The nst blog

In the digital age, anyone with access to social media or other online platforms can be a content creator. Social media content can be genuine and authentic because users are willing to speak candidly about brands, products or services. User-generated…

A recent report by global PR firm Weber Shandwick quantified a belief long preached by PR practitioners around the globe – reputation is (nearly) everything. In the “State of Corporate Reputation” report, the authors noted “corporate reputation is an invaluable…

Many of us in the government and public relations profession can recall a time when receiving a shout out from an elected representative of thousands, or even millions, of citizens required a significant amount of groundwork and often close connections…

Is your company or brand longing for a blue check mark online? In today’s day and age, brand recognition is everything. Influencers, brands and public figures want to stand out and be the best – and the coveted blue check…

Public relations professionals often hope a local story they are pitching makes national news. On some occasions, the opposite situation presents itself and we are challenged to make a national story work locally in order to be more effective at…

Important things to remember when formulating your pitch As communications professionals, we understand the importance of a strong media pitch and outreach plan. In today’s information-heavy world, it’s important for organizations to set themselves apart by expanding their reach and…

While most of California’s local elected officials serve only as part-time mayors and councilmembers, they are responsible for representing the interests of thousands of their fellow citizens and must educate themselves on a wide-range of policy issues. The challenge of…

On behalf of NST client, the Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program (CPDPP), our team is charged with the Herculean task of educating roughly 40 million California residents about a deadly citrus tree disease called Huanglongbing (HLB) and the pest…

TikTok is the latest mobile app to take the internet – and world – by storm. Formerly known as the app musical.ly, TikTok is a short-form video app that prides itself on “mak[ing] every second count.” Released in the United…

Online usage is up with Millennial and Gen Z users, and YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the big winners. A May 2018 study conducted by Pew Research Center found that of U.S. teens ages 13-17, 85 percent of those surveyed…

Like the rest of the country, I’ve been drawn to the spectacle of the Fyre Festival documentaries on Hulu and Netflix. I wasn’t as familiar with the catastrophe of the “festival that never was,” so I was shocked at each…

The popularity of the Twitter meme took off in 2018. Twitter memes are tweet formats used by multiple accounts and are intended to relate to an audience, and usually make them laugh. Twitter users and popular brands such as Pop-Tarts, Target and others use this trend to generate engagement and entertain their followers. They take popular meme formats and change the wording to better fit their brand or products. This high engagement can result in social media success—but can brands become successful on Twitter by using humor and memes?