By: Laura Vandiver, Director of Research
I recently had the pleasure of conducting a research project with high school students throughout the state of Missouri. I visited both rural and urban schools, and had the chance to ask these kids about social media and how they use it. While some of their responses may have reflected [...]

When elected as the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis took on the role not only as religious leader, but as Communicator-in-Chief to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Much like a role in politics, the Pope will be charged with getting the messages of the Catholic Church out to followers around the [...]

The Vandiver Group, Inc. is constantly looking for new ways to use existing tools from our communications toolkit to help clients reach their goals. Social media is one of those tools. To share our expertise and insight in social media, our President and CEO, Donna Vandiver, participated in a panel discussion on social media and [...]

Happy Friday! Check out some of the industry stories you might have missed this week.
Pinterest Passes Twitter in Blog Traffic
A recent study from Shareholic shows that Pinterest drove more traffic to blogs in February than Twitter. Women’s lifestyle, home décor and cooking outlets have been some of the largest beneficiaries of Pinterest’s growth. While the [...]

For the past week, we here at TVG have been inspired by the back-to-school season. Here are some things we wanted to share in the spirit of learning:
Keeping It Legal
The always evolving realm of social media provides opportunity for growth and advancement. It is also important to stay on top of to the latest developments. [...]

Russian delegates from the Community Connections Program (CCP) visited the Vandiver Group this afternoon to learn about public relations and communications practices for non-profits. CCP is managed by the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for Information Development (USAID) and is run locally by the World Affairs Council of St. Louis.
The Community [...]

It’s been a few weeks, but thankfully we’ve recovered from Thanksgiving food comas and survived Black Friday, Small Biz Saturday and Cyber Monday! So, here’s the news you might have missed this past week.
1. New Facebook Profile
Facebook announced last Sunday via Twitter the “New Profile.” Besides rearranging where you see profile information, FB has added [...]

By Donna M. Vandiver
In twenty-first century marketing, there is a new rulebook. Rule Number One: Your best marketers are always your satisfied customers. In conversations with friends, family, peers, people they interact with online, and even those who follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and the myriad of other social media sites, your customers [...]

Ready for the weekend? So are we. Here’s some stuff you might have missed this week:
1. Sanford-Brown and First-Ever “Give Back Day”
Sanford-Brown College, a TVG client, participated in a nationwide “Give Back Day” this week. Coinciding with National Medical Assistant Recognition Day, students from all of Sanford-Brown’s campuses helped with various activities, including health screenings, [...]

In the most recent issue of Enterprising Women magazine, Donna Vandiver discusses the updated FTC guidelines for testimonials and endorsements in social media. Here’s an excerpt from her article, “Make Sure Your Company Knows the Rules Before Entering the Game”:
“The world of communications is changing.  Social media is growing by leaps and bounds and it [...]