Did you know that China and Vietnam hold the world's largest prisons for journalists and bloggers?

I came across The 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders and found the study fascinating. It shows you how different countries and regions are in terms of how the media functions by measuring the level of pluralism, media independence, and respect for the safety and freedom of journalists. I think when you live somewhere you just assume that things are the same in every other country which is clearly not the case. 

If you work in a global organisation, you need to be aware of cultural differences because they determine how to communicate and make decisions. And when you work in PR or communications for global clients and run global campaigns, then understanding how the media works in the countries around the world is crucial. 

The study doesn't have a particularly positive view of the world, explaining how attacks on the media have become commonplace and strongmen are on the rise where we have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms – especially in democracies. Some facts are frankly shocking.

Let's take a look.

Studies have shown that our brains are more engaged by storytelling rather than hard facts, sometimes by up to 22 times. 

In content marketing, telling stories has become a more and more sought out method. 

That's because making a personal connection rather than pushy sales and marketing tactics works better when you want to generate new business or engage your customers.

Not to mention that in our information overload era your biggest struggle as a marketer is the fight for attention. There's too much noise out there. It's close to impossible to stand out, especially when people's attention spans are shorter than those of a gold fish - only 8 seconds... 

Creating break through stories, though, is both an art and a science. You need the science and the data to tell you what your strategy should be around storytelling in terms of narratives and content types, and you need the art to be able to craft a storyline that sticks. 

We'll look at both today. 

If your PR agency disappeared tomorrow, would your clients miss you? 

How quickly would they replace you? 

Not easy questions, I know, but they're important when you think about why you are in the PR business, the value that you're currently providing and the type of agency you envision in the near future. 

Are you a nice to have, a should have or a must have? In other words, are you irreplaceable?

The irreplaceable agencies are the ones who not just deliver remarkable work but whose work's remarkability clearly drives bottom line results.

The agencies that clients fear to lose are the ones who can very easily measure and tie their activities to the impact they're making on the client's financial goals.  

But in the ever-changing digital and technological landscape, what do PR agencies need to do to survive and most importantly to evolve to be fit for the future? 

I've been looking at a lot of data lately. 

Last week we dug into some social media marketing numbers, this week we'll go bigger and look at some of the major internet trends from Mary Meeker's latest report. 

Let's start with a bit of a perspective.

There are 3.4B global internet users. And there are about 7.5B people in the world. That's a penetration of 46%. 

Is your head spinning? It certainly will be after we go through some of the major learnings I've picked out for you. 

Let's get started. 

92% of marketers say that social media marketing is important to their business.

Can't say that I'm surprised. We practically live on social now. And Facebook. I feel like Facebook rules the world. 

Social media marketers, on the other hand, spend 6 to 11 hours weekly trying to catch consumers on social. 20% of them spend even more than 20 hours a week with social media marketing activities, particularly focusing on increasing exposure (88%) generating traffic (78%), develop loyal fans (69%) and gain market intelligence (66%). 

This all comes from the 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner. 

Let's take a loot at the major findings.

5 Social Media Marketing Highlights