Every few weeks, something happens that causes a topic related to a brand or product to trend online. When this happens, consumers expect that brand to respond quickly. In fact, new data shows that 42% of consumers expect brands to reply to inquiries within 60 minutes or less, and 32% expect a brand to respond within 30 minutes. When brands don’t respond quickly on trending brand-related topics, let’s just say that the pitchforks come out on social media*.

Making stories newsworthy is a challenge many public relations professionals face. One approach that the team at BRG Communications uses with success is to conduct research and apply the findings to a story or campaign. Depending on an organization’s objectives, research can help uncover consumer perceptions, discover trends, or reveal data relevant to news.

We are happy to be working with Walmart again this Giving Tuesday and throughout the holidays, as they launch the Food Pantry Holiday Makeover campaign, a nationwide effort calling the public to vote online to help food pantries across the country win money for facility makeovers this holiday season. The 75 food pantries with the most online votes by December 12 will be awarded $20,000 each ($1.5 million total) to purchase new equipment, and renovate facilities to help safely store, prepare, serve and transport food to some of the 49 million Americans in need.

We are fortunate to have a client roster of companies that work in various ways to create better living for consumers. One such example is Savant Capital Management, a nationally recognized top 10 fee-only wealth management firm with a hub in the Washington, D.C. marketplace. Savant works with clients to build ideal futures for their customers through sound financial planning and investment strategies. BRG was brought on this year to elevate Savant’s brand, specifically in the Washington, D.C. marketplace through media relations efforts.

If you’ve developed social media posts, you know that high engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, re-tweets and hearts feel good. These engagement metrics are tangible, and obvious to everyone publicly, which means your boss might check out your brand page, and congratulate you on that post with 500 shares. You might even look at these metrics and work to tweak your content to garner even more engagement, but are these the metrics that should guide your content strategy?