PRNews, one of my favorite sources of late, shared several tips for creating that perfect headline. Here they are…

1. Make it Punchy. A strong, concise headline attracts readers and encourages sharing on social media.

2. Avoid Spammy Keywords. As we all know certain words trigger alerts for spam filters including free, you, mortgage, order now, etc. Excessive punctuation also triggers spam filters.

3. Don’t link… at least in the headline. Putting a link in the headline basically encourages readers to go elsewhere without reading your actual news. Search engines are also suspicious of copy with too many links and may even write your release off as Web spam.

4. Use natural language. Avoid industry jargon and make sure to use the words and phrases your audience actually uses when talking about your subject.

5. Keep it tight. Tell one story in the headline, don’t clutter it up with a bunch of different themes.

6. Use your heads… as in subheads. Recommended no more than 200 characters in the summary or subhead if you feel the need for more information.

Here are what some top executives had to say…

Mark Weiner, CEO PRIME Research
The biggest trend is what I call ‘the second wave’ of social media listening, engagement and analytics…. The second wave marries the speed and consistency of automation with the understanding and insights only humans provide. The challenge of the second wave is exacerbated by the need for ‘small data’ to drive ‘big data’ (itself a major trend in business generally).

David Michaelson, Managing Director, Teneo Strategy
The primary trend in measurement today is the movement to create standard measures for public relations activities. This is a critical effort that will hopefully result in the ability to create comparative measures for all stages of the public relations process…

Donald K. Wright, Harold Burson Professor and Chair in Public Relations, Boston University’s College of Communications
Probably the biggest trend is the movement to convince PR practitioners to measure. Research I’ve conducted each year since 2005 clearly shows there is not nearly enough measurement taking place in our field and, unfortunately, when practitioners do measure it often involves use of AVEs and/or mainly measures of communications outputs (instead of outcomes).

What do you feel are growing trends in PR measurement and management?

Many of us don’t associate seniors (those wise adults 55 and older) as technically adapt or consider them sending Tweets, Facebooking or let alone texting their friends, but results from a recent study on eMarketer were very insightful to just how savvy the golden generation really is.

• A majority of Americans 65+ are now on the Internet or email. Of those on the Internet, 85% have mobile phones compared to 95% of Millennials who have mobile phones.
• Only about 28% of adults 57-67- year olds actually own a smartphone.
• While teens fill their time with entertainment, seniors are still more likely to watch TV. Some 63% of those 55+ identify television as their entertainment while mobile phones only gather about 2%.
• A recent ePrize study revealed that most SMS sweepstakes and instant-win promotions were played by those under 45 years old.
• Seniors are interested in using their mobile devices for practical information such as prescription alerts, severe weather alerts or appointment reminders.

In general, mobile can be a powerful resource when engaging Baby Boomers. Seniors aren’t concerned about adopting the latest tech craze just to be hip; what’s more important to them is using the technology they’ve already adopted to make their lives easier and stay connected to the people and brands they care about most.

Thinking of starting a business?
Looking to grow an existing business?

If you live in Northeast Ohio and want to network with today’s business leaders then you must attend the upcoming 2013 Small Business Symposium: Learn from Experienced Entrepreneurs on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at Lakeland Community College.

The half-day (8:00a.am to 12:30 p.m.) event program includes sessions covering the following topics:

• Marketing
• Finance & Operations
• Technology

I will be the first morning presenter for the Marketing Track, check it out.

Included in the 2013 symposium will be an exhibit hall, Best Practices in Business Roundtable, and an Access to Capital panel discussion. Your $25 registration fee will include all materials, continental breakfast and snack..

The program is presented in partnership with Lakeland Community College’s Entrepreneurship and Ohio Small Business Development Center, Lake County Port Authority, the Small Business Administration of Cleveland, the Council of Small Enterprises (COSE), the Mentor Economic Assistance Corporation, and Lake Communicators.

PR News recently shared 6 Tips for PR Success with Your Events from Diane Gage Lofgren, chief communications officer and senior VP, brand communication, at Kaiser Permanente.

1. Evaluate Your Event for a Strategic Fit: Events need to be consistent with the organization’s brand, meshing with business goals, objectives and outcomes. The event must match your company’s values and business priorities.

2. Secure Leadership Buy In: Identify key executive sponsors of the event and schedule briefings with them. “Be ready to demonstrate your event’s value to them with a business case,” says Gage Lofgren.

3. Pre-Plan and Promote the Heck Out of Your Event: Promote speakers ahead of time to your contacts through emails, blogs, and social media. Pitch to media in advance and amplify presence onsite through the display of artwork, demonstrations and videos. Have trained PR team members onsite to staff interviews and followup with media and stakeholders.

4. Make Events Interactive and Memorable: During conferences and meetings minimize the use of PowerPoint. Also, shake up the event with something unexpected (a surprise guest speaker or a flash mob gathering, for example). Build in unique activities and events that make your event stand out.

5. Extend the Event: Invite key journalists and bloggers and offer previews to a few select reporters. Facilitate an expert meet-and-greet to attract media PR and attendees. Create an event-specific mobile game for attendees and offer added-value items at the event.

6. Share Your Event Results: Offer event surveys to participants that are fun and interactive. Send a recap to all stakeholders sharing survey findings and other metrics. And be sure to highlight how PR contributed to the bottom line via your event.

What strategies do you find most successful when promoting your event to the public and the media?

PepsiCo has been very busy reconnecting with its customers through its new Pepsi bottle shape and now limited-edition Diet Pepsi 7.5-ounce cans designed by HGTV star Vern Yip – who I totally loved on Trading Spaces at the start of the   interior design craze years ago…

When asked about the new design in a recent AdWeek article:
“This Vern Yip-designed can is perfect to inspire our consumers and give them a bubbly time-out,” explained Amy Spiridakis, director of marketing for Diet Pepsi. “As we are in the spring timeframe, where people are really thinking about entertaining and going to gatherings, it seems like the perfect package.”

Amy continues explaining how packaging is a critical touch point for the Pepsi brand. It really is the consumer’s experience – holding the product.

Why a peacock?
It does a great job of representing confidence, vibrancy, positivity, energy and strength, which are all attributes of our Diet Pepsi consumer. We think it really fits in well with her lifestyle.

Outside of female, can you describe the rest of the demographic for this can design and the larger “Love Every Sip” effort?
It’s targeted at females who love home design. It’s not so pinpointed around a demo but more a mindset that focuses on enjoying being around others. The home is their anchor point. In May, Target will actually run an exclusive program where consumers who buy Diet Pepsi will get a set of six coasters that have the Vern Yip design printed on them.

Overall, I think the new bottle shape is great and the limited edition can design looks fabulous. These new marketing strategies for PepsiCo will prove to benefit the brand with consumers.

Ad Week’s Christopher Heine, found that Brands favor social shares over likes. In his article, brands are realizing the value of SHARES over LIKES when measuring their social media efforts.

While Facebook and other social channels are a good tool for communicating with your customers, the real value is in their endorsement of your brand in a direct comment to their friends  – sharing. It’s becoming the “digital word of mouth” engagement companies seek from their most valued followers.

Mike and Ike are among some of the recent brands to add the share button to their Facebook ads. Entertainment brand in particular are focusing on shares. An Eventbrite study found that Facebook shares are worth $4.15 apiece when it comes to event ticket sales—more than twice as much as a retweet ($1.85) and four times greater than a LinkedIn share (92 cents).

Other marketers say they, too, put a high value on social sharing. “Whether people are sharing our content is an indicator we use to understand if we are going in the right direction,” said Catherine Schenquerman, digital ad manager at JetBlue.

With brands adapting their goals and strategies to the changing face of social media, do you agree that share are the more valuable return for marketing?

According to the Ohio Advertising Tax Coalition article, comprised of local AAF Chapters, the State of Ohio’s Governor John Kasich is proposing a new tax on  advertising services as part of his broad expansion of Ohio’s sales and use tax.

Of the concerns raised in the article some include:

• An ad creates an unfair “double tax” or tax “Pyramiding”
• Sends an anti-business signal and gives unfair advantage to out-of-state competitors
• Creates a burden on businesses and state governments to account for billions of dollars spend on ads in a variety of mediums
• Potentially a sales tax on advertising would result in the loss of 48,911 marketing jobs in Ohio (Source: LR Klein & IHS Global Insight, 2010).
• Attempts to tax advertising in other states has failed

Advertising is the most economically efficient means of marketing its products and services to consumers. It’s estimated that the new ad tax would decrease sales in Ohio by $12.1 billion. Meaning less dollars for companies to invest in advertising and new regulations for agencies and media outlets.

As the Northeast Ohio Communications Advocates (NOCA) group explains, marketing communications is a significant part of the Cleveland economy and Ohio tax base. Through its impact studies it has accounted for 3,034 businesses and 44,611 professionals and nearly $5 billion to the Northeast Ohio economy.

So as this new ad tax is considered, ask yourself… should I sit back or do I call my local state representative and say – no ad tax!

Smartphones are becoming the essential everyday tool for communicating, both personal and business – an estimated 200 million workers tap into mobile business apps to collaborate and conference, access and edit docs, check email, chat and more.

BREWSTER: Instant Rolodex – pulls in contact info and other details from all social platforms and creates eye-catching, in-depth profiles for each person. Its also fully searchable not just by name, but keyword, location and photo?!

HERE ON BIZ: Meet LinkedIn contacts in real life – shows you which LinkedIn contacts are physically nearby, segmented into visitors and locals. You can also chat directly through the app to set up the kind of in-person encounter that gets results. CON – limited to LinkedIn.

HOOTSUITE: All your social media, anywhere – handles social media on the go and has all the features of the site for publishing and scheduling messages. You can also set up streams for monitoring feedback.

DROPBOX: Your anywhere hard drive – It’s a classic for sharing files across devices. The best feature is you can edit from anywhere and changes are saved and synced. You get 2GB free and more if you refer friends.

TRELLO: Beyond to-do lists – Tasks (or lists) are represented as columns on a virtual corkboard. add as many cards as you wan to a List then customize each card with comments, checklists, attachments… It’s as useful for personal to-do lists as well as coordinating complex projects among big teams.

EVERNOTE: Junk drawer for your digital life – Cloud-based note taking app keeps your photos, voice memos, attachments, clips, notes… just about anything in a searchable database and syncs across all devices. You can upgrade for added features and space.

UBER CONFERENCE: Calls on the go – Select attendees from your phone’s contact list and UberConference automatically calls, emails or texts them to join, no pin required. Makes conference calls easy but lack the ability to schedule in advance.

An unabridged list of 2013’s must-have business apps (both mobile and desktop) is available on HootSuite’s app directory.

What Apps do you find most useful?

1. Start with your audience.
Listen and find our what your audience needs

2. Work like the pros.
Its about finding best practices, reporting, curating and pulling things out

3. Tell a story.Every good story has people, tension, action, resolution, and meaning (some kind of context)

4. Start with the content you have.
You already have tons of great information at your fingertips, start sharing it with your online audience

5. Re-imagine content.
The most frequently asked questions about your business can likely be make into individual blog posts

6. Think like a publisher
Consider a content partnership. Set clear measures grounded in your business and do the ABCs for a content partner – audience, brand fit and credibility to be your partner

7. Tap brand advocates.
Fans want to be heard – embrace them and create brand advocates

8. Make mini-campaigns.
Approach every bit of content like a campaign to ampify its reach and success. Keep monitoring and adjusting

9. Understand whether its working.
What are your communication goals? If you’re trying to sell or gain donors you must have a Call to Action