Content Strategy Immediate Future

Content Strategy

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, if you are consuming content online hardly a day goes by without someone somewhere dropping the “M” word. Millennial. “How millennial are you?”; “The Millennials Are Coming”; “10 Surprising Habits of Millennial…

Do you wake up in the morning and look forward to tweets from brands? Me neither. If someone decides to follow your company, it’s a massive deal. They’re allowing you to enter a news feed most likely to be populated by family, friends and colleagues. The opportunity to…

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 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…

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.

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,…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

“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…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

[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…

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…

By adjusting your approach to social media during your businesses peak period, you could turn a stressful and potentially fearful time into a victorious experience delivering spadefuls of ROI. We’ve heard it before: “social can be your best friend or your worst enemy”. This is never truer than during…

Most people, when they think of the 1960s, will probably recall the ‘swinging sixties’ or the relaxation of social taboos (clothing, music, drugs, sexuality, formalities and schooling). You may even bring to mind the conflict that raged in Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination or the Apollo 11 mission placing Neil Armstrong…

As announced last month the British military have launched the 77th brigade, put in place to directly combat extremist propaganda and the digital…

Last Christmas they gave us #hareandbear but the very next month they took them away. This year instead of a deer they gave us a penguin, special. This time of year we annually see some of the most engaging social campaigns and as the holidays rapidly approach.

Nestle relaunched the Rolo online brand earlier in October with the classic strapline ‘Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?’ via a series of five videos, and the immediate reaction has been largely positive. They’ve racked up over 180,000 views on YouTube in just over two…

As digital content marketers we are in the throes of two concurrent data revolutions. That of Big Data and secondly, the contextualization of big data. You won’t win customers with Data solely – but when you use…

The opening up of the LinkedIn publisher platform is another symptom of a potentially unwell state of content marketing. Quite simply, we are drowning in a sea of content and some of it is just ain’t that good. From the recent Content Benchmarking…

The ability to know what engages your audience has always been important but marketers, consultants and analysis are turning their attention to why? With more social media insights than ever we are empowered with the ability to optimise our social content and this allows us to answer…

Last month we were joined by Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate, perhaps better recognised by their brands Taylors Coffee and Yorkshire Tea. Brand Communications Manager Dom Dwight, AKA Coffee Enthusiast, delivered a presentation on creating inspirational social content. The outcome? We all left feeling rather inspired! Funny and endearing, Dom…

Fashion brands are almost always amongst the best in class when it comes to maximising the power of rich and visual content across their digital channels, particularly pioneering activity on visual social networks such as Vine, Pinterest and Instagram. With highly creative, engaging imagery and video content at their fingertips…

Spreading campaign messages via Twitter with the use of hashtags or recruiting dedicated supporters has always been a labour of gaining organic strength. Relying on the persistence and influence of others to spread the message. Now we see the emergence of new apps that access supporters’ social…

As businesses begin to appreciate the value that quality visual content can bring in capturing the attention of prospects, which in turn drive clicks and sales, video becomes an ever more compelling part of a brand’s content strategy; Cisco predicts that by 2017 video will account for…

You may or may not have read countless articles, suspiciously pointing the finger at Twitter’s re-design and how it closely matches the appearance of another popular social network. Or you’ve logged into your account and have been taken aback by an enormous cover photo. Yes Twitter has had an image…

Most of the consumption of digital media is now very much based on image, text or video via our mobile handsets. Countless mornings see the commute of the working masses, heads down, staring deeply into their handsets narrowly avoiding road accidents and lamp post encounters. For those…

LinkedIn is running ‘full steam ahead’ in its content marketing efforts as it announces the release of two new content analytics tools, dubbed as the “Dynamic Duo” for businesses. Read on to discover why the news should come as music to the ears of B2B brands marketing…

As the interweb continues to become more saturated with sites competing with each other to provide the most shocking, informative and funniest news; it is becoming increasingly difficult to cut through the noise and find reliable sources of creative content. Whilst most of us are accustomed to sourcing…

Rumours are circulating the net of Twitter’s planned revamp and eventual elimination of the platform’s most prominent symbols, the #tag and @reply. With conjecture that testing is well underway, we take a look at what the change could spell for brands. Testing and updates to the functionality…

Before Destiny’s Child ‘Bootylicious’ starts playing in your head… stop! I’m referring to a different sort of Jelly – the question-and-answer app launched in 2014 by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone which has already become the 76th most downloaded app in the UK. What is Jelly? Jelly is a…

You have built your empire with blood, sweat and tears. You have a small, dedicated team who stand by you. They love working for you, they love the culture, the hours, pay, flexibility offered and the general working environment. So who wouldn’t want to work for you? Well it seems…

Key to any effective social media strategy is the ability to monitor what people are saying about your brand across social networks, blogs and forums. There’s a wealth of data available at your fingertips – the challenge is how best to turn that collated data into real-time actions. We asked…

The ever dividing gap of age generation is now so evident within the digital sphere of social media. With statistics evident of teens turning from Facebook or Twitter it’s safe to ask what the social media platforms are they turning to have or don’t have. The inevitable…

OK, I’m no psychologist, so I would have to hazard a guess on the applications of Freud’s psychodynamic theory to social media – I’ll leave that to the psychologists amongst us! What I can tell you though, is that thought processes and emotions play an important role in social media…

A few days ago, I read an interesting article in Social Media Today, which got me thinking about word-of-mouth marketing via social media. Social has had an enormous impact in transforming the way we talk about and endorse products/services to friends and family. But social should not…

As we approach the end of 2013, there have been endless articles on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc… listing the greatest social media meltdowns of 2013. Although they provide some valuable lessons on techniques to avoid in your social strategy, they also scaremonger a little. And the downside…

© Kenichi Nobusue ”My social networks” Photo. Attribution 2.0 Generic There is no simple answer to running a successful business but those who do often rely on business instinct. It could be a sixth sense that leads you to success, but sometimes it’s best…

What is Netflix? Netflix is the world’s leading internet TV Network with more than 37 million members in 40 countries watching more than one billion hours of TV programmes and films per month. Since Netflix launched in the UK it has received a mixed response. It has challenged the…

When you have your pictures, links and posts ready, there is one thing that you need to ask yourself. When would be the best time to post? Brands are investing more time and resources into social media, but the timing of your posts are important, making sure that your content…

As social media carries on evolving at lightning speed, the knowledge and skill set divide continues to widen. To be able to fully unlock the power of social media for your business, you need to think beyond the team who manages your branded social media presence and look at the…

Photography has become huge, with 10% of photos in the history of the world being taken in the last 12 months! But do you know how important photos are to your online presence? by klynnetrabue. Explore more infographics like this one on…

Your business is full of experts. And people who know a lot about what they do is extremely interesting to others. Some businesses are starting to move towards being an authority in what they do, to get people to buy into their expertise, rather than just telling people they are…

We all know visual content works best in social – in fact a social media post with a picture is worth 120% more engagement than a post without. But where on earth do you find these pictures? Take them yourself? Pay? Nicking them off Google is no…

Content is being created…quickly and in quantity! There is a vast amount of content being created in today’s world. Content makes the internet work and every second of every day ‘we’ are creating more content. Now in 2013, 9 out of 10 marketers are using content marketing, according to the…

Corporate communication is undergoing rapid change. As a rule of thumb, the challenge for large businesses is to maintain a genuinely personal approach to the customer, despite the sheer volume of enquiries, whilst keeping in line with the overall marketing strategy. Web solutions, intertwined with thought-through social elements provide a…

Content marketing has received a lot of attention of late – it’s really coming to the fore for marketers, who are increasingly paying attention to its true value. I want to share with you this lovely infographic from Demand Metric, which…

The ‘Social Relationship’ tool within GA is not a particularly new tool, however, are brands using it enough? Brands are very familiar with using the traffic referral reports and setting up goals to identify where direct conversions are coming from, but the ‘relationship’ between social interaction and conversions drives a…

Social media continues to revolutionise corporate culture. It opens up new avenues of communication, breaks down barriers between employers, employees and the public, and provides new opportunities for brands to put a human face to their image. CEOs are no exception to this quiet revolution. Customers want to see that…

A content inventory is a bit like a labyrinth. You could find yourself deviating down many paths with little sight of the exit. And even if you are lucky enough to find the exit before being savaged by a Minotaur, there’s always a chance that you might…