For Immediate Release #25: Content up, engagement down

Today’s panel includes public relations strategist Sally Falkow, marketing CEO Lee Odden, and social/digital thought leader Ekaterina Walter. Our topics included…

* An update on the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics’ decision to require PR agencies to register as lobbyists if they try to sway political votes by influencing editorial boards (0:03:23)

* Multiple studies show brands are cranking out more content than ever, but engagement is dropping. Is it a crisis, and what can marketers do about it? Could email newsletters be one solution? (0:08:00)

* Live streaming update: Consumer and retail brand leaders are making live streaming a regular part of their marketing mix, yet Meerkat is calling it quits and pivoting into a small group video chat utility (0:34:00)

* We lament the decline of the newspaper because there are fewer paid journalists with the resources to cover stories in the public interest in which the public may not know it has an interest. Is this good or bad for PR? (0:44:00)

* Dan York reports on ICANN meetings in Marrakech and the launch of a new audio app, Anchor (0:53:00)

* Do brands need a Chief Experience Officer? Regardless, they do need to coalesce around the customer experience (1:02:00)

* There’s a gap between board members’ confidence in their companies’ ability to handle crisis and their belief that their companies are prepared for one (1:14:00)

* Land’s End didn’t foresee the consequences of politically-charged content. Does that mean brands should always avoid politically-charged content? (1:26:00)

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @sallyfalkow, @leeodden, and @ekaterina.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Delicious.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About today’s panel:

In 2014, Sally Falkow was recognized as one of the Top 50 Social Media Influencers on Twitter and one of the 25 Women Who Rock Social Media. Sally currently lives two lives: one as a strategist for social media and digital PR agency Meritus Media in Pasadena, California, a role she has had for nearly eight years, the other as president and co-developer of PRESSfeed, an online tool for marketing and PR practitioners that lets them share news content online. Sally also publishes the Proactive Report, and is a Founding Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. She is the author of the book, Smart News.

Cited by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Forbes for his marketing expertise, Lee Odden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing, an internationally respected digital marketing agency that provides consulting for some of the most successful companies in the world. Lee’s evangelism for an integrated approach to search, social media, influencer and content marketing has extended over 100 events in 12 different countries. He blogs at marketingblog.com and is the author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO,