Castle in Atlanta

Philip, joined by co-presenters Linda Johnson, partner, McLane Middleton, and Bryan Garman, Head of School, the Sidwell Friends School, discussed new expectations in school communications at the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Philip also presented at two sessions on crisis communications planning at the Georgia Preschool Association's 2018 Annual Conference.

Congratulations Sandy!

Congratulations to Sandy Lish on her appointment to the Massachusetts Bay Community College  Board of Trustees!

Castle in the Community

Castle is sponsoring The Commonwealth Institute's   inaugural Women's Leadership Development Impact Study , which will measure what businesses throughout Massachusetts are doing to create a pathway for women leaders. Companies of all sizes and stages--from startups to established corporations--across all industries are encouraged to confidentially participate. Send an email to get started by clicking here.

As we continue to support the next generation of great writers through our community partnership with WriteBoston , we look forward to attending its annual fundraiser, the Pros&Conversation Gala   on April 12 at the Genzyme Center. The event will include a panel conversation featuring WriteBoston students and bestselling writers. Proceeds from the gala directly fund WriteBoston's student support and teacher training programs. To purchase tickets, click here.

Castle is proud to support The Food Project's Big Shindig . The 6th annual fundraiser will celebrate 26 years of empowering youth leaders, strengthening community-controlled food systems, and stewarding over 70 acres of urban and suburban farmland in Greater Boston and the North Shore. Tickets to the event, which will be held at the Cyclorama on April 25, are available for purchase here . If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Danielle Dickinson .

As a longtime supporter of the March of Dimes, our team will join thousands of walkers at its upcoming Boston March for Babies on May 12 at North Point Park in Cambridge to raise funds to ensure the health of moms and babies. To join or support our team, please click here.

 Castle EVP Hilary Allard is proud to support the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts by providing ongoing communications counsel. The nonpartisan political organization is hosting Beyond the March: Women Leading the Way in Massachusetts on April 28 to discuss how to strengthen civic foundations at the local, state and national level in today's political environment. For more information about the event, please click here.

Castle Outside the Office

Sandy Lish and Carole McFall, along with Brandeis University Director of Media Relations Julie Jette, led a panel discussion on crisis communications at the  Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District 1 Conference in Boston attended by more than 900 education industry professionals from New England and Canada. 
 
Castle is excited to collaborate with Tomorrow's Women TODAY and The Boston Women's Leadership Council for Changing the Power Dynamic: Power Inequity and Gender Bias in the Workplace. The June 20 event will focus on workplace power inequity and gender bias, and determine how to best effect change.


We made a friendly Super Bowl wager with our Public Relations Global Network partner Buchanan Public Relations 
in Philadelphia. When their Eagles got the better of our Patriots, we settled up by sending them our favorite Boston treats. Congrats again, Buchanan!


Welcome, New Clients
Castle is working with the Brain Aneurysm Foundation to promote the early detection of brain aneurysms and the importance of brain aneurysm research;  Redstar Ventures to support the launch of two of its portfolio companies: financial literacy platform,  Money Experience, and caregiving app,  Kinto; United South End Settlements to promote its work to disrupt the cycle of poverty for children and their families by harnessing the power of its diverse community; and  Wentworth Institute of Technology on its 2018 commencement celebration.
 
Our crisis communications team has been engaged by a hospital in New Hampshire, universities in Massachusetts and New York, and independent schools in New Hampshire, Florida and Massachusetts. We've also been named a preferred provider of crisis communications services for the Florida Independent Colleges and Universities Association, a private educational risk retention pool that offers comprehensive risk management services to members of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and the Florida Council of Independent Schools.

Changing the Channel:
Adapting Content for Social Platforms
By Hilary Allard, Executive Vice President, Public Relations

Throughout the past decade, the approach to social media has largely evolved from a frenzy of companies trying to figure out how to have success with the latest "flavor of the month" phenomenon to a focus on best practices with a core group of established platforms--Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Pinterest. (While it will be interesting to see if Facebook's user data crisis has a long-term impact, it's important to note that a whopping 68 percent of the population use it.)

Different demographics (generational, ethnic, geographic, etc.) use social media in different ways. (For reference, see the  Pew Research Center's recent social media study .) Since most businesses have more than one targeted demographic, so, too, should organizations use a variety of social media channels to engage with their audiences.

But utilizing different platforms means understanding what works--and what doesn't--for each channel. While the core messaging will be similar, how you communicate across platforms should vary for two primary reasons:
  • Every social media platform is designed for a specific type of communication, (e.g., Instagram = visual; YouTube = video), which is part of the reason why platforms appeal to some audiences more than others.
  • Posting the exact same text, image or video on all your social media pages will bore your audience (as people may follow you on more than one platform).
Here's an example of how a fictional company, Boston Gadget Corp., could effectively share specific content across its social channels. Let's imagine that Boston Gadget was just named Green Manufacturer of the Year by a trade publication. There are a number of important audience considerations for this news:
  • Community: The town where the factory is based will be glad to know they're environmentally conscious and a good corporate citizen (the local community likely includes important regulators, current and prospective employees, and neighbors and abutters).
  • Employees: Boston Gadget's employees will be proud to know their company has received this prestigious award and prospective employees will think of them as an employer of choice. By being informed, they become a workforce of "ambassadors" for this good news.
  • Customers: The company's customers (primarily moms ages 35 - 55) will feel good about buying products from an environmentally friendly company, and prospective customers may decide to purchase from them because of their recognition.
Some of the social media assets we can leverage are a link to the article from American Gadget Magazine, a photo of the CEO accepting the award, and a photo of the award itself.

So how do we approach each channel?
  • Facebook: Approach Facebook from two different directions: reach customers (moms) through the dedicated consumer Facebook page with content that announces the award while tying it back to the company's vision and what it means for the consumer. Then share the content in the community groups of the headquarters' town to reach neighbors with the good news.
  • LinkedIn: Post the article link with the photo of the CEO accepting the award to reach employees and job candidates. (Don't forget to mention the award in the Linkedin company description, future job postings, company newsletter and, if there is one, on the company intranet.)
  • Instagram: Post the photo of the award with consumer-focused copy. If there is a quick video of the CEO accepting the award, share that with some fun graphics as a story.
  • Twitter: Share the article multiple times on Twitter and use relevant hashtags to reach the right audiences. Include the handle for the magazine. Consider doing a series of tweets for the trade that use handles specific to the industry, and a series for the community incorporating those hashtags and handles to localize it.
A social media audit of your channels (and your competitors' channels) is an effective way to strategically develop a game plan that will make execution easier on a daily basis. Interested in learning more about social media audits? Please feel free to get in touch with me at [email protected] .
 
Castle Events Around the World

Event planning is an ongoing process; we are hard at work executing our 2018 events, while already planning for those as far as into 2022. Q1 often includes a number of large scale sales meetings, helping our corporate clients kick-off the year motivating and educating their internal audiences. We've already been coast to coast--from Orlando to Austin--producing large-scale, multi-day events including sales kick-off meetings for a global software company and one of the nation's largest software and hardware resellers, and a multinational IT firm specializing in CRM software. We partnered with Ocean Spray on its Annual Growers Meeting on Marco Island, Florida; and began the first of a series of CIO Summits in Half Moon Bay, California. We are well into the execution of our upcoming spring events and you will see us traveling the globe over the next few months.





Client News
Expert Commentary
Siemens Building Technologies Manager Brycen Spencer shared winter weather tips for building and facility managers with High Profile Monthly.

Sean Tesoro, president, Salem Five Financial spoke to The Salem News about fluctuations in the stock market. 

Feature Coverage
Dr. Michael Jaff , president, Newton-Wellesley Hospital , was a guest on NECN's This Week in Business . Dr. Jaff shared his perspective on the economics of healthcare, the healthcare talent pipeline, and the role of a community hospital.

Two nurses at the special care nursery at South Shore Hospital, made sure that their patients were properly attired for the Super Bowl. They dressed up New England's tiniest Pats fans in Patriots hats and football-themed outfits and staged a special photo and video shoot. The video and images were viewed more than 300,000 times on social media.


Recovery Centers of America named Laura A. Ames CEO of its Danvers facility. Ames, a healthcare executive with more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership positions at hospitals and rehabilitation centers across Massachusetts, leads day-to-day operations of the drug and rehabilitation center, joining Westminster facility CEO Mike Stuart on the Massachusetts leadership team.

Recovery Centers of America released "Seven Tips for Watching March Madness Sober,"  a short guide to help people in recovery manage the temptations associated with the party-like atmosphere of the weeks-long tournament (The NCAA East Regional tournament was at the TD Garden here in Boston this year!).

Nonprofit
The Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF) was in Washington D.C. for its 7th annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. Advocates from around the country, including brain aneurysm survivor and CNBC Finance Reporter Sharon Epperson, joined BAF staff for meetings with legislators about "Ellie's Law," a bill that seeks federal funding for brain aneurysm research.

The Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) celebrates its Annual Auction & Gala   on Friday, April 6 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront. This year's super hero theme celebrates CWE's mission to empower aspiring entrepreneurs and help them achieve success in their professional endeavors. For event information and tickets, click here .

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Sincerely,

 sandy   wendy

Sandy Lish             Wendy Spivak

Principal/Founder   Principal/Founder

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