In a long-anticipated move, Facebook announced the launch of clickable and searchable hashtags to desktop users this week, beginning with a roll-out to a small percentage of users that will soon be extended to all. The new feature, already familiar for users active on competitor networks like Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest in addition to Facebook-owned…

Facebook recently introduced a subtle new feature called Verified Pages indicated by a checkmark beside the owner’s name on its Facebook profile.  This indicator is placed on pages, according to Facebook, “to help you be sure that they are who they claim to be.” Following the lead of Twitter’s verified accounts, this feature authenticates the…

With around 45 speakers, 43 sessions and niche discussions, and three networking parties from May 5-7, What’s Next DC, organized by GreenBuzz Agency, attracted communicators, marketing professionals, and startup entrepreneurs from Washington, DC and around the country. Two of the networking events were held at the Austrian Embassy and the British Embassy, showcasing the international…

What happens when a lawyer, a brand manager and an agency partner walk into a bar? Well, we’re not sure, but they’re probably there because they just wrapped up a panel presentation at a conference. That was the case yesterday in Chicago. FleishmanHillard’s Darrell Jursa, senior vice president of emerging media, participated in a panel…

Gone are the days where Public Affairs took place in a vacuum. Increasingly, the work of PA professionals must be conducted within the prism of an organisation’s or industry’s broader reputation. This was the message of my presentation at the 2013 European Public Affairs Action Day, now a permanent fixture of the PA calendar. Speaking…

As proven by the recent Burger King and Jeep examples, Twitter hackings are no joke for brands or individuals with significant followings.  What happens, though, when hackings hit a credible news source relied upon by other media networks and corporations to report breaking stories? This Tuesday, we found out, when a false tweet published from…

Yesterday Facebook announced wide rollout of improvements to Timeline that it says will help users show off things they care about in an easier, more streamlined way. The redesign shifts all posts and life events to the right side of the profile and moves the About, Friends, and Recent Activity sections to the left. This…

Following in the footsteps of social TV's recent successes at this year's Super Bowl and Grammys ceremony, the 2013 Oscars were a big night for social. Popular moments included Anne Hathaway's Best Actress in a Supporting Role win, Jennifer Lawrence's onstage fall as she went to collect her trophy for Best Actress in a Leading…

Though it hasn't quite surpassed the hype around the biggest day in advertising yet, this year's Super Bowl proved that brands' activity on social before, during and after the game also have a big impact on conversation and engagement. FH Digital Analytics conducted a social conversation analysis to identify the winners of Super Bowl advertisers.…

Though only launched in beta to a small group of U.S. Facebook users yesterday, there is already little doubt that the impact of Facebook's upcoming public roll-out of Graph Search will be far-reaching for brands, marketers and users alike. Described as the third pillar of the Facebook ecosystem – after the Newsfeed and Timeline –…

Selecting the most appropriate platform on which to communicate your message to intended audiences is nothing particularly new to communications, particularly digital, strategists. Whether you are looking to reach your own employees, a certain type of consumer or another business, gaining insight into how audiences consume information and how to most effectively communicate with them…

  Today the world has lots of data. So much so that it's earned the capitalization, Big Data. Massive data sets are helping us explore ideas, understand consumer motivations, and, increasingly, predict future behaviors. An array of insights can be gleaned from Big Data, but doing so requires rigorous processing and complex tools to make…

   Developed by search giant Google, Google+ is one of the fastest growing social networks. In Q4 '11 the network added more than 37 MM users alone, membership has grown to more than 65 MM as of January ‘12, which caused brands to take notice of the quickly expanding platform. Since the network is relatively…

Each year FH sends a team of digital experts to the SXSW Interactive festival to learn about the latest trends and topics in the industry impacting our clients. This year, the FH team took on the five-day interactive portion of the festival and documented their experiences and learnings from the various discussion panels, keynotes, and…

I've just returned from my 12th TED conference. In the FH spirit of integrating many disciplines, TED is a wonderful experience that forces one to exercise his/her mind and thinking to incorporate many ideas, perspectives, people and disciplines. As the week unfolds, however, there are a few themes that organically emerge. This year, the talks…

  Social Media Week 2012 offered a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries.  FH UK collaborated with the marketing team at LinkedIn for Social Media Week this year to host a session focused on building B2B communities online, specifically through the LinkedIn platform. If you missed…

  Ever tried to describe an experience to a friend, only to cut your story short with, “I guess you just had to be there”…? Brands feel this way too, and when words just aren't enough to express the feeling, experience, or emotion, they call on the digital motion team at Fleishman-Hillard. Recently, the digital…

  Fleishman-Hillard (FH) released the 2012 Digital Influence Index (DII) in collaboration with Harris Interactive. The index assesses the relative role and influence of different media in the lives of consumers. This project was designed and led by the FH digital research group, a team within the FH research network focused on providing research that…

  It's 2012 and there is no shortage of lists from top industry publications with marketing trends and predictions about what we should expect in the year ahead. So I've gone ahead and selected my list of lists - “The Top 10 Marketing and Social Media Trends and Predictions Lists of 2012.” eMarketer: Key Digital…

Download the Social Media Architecture ebook Take one look at any large brand and you find literally dozens of social sites that lie abandoned with no active engagement.  Many are redundant, fracturing the same potential audience into separate, so-called “communities”.  Further, the majority of these sites are isolated, without any formal linkage to a brands'…

Before the holidays, I signed off by putting forth the idea that the Out-of-Home channel is one of great potential as a channel to engage consumers rather than simply make them aware (as has been the case with “traditional OOH”) of products/services. Building off of that focus on engagement – and the idea that technology…

Over the last couple of weeks, I've tried to show you some of the “OOH” thinking going on in my head.  I've put a couple of stakes in the ground.  First there was my definition and most recently, I explored the different components of the “new” OOH. I feel like, conceptually, these concepts are pretty…

 Let's dive right in, and let me try to explain what I've tried to graphically illustrate. Any OOH solution should include three component parts: 1. Equipment, which refers to “how” the message is delivered. It's as easy as identifying the hardware and software components that will run the solution.  There are other elements at…

Introduction number 1: I'm Mike Cearley, part of the digital team in Dallas. While I'm involved in digital strategy across a number of areas, my background, and ultimately passion, lies in the out-of-home channel and the potential for engaging experiences it creates. What exactly is that? Introduction number 2: Let's start with what I perceive…