Social Innovation

In this blog post, we're diving headfirst into the realm of creative social media assets and unleashing a tidal wave of fun-filled strategies to turbocharge your online presence. So grab your digital paintbrushes and let's get ready to shake up the social scene with some seriously sensational content!
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Sailing the unpredictable waters of social media demands more than just a map. It requires a dynamic compass. In the constantly evolving landscape of digital platforms, where algorithms shift like tides and trends come and go, strategic navigation becomes the compass that guides you to your destination. Here are some…
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What’s in your bag? It better be a mini digicam… extra points if it’s a fun colour!  Over the last year we can see that Gen Z have taken a liking to vintage digital cameras. Between our cult obsession with Mean Girls, low rise jeans and paparazzi style content, creating…
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Ready to spice up your snackonomics game? We’re about to unravel the scrumptious mysteries hidden in the latest market data. In the ever-evolving world of social media, understanding these numbers is like finding the perfect dip for your crisps – crucial for an unbeatable snacking experience. Grab…
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New year, new strategies! Every move can significantly contribute to business growth, and initiating a strategic social media overhaul is the catalyst to success. In today’s blog, we will outline seven tactical tips designed to assist your brand in claiming the board and maintaining a vibrant online presence. ♟️ Opening…
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It’s time to dust off those crystal balls and take a sneak peek into the future of social media marketing. Get ready to discover how AI, engaging content, and innovative features will play a pivotal role in your social media next year. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just dipping…
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Are you ready to dive headfirst into a world where creativity knows no bounds? Hold onto your imagination because Procreate is about to take you on a journey beyond your wildest dreams!
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Social Listening, Barbenheimer
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As you may have seen by now… (and the fact that it’s over 2M trending on Twitter…) Threads is live! Where we are now: Threads, an Instagram app is available for pre-download July 6, 2023 App Store: https://t.co/QzxKwyVQoG…
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Welcome to social snapshot, your go-to source for staying updated on the fast-paced world of everything related to social media. We’ve got you covered with the most recent highlights over the past week. Let’s get going and dive right in: Social Summit This exclusive event will challenge your perceptions of…
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Well well well, what do we have here?! Looks like Twitter is making moves to allow verified organisations to post job openings in app! As shared by user Nima Owji; BREAKING: #Twitter is working on a…
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Instagram is testing out the ability to generate AI custom stickers based on text prompts.
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Yes, and here’s why! The metaverse has been capturing the tech industry’s attention for quite some time and undoubtedly still holds unforeseen potential. As metaverse development progresses, it is not only an intriguing topic of office gossip around the water cooler but perhaps a true game-changer for various industries. In…
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TikTok's generative AI tool for avatar creation
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Social Listening for Product Innovation
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Social media is no longer just a place to post pictures of your lunch. It’s a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their target audience and drive sales. As users climb to near 5 billion worldwide on platforms from LinkedIn to…
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In a recent post, WhatsApp stated they are now launching proxy support to users all over the world. What does proxy support mean, I hear you ask? What this means is we’re putting the power into people’s hands to maintain access to WhatsApp if their connection…
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Will AI take over the creative world? Or is it something we can use to help the creative process?
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There really isn’t an idea that Meta won’t pounce on the moment something starts gaining traction.  The next “cool” thing to take off is BeReal
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Branded Likes, coming to a Twitter near you.
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Brands in the food industry, are you still relying on recipe content and fancy photos of your food to generate engagement? This is especially important if your marketing strategy needs to encompass B2C as well as B2B – we’re here to remind you that you’ll need to do…
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  Before we begin, I need to ask you a simple yet divisive question. How much do you care about the look of your Instagram profile? The answer to this has changed over the years, being crucial in the early days where people would comment on the aesthetic of…
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So that’s 2021 done! What a year it has been. We have seen a lot of the world come back to some ‘normality‘ (whatever that means!). We have also seen a huge shift to a more social-first mentality as we come to terms with this new…
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Everyone loves social media, and China is no exception. With over 931 million active monthly users, it is the largest social media market in the world! However, in China, social is nothing like what you and I are used to. The platforms are different, with advertising, algorithms, and influencers…
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  Here at immediate future, we are always testing new and exciting things to help us continue breaking the social boring. Recently, the design team stumbled across a design platform called Figma. A platform that enables users to work on a single document at the same time, working seamlessly…
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  As I am sure many of you know, Facebook suffered a major outage yesterday (Nearly 6 hours to be exact!). With chaos on the streets, many users fled to the safety of other platforms such as Twitter, Linkedin and, of course, Tiktok. Problems were reported across the world,…
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  Over the last few months Twitter have been testing out their “Super Follow” option with select creators being able to charge a monthly fee for exclusive content – think similar to Patreon or OnlyFans.   “Today we’re excited to introduce Super…
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  Designers know more about ‘trusting the process’ than anyone else. Though what we all need to understand is, there is a process to everything that we do and without trust and patience, we can falter at the first hurdle. When it comes to ‘Trusting the Process’ on social…
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  On average, users post 6,000 Tweets every second on Twitter. As a Social Media Designer, standing out from the pack is crucial, and you probably dedicate a huge amount of your time to researching competitors, trawling through Facebook design groups for inspiration, or looking at the work of…
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    Okay, okay, we get it. It’s good to take inspiration from things that are working, but clearly, these things aren’t working for others as well as they are for TikTok.   In this new instalment of “what else can we be INSPIRED from by TikTok” Instagram…
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Employee advocacy has moved centre stage in social marketing. It is accelerating as a program, pushing out its messaging in all new ways and putting employees at the forefront of business promotions and campaigns. What is driving this rapid increase in employee advocacy across social media, and what…
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  With social media companies all seeming to blend into one nowadays, it’s interesting to note the companies who know things aren’t working and can pull the plug before any more time and resources are spent on them… Yes, we are talking about you @Twitter.   Now, this is…
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  A few weeks ago we talked about the brand refresh, in which we touched on creative reasonings and processes. In this blog, I want us to delve a little deeper into designing with social media in mind. What it entails and how best to…
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That title is a nod to Bo Burnham’s Inside, the comedian’s latest special on Netflix, in which he spends a hefty amount of time discussing the effects of social media. His song Welcome to the Internet covers how there’s a little bit of everything for everyone, good and…
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Brands, we hear your plea… you want better engagement and higher conversions, right? What’s the secret [BBQ] sauce? It’s the consumer data. In social, there are billions of consumers chatting about everything under the sun, so you just need to listen, interpret the data and use it to…
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In our first blog on the customer experience, we explored how to be human in the digital world, how to get leadership onboard, and how to prove the value of customer care across the business. This week, we’re going a little deeper; looking at how to implement…
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Hello and welcome to our latest Social Snapshot News Roundup! Let’s dive right in:   Clubhouse – the uber popular social audio app – launched its Android version this month, bringing with it one million new users, and a million more are sitting on the waitlist. The app…
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82% of people agree social media is a vital channel for delivering exceptional customer experience. We know consistently delighting customers is a complex task – requiring skills in leadership, tech and a healthy dose of agility. Often, though, the idea of focusing on the customer experience through social…
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Yes, I absolutely did say that! And don’t worry farmers, this has nothing to do with you lot, I promise.   After years of our photos and artwork being subjected to weird cropping, Twitter has FINALLY rolled out their new image display for mobile, and let me tell you,…
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    Clubhouse has given us all a little peek into some recent updates that will be happening to the app. These include the beginning of Android testing and higher quality audio.   First off, when checking out someone’s page, you’ll now be able to see any upcoming…
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“Change is popular when someone else is doing it, but when it comes to changing ourselves, not as many hands are raised.” Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend DigiConf 2021 and was struck by a session from Malin Liden on cultural change during a pandemic. Who even…
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What employees say on social matters. It can sometimes break a company and often raise it up. Your insides are on view. Yes, all the wonderfulness of your company and all the hidden skeletons (and messy, frayed, edges) are now shining clearly to your customers, your investors, your…
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  In an update that doesn’t come as a shock… although has me going “hmmmm??” Reddit is currently testing out its own Clubhouse-style audio social. However, the most notable difference is the voice chat feature being available to moderators, and also subredditers who purchase a “power-up” subscription.  …
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Well, we could simply say… research, plan it, write it, check it, check it again, post it. But there’s really much more to writing for social media than many people think. Here are our top tips, and what not to do! First Thought What is the first thing,…
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  As we move towards a more hopeful outlook to the opening of the world’s door’s, we should remember that our time in this horrible, horrible pandemic has changed the digital landscape for the foreseeable future. This new mindset will change how we host events/talks even past this…
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Social media is about open, unfiltered ideas being sent across the web to anyone in the world willing to listen. Platforms like Twitter are called that because they give users a literal platform to speak from, voice their opinions and engage with others. Over time, this idea has…
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  As we all know and have seen, Twitter has been working on their Spaces tool and more specifically trying to improve their Spaces experience.    Currently, the only way to join is to open the…
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As part of its analyst day overview, earlier this year, Twitter released a series of potential new features they hope will boost numbers and aggressively grow their user base over the next three years. Including various new subscription-based features, which will enable creators to monetize their Twitter following:…
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Social is a very visual medium, so why are brands still doing a bad job at communication through design? Whether it’s a boring, wallpaper image, or a message which doesn’t translate from print to social (we’re looking at you, Burger King), there’s no reason brands can’t take the…
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  Imitation is the best form of flattery – rarely is an idea fully formed at the start. The technical birthplace of wireless is in the Netherlands, where WaveLAN (an early form of the still nascent wireless networking standard) was introduced with the intent for use in cashier…
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With so much change, disruption, and discussion around what’s next all around the world, it can be difficult to stay in touch with what really matters at the moment. For a brand on social, if you aren’t on top of key trends, how people are feeling and why…
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Last week we informed you that Facebook was looking to cash in on creating a rival product to the widely popular Clubhouse. While this is true, it seems that Instagram is still trying to catch up with other social networks and enable users to have more than two…
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Social media trends are quite often fleeting. Some find ways to adapt and evolve and stay relevant. Others are gone with the click of the fingers. One thing that is here to stay is influencer marketing. In 2021 brands are well aware that connecting with the consumers is…
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In the era of ‘FAKE NEWS’, Facebook has begun its rollout of ‘Facebook News’ for users based in the UK. This service will be a tailored choice of Facebook approved news sources that users can consume on the web or the official Facebook app in its very own tab. With…
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To save you a long read if you are not here for the why: there isn’t really a best time to post on social media, or rather, if there is one, it can change overnight, depends on a lot of factors, and ultimately, doesn’t really matter. Let’s explore.
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  I was talking to a senior marketer last week about building great customer relationships. She said something that stuck in my head: we should show our customer’s respect. It resonated with me because acquisition has been the focus these last 10 months to the detriment of relationships…
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Going into 2021, companies might be looking at rejigging how they approach their audience on social media. It’s a tumultuous time, with many looking to their favourite businesses for signs they are adapting and changing their way of working to meet the needs of both their customers and…
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Welcome back for another year of our Social Snapshot! Today we are taking a look at the biggest stories of January – plus a few missed from the end of the year when we were all on break. Let’s dive in:   Instagram adds new creative tools in…
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As it’s less than a month until Christmas, it only seems right to write a festive-inspired blog and get everyone in the holiday spirit This week, TikTok launched a holiday playbook for small businesses, to help with marketing plans ahead of…
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Over the years, as social media has become the be-all and end-all of where online content is consumed, the quality and style of creative imagery have continued to advance and achieve a wide range of results. As social is an ever-evolving landscape, trends and fads come and go from…
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Building your brand personality on social will set you in good stead for the future – more than that, it’ll ensure your audience understand who you are and what you stand for, building up brand trust. The key to building this up is consistency – write in a…
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Imitation is the highest form of flattery. The phrase is so common because it’s true – once you have a highly successful idea, chances are someone is going to make either a better version, or a far worse version of it, but the end result will be that…
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Fleets are finally here, make your Messenger chats auto-disappear and receive help from Instagram – let’s take a look at it all in today’s Social Snapshot:   Facebook adds new ‘vanish mode’ for Messenger Facebook has announced a new ‘vanish mode’ for Messenger, in which your messages will…
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The topic for last week’s Serious Social Live was brainstorming, and particularly how we can all navigate the challenges presented by brainstorming when remote working. As with all scripting, we start with crafting the questions; finding the area of resonance between the audience’s need for knowledge and the insight…
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Supporting businesses, Christmas and a few new platform announcements – it’s social snapshot time, so let’s just jump right in!   Twitter offers Christmas insights Like all of 2020, Christmas is going to be different this year. So, to help marketers prepare for the unusual festivities, Twitter has shared…
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Can you quite believe that we are a mere few weeks from the end of 2020! For many, it can’t end quick enough, but for brand marketers, we KNOW there’s never quite enough time to plan for the year ahead. We’ve just launched our…
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That title is not nearly as scary as it sounds (though there’s plenty to be concerned about with social media, but that’s not the subject of this blog) – it’s just a reference to a new feature from Facebook called ‘Neighborhoods’. Certain users in select locations are getting…
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Q3 spend results, a new ‘Neighbourhoods’ feature and an extended time limit on live streams for Instagram – let’s dig right into this week’s Social Snapshot:   Instagram extends time limits on live streams to 4 hours Annoyed you can’t archive your livestreams? Wish you could stream for…
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Increasingly, brands look to digital-only events to replace the much-loved physical events that have welcomed footfall to conferences and exhibitions across the globe. However, pivoting to a digital-only event can be tricky. At the start of this year, few would have predicted the scale of home-working and the speed…
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If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll remember when we wrote this post – the overarching tone of voice was “Gah, FINALLY, LinkedIn!!!” Given that almost every real-life event in 2020 has been cancelled or moved to online (thanks for nothing, Mr C. Ovid!), we…
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TikTok is nothing new, but brands are still in the early stages of figuring out how to build successful marketing campaigns to reach audiences and add business value. But with about 850 million monthly active users worldwide, brands need to act now to begin building…
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While there’s always more to learn about the largest social media channels that we’re pretty familiar with when is the last time you checked out what was happening on some of the smaller, or more niche channels? If you fancy watching our latest Serious Social about these three,…
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  Are you like me? Do you enjoy, nay, LOVE, Halloween season? It is by far the most enjoyable season (don’t @ me, I *will* fight you!) I absolutely love seeing the amount of creativity that goes into costumes, make up and media. I mean, even coffee get’s…
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Cross-app communication, Instagram’s 10th birthday and Facebook’s new Groups feature – it’s been a busy week, so let’s dig in today’s Social Snapshot:   Facebook introduces cross-app communication between Messenger and Instagram Facebook announced it will begin rolling out new functionality, allowing Instagram and Messenger users to communicate…
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It’s been a whopping ten years since Instagram launched and changed the face of social media. Feel old yet? WE DO! So, first things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Instagram!   From the selfie revolution to the rise of the influencer, IG has helped shaped the digital revolution and has…
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Entrepreneurs rightly state that employees are our biggest and most valuable resource. Yet many businesses are not unlocking the potent potential presented by social media. As business leaders start to scale the upper echelons of industry, they understand the importance of having an inside-out voice. Thought leadership or opinion…
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If anyone tells you otherwise, I would strongly question their credentials and motive. For years we’ve seen flash in the pan speakers pedal false philosophies portraying a vision of quickfire success by adopting a simple tactic. At times that involved people positioning social media as the great hope –…
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Out of time to catch up on social media news? We’ve done the work for you with our Social Snapshot – collating the biggest news of the week:   Oracle confirms Bytedance-TikTok partnership in US The big news this week is Oracle confirming it has secured a Bytedance-TikTok…
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Our purpose at IF is to break the social boring – what does that take? Bravery. Courage. AND preparation. The campaigns you see out in social which tackle taboos or hit a topic head-on – and then succeed – they’ve taken time to prepare, to look at what…
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Much like Vine before it, TikTok exploded onto the social media landscape – with an estimated 500 million users across the globe today. Naturally, a slice of that pie is up for grabs and Facebook jumped in with Instagram Reels in August (though some were seeing a different,…
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New features galore this week – join us as we go through all the tools you’ll be playing with in coming months with our Social Snapshot:   Instagram has replaced Nametag Codes with QR Codes to quickly connect users Back in 2018, Instagram launched what it called ‘Nametag…
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Twitter is rolling out new settings that will allow all users to control who can reply to Tweets. It’s a feature they tested earlier in the year, but now we’ll all be able to start limiting who replies to our content. So, what does this actually mean? We…
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The B2B landscape is an interesting one. There’s a common misconception that B2B organisations are low on usable content, but it’s simply not true. The landscape is actually flush with more information and eye-catching, challenging content than perhaps a lot of businesses realise. What do I have right now? Think…
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Last week, Facebook released a video on making creative impacts with text, timing and format. While focused largely on Facebook, the video has some general tips that are crucial for everyday social marketers looking to have their knowledge or current methods vindicated, and those that are trying to…
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Ah, content planning – the bane of many digital marketers! As CJ rightly pointed out in his last blog and podcast (check it out), you might *think* you don’t have enough content to run on social media. And if you think that, you might fall…
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Myths are part of historic fabric. From the existence of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, to the Beast of Bodmin Moor, myths or legend are folklore in Britain. Some to stories have transcended continents too – the story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men making it all the…
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A new social media subscription service, maximised ad campaigns and IGTV previews – let’s jump right into this week’s Social Snapshot:   Twitter’s working on a new subscription service Brief disclaimer – this is supposedly only speculation, but a new team is reportedly working with Twitter’s payments group…
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LinkedIn has been historically reticent to give in-depth follower information, or it has at least limited follower-specific features. When it brought back the option to invite your connections to follow your company page late last year, it implemented a limit of 50 invites per page manager, per day.
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More ads on YouTube, pinned comments on Instagram – the social media landscape is ever changing, but we are here to keep you up to speed. Join us for another social snapshot:   YouTube is adding more ads YouTube videos are usually at least 10 minutes long. That’s…
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One of the latest releases from Twitter is the Audio Tweet! Now, I must admit I am a sceptic with this function – I’m not sure that, when social media is so visual, an audio-only format will be useful or used. However, sound is important in branding (tune…
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So many insights and developments in one week – let’s get right to it with our Social Snapshot! TikTok reveals how its algorithm works TikTok is working hard to demonstrate it is a transparent company, with this week providing another level of transparency – explaining how its recommendations…
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Pride months is here, and while many people will be celebrating at home, social media is once again delivering features to users that let their voices be heard digitally. In London, the annual march that usually involves more than a million volunteers, artists and Pride-goers cannot take place.
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In recent weeks there has been a reoccurring question framed at us, “if social is noisy what’s the point in publishing content? Covid-19 has sent it crazy, hasn’t it?”. It’s an obvious answer, but, ‘you need to be at the races – you need to be in It,…
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Both TikTok and Pinterest have experienced huge gains during the last few months. Engagement on Pinterest is up 75%, and TikTok users grew by 34% in April. If you’re not sure how to get started with either platform, here are a few ideas. Pointers for Pinterest With 367…
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Changes abound in another week of social media activity – from Twitter bringing back verification to Facebook’s revamped news section. Join us for another social snapshot: Twitter bringing back verification? In the past, getting verified was a nebulous, question-filled process. How many followers is enough? Is there some…
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From baking banana bread to getting sick of our own cooking and ordering in, here are some of the key drivers and examples of the food and drink sector in social media: Eating and drinking at home After 4 weeks in lockdown, McKinsey reported…
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Right now, as lockdown lifts, marketers are looking for short-term quick wins that will deliver impact. A fast move to recovery, a chance to grab market share and make a distinctive difference that will run the rest of the year. It makes sense. For many brands marketing had…
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Back in March, TechCrunch reported Instagram had seen a 40% increase in traffic due to the pandemic. With everyone at home, more time is being spent on digital platforms, and all social media platforms have been nurturing their growing platform in different ways – but…
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  A New App from Facebook?   Venue – an app that brings people together to experience live events in an interactive way.   What does this mean?   According to Facebook –   “Venue aims to give fans an interactive second screen experience, curated…
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