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Timing is Everything – Especially on Social Media

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Every social media strategy should have a keen eye toward timing. Not only should you be thinking about the best days of the week and times of day to connect with your audience, but on a broader scale, finding the right time to post or even to engage requires skill. Additionally, understanding the conversations happening in and around your community is a must. The State Department learned this lesson the hard way when it launched a Facebook Live regarding how to travel with children in the midst of the controversy surrounding the separation of families at the border. While there were some straightforward questions, users largely engaged with the livestream to pose sarcastic questions regarding the separation issue. Let the State Department’s lesson be your learning opportunity.

In addition to considering your timing strategy, here are some exciting updates and a few tips and tricks you can use to ensure your social media game is on point this summer.

Instagram

Variety: Instagram Launches Long-Form Video Service Called IGTV

Creators rejoice – you can now load videos up to one hour in length to Instagram using IGTV, a new long-form video service. IGTV will exist both within the Instagram app as well as a dedicated app and – at least to start – will not feature ads. Read more after the jump…

Denver Media Shares the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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Screen Shot 2018-06-20 at 9.23.02 AMIt makes little difference if you’ve been working with Denver media for a long time or are new to the market because there are so many new faces and veteran journalists leaving the media (many taking communications roles) that no one can keep up.

The Colorado Healthcare Communicators recently held its annual media roundtable, in which the following reporters/editors participated and shared their thoughts on the current state of the market, how best to work with them, and their biggest pet peeves.

Note: Since the media roundtable took place, there have been two changes to the list below. Ed Sealover is no longer covering health care for the Denver Business Journal, and John Ingold has just left The Denver Post. As you may have read, a number of veteran Denver Post reporters have started The Colorado Sun with a Kickstarter campaign. More to come on that.

Read more after the jump…

Tweet Responsibly

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You know the old saying – “With great exposure comes great responsibility.” No, that’s not it… “Mo’ followers mo’ problems?” No, that’s not it either… Let’s just say “tweet responsibly.” That seems to be the theme this week after scandals broke out in both entertainment and sports due to ill-advised Twitter use. Roseanne Barr finally crossed ABC’s line in the sand with a racist tweet that she’s blaming on Ambien (ok, Roseanne… The makers of Ambien have since fired back). Despite its success, her show was abruptly cancelled. Meanwhile, The Ringer released an article alleging that Bryan Colangelo, general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, has been operating multiple burner accounts to tweet negative information about players, coaches and rival GMs. The 76ers are conducting an investigation into the allegations. Twitter is a powerful communication tool, but take situations like these as reminders that social media can lead to failure if used inappropriately.

Twitter

Twitter Scandals:

ABC already dropped Roseanne for her racist tweet, but it will be interesting to see how the Bryan Colangelo situation unfolds. The evidence seems pretty damning. Read more after the jump…

The Making of the Smart Ash Animation

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Animation has always fascinated me. I drew endless comic strips and superheroes as a kid, and making those drawings move like what I saw on TV every Saturday morning was a dream. Taking a drawing from paper to screen gave it life, and all I wanted was to make the characters from my imagination real. When I finally started experimenting with animation in high school, I found a medium that was tedious, but every bit as rewarding as I had hoped. I eventually graduated with my BFA in animation, and although it’s not something I do every day at CenterTable, I relish the opportunity to bring drawings to life for clients who understand the value animation can have in telling a unique story. Read more after the jump…

Top 5 PR Lessons from the Royal Wedding

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Flags of the United Kingdom Hanging at Royal WeddingThe royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle captivated millions this past Saturday. Despite the early start time, the event was watched by 29.2 million viewers across six major networks in the U.S., according to Nielsen ratings. As for the U.K., 18 million royalists tuned in, with ratings expected to grow when Nielsen Media reports cable tallies.

Whether you are royal-obsessed or not, you have to admire the nearly flawless execution of the global media frenzy leading up to and during the royal wedding. It was a true spectacle made for live TV and choreographed perfectly every second of the way.

Here are my top five PR Lessons from the Royal Wedding.

Read more after the jump…

It Only Takes One Bad Apple…

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Combating spam, data that goes too far to invade privacy, and plain ol’ bad actors seems to be a priority for social platforms in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This task is pretty herculean since spam and invasion of privacy are rarely defined as the same exact thing twice. Hopefully the good guys don’t have to suffer too much as a consequence.

Instagram

Instagram.com: New: Share Feed Posts to Stories

Hallelujah! We finally have an in-app way to publicly re-share content on Instagram. It’s not quite the direct #regram you might have hoped for but it feels like progress. If you want to share someone else’s post from your feed, you can now share it as a sticker in your own Instagram story. Instagram doesn’t make it easy for content to be shared in their app. Finally, if I want everyone I know on Instagram to see my friend’s cute dachshund, I can make that happen without a whole extra app! Someone pointed out that this also makes it much easier to mock people if that’s your style – looking at you, Wendy’s. Read more after the jump…

Laurel vs. Yanny: Brands React

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An audio clip took the internet by storm this week, described by many as the second coming of the white and gold or black and blue dress phenomenon.

Some listeners hear the word “laurel” and others are hearing “yanny.” The audio hotly divided the GroundFloor Media and CenterTable offices as we declared our undying loyalties to #TeamLaurel or #TeamYanny. Yesterday, the New York Times even developed a tool to change the frequency of the audio clip so readers can hear both “yanny” and “laurel.”

We thoroughly enjoyed watching different brands and celebrities seize the viral moment to weigh in on the debate throughout the week. Read more after the jump…

Animation Brings Tricky Topic to Life

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Since 2015, GroundFloor Media and CenterTable have been proud to work on the Be A Smart Ash campaign. From naming to website development, campaign launch to ongoing education and awareness, the agency and client teams continue to thrive with this highly integrated campaign. With our next step, we will be bringing animation into the fold.

In fact, Be A Smart Ash recently earned the Ragan’s PR Daily 2017 award for Best Location-Based Campaign, adding to national industry kudos earned from the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) late last year.

How to keep up momentum

Three years into the campaign with emerald ash borer (EAB) still not identified in Denver, the team realized that focusing on awareness for the third year in a row could cause consumer fatigue. And with growing awareness about EAB came an increase in questions about just how to combat the pesky pest. So, the team decided 2018 was the perfect time to pivot to an action-oriented message focused on treatment options, just in time for prime treatment season.

Read more after the jump…

Artificial Intelligence in Action

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weekly-reads-artificial-intelligencePredictive intelligence, artificial intelligence and good ol’ human intelligence. This edition of Weekly Reads covers Facebook’s updated ad prediction, Instagram’s new booking functionality, a robot’s successful phone call to reserve a woman’s haircut appointment and more. Happy reading!

Facebook

Social Media Today: Facebook’s Up and Downvote Tools for Comments are Now Available to More Users
Much like the up-and down-voting functionality seen on websites like Reddit, Facebook has rolled out options for promoting content you think is “helpful or insightful,” or, on the other hand, voting down content that “has bad intentions or is disrespectful.” We wonder if this is part of Facebook’s answer to its often-criticized moderation guidelines. Can Facebook users be galvanized to help to police the platform at large? Read more after the jump…