social media

Career Spot: Political Social Media Strategist In recent years, social media has emerged to play a pivotal role in transforming the ways in which people engage in politics, and how politics itself operates as a function in society. Considering the digital platform it depends on, social media has given political parties and politicians the chance to establish direct connections with an almost limitless audience at a much lesser cost than old-school door-knocking techniques. Indeed, modern-day political social networking carries with it the kind of reach that traditional political realms could not have even imagined. If this is an area that... Read More >

Use These Tips to Give Your Social Media Strategy a Facelift A company’s social media presence can often be an easy way to create and maintain customer relations. For both digital marketing and public relations professionals alike, a strong social media calendar can take a load of stress and work off the table. But sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in a bit of a content rut. Surely anyone familiar with managing social media knows this struggle all too well. Content is king, but it can certainly be challenging to stay on the creative ball week in and week out.... Read More >

Does Every Business Need a Website or Social Media Presence? Shelly is a public relations professional who works on her own, freelancing for clients and representing businesses whenever the need arises. Formerly an executive director at a popular PR firm, Shelly decided that it was time to strike out on her own and make her own decisions. With decades of experience under her belt and plenty of networking connections on her contact list, Shelly feels confident that she’ll be able to drum up her own client roster fairly quickly. This proves to be true. Soon enough, she finds herself with... Read More >

Vox Staffers are Tweeting their CEO Earlier this month, dozens of Vox Media staffers took to Twitter to share their personal stories about what it has been like to work at the digital media giant. A host of reporters, editors and other staffers addressed their tweets to CEO Jim Bankoff to share how proud they were of their work they had done, and how instrumental the company had been to their careers. They also wrote, however, about chronically low wages (reporters based in Washington DC, for example, can expect a measly salary of $30,000 a year), salary discrepancies, a lack... Read More >

How Social Media Can Help Brands Improve Customer Service Somehow, somewhere along the line, consumer behavior shifted away from calling a business on the phone to simply pulling up their website or social media on their mobile device. Now, businesses can have a strong presence in a customer’s mind without that person even setting foot outside of their home. This omnipresence can be beneficial, particularly when it comes to customer service. Think of it this way: previously (and, for some businesses, still), a customer had to dial a toll-free number and navigate a tricky series of automated menu options with... Read More >

How to Run an Instagram Contest Whether you’re a well-established brand or just getting started, an Instagram contest is an increasingly popular social media strategy - and for good reason. Everyone loves freebies, and Instagram contests prove their mettle time and time again in being able to engage existing followers while drawing in new customers at the same time. When mapping out our Instagram contest, keep in mind the platform’s contest rules. In summary, they assert: ●        You cannot imply that Instagram is affiliated with the contest; ●        You can’t ask users to tag themselves or others in pictures that don’t actually... Read More >

With the popularity of social media and other shortened forms of digital media, many business owners find themselves questioning whether or not having a website is a worthwhile expense. While the cost of keeping a website up to date — and that of developing it in the first place — can be overwhelming to some, the investment is worthwhile in the long run. We’ll break down the reasons why. A Website Is a Central Information Hub Let’s say that a business offering a service such as home cleaning is debating building a website. Is it sufficient to have a Facebook page... Read More >

Getting the Most Out of Instagram Hashtags Hashtags have carved an interesting path in the world of social media: starting off on Twitter, they never quite took off on Facebook, and have instead become the backbone of Instagram marketing. Just the mere adding of # symbol to your post can turn any word or phrase into a clickable, followable topic, with the entire Instagram world at your fingertips. After users click on a hashtag, they are taken to all the public posts associated with that hashtag, and are even given the option of following hashtags that interest them. By doing... Read More >

The Era of the News Feed is Over After a decade of executive instability, Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of dramatic changes last May. He moved two top executives in a bid to create a new blockchain division, and installed new heads at WhatsApp and the News Feed. He also appointed someone to run a new group dedicated to privacy initiatives, though this last move has flown very much under the radar ever since. Zuckerberg has become known in recent months for his substantive blog posts, but was uncharacteristically quiet about the strategy behind these moves. Now, the method behind... Read More >

Facebook’s Fall and what it means for your business The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating a multi-billion-dollar penalty for Facebook’s violations of its consent agreement. In the UK, Parliament physically compelled the turnover of secret Facebook documents that show an astonishing disregard for user privacy- and a knowing, intentional effort to violate laws on the use of personal information. The UK has requested that the FTC assist in its investigation. In Europe, Facebook is already under investigation for violations of the GDPR. Those investigations are coming along well. Facebook is already facing fines of €1.6 billion and has been fined... Read More >