People have easier access to information - whether from websites, videos or their phones. Leveraging video marketing is increasingly the most powerful way to promote your brand online.

In fact, by 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic, according to SmallBizTrends.

More people are interacting with videos today than ever before so it’s vital to use a video marketing strategy to connect with your audience.

Social media has been a great component for helping us get the video out. But with all the different platforms, is it fine to share the same video across them?

Continue reading to find out how long videos should be for each platform.

Everyone gets old, if we're lucky. But getting old doesn’t mean you stop caring about your well-being, looks and insecurities, so why do businesses assume as much?

In a recent Atlantic article, “Why Businesses Misunderstand Old People,” Joseph Coughlin touches on this intriguing thought.

According to the article, 80 percent of Americans who could benefit from hearing aids aren't seeking them out. 

Is it poor marketing channels? Maybe. But according to Coughlin, traditional hearing aids make people feel old, and no one wants that. 

As influencers in the garden industry, we need to take this into account.The scale of the gardener demographics is largely tilted to an older audience, and if you are missing the mark on what they want, your message will fall flat.

Continue reading to see what businesses are doing to accommodate the older generation.

Pinterest is known for inspiration in all aspects of life. It makes it easy for users to simply scroll through to find ideas for anything they are looking for. And with more than 150 million monthly users globally, you must know Pinterest is an important piece of your brand’s quest for social media domination.

As technology continues to advance, artificial intelligence (AI) is taking the spotlight. AI can be incredibly expensive to introduce in everyday life, but with chatbots, that’s no longer an issue.

Chatbots are computer programs that typically use text based live chat interface to carry out tasks for customers on behalf of the business instead of using real humans, such as Alexa and Siri.

Chatbots have been successful in customer service for years, but now is when more and more companies are jumping on board. Instead of having someone to answer all of their customer’s questions, bots are able to take on the easy questions to not inconvenience workers. They are saving industries huge amounts of money.

Social media and banking apps have adopted chatbots in the biggest way. Both have the ability to answer frequently asked questions easily. They are also personalized to each customer’s account for added personalization and not to mention, privacy.

Continue reading about how to utilize chatbots for your business.

I recently attended my seventeenth GWA (The Association for Garden Communicators) Conference in beautiful Buffalo, NY.

It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been in garden PR for almost 20 years (gasp)! I guess I love what I do, right? It’s always a joy attending this yearly conference, which allows me to reconnect with many of my garden friends that I only get to see once a year. And, of course, making new friends, too!

After working and attending a variety of industry events throughout my career, I want to share a few tips for connecting with the media that will help you be more successful when pitching. After all, this is a great opportunity for face time and relationship building!

Let’s dig in with these quick tips for making media relations magic at your next trade show.

Snapchat is once again changing the consumer marketing game, making it easier for users to send links

 to each other.

With Snapchat’s newest update, anyone can attach a link to a snap to send to their audiences. With the tap of the paperclip, enter in your website and anyone can enjoy it.

In the constant head-to-head battle between Snapchat and Instagram, this puts Snapchat back on top. Instagram has been using trends that work on Snapchat and vice versa. Currently, Instagram stories do not allow regular users to add links to their stories – only verified users or advertisements are allowed.

Continue reading to learn what is different and how your garden brand can take advantage of the changes.

With the internet at the tip of our fingers, having a strong online social media presence is very important for garden brands. Consumers’ first impressions are often based on the brand’s social media platforms, making it extremely important for them to be attractive and easily accessible. An easy-to-use website and friendly brand persona can make all the difference when trying to retain support from your target audience. 

Read on for 4 tips on how to create your social media persona.

Instagram was one of the first major photo-based social networks when it launched in 2010. By the end of April 2012, there were already over 100 million active users.

After recognizing its success and the potential for competition, Facebook purchased Instagram in April 2012. They paid a total of $1 billion dollars in cash and stock and used "the power of Facebook" to help the member base grow by an additional 23% in 2013. Today, the two networks are linked, allowing users on Instagram to post photos or videos directly to both accounts simultaneously.

Today, Instagram has surpassed Twitter in user activity, with over 500 million registered profiles. It has evolved into a well-rounded platform, featuring video posts, 24-hour stories, and live streaming.

To learn more about Instagram and its growth, check out the following new research report from WebsiteBuilder.org.

Continue reading to learn more about the success of Instagram.

For today’s Trending Thursday post, Garden Media is streaming its way into 2017 and beyond. 

We’re continuing our YouTube video series  to deep dive into the top lawn and garden trends for 2017, outlined in Grow 365.  

Each video in the series will dive into one of the eight trends for 2017 and  show people exactly how they can make the concept of indoor gardening work for them no matter their space, time constrains or growing preferences.

The first video dives into the Peak Season trend and outlines how beginners can start their own hydroponic garden.

Learn more about the Peak Season trend from our latest YouTube video.

With more than 6 billion people in the world, it’s pretty incredible to think that there are only 16 distinct major personality types. 

According to 16Personalities, an incredibly accurate (in our opinion) and free personality test website, there are a lot of factors that make up someone’s personality. 

So what do personalities have to do with PR? A lot!Understanding your clients, coworkers and even audiences’ personalities can have a huge impact on how we interact with others, achieve success and build meaningful connections.

After all, we’re all about making connections in this business, aren’t we?

Continue reading to learn more.