Decline in mass media, significant loss in importance for advertising and media sponsorship, steady rise in strategic partnership and co-operations with media as well as co-produced content and joint services are some of the key findings of this year’s European Communication Monitor.

The results of the research were revealed the other day so I just couldn’t wait to check them out this weekend.

It’s a massive research that surveyed over 2,200 comms professionals from 41 countries and after reading through the deck, my biggest learning is that:

Communication departments and professionals are failing to use modern technology and software to keep up, stay relevant, be innovative and prove the economic results of their activities.

Don’t get me wrong – many good things are happening too, but I still don’t understand why comms people are still staying behind the curve? There are so many tools out there, many even free, to help with day-to-day activities, monitor conversations, do research, make informed decisions, measure results and prove ROI.

Check out this key finding: Comms pros have no issues with spreading the word, however monitoring and listening to what the audience has to say is still a huge challenge.

I absolutely love, love, love infographics! They are such a great way to transmit a message and engage with people, don't you think? 

You could say that I am addicted to them because even though I don't have any design background, I've already created seven distinct infographics. (You can check them out on my SlideShare and Visual.ly profiles.) 

It's all about being inspired, having an idea and getting creative. And there are so many tools you can use today - go Canva, Piktochart or even PowerPoint. I've used them all. 

Infographics are a fantastic marketing tool. Leveraging this type of content can help you extend your reach, drive traffic, increase social sharing and engagement as well as help you stand out among all the noise out there. 

I've said it before: visual content is king. Infographics can not only boost your traditional comms efforts, but also take your digital content marketing to the next level by being able to create content that truly fascinates.

 Here are nine crucial reasons why you should start creating infographics now:

You know me, I’m a big fan of Brian Solis. He never stops producing amazing content that is educational and helpful, but also backed up by some serious research -> reliable. So, today we are going to talk about one of his recent pieces of work together with Charlene Li from Altimeter Group and part of their new ebook – the key success factors to developing a winning social business strategy.  

Why is a social business strategy important? Because even though social media is now everywhere and digital is disruption everything, only 17% of businesses are truly strategic in the execution of social strategies. What does that speak about the future success of the other 83% if they don’t change? I’ll leave the answer to you.

Here’s another interesting finding: 88% of companies report an ongoing digital transformation and invest in digital, however without much insight or purpose – only 25% have mapped the digital customer journey and have a clear understanding of the different digital touchpoints.

Brian Solis defines a social business strategy not as a “marketing strategy or a technology roadmap but rather a way or philosophy of how business could be done differently… in a much more human manner.”

A social business strategy requires a transformation of your existing business model. It needs to be aligned with your business processes and practices and embedded throughout your organisation in order to be resilient. Only so will you be able to achieve real ROI – such a favourite world in corporate speak.

So, what do you need to do to develop a successful social business strategy? You need to follow seven steps:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been meaning to write this piece. I’ve seen it with friends from both my universities how hard it is to get your first job, I often hear it from students who reach out to me after reading my blog pieces. So, I knew I wanted to share some actionable advice to help recent PR grads with their job hunt, but I didn’t really know what the best way was to present it – should I share my experiences and my advice, should I add in some research, should I interview someone...

And then I thought, what better way to give you some actionable tips than asking the people who have made a name for themselves in the industry?

So I decided to reach out to the experts in my social community and ask them a simple question on Twitter:

In 140 characters, what is your top tip for PR grads to get their first job?

I was again amazed at how willing people are to help and share advice! In the Slideshare below you can see that I have managed to curate the expert tips from CEOs, agency owners, educators and some very notable influencers in the PR industry, all thanks to Twitter in a matter of just hours. This is just one more example how social media breaks all barriers (use it – that’s one advice).

In a recent podcast by the Harvard Business School, Richard Edelman – CEO of the largest PR consultancy in the world – talks about four main factors that affect trust in business. One of them is leadership, which in itself is not that surprising, however what’s interesting is that CEO trust, which was recovering from a low point in 2008 up to 2011, has gone backwards substantially.

As the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer has found, focusing extensively on operations and making a lot of money is no longer key – it doesn’t earn you a better reputation anymore, nor any credibility.

According to Richard Edelman it is engagement and integrity that really matter – engagement related to absolute transparency and sharing of data and information, and integrity related to putting customers ahead of profits, treating employees well and making the supply chain good.

For business, Edelman has found that trust is built through specific attributes, organised into five performance clusters and ranked by importance with integrity and engagement leading the pack, followed by products and services, purpose and operations.

What all these have in common is that they evolve around people. Trust is about them, not you.