’s newsroom; there is plenty of opportunity to leverage your news across multiple channels to extend its reach.

In the age of the internet, content is king. Make sure you’re giving all of your content — including the very much alive press release — the best shot at success.

Follow Marianne on Twitter @marianneoconnor.

Image: Tom Fish Burne