2015 Immediate Future

Archive: 2022

We’re in the middle of the summer silly season – traditionally the time of year when there’s little actual news to report (unless of course, you consider air conditioning being sexist as headline news). And this is just as important for a social media strategy as planning…

As serious marketers we are all well versed on the benefits of social media and content marketing. In reality as marketers, we have always produced ‘content’ anyway, albeit now the channels and types of assets have changed. We moved from print to website, brochures to PDFs & micro sites, seminars…

Now, there’s a question! The issue of one of three giants buying Twitter has started gaining some serious traction over the last few weeks. Those giants are, of course, Apple, Facebook and Google. Although there is a viable case for Apple to buy the flagging social network, it seems that…

Many marketers focus on customer loyalty. However, they may be chasing an unachievable goal. Loyalty is an emotion, usually referred to in terms of personal relationships, friends and family. It is a human emotion and not something which can be passed on to a brand or product. If we were…

“Imagine for the first time in history, humanity firing on all cylinders, everyone, everywhere, new voices, new dreams and new inspirations” (Internet.org). With Facebook’s latest technological advancement in aerospace, we are now a step closer to achieving Mark Zuckerberg’s global vision. Specifically, a worldwide web that really…

The quality of today’s brand engagement is seeing owned content and publishing flourish at rates and volumes almost unseen before. Out of all the most current HD, Hi-Res, 3V, native-video, animated gif and micro-moment storytelling the most creative, responsive, quality-consistent and to-the-second content is winning. Some of the worlds hottest…

The social media storm around Cecil the Lion is undeniable – with over 800k mentions of this name online and 444k uses of the hashtag #CecilTheLion. For those that don’t know the story goes something like this: Cecil is a famous lion from Zimbabwe that has been…

So, you’re using Instagram to engage with your audience and share valuable content? Whilst this is a great use of the tool, there will be many customers who have not seen your marketing efforts and are not aware of your account. How can they be found amongst the millions of…

After being purchased by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012, Instagram has become one of the most influential social networking sites. Especially as it surpassed Twitter in 2014 to become the second largest social network in the United States. Furthermore, Instagram boasts 300 million active users, with over 30 billion…

No, this isn’t another blog about Amazon’s Prime Day. Nor is it a battle-cry for us all to dress in red suits and feast on plates of Turkey during the height of summer. I’m exploring why the brands who have Christmas ‘locked down’ in July, thrive in H2. The banking…

The oldest enemy of e-commerce has always been customer drop-off, losing potential customers during various points in your purchase funnel as they slip through the gaps in your carefully crafted user journey. It often left us feeling like Wile E. Coyote trying to catch Roadrunner. In-app commerce could be the…

On the 14th September 1987, the first email was sent from China to an international academic network. “Across the Great Wall,” the email proudly proclaimed, “we can reach every corner in the world.” Ironic, considering that the Chinese government has since blocked over 2,700 websites including Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,…

LinkedIn has just made a major change to the way brands can interact on the channel. They have just enabled company pages to respond as brand (as opposed to individual company members). Why is this significant you ask? Because it’s totally out of character for LinkedIn to…

Customer service – a bugbear of many consumers, and the source of much frustration. Social customer service has long been seen as the much-maligned poorer cousin of traditional channels (call centre and email). But has the tide started to turn? According to Dimension Data, 35% of all customer…

This month both the London Times and Financial Times have run horror stories about social media. The FT featured its own FT/ICSA Boardroom Bellwether survey which found that just over a third of FTSE350 index companies have never discussed a social media policy, while roughly the same proportion — 37…

In the past, blocking ads on mobile has not been an easy task. As little as 15% of adults in Great Britain use ad-blocking software on their phone, according to a July 2015 study from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, conducted by YouGov. This is very small when compared to…

In honour of their 20th birthday, Amazon have declared today to be Amazon Prime Day and are celebrating in a big way with a 24 hour global sales extravaganza billed as having even more bargains up for grabs than Black Friday. With exclusive member-only deals…

Facebook is as much an evolving ecosystem of data as ever before. We proactively share what we care about with people we care about at some of the most revealing levels of intimacy. It is no wonder that among such an environment of personal information, marketers can use this data…

While immediate future and some of its clients enjoyed the hottest day of the year beside the River Thames at the very enjoyable Henley Royal Regatta on July 1, another hot event was taking place across a wider pond over in Washington DC. Heralding a new digital dawn at the…

The emergency services are being called to modernise their communication strategy to fit in with the smartphone and tablet generation, as we have now become ‘Digital by Default’. The Institution of Engineering and Technology carried out a study that suggested introducing a system that uses texts and…

With more than 100 million daily users, and 71% of those falling into the 18-34 age bracket, many brands chasing younger demographics are now looking towards Snapchat as a way to engage with and market to their customers. Other than fear of the unknown,…

If you’re not already ‘paying to play’, you should be. Get your targeting right, and your customer engagement rates can be as high as 20%. It is compelling data like this that is helping to evidence the success of paid social versus above the line (ATL) advertising. Being able to…

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Facebook have made a few significant changes to how video ads work on both mobile and desktop clients. Firstly the new pricing options for video ads, which will now offer advertisers the option of paying for video ads only when they are viewed for at least 10…

There’s endless bloomin’ rhetoric on how you make content relevant in social media and beyond. It is after all, the hottest topic in marketing. It’s proven that the greater the relevancy and context, the more content resonates with audiences. The more it resonates, the more likely the…

The recent Facebook “townhall Q&A” session with CEO Mark Zuckerburg has left the internet buzzing about what the future holds for the world’s biggest social media network. The hour-long session saw Zuckerburg fielding questions from everyday Facebook users and famous personalities such as Stephen Hawking and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

According to Tinder’s website the total number of user swipes is around 1.6billion, with around 26million matches being made daily. It is also one of the most popular applications on both iOS and Android devices, making it a lucrative channel for any brand that wants to try this controversial guerrilla…

It’s been 20 years since Bill Gates uttered the famous words “content is king” – and for the last two decades, it has been a mantra by which marketers have lived. But mobile and smart technologies have changed the way that people interact with brands and their content, which, in…

Facebook’s presence is becoming ever more omnipotent, as Sir Martin Sorrell stated how Google’s dominant position in online advertising is threatened by the social networking giant. This may not be surprising to some, as Facebook beat YouTube in terms of desktop video views for the first time in August 2014,…

Amongst the many things discussed last week at Cannes Lions was how big brands communicate to their multiple audiences online and how to promote campaigns and story-telling effectively throughout multiple platforms. Talking to multiple audiences is a common issue for many brands and makes deciding what to post, what tone…

As busy professionals, I am sure that you often feel stretched for time to complete your ever-growing to-do list. As your inbox relentlessly piles up, have you ever uttered the words ‘there simply aren’t enough hours in the day’? Or if you are super busy, perhaps there aren’t enough minutes…

Recently there has been a lot of talk about Twitter’s supposedly secret upcoming feature, Project Lightning, and it’s easy to see why. What we do know is that it will curate and display events-based content in rich feeds which will be visible whether the user is logged into Twitter or…

The festival season is here and brands globally are cashing in on sponsorship, branding, presence and product demos of all kinds; taking over stalls, stages, arenas, performers and musicians to get in front of the most dynamic audiences, be in the background of their selfies, and inevitably be part…

As hieroglyphics proved an effective form of communication for the ancient Egyptians, has the emoji, the digital hieroglyphic, revolutionised modern day communication in the same way? According to research conducted by TalkTalk Mobile, a phenomenal 80% of Brits are using emojis to communicate, there is even an…

Anyone who uses Twitter will know there are several keystrokes that can spice up the reading experience, and most importantly, add value. Handles (@) identify individuals or their companies on the micro-blogging site, and hashtags (#) provide a topical marker or context, allowing readers to discover more content on a…

We all know the old cliché that content is king, and it is hard to argue. However, kings have a long and often bloody history of being toppled, so always need to be on their toes. They should be seen to be learning from and listening to their peers and…

Yup, you read that right. Don’t bother training your CEO, or for that matter, your leadership team, in social media. In our experience, training courses don’t make any tangible difference. Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that business leaders shouldn’t be active in social. In fact, I’m suggesting…

Twitter has been getting a lot of column inches recently for all the wrong reasons. For starters, though it launched officially in 2006, the company has yet to turn a profit. In 2014 it reported a pre-tax loss of £372m, despite raking in £908m worth of revenue.

If you are a regular to the immediate future blog or follow us on Twitter then you will know that we were very much behind #SMWF last week. I was there, taking selfies, storming the stage, speaking on a panel but most importantly networking and talking to industry peers about…

What is the ‘best’ performing blog? Which piece of content performs the best on my website? What should we make more of? These are all questions I am used to hearing from clients. There are a number of ways to measure ‘success’ and ‘performance’ but before doing so you need…

More often than not, when customers are frustrated about a bad service or bad product experience, they will take to social to vent their experience. In doing so, this allows others to jump on the bandwagon and start chiming in with their equally awful experience. In many cases a quick,…

As more marketers are taking innovative steps toward reaching their target audiences on digital channels, it is becoming even more important for the messages they are pushing to be as relevant as possible. The most effective way to gain relevance like this is to use the digital data at your disposal. It’s never been…

Social Media is an incredibly fast paced and exciting industry in which new platforms, aps and blogs rapidly spring into the digital landscape. With social media facilitating innovative approaches to real time marketing, it has never been more important for marketers to keep their finger on the pulse of these continuous developments.

With the introduction of the modern computer in the 1950s through to modern-day hand-held devices, technology has empowered us to communicate and process facts faster. It has also forced us to assimilate data and phenomena quicker. But as a result of that faster data and message transmission, we are now…

Searching for outfit inspiration on Pinterest? Like what you see? The new ‘Buy button’ will make it yours! Pinterest has announced some very exciting news that in a few short weeks, US consumers will be able to purchase directly from the platform through its ‘buyable’ Pin, without ever having to…

Industry events, trade shows, exhibitions and all the other events that companies have to attend are, in many ways, a necessary evil. They are great fun, and they show the industry that “we are still here and we mean business”. However, more often than not, they cost the earth and…

Before the early noughties launches of Facebook, Twitter et al, news cycles were longer and managing crises was a whole lot easier. Why? Broadly speaking, you only had to worry about the media backlash. Today (as we all know), social has added another layer of complexity. The slightest error can…

“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the minds stays up all night, telling itself stories.” – Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal American author and journalist, Ernest Hemingway once made a $10 bet with some writer friends that he…

Here at immediate future, we have a mantra that social media is not the be all and end all, but it has fundamentally changed the way we communicate. And having spent some time over the last few months working with a client in the hospitality industry, I think that there…

Video killed the erm, everything star. There is no question that video is the future of content marketing and by proxy social media or that by 2017 video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic worldwide. As video dominates marketing strategies left right and centre it can…

Antony Robbins, the Director of Communication at the Museum of London, began his address at our last Social Speakeasy by saying the following: “This evening I’m going to let you in on a little secret, I’m going to tell you an inappropriate story, if you’re good I might sing and…

Holidays: the Holy Grail of the working world. The one time each year where you can kick back in an exotic locale and collect a paycheque for lying in a hammock and reading a dog-eared copy of “Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. The importance we place on holidays…

A recent article published by the FT has announced that several mobile providers may soon be launching ad blocking software over their networks. This new service, developed by an Israeli start-up, Shine will block most types of advertising on mobile devices, including in-app advertising,…

One challenge for me day-to-day is helping clients extract the best content possible for their digital activity. When we think about B2B content, we think whitepapers, videos, case studies etc. However, more often than not, the most valuable content is not stored in the form of a document or a…

When it comes to customer service, consumers now expect to interact with the brands on their own terms – they want to receive a prompt response, on the channel of their choice, and a quick resolution to their problem. To put this into context, if a customer phones the call…

It’s no secret that social media connects millions of people worldwide and has irreversibly changed the way we interact. The abundance of social media platforms has necessitated a change in the way brands engage with customers, how we consume news, our communications with friends…

With all kinds of summer events on the agenda and the corporate convention season already rumbling away, marketers are increasingly looking for reliable ways to bide the attention of attendees, eager to solidify connection with their target prospects and make sure they stay on their radar to develop a promising brand relationship.

There might have been a disjoint between Twitter and real life in terms of public opinion around the recent General Election (see last week’s blog), but Twitter offered a fascinating journal of what the politicians were thinking in the final days of the month-long campaign. It was supposed…

If you’ve used LinkedIn’s publisher platform in the past, you will now have access to detailed information on how well your content has performed, and the audience it reached. In an effort to be more than just a professional’s social network, and to place itself as a prominent…

In a world where the average consumer expects a response within the hour (42%, Edison Research), and has the attention span less than that of a goldfish (8 seconds for humans, the goldfishes’ is 9 seconds), constantly connected from wherever they are – the prospect of ‘real-time marketing’ seems like…

“What’s Twitter saying?” “What’s the hashtag?” So entwined is social to our world, that to get the latest news we often go there first – but are we right to look to Twitter and other social networks to gauge wider public opinion? A study in 2013 by Pew Research showed…

The days of visiting actual travel agents and waiting on faux leather couches to be served whilst being visually accosted by A1 posters of smiling families splashing in the waves and creatively bankrupt taglines (“New Zealand! Bring Your Mum!”) are long gone. A holidaymaker’s entire journey from skiving off work…

On Sunday 26 April, alongside around 38,000 other intrepid runners, I ran the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon (I promise this will be the last time I mention it). To make it harder for myself, I decided to live tweet my way around the course. Along…

As if you didn’t know already, social media is a noisy space. And the latest research from GlobalWebIndex (GWI) gives us one of the reasons why. Because on average people have 5.39 social networking accounts. Now that is a lot of chatter! But here’s the thing: for…

For small business owners, automation tools can be incredibly useful things. But, like all tools, relying too heavily on social media automation will end in tears. Maintaining a brand identity and personality on social media is an important part of the relationship you want to have with your customers,…

In the event of Klout’s new feature to identify expertise, and the fact that I seem to be increasingly talking more and more to clients around this subject, I thought it seemed timely to discuss influencers. Firstly, what is Klout’s new feature? Well, in a nutshell, it shows you what…

We are all aware of the latest marketing buzzword – personalisation – and the notion that brands now have the ability to follow users every “internet” step to ensure they get a 360 degree understanding of their customers. This, in theory, allows brands to personalise messaging, offers, new product announcements,…

From asking followers for hidden-gem holiday destinations to posting the ubiquitous sunset selfie (framed by palm trees for added effect) and bragging about how amazing and life-affirming their holiday was afterward, travellers are a noisy bunch in social media. So much so that a recent study shows that social sharers,…

A huge change in readily accessible data on social media is about to occur. On 10 March Facebook announced it would be closing off third party API access to its user activity data to make way for something a lot more exciting. Facebook Topic Data. What does…

Facebook announced the lock-down of its Graph API, to demonstrate the efforts it’s making to protect users’ privacy, and the changes will take effect by 30th April. Wondering what on earth a Facebook’s Graph API is? The Graph API is the primary way to get data in and out of Facebook’s social graph, the…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With Pepsi Max’s new “Genius” campaign officially kicking off this week, the timing of Aman Matharu, Digital Marketing Manager at PepsiCo’s, address at our most recent Social Speakeasy couldn’t have been better. Aman addressed an eager crowd of Social Speakeasy attendees on a balmy spring evening to share the secrets…

The hot topic of the moment is Digital Transformation. As you would expect of any agency principle, I regularly attend and speak at events on this very topic. Whilst I applaud the information that is being shared to help inspire and evidence the increasing importance of digital, all too often…

Last week, I saw an infographic on the charity and non-profit sectors that perform best – and worst – on social media. And whilst running (and live tweeting!) the London Marathon this year, it occurred to me that charities could be making more of the huge opportunities that are available…

Every 6 months or so another infographic appears informing us of the best times to post on each social media platform. Well I can tell you that most of these timings are unworkable. Useless insight that is meaningless. Why? Because the best times to post depends on a number of…

Here at immediate future we like to stay in shape. Whether it’s running the London Marathon or maintaining brand health, we are always on the ball. With that in mind, we put together the following Social Media Brand Workout to help you keep your…

From 21st April mobile optimisation became mandatory, but we’ve all been doing this anyway right? Well, it appears now, and rightly so, we don’t have a choice as the almighty Google are now favouring mobile optimised and friendly websites over those that aren’t. What does this mean…

Recently, I have been working with clients across a wide range of verticals in the B2B space, from pharmaceuticals to chemical engineering to sports equipment. These disparate markets have completely unique business challenges, requirements, sales processes and routes to market. However, there is one thing that many of these companies…

I recently spoke on the panel at a wonderful Social Media Leadership forum event hosted by Founder Justin Hunt, on the theme of how to embed a data driven culture. Whilst by title, the focus was on social media, it was inevitable that we leaked into all…

Knowing your influencers is a key goal for most companies. However, there is no straight forward formula, or right or wrong way to identify these evangelists. Repeated engagements and metrics such as Klout will help in assessing how engaged and how influential they are in their own merit, but without…

Finding yourself in a new location, town or city can be quite daunting. But being able to connect to others and discover new venues can be key to quickly getting the most out of your new whereabouts. On a…

Are private messenger platforms due an overhaul? The latest trends suggest that brands are looking to leverage their customer interaction with product information, advice and sheer selling. Is private no longer private, as the messages get commercial? Private messaging has been around for yonks. In the late 1980s the arrival…

Clinton passed on an ostentatious announcement, and opted for online social conversations to kick-start her campaign for the White House. And the buzz which followed was far greater than fellow candidates from the opposing Republican Party. After announcing her presidential bid, last Sunday via YouTube, Clinton has managed to score…

On Friday night, Twitter announced it is ditching third-party agreements for reselling firehose data. To date, businesses have used Twitter firehose APIs to stream real-time tweets and all related metadata. Friday’s announcement won’t have come as a shock to some, having seen how swiftly Twitter moved to help its streaming…

LinkedIn’s latest product utilises the connections of employees in order to publish and curate content with up to ten times the reach of the average company page. “Did you know the average employee has 10 times as many connections as a company has followers?” – LinkedIn LinkedIn Elevate offers your…

Oh no! Yet another bloomin’ blog post about content marketing. Well not quite. I won’t be suggesting you produce more. Please, let’s create less. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 92% of B2B companies say social media is a key content marketing tactic. And weirdly, slightly less,…

On 26 April, I’ll be running the Virgin Money London Marathon for the very first time. My IF colleagues all think I’m completely bonkers, and after 5 months of (barely) training, I’m starting to agree with them. Why is this blogworthy, you may ask. Well, despite it…

Past UK elections were won by a mix of political manifesto pledges and party leader personalities. But the common platform used to communicate those since the 1950s was television or tabloid newspapers. The Sun newspaper bullishly proclaimed after the 1992 election that “It’s The Sun wot won it”. What the…

It is often assumed that football is the key to targeting the 18-24 year male audience, but data speaks for itself – only 9.9% of the average audience for a Premier League game is in fact aged between the ages of 16 to 24 and male. However,…

Something that has been hot on my radar at the moment for a number of reasons is the efficiency of communication and how inefficient email can be! The amount of wasting man hours we lose to checking emails, most of which we don’t even really need to read is phenomenal.

Working at a social media agency in 2015, you would be surprised at how many people in the industry still only track social media by size of community. And yep you guessed it, this really does mean nothing. Forbes published a timely and pertinent article late last year around the…

It is one of the UK’s fastest-growing retailers and its name and mission have shunned the city centre for nine years. But notonthehighstreet.com, which recently underscored its aversion to the high street by opening its new Surrey headquarters overlooking the Richmond roundabout, has ambitions to – wait…

The beauty industry has gone through a significant revolution over the past 10 years, with rise of the visual social platforms such as YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram, we are quickly learning that beauty brands need more than just a pretty face for social media. Consumers have become more and more…

Yesterday I spent the day with one of our global clients getting into the nitty-gritty of social compliance. As a business operating globally, they sensibly wanted to understand the latest social regulations, ensuring their social media policy was updated – sage advice indeed, I would urge any business to…

Getting your employees to share content can be a struggle, but when they do it can pay off in ways that company posts cannot. Generating positive employee shared content is easy when you know how. These are five types of content that employees should willingly share that will boost…

There is a lot of social noise when it comes to travel. From flights and holidays to hotels and destinations; brands and consumers alike are chatting, posting and broadcasting on social media. In all that noise though, there is insight that can change the game for travel brands. Get it…

Being in the business of social media, we like to believe that it helps bring people together, incites communication and debate amongst large groups of people, and simplifies access to that communication. These remain true, and can be backed up with a plethora of hair-raising facts and figures like…

So you’re writing a blog, but where do you start? At Immediate Future we blog professionally for clients and ourselves, but sometimes even we as “experts” get writer’s block. A good place to start is with the audience – what do you think they want to read? It’s simple marketing…

When it comes to customer segmentation, customers tend to be pushed into pre-fabricated segments driven by criteria such as demographic, age, and income. And as we become more sophisticated, transaction details, online usage and CRMs have allowed for more specific segments. Focus groups and surveys provide even more data. However,…

Yes that’s right. There are (unfortunately) far too many senior marketing professionals, even boardroom directors, who are to blame for consumer brands failing on social. Simply put, whoever signs off their approval for junior marketers running social are idiots; whoever hasn’t bothered to understand the critical role social plays for…

“Exciting times for live video streaming” isn’t a term we expected to say this side of 2015 but the rate of new apps being introduced that are able to bridge the functionality gap, (Pan Pan, Nutshell, Hopper, Tworlds) has seen a big increase in the last few months. A gap that certain mainstream social channels…