Round Up: How Businesses are Using Pokemon Go

By Natalie O'Grady | Sep 12, 2016

Earlier this summer, Pokémon Go hysteria swept the globe. Fueled by nostalgia and one of the first widespread iterations of augmented reality, the app became the most downloaded app in a first week ever. Groups of Pokémon trainers traversing the streets, phone in hand, became a common sight in many cities, and many families found […]

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Visual Design for Social Media: Basic Tips & Tricks

By Kris Travis | Aug 29, 2016

Over the past few years, I’ve seen more and more design requests for social media assets. Now that it’s pretty clear how visual posts result in greater engagement, brands are working hard to make posts creative, eye-catching, and image-based. That’s great! But sometimes it seems like no visuals at all would be better than the […]

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What to Know About Instagram Stories

By Savanna Frimoth | Aug 11, 2016

  The Controversy Instagram’s unveiling of its “Story” feature caused some waves in the social media realm. Critics of the feature say Instagram is attempting to take over Snapchat’s specialty, a sentiment that was echoed by some Snapchat employees. Fans of the new tool believe that Instagram has improved upon Snapchat’s original story concept by […]

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My PR Toolbox

By Carly Langdon | Jul 27, 2016

Every day a new tool is introduced into the world of communications. From a new social media app to a media monitoring program, it’s hard to keep them all straight. To help you on your journey to find all the right tools, here’s my top five list of PR gems. 5. Associated Press Style Guide […]

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3 Takeaways from Digital Summit Portland 2016

By Natalie O'Grady | Jul 18, 2016

This past week, I was able to attend the inaugural Digital Summit Portland at the Portland Art Museum. A meeting of the minds among social media, SEO, content marketing, and UX experts, the conference provided a wealth of information and networking opportunities. Speakers from companies like Pinterest, Microsoft, Facebook, and Uber gave me some inspiration for […]

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Facebook Newsfeed Algorithm Updates – 3 Things to Know

By Natalie O'Grady | Jun 30, 2016

For a company not even two decades old, Facebook has done a fantastic job integrating itself into the daily lives of people around the globe. It quickly became a hot spot for brands looking to connect to a wide variety of audiences, and public relations professionals have been including the platform in their communications plans […]

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Engage, don't broadcast: People hate social media ads

By Natalie O'Grady | Jun 2, 2016

Mallory Benham, a 23-year-old recent graduate, summed up the problem with social media ads in an interview for a recent Harris poll with a quote that’s likely to frustrate many marketing professionals. “I go on social media to see and know what my friends are doing. I don’t want to see ads clutter my news […]

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Public Relations in the age of the Internet of Things

By Natalie O'Grady | Mar 17, 2016

When I was finishing my undergraduate degree program several years ago, one of my communications professors introduced the class to something called “The Internet of Things.” He explained that in the not-so-distant future, we’d be living in what basically amounted to the home in that Disney Channel classic movie, Smart House – refrigerators which has […]

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Dealing with Negative Social Media Comments: You Can't Just Delete

By Natalie O'Grady | Feb 24, 2016

Social media allows brands to connect with their consumers on a pretty cool, personal level. When you set up a social media account and get things rolling, it can also be a nice ego boost. Things have been going well on your company’s Facebook page – people are liking, commenting on, and sharing your posts. […]

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Nonprofit Social Media: Suggestions for Policies and Guidelines

By Natalie O'Grady | Jan 27, 2016

Working in the world of nonprofits often means getting creative with a tight budget. This means that there aren’t many nonprofits (especially small, local ones) that have money to spare for a full-time nonprofit social media person on staff. While working with an outside public relations agency to fill this need can be extremely beneficial, […]

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3 Tools for Staying on Top of News & Trends

By Natalie O'Grady | Dec 18, 2015

Working in public communications means you’ll likely spend a decent amount of time each week perusing news headlines, industry publications, and social media hashtags. In order to best represent your clients and find prime opportunities for coverage, you need to be aware of the top trends and breaking news. This includes public relations news, industry talk […]

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Don't do this: the worst brand blunders of 2015

By Kelda Rericha | Dec 15, 2015

‘Tis the season for recaps of the year’s best and worst! In recent year’s past, it has been easy to blame brand blunders on social media. Fast twitch communications developed by junior-level social media staff will always be a recipe for disaster. But the worst of 2015 features a diverse blend of goof-ups, many of […]

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