“Likes,” “Shares” and “ReTweets” are terms synonymous with a successful brand.

Social media, an extremely effective marketing medium, helps brands reach people on a large scale. In today’s world, public relations campaigns must utilize social media to increase brand awareness and grow consumer demand.

To teach garden brands how to properly convey marketing messages over social media, Garden Media Group released its latest free e-Book, “How The Espoma Company Bloomed: A Social Media Case Study.” The e-Book outlines the best practices for monitoring and posting to a variety of social sites.

Continue reading to learn more about Espoma’s case study.

Anyone who works in this industry knows that pitching and PR go hand-in-hand. An interesting, timely pitch sent to the right contact ultimately means you’ll be successful. It also helps you to build relationships with new contacts.

While good pitches can do wonders for your brand, bad pitches can lend your email straight in the trash.

This infographic from PR Daily shows exactly what makes bad pitches unappealing and what you can do to fix your pitch.

Why are people bad at pitching?

Last week marked a major milestone for Instagram. The app passed 500 million users—and 300 million of those 500 million visit Instagram daily.

To put that into proportion, “500 million” equates to about seven percent of the world’s total population. It’s also larger than the population of the entire United States.

Instagram is proud to announce its users share “500 million windows to the world." The app is blossoming into a virtual space where everything from “the everyday and the epic, are always within reach.”

Instagram’s CEO has described Instagram as a “media destination,” a place where users can learn about what’s happening in the world as it happens. Although this perspective reflects the attitudes of many other platforms, too, Instagram’s growth is really soaring.

So, what can we learn from this?

Continue reading to discover some of the biggest takeaways from Instagram's milestone.

With a large variety of social media platforms available, businesses have some tough decisions to make about marketing themselves.

Which platform is the best for interacting with followers, and by what criteria? Which platform will reach the biggest target audience?

Instagram has set its sights on appealing to business owners. The company recently unveiled a series of updates that will help small and medium-sized businesses better explore what resonates with followers — and it’s a game-changer.

Continue reading to learn more about the importance of Instagram’s updates for businesses.

The Backyard Boldness trend celebrates all things unique and personal. From gardens to outdoor décor to experiences, people are striving for personalization.  

Bold colors and new ideas help people stand out.

Continue reading for a look into the essence of backyard boldness.

We live in the age of images and videos.  

And on social, people don’t stop scrolling their feeds to read something. They stop for visuals.

This trend does wonders for the public relations industry. PR professionals want to inspire engagement and views on social media that only visuals can give. Whether it is a fast-paced, 6-second video or a beautiful image, these are the kind of posts getting attention- especially since words don't cutting it anymore.

Marketers, PR professionals and social media connoisseurs get this and have altered their strategies accordingly. Plus, social media sites are making this easier to be done with new, wildly popular features.

Continue reading to learn how to take advantage of visuals on social media.

I don’t always enjoy nine years of the same marketing campaign, but when I do, it’s because Dos Equis does it right.

Jonathan Goldsmith, also known as the Most Interesting Man in the World, has been the iconic face of Dos Equis for almost a decade. After years of Goldsmith encouraging fellow beer drinkers to “Stay thirsty,” the beer company is saying goodbye to its famous spokesperson.

And of course, he has to go out with a bang. The company launched the final advertisement of Goldsmith’s campaign, which features him taking off on a one-way mission to Mars.

So, after nine years of a wildly successful campaign – the number of beer cases shipped by the brand increased 34.8 percent since 2007– why is Dos Equis sending off their legendary spokesman?

Continue reading to learn how your business can create interesting marketing campaigns.

It is hard to ignore emojis.  These illustrated emoticons have made their way across the internet, through cell phone screens and have even graced the cover of notable magazines.

Brands should take note of their widespread reach and embrace them.

Emojis have become a staple in PR in recent years, so much so that powerhouse brands like Chevy even released a press release in nothing but emojis. 

What makes emojis so great is that they are a common language. People all over the world can use them and know what they mean.

The PR world is utilizing the power and reach of emojis to make an impact for brands.

Continue reading to discover why all PR professionals should be using emojis.

Who runs the world? Beyoncé! And marketing is no different.

Queen B, as her fans like to call her, is not only a top entertainer, but also a great marketer. Any brand should aspire to follow in her marketing and public relations footsteps. 

Beyoncé utilizes strategies that are not typical - but work very well. And by adapting her efforts to the digital world, she has found even greater success.

Continue reading for public relations lessons you can learn from Beyoncé.

In this Trending Thursday, we're examining the Makers Lifestyle trend from our 2016 Garden Trends Report. 

As the DIY movement sifts from making to “doing,” home owners and renters want to experience a personalized way of outdoor living that maintains a sense of home and familiarity.

Yuccies are leading this movement.

Learn more about the Makers Lifestyle from our latest YouTube video.