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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

Social media's role in U.S. politics — and the presidential election, in particular — is undeniable. 

With the current global pandemic forcing the candidates to rethink how they conduct political rallies, drum up support from voters and even raise funds, social media has become an invaluable resource to both the Republican and Democratic campaigns. Politicians have embraced social media (for better or worse) because it provides the best virtual engagement that a person can address an issue or problem. 

Voters are also turning to social media platforms to discover news about each candidate, watch the debates via live streams and share their own political views. Using social media analytics, a myriad of topical sentiments can be gathered and strategists can raise pertinent issues drawn from the unadulterated opinions.

Analyzing Social Media Mentions of the Candidates 

Judging by the amount of coverage in social media — be it in a positive or negative light — most certainly the current Commander in Chief is on everyone’s lips and minds. Trump is mentioned almost four times more than Biden in the media. Volume counts in social media because staying narratively relevant within the voting public is important in getting a message across.

Less than two weeks until the final voting day, netizens are already focusing attention on the states that will play a key role in deciding the presidential election. Across both campaigns, the states of Wisconsin and Florida have continued to generate chatter in social media and forums. Many analysts have pointed out that the winner in the state of Florida has historically been a good indicator of the future president. This sentiment was largely echoed in the tweets and forum threads thus putting the state in the limelight and under more pressure.

The U.S. presidential election undoubtedly receives immense global scrutiny due to its international standing. Being the leader of the world’s largest economy, international diplomacy will always be high on its agenda. Social media is rife with international opinions on the elections, with neighbor Canada unsurprisingly contributing the most mentions. Longtime ally, the United Kingdom, maintains their high interest in cross-Atlantic affairs while their strategic Indo-Pacific partners Australia and India are also keeping an eye on the next POTUS. Interestingly, the people of India have developed an affinity with Democrat VP candidate Kamala Harris whose of Indian descent, while many are also enamored with Trump’s close kinship with their prime minister, Narendra Modi. 

Joe Biden’s nomination as presidential candidate for the Democratic Party was obviously open knowledge to everyone, but many rejoiced over his running mate's nomination. Kamala Harris created history as the first American woman of both African and Asian descent to be nominated as vice-presidential candidate. There were more than 1.2 million mentions of her nomination on the day. However, despite the overriding appreciation of her nomination, many still questioned their views on the police system and how Harris had grilled Biden during the Democrat primaries. 

President Trump received almost double the number of mentions than Biden after the first presidential debate. Netizens largely focused on a controversial moment where President Trump blatantly refused to condemn white supremacist groups during the debate. This top topic recorded 170,000 mentions, almost double of COVID-19 mentions. So, even though Trump did generate more mentions than Biden, not all of those mentions were positive. That said, the general social media community derided the whole debate as a calamitous debacle, filled with interruptions and constant digression from the questions.

The vice presidential debate was definitely a heated one. The tension between the candidates was evident when Harris shot off a terse warning to Pence for constantly interrupting her. Netizens responded with the fire symbol as the most used emoji on social media. Ironically, topic-wise, COVID-19 was mentioned the most by netizens in relation to the VP debate. COVID-19 was mentioned 63,000 times. Surreally, the next topic was about a fly, yes, an insect. A fly planted itself on the Republican candidate’s head. Once again, a platform to constructively critique the incumbent administration’s policies was sidetracked by an inane insect.

Undoubtedly, a wrench in the Trump campaign team's plan was him contracting coronavirus. A moment of schadenfreude erupted on social media as netizens highlighted Trump's predicament. Comments ranged from well-wishes to conspiracy theories to utter disdain for the outbreak within the Trump inner circle in the White House. There were more than 4 million mentions on the day when his condition was announced. Amazingly, Trump self-declared that he had made a recovery within the recommended two weeks of isolation. This further incensed netizens who felt he was being irresponsible and using his condition as politicking for votes. Social media sentiment revealed that users were as polarised as the president himself.

Despite the delay, the final debate between the presidential candidates served up an array of topics that left netizens discussing endlessly throughout the verbal spar. Once again, President Trump dominated based on 623,000 mentions. He took to task the topic of national security and foreign policy, pushing his victorious narratives in the Middle East and throwing inflammatory remarks towards Biden's close affinities with China, Russia and Ukraine. These narratives resonated in netizens' minds as more than 518,000 mentions of these topics cropped up throughout the debate. Netizens also discussed the topics of COVID-19 and race relations in the U.S., 457,000 and 342,000 mentions respectively, but again President Trump expectedly went on the offensive to debilitate Biden's stature.

Florida has historically been a bellwether state for a presidential election. The state has successfully voted in the next commander-in-chief since 1996. The nation’s third-largest state holds the key to swinging the vote from either party, and many eyes will be transfixed on the citizens making their way to the polls. On social media, the chances of a Republican win was widely discussed with more than 513,000 mentions by netizens. Much of the discussion was focused on voter turnout in the state. Many suggested a suppression campaign against African American voters, while the elderly vote also drew attention in the state. 

In contrast, the Biden campaign garnered around 358,000 mentions about a victorious polling day. However, it is interesting to note that a significant narrative within those mentions was about Michael Bloomberg pledging a vast sum of money to the Democrat candidate’s campaign to win Florida. This might lead to a counterintuitive reaction from Florida residents to shy away from Biden because people may be put off by a $100 million media blitz campaign during a tough time such as a pandemic.

In another spectrum of the presidential election, fashion mogul and Chicago rapper-turned-church minister Kanye West fully carried out his promise to run when he launched his campaign website. He has called for his fans and followers to write in his nomination in the ballot and insomuch called his journey to election as a religious motivation. Building his manifesto on biblical passages, West definitely perked some interest from the masses. There were more than 520,000 mentions of West’s independent push to lead America in October. However, the main message being sent across social media was that netizens believed West was just running for presidency to pilfer Biden's votes and help the Trump campaign. 

Public opinion is crucial in an election. Voters are undeniably susceptible to prevalent discourses within social media. If the medium is the message, social media during an election is a powder keg of opinion. Based on the sheer volume of mentions and narratives seen in forum discussions and Twitter feeds, President Trump certainly is in the driving seat, making the news and netizens revolve around him. 

Surprisingly, in such a critical and history-defining election, Biden has not been as “proactive” in making the narratives and gaining the media momentum during the most unpredictable year.

The Trump campaign has also lobbied hard on bread-and-butter issues during this campaign, such as boosting the local industries and bringing jobs back. The Biden team has gone for broader issues of the Supreme Court and foreign policies. Two distinct topical focuses for voters to debate. This is where one candidate will overshadow the other. But for the sake of diplomacy and cooperation, and especially America’s position as a major global player, hopefully, the shadow is not a long one.

The Battle for the White House on Social Media

The digital landscape we once knew has changed, and traditional roles of PR and marketing professionals have been forced to adapt alongside this transformation. 

As the lines between paid, earned, owned and social media continue to blur, communication leaders are constantly having to adapt in order to survive, let alone thrive. So how exactly are marcomms pros responding to this change? 

Well, to start with, they’re pooling cross-functional resources together. This means they’re also having to broaden their knowledge of both social and editorial media and learning to navigate the complexities of modern integrated campaign management. 

Responding to this change is near impossible when teams are siloed, which creates unnecessary complexities like duplicative reporting efforts and excesses support. Yet, PR and marketing teams working in isolation is, unfortunately, pretty common in most organizations ...

To help understand how converged media come about, gain a better insight into how PR and marketing can work together and learn tips for leveraging paid, earned, owned, and social media tactics, we asked a few respected communications and marketing leaders for their thoughts.

What Fuelled the Rise of Converged Media? 

In order to predict where the industry is heading, we need to understand how it was shaped in the past, so we took a step back to try and figure out where converge media originated by asking thought leaders the following question: Why do you think PR and marketing are converging together, and what are your recommendations for breaking down silos that still exist in some companies?

Here’s what Ben Smith, Co-Founder of PRMoment had to say:
 
 “Public relations and marketing must be integrated for any modern organization to thrive. Transparency, openness and purpose are vital to modern business performance and the departments responsible for the business' reputation and its promotion business play a critical role in connecting any organization with its stakeholders. The connectivity of channels in modern marketing communications means that the PR team and the marketing team naturally converge and coordinate their efforts.”

Expanding on what the connectivity between PR and marketing looks like, Marie-laure Laville, General Manager at LEWIS France explains:

“Influence is the link between marketing and PR, and PR is a key tool in managing influence, so it’s not surprising that 96% of marketing and Communication Directors think digital PR is a crucial element of their communication plan.

The world is changing, and marketing is heavily influenced by digital technology. Communication and media have undergone major changes with the arrival of digital and social networks. For example, influencers and ambassadors are resonating with target audiences more than ever. 

Whatever the reason for PR and marketing moving closer together is, one thing is sure: influencers are the new way of how digital marketing works. This is PR 2.0. 

According to one study, 92% of millennials trust more in what influencers say than what conventional ads try to sell them...Influencers have the power to shape what we believe and think, so it’s important that they use their platforms wisely."

Bertrand Jouvenot, marketing influencer and prominent writer on business, management, marketing, branding and digital, echoed Marie-Laure’s views on influence being the main catalyst of converged media. He writes:

“PR and marketing are converging for three reasons. First, the potential influence of customers can overpass PR, even the best stories. Second, the same customers who were targeted for their money by marketing teams yesterday are targeted by PR teams for their influence today. Third, the horizontal trust between peers is overpassing the vertical trust of people who are credible by default, like doctors, politicians, journalists, etc. 

My recommendations for breaking down the silos between PR and marketing are: 

Start with data and hard facts, not your own beliefs and phantasms about your dream customers. Marketing surveys and analysis will tell you how customers are, while PR will tell how we would like them to be. 


Have both your marketing and PR teams take a seat around the table and analyze together. Assuming that opposite points of views will emerge, this can help both parties better understand one another other. 


Admit that customers are cleverer than you imagine, so play the transparency game with them by asking them to collaborate with you. Who knows, if you can’t manage to break down your silos, maybe your customers will.”

Interestingly, Tram Huynh, Head of Marketing for Southern Europe at Airbnb also said that influence was the cornerstone that PR and marketing had in common. She explains:

“PR and marketing have always been working in conjunction, but the difference was that marketing was reduced to paid advertising and PR to free publicity. Marketing had budget, and PR had relationships. Today, this differentiation is no longer meaningful because people don’t trust advertising the way they did before the internet. They are less naïve; they are the fake news generation. They want honesty, authenticity and transparency - so the brand and its marketing need to be the same. Influence is the new cornerstone and both PR and marketing need to play along with it to communicate in one single voice.”

None of the above leaders was prompted for their answer, so it was pretty surprising that every one of them said that influence was the string that binds PR and marketing functions.

Next, we wanted to learn how brands can better use the variety of PESO tactics available. Influencer marketing was an obvious one to start with since influence significantly helps increase the reach of paid, owned, shared and earned media. So, we asked Heidi Myers, Marketing Director for Uber, for her take on getting influencers to work for you since they’re in such high demand these days. Here’s what she said:

“As Dale Carnegie says so eloquently, 'There is only one way... to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.' This is also true for working with influencers. As marketers, we have to consider why the influencer would want to work with our brand. We spend so much money and time in trying to better understand our target audience - who they are, what they like, what they read, what about our product or service talks to them or what pain point it addresses -  but then we only think of the influencer as someone who can do something for us. My advice is to treat influencer engagement in the same way as you would a buyer engagement. Consider what they like, dislike, and what you can do for them rather than the other way around. Ultimately, the question is what do THEY care about and how can your brand support.”

When it comes to shared media, one of the most effective forms available is user-generated content. We asked Inken Kuhlmann-Rhinow, Marketing Director EMEA for HubSpot if she had any tips for brands encouraging employees to share brand-related content. Here’s her response:

“While brand awareness and reputation are cornerstones for any business when it comes to marketing, it’s important to remember that brands are also the sum of the people who work for them. In the B2B space, in particular, customers and prospects will remember the individuals they interact with just as much as the brand itself. Going a step further and creating true brand ambassadors from within the business can deliver powerful results. When doing this, there are a few things to keep in mind to help the program to succeed. 

First, focus on finding people who are keen to grow their own followership online and agree on realistic goals. This is something that should be mutually beneficial and that the person is enthusiastic about, so they do not see this as a set of extra responsibilities beyond their own job role. 

Secondly, don’t overthink the content. Posts featuring PDFs with simple text or images which cover thought leadership topics are most effective at getting a point across quickly and clearly. This helps engagement since complex or lengthy content will be ignored.

Finally, trust your brand ambassadors and don’t control them. If you find the right people with a genuine interest in sharing content and learning more about the industry, they’ll come across as much more authentic and authoritative to their audience.”

Sometimes marketing professionals shy away from paid media because it has a bad rap for being expensive, so we asked Mike Blake-Crawford, Strategy Director for Social Chain how brands can get more bang for their buck when it comes to paid media. Here’s what he had to say:

“The notion that paid media is expensive is only when it is taken without the context of a return. A £100,000 media spend cannot be viewed as expensive if it returns £1m. 

With respect to driving efficiency, there are obvious opportunities in investing in new media. Social, for example, can provide a CPM at only a fraction of what you would expect to pay on TV, but capturing attention requires more creative communication. By the same order, TikTok is cheaper than Facebook, but arguably the audience is narrower in addition to the creative challenges. 

Aside from obvious opportunities within leveraging new media, leveraging the virality which is prevalent across digital channels with strong creative is another great way of doing this. Iceland's 'banned from TV' Christmas advert is supported by YouTube ad spend and influencer investment on social and went viral, delivering well over a billion impressions. KFC's 2018 'FCK' print ad was shared millions of times on social media and subsequently achieved millions of earned impressions as a result. 

The lesson? Pairing strong creative that drives virality with tactical media spend (i.e., getting in the right place at the right time) can deliver efficiencies well in excess of what can be achieved through a typical media buy alone.”

Want to learn more about getting your media strategy to work harder by integrating all media types? Check out our new ebook which unwraps the foundations of the PESO model, created by Gini Dietrich, and more!

The Rise of Converged Media [Expert Interviews]

Remember the days when all a brand had to do to grab our attention was run an emotional ad that had us rushing to stores to purchase the advertised product? Think about the first time you saw the Cadbury ad of the gorilla drumming to Phil Collins or the 1984 Apple ad that played during the Superbowl. These adverts were different, and are still remembered to this day. However, while creating captivating adverts can easily be done, consumers have grown weary of traditional adverts and marketing efforts that keep convincing them to buy one product after another. So as marketers, what can you do differently to still captivate your customers today?

Leverage consumer lifestyles and incorporate that into your marketing efforts. 

There is a lot of noise out there in the advertising and marketing space; if you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to create an enticing aura around your products instead of making it a 'must-have' product. Make consumers want to include your product in their lives instead of telling them to. Ready to learn how? Read this blog post for more. 

Why should you consider lifestyle marketing?

How To Create a Lifestyle Marketing Strategy

In essence, a lifestyle is a way in which behaviors are based on a set of interests, activities, cultures, opinions or other characteristics that set a group of people apart from others. Apart from the elements listed above, elements of a lifestyle can also include:

Where does lifestyle marketing come in?﻿

When you include marketing into the mix, lifestyle marketing is a marketing approach where a brand connects itself to the ideals, values and aspirations of their identified target audience. When this happens, lifestyle brands emerge and create the idea that the use of their product or service brings its target audience closer towards their aspirations in life or the lifestyle that they want to live.

Think about luxury brands, and how luxury buyers today purchase these goods as an extension of what they value and aspire to in their own lives. Customers want to engage with the brands that have a similar identity to them, particularly through values and interests. So when a brand has a particular set of values and interests that align with a customer's similar set of values and interests, lifestyle marketing is what comes into play. 

Once you can understand the different lifestyles of your consumers, you can now group these consumers according to their lifestyles. This is known as lifestyle segmentation. 

As marketers, you can use lifestyle segmentation to better align one's brand, products and services according to the different lifestyles of your consumers. When you segment your consumers into their lifestyles, this can help create a better brand message around your products or services because you are personalizing this according to each lifestyle segment. 

Consider the lifestyle brand, Red Bull as an example and how their tagline is "Red Bull gives you wings." The energy drink has a marketing and advertising strategy that is geared towards people who are adventurous, who value doing the extreme and need the 'wings' to help them. Red Bull has managed to position themselves, and their brand, in such a way where fear isn't in their vocabulary and going where their customers are is part of the plan. 

things we love to see = a sprint finish 

things we love to see even more = @eviealicerichards winning the short track race at her first ever elite World Cup 😲 

watch final #1 of the UCI XCO World Cup LIVE on Red Bull TV today ~link in bio~ #redbull #givesyouwings #bike #crosscountry #xc #mtb

By paying close attention to their customers, and taking the time to learn more about them, Red Bull has managed to become not just the biggest energy drink in the world but also a brand that sells an adrenaline-fueled lifestyle, which lies at the heart of the success that Red Bull has seen. 

A basic principle of lifestyle segmentation is that the more you understand your consumer's lifestyle, the more effective your marketing and communication strategy will be to your consumers. Personalization is key in today's age and for brands and marketers, it's important to deliver a personalized experience to your consumers, along with better products and services that will meet their needs. A few ways that you can segment the lifestyles of your consumers include:﻿

Consumer activities and hobbies, and how much time they spend on each

One of the most widely used methods of lifestyle segmentation is AIO (activities, interests and opinions). The activities part if the acronym alludes to all of the ways that your how customers like to keep themselves entertained, such as playing sports, traveling or cooking. Interests speak to what actions or things your customers do or do not like, while opinions refers to what your customers think about either themselves or an issue at large within their society.

Brands like Red Bull, Nike, Apple and a number of other lifestyle brands, have all seen success because of how effective lifestyle marketing can be. These brands put a lot of time, research and resources into understanding their customer's lifestyles, and in turn, reap all the right rewards.

What makes lifestyle marketing effective is knowing exactly who you need to target. From the customers who want to be adventurous with Red Bull, to those who are ready to "Just Do It" with Nike or "Think Different" with Apple, the success of lifestyle marketing lies in understanding what drives your customers, and the values and behaviors that inspire them in life. 

From here, you can use this information to craft a personalized strategy based on your customer's lifestyle, connecting with them on an emotional level based on the psychographic information you obtain. But, how can using lifestyle marketing benefit your own brand?

1. Understand that consumer values will impact behavior

While it is important to have a clear understanding of the values of your target audience, it is also critical to understand how these values impact their behavior. 

No matter how great your lifestyle product is, if it doesn't speak to the values of your customer, they won't buy into it (or buy your product for that matter). Why? Because values fuel behavior. 

Nike understands this fact, and it is one of the reasons the company is a top lifestyle brand; they know what their customers value, understand what inspires them, and communicate how they are aligned with their audience. By incorporating these elements into their marketing strategy, Nike has a better chance of getting a customer to buy their products rather than solely focusing on the type of shoelace or fabric that has been used on their latest Air Maxes. 

2. Customer loyalty can stem from lifestyle marketing

The Apple brand has some of the most expensive tech products on the market, and yet, every year when a new product is launched, people are lining up to purchase their newest products. No matter how much competitors try to convince these customers to buy from them instead, there's no winning because of customer loyalty. 

But this customer loyalty stems from how Apple has managed to sell not just top quality products, but a lifestyle, and one that people truly aspire to. For these customers, "Think Different" isn't just a tagline - it's a lifestyle, and customers buy into this. 

While product marketing does play an important role when wanting to promote and sell a product, sometimes, if your brand sells a lifestyle instead of a product, the rewards can include customer loyalty that will last for years to come. 

3. Create a community around your lifestyle brand

Creating a community centered around your lifestyle brand can be one of the greatest benefits. Whether it is Nespresso coffee lovers or Harley-Davidson riders, encouraging and engaging with your community not only leads to customer loyalty but can also create brand ambassadors for your brand. 

Instead of outsourcing influencers to help drive awareness, look to the very people who are already part of your community and speak positively about your brand and lifestyle products to others, generating word-of-mouth marketing that will feel genuine and authentic. 

Now that you know what lifestyle marketing is and how you leverage your consumer's lifestyle, how do you go about creating a strategy for your lifestyle brand? ﻿

What kind of lifestyle do you want your audience to associate with your brand? This is a question that may require some time to answer and thoroughly define. One of the ways that you can go about this, though, is conducting in-depth research on your target audience, focusing on the psychographics (values, beliefs, interests, opinions) rather than the demographics. Consumer insights tools like the Meltwater consumer intelligence platform can help you with this.

Once you know the values, interests, and overall lifestyle that your customers aspire to, do research on the products you offer and how they can help your customers achieve this lifestyle or are aligned with their values. Information like this will help you craft a unique marketing approach. 

The content you create and share is another important element when crafting a lifestyle brand and a marketing strategy to go with it. You want to make sure that your content highlights your brand's personality, the lifestyle you have defined and how that fits into the lives of your audience.

As much as you may want to showcase some product features, try focusing on telling a story with your product, and how it can help your audience live out their aspirations and the life they want to live. One way to do this is by using user-generated content, such as Coca-Cola during their "Share A Coke" campaign or Adobe through hashtags like #WomenCreateWednesday

As mentioned before, creating a community around your lifestyle brand is a great benefit and a key to success. The great thing about lifestyles is that there will always be people who share similar lifestyles and will naturally interact with one another; don't be shy to join in on the interaction too. 

Use platforms such as a Facebook page, an Instagram or Twitter hashtag, or your website to build your community with others who share the lifestyle that you have defined. From forums to live broadcasts, use these platforms to encourage community building between you and your audience. 

As an effective form of marketing, leveraging consumer lifestyles by tying your brand to their values will see your brand reap great results while you help your customers reach aspirations that only you can help them achieve.

If you want to create a lifestyle marketing strategy around your brand, make sure that you have clearly defined the kind of lifestyle you want to sell, that you have done the necessary research before you connect that lifestyle definition into your brand story.

From there, it's a matter of engaging with your audience, creating the right content and finally building a community of people around your brand. If you want to measure your lifestyle marketing efforts, contact our Meltwater Team today. 

Lifestyle Marketing: How To Leverage Your Consumers' Lifestyle

No two stories are alike when it comes to careers in PR. That’s because a career in public relations offers so much variety.

Every year, colleges around the country unleash new communications grads onto the job market. They’re smart, great with technology, and eager to set out on stellar PR career paths.

For new PR grads, often the best way to get a taste of the various areas of specialization is to work for an agency. But how do they discover where their true passion lies? What area of specialization do they love—and which are they truly skilled at?

It’s important to remember that public relations job descriptions today barely resemble those of previous years. What PR skills do today’s job seekers need to have to stand out from the pack and succeed?

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PR Careers Are No Longer Just About Media Relations

When we look at the job descriptions for PR pros, what do we see?

“It’s not just the standard one-two punch of writing and media relations,” says Lou Hoffman, CEO, The Hoffman Agency.

“While great writing is essential, today’s PR practitioners are expected to do a lot more than preparing releases and media relations,” said Martin Waxman, President, Martin Waxman Communications, and a social media and PR professor at Seneca College. “My students tell me employers want them to have design, photography, and video production skills. They need to be multimedia storytellers.”

They should also know how to set up and manage digital platforms and build relationships on social media, Waxman adds.

“And they require an understanding of strategy and how to link the results of their communications programs to business goals,” Waxman says.

Hoffman agrees. “More than building a media footprint, companies today want to see PR directed to solve specific business challenges.”  

And to do that, critical thinking should be one key skill possessed by those seeking a PR career, Hoffman says.

These 12 public relations skills will be needed in the future.

1: Social advertising copywriting skills and an ability to manage social media advertising campaigns

While the ability to write social ads on networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram hasn’t changed, the skill set to manage complete campaigns on these platforms has evolved. In today’s climate, PR folks are asked to manage social ad campaigns all the time. That means learning how to use Power Editor, LinkedIn’s ad platform, and Twitter ad products. It means understanding how to manipulate different components of ad campaigns. It means understanding how to bill clients. All of it. Those who grasp social media, enjoy the fast pace and think quickly on their feet can help shape a brand’s presence in the digital world.

Sure, video production skills are still in demand in 2020. No doubt about that. But, suddenly, with more brands considering audio content as part of their mix, audio production skills are also in demand. Even just a basic understanding of Garageband (which you can essentially teach yourself or take classes at an Apple store) would go a long way right now.

3: The ability to lead the exploration of new media and tools on behalf of your organization

Think of the “mobile” skill set in 2012. Not sure PR folks really need any kind of mobile dev skills — even rudimentary ones. But, increasingly, there is a constant need to explore new media and tools in an effort to keep pushing organizations forward. That is not changing anytime soon.

4: The ability to create effective social media content and manage social content systems

Much like #1 above, the ability to create social content is certainly still a key skillset among PR types. But, the ability to manage all that content is now becoming increasingly important as brands start to rack up huge stockpiles of content. Tagging and taxonomy are hallmarks of this skill set. Do you know how to repurpose the right evergreen content? Do you know how to organize content effectively so it’s searchable and findable? These are keys to the management piece of this skill.

5: A deep understanding of traditional, digital and business analytics

Sure, most people have a cursory understanding of Facebook Insights, Google Analytics and a few other platforms at this point. But, do those people understand how to take that data and translate it into actionable ideas and approaches? Some argue there is no hotter topic in PR right now than measurement and analytics. While there was a time when numbers weren’t vital to a career in PR, that’s changed. Those who grasp PR measurement are in demand. Some schools now offer this as an area of specialization.

6: Understanding how to produce reports that make sense to clients

While SEO skills are still important, a new skill set is emerging (well, emerging probably isn’t the right word —  this need has almost always existed) that’s much more critical: The ability to produce reports with context, actionable intelligence and clearly articulated next steps. So often, reports from partners and other agency vendors are almost nonsensical. Client’s might be left to think: “What do I do with this?” The key with solid reporting is to not only report on the data, but more importantly, to make that data come to life. Provide relevant context. Provide ideas as outcomes of the data. And, always, always cull the data down and present it in terms the client can understand.

7: The ability to develop a visual style for brands online

Sure, many larger brands have internal creative departments that are dedicated to this sort of thing. But, a lot of brands don’t. And, that’s where it can typically fall to a PR counselor to fill in the gaps. Regardless of size, PR pros play a large role here. For example, think about social content. A BIG part of that right now is obviously visuals. So, have someone who has an eye for photography and a good feel for how to position the brand visually online matters. Actually, it more than matters — it’s becoming essential. Visuals have never been more important in the PR field than they are today. With video marketing on the rise and the demand for visuals to accompany all of the content being created, PR pros who understand visual communication have a leg up in any industry.

8: The ability to write clearly for external AND internal audiences

Today’s PR pro is being asked to do more — not less. That often includes writing for external audiences in a traditional PR sense but also writing for internal, employee audiences. Not exactly a new development, but it seems more PR people are being asked to do this. What’s more, with the onset of more employee advocacy programs, PR folks are often being asked to lead those initiatives, too. That means understanding what motivates and inspires employees — as well as those writing skills (which are absolutely essential). With the rise of content marketing and branded content, writing is more vital than ever. For those who embrace it, the career options are vast and varied.

9: Managing virtual teams AND the ability to work effectively as part of a virtual team

Virtual work environments as a HUGE trend in the next 5-7 years and going forward due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means understanding HOW to work virtually will be a key skillset among PR folks. And, it’s not as easy as you might think. Understanding your ideal workflows, the best tools to use, and how to best use those tools to collaborate and communicate quickly become key when you’re working remotely most of the time.

10: Identifying and collaborating with influencers from Instagram to YouTube to bloggers

4-6 years ago, everyone was talking about blogger outreach. And for good reason — blogs were still largely the dominant cog in the social media machinery. Fast forward to 2020, and you now have platforms like Instagram and Snapchat that simply weren’t around 8-10 years ago. And, you have influencers on those networks who are commanding serious attention. What’s more, you have brands that are having a tough time getting started and building communities on those platforms. Enter influencer outreach, which has become a critical skill for PRs. Knowing how to find the right influencers. Knowing how to approach them — without offending them. Knowing how to draw up contracts that make sense (because, in essence, influencer outreach is almost all pay-for-play now). These are the traits of today’s PR when it comes to influencer outreach.

11: Content marketing to audiences large and small

“Content marketing” may be a newer term, this skillset has always fallen under PR’s umbrella, as creating content includes earned media, press releases, contributed articles, customer success stories and the list goes on. Most brands are upping their content marketing game, which means this will continue to be a “hot” area for PR pros to specialize in.

Technology skills for public relations pros are now a necessity. Based on the annual Global Communications Report conducted by the USC Center for Public Relations, designed to provide insight into the evolution of the global communications industry by analyzing emerging trends, these are the top technology skills that new grads need to be successful now, and as they progress down their PR career paths:

PR impacts too many other aspects of a communications and marketing organization to operate in a vacuum. Here we discussed the skills needed to take on the PR world. The good news is that there’s no one road or one skill that will lead you to a successful career in PR — there are, in fact, many.  

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