✅ Monday briefing: Journalist safety, media distribution, tackling burnout, agency startups, SEO guide, jab confidence, Twitter blue and more…

Media, industry, best practice, research and insight, social media and platforms and events

If you want an insight into the issues that are occupying the smartest minds in the communications industry check out my community report for May. Jay Raynor’s rant against a PR agency promoting fake news, Jonathan Hemus’ new book Crisis Proof, PESO metrics and tools, ageism in comms and Naomi Osaka and mental health, are among top topics.

Media

⛑️ JOURNALIST SAFETY: Journalists are being encouraged to share their experiences of online abuse as part of a government drive to protect their safety. A Home Office call for evidence aims to better understand the scale of the problem. Spotted Sarah Waddington.

🗑️ MEDIA DISTRIBUTION: CorpComms Magazine believes media distribution needs an overhaul. PR practitioners typically take the blame from journalists for badly targeted press releases. CorpComms calls for media databases to help to reduce spam by using more sophisticated tagging. Spotted Kate Hartley.

Industry

🔥 TACKLING BURNOUT: Women In PR has launched a new programme to tackle the mental health of women in the industry after research showed burnout effects four in five women. The programme includes launching the network’s first skills events series which focuses on sharing practical tips. Source Maja Pawinska Sims.

💥 AGENCY STARTUPS: COVID-19 has seen an explosion of new PR agencies in the UK. A new Wadds Inc. report explores what has driven this burst of entrepreneurial activity. It’s a hugely optimistic and powerful legacy from an awful period of time. Source Stephen Waddington.

Best practice

👨‍🏫️ SEO GUIDE: Vuelio has published an educational resource for digital PR and SEO. Judith Lewis wrote the 60+ page guide which is free to download. Spotted Chris Reed.

🔍 SHARE OF SEARCH: The PRCA has launched an Innovation Forum and published a paper on Share of Search. The paper consists of a series of short essays that lead with practical examples. Source Stephen Waddington.

Research and insight

📹 COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT: COVID-19 has normalised video for stakeholder engagement and accelerated the role of professional communication as a management function according to The European Communication Monitor 2021. Source Stephen Waddington.

🎒 ECONOMIC REVIEW: Good management, in particular processes focused on managing change, have helped organisations thrive during the pandemic. An ONS study examines practices that have driven innovation, growth and productivity. Spotted Karan Chadda.

💉 JAB CONFIDENCE: Take up of the COVID-19 vaccine has been driven by the clarity, consistency, and certainty of communications. CARMA has investigated the link between media, spokespeople and COVID-19 trust in 12 countries. Source Jack Richards.

Social media and platforms

👨‍🎓️ MARKETING ON TIKTOK: TikTok has published a guide to help small business use the platform as a marketing tool. The guide is filled with tools, strategies and inspiration to help brands succeed. Spotted Andrew Smith.

🎞️ INSTAGRAM INSIGHTS: Instagram has introduced new insights for Reels and Live. The insights are based on feedback from creators and businesses and aim to provide a broader picture into how Reels and Live drive an account’s performance. Spotted Alan Morrison.

🌳 ORGANIC LINKEDIN BOOST: LinkedIn has released new marketing features to boost organic content and help promote events. These include being able to easily boost an organic post and reach new audiences with event information. Spotted Alan Morrison.

🔵 TWITTER BLUE: Bookmarks, undo tweets and threaded stories are among features available to Twitter Blue paid subscribers. The trial is available to users for the monthly price of $3.49 CAD or $4.49 AUD. Spotted Sarah Waddington.

🕵 MISINFORMATION DETECTION: Facebook has published a new transparency report describing rogue campaign networks that it has detected on the platform. It describes the action that it has taken to stamp out abuse. In a related and belated move Facebook has also banned President Donald Trump from the platform. Spotted David Gallagher and Ben Lowndes. 

Events

📅 WADDSCON JUNE: We’re going to continue running WaddsCon post lockdown albeit with some tweaks. June’s event will take place at 1-2pm, 25 June and cover topics including accessible communication, lifting energy levels in PR teams post-lockdown, socio-economic diversity, and attracting talent to the public relations industry. Book your slot. Source Stephen Waddington.