Branding

How to Choose (or Be) a Good Spokesperson

From political races to crisis situations to paid endorsements, choosing (or being) a spokesperson is a tough job. Some people, like company presidents or CEOs, expect to serve as spokespeople. Others are thrust into it unexpectedly. But even for those who expect to be spokespeople, what if the…

Insider Tip: Holidays and Social Media

Social media is a beast that PR professionals try to tame on a daily basis. While scheduling tools such as HootSuite and Sprout Social have made posting to social media much easier, creating relevant content is a fun and time-consuming task. Throughout my time with Obsidian, I have…

5 Reasons to Make Videos Your New Facebook Norm

If you manage Facebook for a business, I suggest you jump on the video bandwagon and add “lights, camera, ACTION!” to your vocabulary. The latest news in the highly competitive world of social media platform popularity is that Facebook recently changed their algorithms (shocking news, right?) to make…

Native advertising: You’re doing it right?

Last week, I gave my first thoughts on native advertising. I left off stating that while earned media coverage is the preferred method of exposure, I would recommend an online advertorial opportunity to my clients if the budget existed and only if we can ensure the content is valuable. I…

Native Advertising: The Irony and the Reality

According to Sharethrough, the world’s largest in-feed advertising organization, native advertising is a form of paid mass media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. This is growing particularly popular among advertisers in the digital space…

Your Personal Brand

During my senior year of college, I took a required (and pivotal) class in the public relations program – it was called Style and Design in Public Relations Messages. I knew the class was going to be tough – we would be learning HTML code, using Adobe Photoshop…