Facebook has heard its users’ feedback loud and clear. For years, the networking conglomerate has been receiving requests for a “Dislike” button in addition to the “Like” button (I submitted one of those requests). On February 24, after many months of user testing in a number of countries, Facebook delivered so much more than a “Dislike” button with its extravagant expressions options, “Reactions.”

The expressions are more or less an addition to the “Like” button, and people are excited about the upgrade. Read full post...

Twitter has introduced a new way to view your timeline by showing you tweets you’re “most likely to care about.

Companies use social media as a way to receive feedback, engage with consumers, and market new products or ideas. But they share a common challenge when communicating on such a content-rich platform: It’s hard to stand out.

Until now.Read full post...

How do you use social media in public relations? I’m not asking how you write a social media strategy for your clients, or how you adapt social messaging across different platforms, or how you’ve run a social contest, or how you’ve leveraged Periscope at an event. I’m asking if you, as a PR professional, are using these amazing tools to “PR your PR”—to gather research and information, and to develop relationships with and pitch journalists.Read full post...

As a public relations professional working in the 21^st century, I am reminded every day about the importance of combining traditional tactics with (the ever-growing in popularity) practices from the wonderful world of technology. Social media, search engine optimization and big data analysis—to name a few—are not going away any time soon, but many of us in the marcom industry still have a lot to learn when it comes to integrating these strategies into our campaigns.

Recently, I’ve been taking advice from my friends in Hollywood. You might not believe it, but megastars like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift have some genius marketing tricks up their sleeves. Let’s take a look at their most recent album launches.Read full post...

Educating beach-goers in Dewey about protecting their skin.

Leah Haugh and Dante LaPenta made some statewide and national PR noise for Aloysius Butler & Clark. The pair won first place awards from the Delaware Press Association and the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). Let’s see how they made it happen.

Working with the Delaware Division of Public Health, the AB&C public relations team was tasked with spreading the word on spreading sunscreen as well as getting screened for skin cancer. And as the behavior change marketing experts at AB&C know better than most, getting people to even consider a behavior modification (like turning off the tanning bed) is no easy task.Read full post...

F&M Trust is an independent community bank headquartered in Chambersburg, PA.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA—F&M Trust has selected Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, to develop social media and digital media campaigns. The campaigns will support the Central Pennsylvania–based financial services company in reaching its growing base of individual and business customers.Read full post...

Think about all the untold stories, all of the unshared expertise, experience, and knowledge.

Remember summer reading lists? If you were like me, you procrastinated until late August then hustled through all of the books — barely finishing before the first day of school or even later (don’t tell Mrs. Holden). But there was one summer reading book that I couldn’t put down — To Kill a Mockingbird. I assumed I’d never hear from Scout and Jem Finch again. But hold on, Maycomb. Harper Lee is publishing a “sequel” called Go Set a Watchman, which chronicles Scout’s life as as an adult.

This story of rediscovery is incredible. Here are the Cliff Notes:Read full post...

Facebook surveyed users on promotional posts.

On January 15, Facebook users are going to see a cleaned-up newsfeed with less clutter and more controls for promotional posts. Facebook decided to make these changes after surveying users and learning they want less promotional content and more stories from friends and posts from pages they opted in to see.

Facebook decided to crack down on:Read full post...

When the Department of Public Health asked us to promote HealthyDelaware.org — a resource to help Delawareans learn about cancer prevention, screening and treatment programs — we knew social media would play a key role.Read full post...

Put in the time and effort to develop your business social media brand. Three-quarters of the adult world is waiting to hear from you!

Social media is a powerful way to build brand awareness and get your message out to millions. Three-quarters of the adult world is on social media every day! Here are some essential tips:

Read full post...

Click to enlarge

This week, the folks at Facebook have released some major updates to their algorithm that will affect us as marketers.

Click-baiting

First, they’re targeting click-bait posts.Read full post...

We recently launched a skin cancer campaign for the state of Delaware that included two testimonials — Samantha’s story about how she lost her 28-year-old husband Brett six months after he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, and Terri’s story about the seven surgeries she had on her face after years of indoor and outdoor tanning. We placed both videos on Healthy Delaware’s Facebook page to encourage Delawareans to be sun-smart and get screened for skin cancer.
Read full post...

The hashtag #agencylife has come into the advertising scene with a clear purpose — to let our friends who chose a profession in finance, medicine or law know that we’re having more fun at work than they are. Being quirky, spontaneous and fun breeds creative intelligence here at AB&C, and it’s important to showcase that. If you visit the popular blog http://thisadvertisinglife.tumblr.com/ it’s apparent that your #agencylife experiences are similar to everyone else’s.Read full post...

No longer just for boys and girls

On February 13, social media giant Facebook took a courageous step forward by improving its gender identity feature. Previously it only offered “male” or “female” as a user’s choices. It now lists over 50 possibilities, along with pronouns the user can choose to let friends know how they would like to be referred to publicly. Facebook’s message is forward thinking and clear—it wants its users to know that it recognizes the large spectrum of gender identity. It also wants users to feel comfortable and included, no matter where they identify on that spectrum.

There were many reactions to this change, from positive to ambivalent to negative; but the LGBTQ community certainly has reason to celebrate. Surely there will be people for whom this change means nothing—but for the users this does impact, it could mean everything.Read full post...

For years we’ve been studying Millennials. We know their mindset, values and technographics. We know where to find them online and offline. We know the best ways marketing can gain their brand loyalty and how to entice them to become advocates for our brands.

Except, most Millennials are now 18 to 34 years old. Millennials are aging, and so is the way we market to them. A new marketing demographic is emerging: Post-Millennials.

Take a look at these facts from The Beloit Mindset List of the Class of 2017:

• Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.
• As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.
• Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.
• As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
• Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
• Bill Maher has always been politically incorrect.

As Post-Millennials emerge as the next big demographic, so do the online platforms we can find them on. Here are a few to keep on your radar.Read full post...