Smart brands have discovered the power of influencer marketing. While they may not have given up on telling their own stories, businesses are trusting digital personalities to tout their products and services, because consumers are tuning out traditional advertising.

As our new president continues to ignite the Twittersphere, and Facebook Live fosters ubiquitous over-sharing of graphic and violent content, let's reflect on the state of social media - where we've been and where we're going. Read more about how brands can stay digitally relevant in my Knoxville News Sentinel/USA Today Network - Tennessee column.

Hundreds of thousands of women gathered recently at the nation’s Capitol and across the country as part of a widespread movement for gender equity. Regardless of why women marched — and the reasons were deeply personal and varied — the fact remains that women still earn less than men in the workforce.

Still wearing your eating pants, sitting in your recliner and watching bowl games?

Not to worry – you don’t even have to break a sweat with these social media resolutions. You’re already multiscreening, so toggle your laptop, tablet, mobile and remote to shape up your social media profile for 2017. 

There’s an inherent conflict of interest between lawyers and public relations practitioners when it comes to corporate communications, particularly media relations. CEOs are caught in the middle, with an angel and a devil perched on each shoulder, whispering conflicting advice. I’ll leave it to you to decide who is the angel and who is the devil.

What started as a call to go outside instead of to the malls on Black Friday has morphed into a rallying cry for people who are tired of having their Thanksgiving holidays defined by shopping. REI wants to create a new holiday tradition of heading outdoors instead of to the stores. This year, 600 organizations got more than 6 million people outside, according to the company. #OptOutside has officially grown beyond REI.

While skilled politicians can be effectively evasive, it’s not a communications model to emulate.