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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

For some, the line between a PR campaign and an advertising campaign remains unclear, so we’ve decided to clear things up by demonstrating the differences.

Advertising is a form of Paid Media. It’s a method of promoting content and increasing your visibility by parting ways with cash. Advertising can take various forms including pay per click ads, advertorials, banner ads, endorsements etc.

One of the key benefits of ad campaigns is that marketing professionals have much more control over when, where, and how a message is sent. This level of control means advertising campaigns are a great way to craft perception amongst a target pool of consumers since we can ensure that content is 'on brand' and favourable- however, it's worth keeping in mind that this does come at a price. Advertising, regardless of the medium, is not cheap!

Much to the joy of ad and marketing professionals, advertising targeting capabilities have come some way in the past few years. We can now get as granular as targeting ads based on the search engine our target audience is using or targeting ads based on similar Twitter accounts consumers are following. This avoidance of a 'spray and pray' approach often balances out of the cost.

A PR campaign produces earned visibility, usually through a third party. For example, the cab company Uber took advantage of a vast amount of positive and negative public relations coverage around the brand. This directly impacted the perception of the company, its reputation and its brand story. If influential newspapers speak of us in a positive light, we’ve hit PR campaign jackpot! It is therefore important to build strong relationships with journalists before we roll out a PR campaign so that we can increase the chances of positive coverage around our brand.

Whereas budget is a factor which largely affects the impact of advertising campaigns, in the case of PR campaigns, relationship building is at the forefront in determining the quality of coverage and whether the PR mention is more favourable. 

How does a PR campaign differ from an Advertising Campaign?

Third-party endorsement of our brand is the desired result from a PR campaign. The audience is much more likely to accept a message from a third party than when the message comes from the brand itself as it seems more trustworthy. As such, audiences find PR campaigns more credible than advertising. In terms of image and reputation, a successfully built PR campaign is the ultimate weapon. Advertising conversely provides opportunities for targeting. An advertising campaign offers reach, whilst a PR campaign offers credibility.

The Importance of Thinking about Public Relations and Advertising in Tandem

While there is a clear difference between public relations and advertising, bear in mind they do impact each other too, thus it doesn't always make sense to view PR and advertising as who separate identifies. For example, advertising can cause a knock-on effect on PR. When we pay celebrities to endorse a brand, their appearance tends to generate a wave of interest from publications. Take Romeo Beckham’s appearance in a Burberry advert as an example. Meltwater’s Media Intelligence platform found that Burberry received 1,774 press mentions in one month (October) compared to 2,334 press mentions in November, the month the advert was aired.

Here are some other ways that PR impacts advertising and vice versa:

• Use advertising to increase the reach of PR coverage, for example, invest in Twitter ads to drive targeted audiences to view cool public relation features

• Pay influencers to collaborate with your brand and increase PR mentions (like the example mentioned above)

• Use a media intelligence tool to analyse PR coverage, for example, trending themes, and use insights to inform PPC landing page content and communicate a cohesive message

• Analyse Paid Media search trends to inform the angle of a PR campaign 


Hopefully the differences between a PR and advertising campaign is much more clear!

PR Campaign vs. Advertising Campaign Differences

Want to know what can get you more social media followers and connections, shares and likes, media exposure and even improve your search engine rankings?

Not just any image or visual, but something attractive, relevant, compelling and, of course, properly optimized.

We’ll show you how to do that in this post.

I became a “visual evangelist” after experiencing first-hand the power of images on the PR in Your Pajamas Facebook page. We usually get a handful of likes and shares on our status updates. But guess what happened when I posted an image with a quote: It got 121 likes, 3 comments, and 63 shares!

This wasn’t a fluke, either. According to Hubspot, Facebook photos get 53% more likes than regular, text-based posts.

It makes sense. Pictures are more eye-grabbing and interesting than words on a screen. We can grasp the meaning from an image faster than we can read sentences, so visuals can be a shortcut to communication. Perhaps most important of all, images stimulate emotions much more effectively and quickly than words. Which probably explains why pictures compel us to take action more readily than text.

Consider these other statistics that show the increasing importance of images in social media:

Pinterest is now the fourth biggest referrer of website traffic (Are you using it yet? Read this to get started).

According to eye-tracking research of Google news, items with images are seen first before plain text articles.

In research by PwR New Media, 79% of journalists who responded say news releases accompanied by a good image are more likely to be picked up than those without photos. 

And if that’s not enough, images can help with search engine optimization (SEO), too. Search engines can’t “read” images — yet — but they do crawl metadata that accompany images (more on that below).

Pinterest pins now also appear on search engine results, which means these shared images can become a source of traffic to your website. In fact, according to a blogger I know, Pinterest has now become one of the Top 10 sources of traffic to her site — even though she only uses it to keep track of posts she likes.

By now I hope you appreciate the significance of visuals in your social media marketing. Before you go and start adding images to all your posts and updates, let me give you some tips on how to do so properly and strategically.

7 Ways to Optimize Images for the Search Engines and Engagement

Earlier, I mentioned that images can contribute to SEO. Most entrepreneurs and marketers don’t know that you can optimize your photos for the search engines. Before you publish a post, remember to use your target keywords in the images:

These items won’t be displayed on your website or social media account, but search engines will read these and factor them in when calculating your search rankings.

2. Use only high-quality, relevant images

Your visuals don’t have to be taken by professional photographers — although that helps. You can take many of your photos yourself, as long as they’re clear and well lit. Bright colors, high contrast, and unusual images will help your visuals stand out of someone’s timeline or Pinterest board.

But don’t just use an image because it’s attractive and interesting. The visuals you choose should be relevant to the rest of your content. What’s the use of a pretty picture if it has nothing to do with what’s on the page?

Avoid images that are ambiguous or that can be misconstrued to mean something else. And only use images that are aligned with your brand or personality.

Text helps ensure your audience will understand the image in its proper context. Don’t overwhelm the image with words, however. Strive for a balance between words and image. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or hire one to do this (in a future post, I’ll share free tools you can use to easily add text to images).

Speaking of text, brand your image with your website URL and/or logo. So when your image goes viral and gets shared in various social networks, everyone will know who owns the image. It’s not fool-proof, but a watermark will also discourage others from stealing your image.

Before using any image online, make sure you have permission to do so. A consultant I know was fined $950 for using a copyrighted image without permission. Ouch! And it was a picture of a cow.

The safest route, of course, is to take your own visuals, or commission a professional to do so (and even then, read the contract to make sure you have sole ownership of the resulting images).

It isn’t always possible to only use images you own. You can use sites like Flickr to find free photos with Creative Commons licenses. But there are different types of Creative Commons licenses. Some require you to give proper attribution to the photographer, others allow you to modify the image, while others don’t. Read the fine print to make sure you know what you’re allowed to do with the picture.

Another option is to buy a license to use other people’s images through services like Fotolia and iStockPhoto. For a small fee, you can have access to high-quality images to use on your website, marketing collateral, and social networks. Again, read the license agreement.

Allow your audience to share your image freely. Say so on your website’s terms of use, or on your page footer. Make it easy for readers to make your visual go viral.

For example, make your images pinnable. This means when a reader clicks on the image, it gets “pinned” on their Pinterest board. In PR in Your Pajamas, we use the plugin, Pinterest Pin This Button for WordPresss. Try it: hover over an image and see that the “Pin It” button appears. When you click on the button, a Pinterest interface pops up.

Remember that Pinterest can be integrated with other social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. So when one of your readers pins an image, it may be posted on their other social networks as well, which means more exposure for you.

One last tip: make sure your images are the correct size. On your blog, you don’t want to use very large images, because that will make your page load slowly. So resize images before uploading them.

On Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and other social networks, different images need to have specific sizes.

I hope this post has inspired you to use more visuals in your social media marketing, and to use them more effectively. Remember, don’t just tell; show.

In my next post, I will share the tools you can use to find, enhance, and share your visuals for higher impact.

Meantime, tell me. How are you currently using images online? What challenges do you have when it comes to using pictures? Do you have a success story you want to share?

This article was originally published by PR In Your Pajamas blog

How to Use Visuals To Get More Social Media Engagement, Shares and PR

Every department is trying to become more data driven, using insights derived from hard numbers to increase efficiency and effectiveness. What sets PR and comms apart? You've already got the media monitoring and reporting tools to make this happen. So how do you use these tools to elevate your role as a strategic business driver? Here we take a look at the mindset you'll need to adopt to get the c-suite to pay attention. You'll also want to read the recent tip sheet we published with Ragan Communications on how competitive benchmarking works, with 8 essential analytic strategies that will get PR invited into the boardroom.

Most comms and PR leaders only interact with top execs when there is a crisis. When a social media debacle erupts on Twitter, or if there’s a failure of a product or service, that’s when you’re called up to the boardroom. In fact, much of the work that comms does—such as media relations, influencer campaigns, and the reports surrounding them—doesn’t often get much visibility with senior company leadership. 

Sure, executives might interact with or appreciate PR when it pays off in the form of a big headline or company mention. However, comms is not usually thought of as a force that shapes the company on a higher strategic level.

Instead, PR/Comms departments should be given a full seat at the table in the C-suite. The trick is to get your C-level officers to see more clearly how vital a role Comms plays. 

How do you accomplish this shift in mindset? The answer is in making your department as indispensable as possible to other departments and the company as a whole. Comms and PR leaders can do this through the strategic use of data, changing the conversation around that data with execs, and others.

Share Your Data—and Insights—with Other Departments

PR pros use media intelligence tools all the time to keep track of their brand. Media monitoring uncovers data about the company, competitors, and industry that can be turned into key insights that inform company decisions. No one is more suited and ready to understand the market than PR pros. They’re not only aware of what’s going on, but how media, experts and customers perceive the company and what they want from it.

Often, PR and comms departments fall into the trap of reporting the same numbers and information to the same people, without any real innovation. Instead of using data to uncover opportunity and insight, they just count up how many times the brand is mentioned. However, with tools that combine monitoring and analytics—and analysts who can synthesize this information into patterns and trends—they could be offering competitive intel as well as insight into emerging market trends before anyone else does.

According to Dino Delic, Director of Solutions and Integration for Meltwater, focus on making your comms team a valuable resource to as many departments as possible. This, in turn, helps you demonstrate that value in concrete ways to executives in the C-suite.

“By making use of insights derived from data, packaged differently for other departments, PR makes itself a valuable resource within the company. By arming yourself with information about what other companies are doing in terms of their marketing and their positioning, you can arm sales with what customers and clients are doing or with what competitors are doing.”

Connect with Executives to Align Your Goals with Theirs

In addition to using media intelligence data to inform other departments, comms should also look for ways to cultivate a relationship with C-suite executives to better understand their decision-making needs and zero in on the types of data they appreciate most. For example, execs may be thinking far down the road, seeking information to help them make long-term strategic decisions. Maybe they need to know why a certain message worked when another one didn’t. PR should be aware of these signals and must be ready to deliver relevant insights. All too often they aren’t in the loop.

By cultivating a truly collaborative relationship based on useful data that helps executives shape and pursue corporate objectives, you can ensure comms doesn’t get left out in the cold.

“It’s a vicious cycle if you will,” Delic says, “where, because (comms isn’t) giving the board information they want, (comms isn’t) looking for the right information and they don’t provide that information. So then the C-Suite and the boardroom have less faith and trust in PR and comms.”

Don’t be afraid to ask executives what information they need most. Does the C-Suite want information on what competitors are doing so they can devise competitive strategies? Do they want to see the latest expert predictions in the space? Perhaps they want a deeper understanding of what a niche audience feels about a product or service. If you can deliver these things to company leaders on an ongoing basis, it’ll help them realize how essential your skills and services really are.

Measure Data That Truly Informs and Guides Corporate Decisions

Once you have a strong perception of the data signals that company leaders care about, you need to figure out how your data points can help bridge the gaps in their decision-making. This is better than just delivering the “same old” simple reports with data that illustrates reach, and little else—i.e., total number of mentions, number of new likes per week, etc.—with no clear notion of how to connect the data to an outcome.

“Try to find something that breaks that number down and tells your executives not only whether you’re doing a good job but also points the way to what you can do between reports to improve your performance and increase your effectiveness,” Delic says. “The more successful companies that we work with are the ones that are doing more of this.”

However, not every media intelligence tool will provide the same level of service. Delic says Meltwater analysts have been exploring the use of standardized tests. They include “an innovation index, a reputation index, industry leadership index, risk index, all sorts of ‘off the shelf’ options that someone can choose and then tweak to fit a particular situation.”  

No matter what media intelligence service you use, the important step is to begin by collecting the data relevant to corporate objectives, then explore ways to use that data to assist other departments as well as the company’s executives in reaching those objectives.

PR in the Boardroom: Winning Over The C-Suite

In the span of ten years, technology and social changes have influenced how public relations students have been taught courses. Social media began to come of age in 2007, and now we see it ubiquitously applied, analyzed, and discussed among businesses, agencies, and professionals in a variety of contexts. Influencer marketing, social media analytics, and personal branding are now common areas of focus for PR pros and students, but this was not always the case. Students today are in the middle of this evolving and dynamic field as they apply for internships while keeping current on the latest trends and campaigns. Educators, as well as the public relations programs they teach, have had to adapt to these expectations and changes to teaching communications.

While some things have remained the same, there are significant differences on how we teach communication today versus ten years ago. Some of these changes are based on the cohort’s expectations when it comes to learning, communicating, and engaging with technology. Millennials, for example, prefer the active learning process and being able to apply what they are learning instead of receiving the information via books and lectures. Each cohort and generation that comes into play have different experiences, expectations, and views that make them unique, which makes sense.

Here are some of the things that have evolved over the past several years for students when it comes to teaching communications.

Many, MANY more channels to consider. Ten years ago, MySpace was still a platform that was covered in class. Now, it is part of the history of social media that is briefly mentioned. Students have to be taught not only how the channels have evolved over time, but the actions that are necessary to take in order to keep up with these channels is even more important. This evolution and keeping up with all of the different channels and outlets has become more challenging with each year, and for students who want to major and work in communications, this has become almost a full-time job for them in addition to going to school, getting experience in internships, and network with future employers. This can be displayed in the table below with the evolution of the Conversation Prism 1.0 (created by Brian Solis and JESS3) and their recent version Conversation Prism 5.0 (created by Brian Solis, Ross Quintana, and JESS3). Educators have a responsibility to prepare students for the growing expectations they will face and what needs to be emphasized in their assignments and internships.

Application crucial towards understanding. Most PR courses need to be structured to provide opportunities for students to apply what they are learning outside of the classroom. Modern day students are accustomed to searching for information online with a few taps to a screen. With that being said, students are now looking for more assignments, classes, and activities that will prepare them for the real world.

Investing in education beyond the classroom. Certifications, like the Meltwater program, have increased in numbers substantially over the years, and students are looking for these software certifications to stand out from others when applying for jobs and internships. Matt Kushin from Shephard University provides examples of this on his website of some of the assignments he has done with Microsoft and Hootsuite in his social media and StratComm classes, and Emily Kinsky (West Texas A&M), Julia Fraustino (West Virginia University) and Carolyn Kim (Biola University) are incorporating Meltwater in the classroom to prepare students for real world PR.

Real-time access outside of the classroom. Access is especially relevant to how students and professors interact with each other. Students have consistently preferred immediate feedback or results from their work, but expectations of wait time waiting have decreased significantly. They want a response, and they want it now. Students have multiple ways to engage with a professor from email to DMs on Twitter to texting to Facebook posting or Messenger. A few years ago, this wasn’t a common practice. Educators still set forth boundaries and expectations for how they communicate and engage with students in their classes, but we are seeing mass adoption of multi-platform communication for courses. Some host Twitter chats to engage conversations (like Melissa Janoske and Stephanie Madden from the University of Memphis) or live stream using Facebook or Instagram or use Snapchat for lectures (like Ai Zhang from Stockton University).

Emphasis on having a global perspective. As more students realize we are working in a global society they’re looking at study abroad programs, in addition to international internships. They now are pursuing options that include working for PR firms in Cape Town or taking courses at Semester at Sea, or even taking a year to live and work remotely like with Remote Year. Students, along with the credentials these overseas experiences provide, are pursuing opportunities that will help them grow and flourish as PR professionals. Bill Ward took students to Cannes Lions to give them a comprehensive networking experience while exploring a global event. Cannes Lions offers the opportunity for students and educators to learn more about international award-winning campaigns and meet the people behind the campaigns featured on the awards stage.

Understanding the importance of a personal brand. A few years ago, people were only talking about personal branding. Now, it’s a core part of what students are aware of. Who you know and who knows you are important elements to keep in mind when applying for jobs. Many PR courses cover personal branding in the curriculum, and there are even programs that specialize on the importance of this practice. In many cases, students have to venture outside of the classroom to get additional professional opportunities. This can come in the form of internships and job opportunities, like the ones MEOjobs post on a regular basis. Plus, they can network with other students and professionals by engaging in Twitter chat sessions (ex. #SMSports if you want to work in sports and social media, or Deirdre Breakenridge and Valerie Simon’s #PRStudChat), or join professional groups like Social Media Club, or PRSA.

Informal learning environment. Students today want to be part of the engaged and dynamic learning environment, not only as a number on a classroom grade book. They want to collaborate and contribute to the overall discussion, to make a difference with their own perspective, while helping their fellow classmates at the same time. We’re seeing the use of certain trends to facilitate an environment of constant learning, these include group activities, class discussions, and the use of multimedia platforms that incorporate coursework into real-life use.

With all of these changes, there are still a lot of elements that have remained consistent.

Students still need to understand the fundamental skills for PR. Research and writing are still important, and some may argue even more so now since everyone is using text lingo in their correspondences. These are first impression metrics, and students need to know how to approach an employer about a potential internship, or what it means to be professional on and offline, and the importance of applying the findings collected in research.

Networking and professional etiquette. Presenting yourself and making the best first impression is still important. Understanding how to use technology is one thing, but professionals want to work with students who also have the passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to be a great contributor to their team.

Being a lifelong learner. This has not changed for students. Learning does not stop after the class is over and finals are complete–it is often the beginning. Students, especially those in communications, are accustomed to the evolution and changes in the industry for the most part. They only need to understand what to do in order to sustain their efforts, continue building their knowledge base, and skill set for the PR field.

In summary, we have to keep in mind that software and social channels, tools, and programs will continue to evolve. What students need to stay ahead is an understanding of the skills they need to enter the workplace, and what steps they will take to become lifelong learners.

How Far We Have Come in Teaching Communications

For those choosing to go into PR—and many are, with PR projected to be one of the top 10 occupations by 2022, the career options are plentiful. PR pros can work for corporations, agencies, nonprofits, start-ups, or small businesses. They can specialize in a variety of areas that fall under PR, from producing content to crisis communications to media relations and more.

So, why might a PR practitioner pursue consulting as a career path?

For those who’ve worked in-house, becoming a PR consultant can be an attractive option. Agencies tend to burn out their brightest stars with long hours and low pay. Meanwhile, those who work in corporate PR can get bogged down in bureaucracy, making it tough to feel as if they’re making a difference. This can lead to boredom or the suspicion that they’re a cog in the wheel.

Given that, more PR pros may turn to consulting as a career option. Many small and medium-sized businesses look to consultants to help out with their PR initiatives. For consultants, this relationship can be rewarding since their work directly impacts the company’s bottom line.

Further, PR consultants enjoy the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere. lowering overhead costs. If you have a phone and a laptop, you’re in business. Soloists can work with other vendors as needed, so they don’t need to hire and pay staff.

Of course, beyond the basics, consultants may want to consider additions like subscriptions to media databases, and social media monitoring software, so they can track campaign results for clients.

What are some areas of PR specialization?

Writing: Small and medium businesses need content—but who has time to devote to creating it? PR consultants can neatly fill this gap by writing content ranging from newsletters, blog posts, press releases, contributed articles, white papers, and case studies.

Social media: Social media is another area in which PR pros can shine. Their ability to research topics to find content that companies can post—in addition to brand content—can help maintain a steady stream of traffic.

Event planning: Some PR consultants excel at planning and executing trade shows, community events, and conferences for small and medium businesses that lack dedicated event staff.

Crisis communications: It’s no secret that today’s brands can easily find themselves in hot water. Anything from an accidental social media misstep or national tragedy can affect businesses—many who aren’t equipped to handle these situations. PR consultants who specialize in crisis communications can help steer businesses down the right path.

Media relations: Still a crucial part of a strong PR effort, the practice of media relations requires a particular skill set. The consultants that specialize in this area can help companies secure earned media opportunities.

Thought leadership: PR consultants are primed to implement initiatives for executives that include them writing and speaking at conferences, as it requires focused effort, sometimes within a defined timetable. Fruits of such a program can feed other marketing initiatives (like social media and the company’s blog).

Influencer marketing: A growing area of PR, influencer marketing involves how to best plug influencers into your PR and comms efforts. A consultant can help hone in on key influencers and start to build relationships on behalf of the company.

With the right framework and tools in place, hanging out a shingle as a successful PR consultant can become a reality for today’s PR pros looking for more independence and variety in their work. As the PR profession continues to change and grow, expect more comms pros to consider this increasingly popular option.

Know Your Options as a PR Consultant

When your business is international, it’s only natural to ask the question “should our PR agency be global too?” But, increasingly, some companies are finding it’s a better fit to manage a stable of regional PR agencies that really know their audience.

Whether you have an existing partner that says it can support your new regional activities or you’re starting fresh with your search, it’s important to be thorough in your decision making, especially since international PR and marketing activities gone awry could permanently damage, or even destroy, your brand.

Tip: Learn how to hire a PR agency and how to hire a marketing firm.

Why Bigger Isn’t Always Better in Global PR

Global PR agencies have innate appeal simply because they can act as a one-stop-shop that can scale with you. And, in many cases, these brands have earned their reputation through a track record of success and true global expertise.

But an agency should not be chosen as your best partner simply because it is global. Further, the convenience of having one agency may come at costs that your team hasn’t considered.

Understanding the difference between translation and localization is crucial when choosing an agency partner. Translation services simply take a message from one language and turn it into the equivalent words in another language. Localization, on the other hand, is the process of adapting a message with the region—and its preferences and idioms—in mind.

The difference may seem subtle, but localization controls how everything about your communication—from your word choice, imagery, layout, channels for distribution, etc.—may be received by regional audiences. For PR, this also means tailoring your media approach based on the communication styles of that region.

In an attempt to stay competitive, agencies may tout regional expertise that is nothing more than translation. Or, many global agencies now partner with local agencies who actually do the work at the local level, begging the question of if you should cut out the middle management—the global PR agency.

Topics to Vet with Your Global PR Agency Partners

When considering a global agency relationship, be thorough in your discovery phases to ensure you have a full scope of what services they actually provide. Make sure you cover each of these topics when vetting your agency partners:

Scope of International Services: Dive deep into the exact nature of how the agency conducts its international business. Do they have established offices in your target market, partner with outside agencies, or do they conduct all business out of their HQ? Agencies may outsource work that gets added to your bill, so you should understand what is performed in-house and what is included in the fees.

Case Studies and Customer References: Ask to see case studies of work done in your target region(s) and ask for client references.

Main Contact: Who would your primary contact be, where are they located, and what languages and cultures have they mastered?

Engaging with multiple regional PR agencies carries added responsibility around communications and further complications with your workflows (don’t you love scheduling meetings for three time zones?), but the benefits can outweigh these added hurdles.

Working with multiple agencies is a very common practice. In 2017, an estimated 43% of companies were working with multiple agencies, and over half of the comms pros in the same survey noted that one of the top reasons for working with PR agencies was because of activities in specific geographic markets.

Much like in your home country, the local options will vary greatly in quality, but you’re eliminating chances of translation gone wrong.

Finding regional agencies to partner with may seem daunting. But it can greatly reduce the risk of brand blunders in your most important international markets. Use these strategies for success when exploring regional partners:

Ask Your Network: Check if your existing agency has an international partner they recommend and ask your peers and colleagues about their agency relationships.

Have A Local Representative on Your Search Team: Regardless of who is leading the agency search, a member of the regional team this agency would partner with should take part in the conversations. They can better identify potential red flags, and dive deeper on if the local agency is able to deliver on the services you need.

Start Small: You do not need to invest in a year of PR services upfront across a handful of agencies to decide if this approach will work for you. Consider starting a small project to get a feel for the agency before committing to a larger scope of services.

How to Go Small Without a Huge Internal PR Team

If you decide that a multitude of agency teams are the way to go, follow these best practices to ensure the most effective use of your team’s time:

Designate a Lead: Ensure that there is a single representative from your company that is overseeing all of the agency relationships. If regions start operating in silos, there’s a potential for them to launch campaigns that damage the brand outside of a localization error.

Hold Cross-Agency Planning Session(s): Each year, or more frequently if resources allow, host a (preferably in-person) planning session that with all of your agencies. This will help build a greater sense of unity, especially since these agencies will be working side-by-side during campaigns that span their regions.

Find Tech to Help: When you’re working across time zones, it helps to have technology that assists with these logistics. Find video conferencing solutions that allow you to record your meetings so you can easily share replay links with any regional partners that could not make a meeting. There are also collaboration tools designed to enable seamless communications for global teams

Regardless of how many agencies you collaborate with to execute your PR program, it’s important to establish consistent global PR metrics and dashboards that each agency uses to ensure you’re meeting your PR goals—and not creating unintended brand harm. With this governance in place, and combined with regular cross-agency strategy meetings, collaborating with a group of regional PR agency partners has the potential to truly localize your brand, and better realize your brand promise in your highest growth potential markets.

For a complete guide to PR measurement—for internal teams and agencies—read our ebook on PR and social media KPIs and everything you need to know to prove ROI.

Want Big Global PR Results? Time to Think Small

Thought leadership and subject matter expertise are essential to an effective marketing strategy. Positioning company leaders as industry experts helps the brand express a point of view, vision, knowledge, and experience. Great thought leadership will help your audience gain a greater understanding about relevant issue and trends that affects them—and they’re learning about them from you and your company.

Jennifer Kutz, Communications and Public Affairs for Google, shares her insights on why and how publication bylines should be part of your marketing strategy.

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PR & Communications

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How to Use Visuals To Get More Social Media Engagement, Shares and PR

PR in the Boardroom: Winning Over The C-Suite

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Know Your Options as a PR Consultant

Want Big Global PR Results? Time to Think Small

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4 Smart Ways PR Can Amplify Brand Content

Samsung Galaxy Fold PR Disaster: An Embarrassment Or Opportunity?

PR Apologies: Winners and Losers

Eight Tips for Increasing PR Coverage

12 PR Blogs Your Competitors Are Reading

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