2015 Immediate Future

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from immediate future We’re off to join the festivities and will be back on the 4th Jan with our first blog post in 2016. Happy, jingly Christmas and good health and happiness to all . .

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Vine House Not a keyboard was stirring, not even a mouse. IF stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Howell soon would be there.

There have been many predictions for how social media will play out in 2016. But enough of the speculation…here are 28 things that are guaranteed to happen. Do you agree with them? Have I missed any? Shiny new platform labelled the ‘next big thing’ will…

New services like Facebook’s Instant Articles and Snapchat’s Discover allow publishers to host and monetise content on third-party social media platforms, without the need for users to click through to their site. Media publishers are currently uploading content on social media platforms in the hope users will click…

Having a blog, whether it’s on a personal level or a corporate level is, and will remain, a fantastic way of building a brand and showing your knowledge and expertise on a specific subject. In reading my esteemed colleague’s summary of IF blogs in 2015, I realised just…

We have all been fans of Buffer for a while here at Immediate Future. For those that do not know, Buffer is a content curation and scheduling platform. It’s great for recommending content, posting, and seeing the success of this activity. It plugs in to…

After an initial roll-out in the US, Twitter finally launches Moments in Europe, starting with the UK… yippee! One aim of Twitter’s curated news tab is to make the platform an easier place to navigate; to catch up on breaking news and hot topics within your region –…

For many of you, tomorrow is the long awaited day. That’s right – there is only one more sleep until the theatrical release of the highly anticipated 7th Star Wars film – The Force Awakens! Unless you have been living under a rock, you will have noticed that…

As a community manager I get to see the back and front end of a lot of audience platforms. Seeing the content that resonates on a community feed and then ‘popping the hood’ to see how the content actually measures up against other posts and types of…

At IF we pride ourselves on leading innovation and helping to shape the next industry standard. Our recent award win evidences we’ve checked that box for another year. To many, our blog is their source of digital insight into what is about to happen within industry. With this…

Everyone loves a list. Which is just as well considering it’s that time of year when people publish the most lists. Whether it’s lists of the best music or books from the year; lists of predictions for the coming year; or lists of Christmas gift ideas for your partner’s…

We were very proud to win Best Use of Social Advertising at the recent Social Media Buzz Awards recently. Fist pump. We did so on a modest budget, pipping big agencies (Ketchum, Starcom, Havas, Manning Gottlieb OMD) and big brands (Starbucks, KFC, Phillips, Unilever, Heineken) with our work…

These days the buzz seems to be around ‘social listening’ – it sounds cool, it sounds sexy, and there are a million and one tools out there ready to take your money to offer you a world of insights into your customers, markets and online audience. However, in…

I have been on Twitter and Facebook for almost 10 years now. Like most folk in social media; I am a social person. I love my social connections. I want to connect and be connected to (who doesn’t want to be liked?). The trouble is that I am…

With 2015 drawing to a close, there will no doubt be many articles over the next few weeks covering the biggest digital trends of 2015 and making bold predictions for what lies ahead. Before all of this happens though, we thought it would be appropriate to take a…

LinkedIn has finally caught up. After several nudges into bits and pieces of newly-designed UI, including the Ads manager dashboard, LinkedIn Pulse, and messaging features, the platform has totally revamped its mobile app. Boasting a whole new breezy design, a faster home feed and several new features including a ‘more’…

On the first day of Christmas, whilst the rest of us were getting excited about opening the first door of our advent calendars, powerhouse couple Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, announced the birth of their first child, Max. And if this wasn’t enough excitement for two of…

Regardless of the complexity of the sector or product, there is always a human story that can be told. It is this story that allows us to connect with B2B buyers on a personal level. While they may be key decision makers controlling the purse strings of a company,…

Over the last week you will have noticed that the hacker Collective Anonymous have been at war with ISIS online. from shutting down websites, hijacking social accounts and identifying users they have been very active. Their most recent tactic has been to…

When it comes to digital, personalisation is nothing new, and throughout the year we have talked about it extensively in many blogs – whether it’s for your audience or adverts, personalising the way you reach your audience via their platform of choice and so on. The advance in CRM…

On November 17th 2015, Google+ rose like a phoenix out of the ashes, and has been reborn…again. This is not the first time the site has been rebuilt, and at a glance it would seem not much has changed apart from a minor facelift and a few…

When I joined the content team at IF just over a year ago, I came in with the mantra that creative writing made me a better copywriter, and copy writing made me a better creative writer. Despite the obvious differences between the two styles, I strongly believe that they…

The use of social networks, especially Facebook, in the workplace has always been a contentious issue. A kind of tightrope that companies often struggle with to strike the right balance – a 15min social media break in an 8 hour working day can help to recharge the mind and…

As we near the end of 2015 I wanted to avoid a ‘social media trends for 2016’ style blog piece. Of course everyone will be eyes on for what is going to happen over the next 12 months, how the platforms will adapt and technology updates will take…

This is an open letter to brands and agencies (and a call for support from industry associations) to stop the neglect of those working in social media. This issue came to a head for me when last week I had a conversation with a young social media professional.

For all you word lovers, get your hankies at the ready. Or, if you’re an emoji devotee, then prepare to celebrate. Since partnering up with SwiftKey, a leading mobile technology business, the Oxford Dictionaries have announced that this familiar ‘face…

Obviously the wave of attacks in Paris on Friday November 13th shocked and saddened the world, with the ensuing wave of social dedication on Twitter ranging from sympathies for the victims (#PrayForParis and #PortesOuvertes) to support for the actual attackers (#ParisBurns…

Ever been on your friend’s profile, wondered where they had bought an item of clothing and how best to describe it so you can buy it for yourself? Or have you been stuck for words when browsing through interiors and wanted to know more about a specific item?…

It’s like Marmite. And whether you love it or loath it, you’ve probably discussed it, and potentially even posted online about it. In doing so, you’ve contributed to the consistent and proven marketing machine that is the John Lewis Christmas advert. This well-oiled machine triggers divisive debate and motivates…

Every 6 months or so Facebook releases its Global Government Request Report from deep within its cold concrete halls. Basically it’s a giant list of requests to snoop on us or hide Facebook content from us by men in long billowing trench coats and dark glasses,…

Earlier this month, Twitter changed its popular Favourite function from that little yellow star to a red heart, at the same time renaming it to Like. As we know, Twitter users generally do not initially like change, but embrace it in the end. But this particular change has far…

You may have read about Essena O’Neill, the teenage online ‘influencer’ who recently deleted her social media accounts due to pressure to maintain the perfect image. Although she had hundreds of thousands of followers and various companies contacting her to market their products, the time and energy it…

Drake is one of the most famous rappers in the world right now, and is currently sitting at the top end of most music charts. You are probably thinking, “What does Drake have to do with social media?” and why are you writing a blog about him.

One of the industry’s earliest and longest standing social data start-ups Brandwatch has raised $33 million series C funding last week, this after raising $22 million series B in 2014. There has been a great deal activity this year in the social intelligence space. Twitter revealed its preferred partner…

When it comes to implementing Twitter as part of your B2B marketing and lead generation efforts, it can be easy to presume that the platform is best used for more ‘fluffy’ types of activity. These may be nurturing customer engagement or using it as a broadcast channel to push…

Social data is unstructured data. It needs a framework to corral the noise into making sense. Beyond the structuring of the numbers though, lies the real value in social data: The insights. Last week I found myself in a room full of data geeks (my idea of heaven) listening to…

Social Media may well be a key element in your company’s marketing mix but have you considered alternative uses for Social Media in the work place? It is entirely possible for Social Media to run much deeper than simply being another channel for your marketing communications. For…

When thinking of research, data and insights, it’s easy to assume it’s all numbers and data crunching and not much else. However, the role of a good insights consultant is to be able to translate this data into tangible and meaningful information that can then be easily…

Ever want to send a video to someone but your subject just refuses to slow down or move in the right direction in time? Yeah? Me too. Well fear not, Snapchat has got your back. Yesterday Snapchat added slow motion, fast-forward, and rewind effects to your…

Do you remember the days before Instagram and Snapchat, when Facebook and Twitter were just getting started, and when social networking felt new? Since the turn of the millennium, there have been many big players within the social media industry, with millions of users and aspirations to match.

On 22nd of October, we welcomed back Rachel Kneen, O2’s social media manager, to our monthly Speakeasy to speak about the importance of content. Rachel has been working in social since 2009 – to put that into context, at that time, people spent more time on average on Myspace…

Mission from ‘M’, just in. You must infiltrate popular social media networks with highly dynamic content, and engage your targets where possible, as the Spectre network makes a worldwide offensive. You’ll have ‘paid’ support from Q branch in the form of cutting edge channel technology and the…

The end of October brings pumpkins and other Halloween paraphernalia to the fore of our local supermarkets. In a matter of weeks, if not days, these will be replaced with Christmas products, displays and information on how to make catering for the big day easier. Some people (like my…

Apps have revolutionised speed-reading through displaying single words in rapid succession. These apps are based on a method known as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation, or RSVP. It’s nothing new and has been documented in cognitive psychology since the early 1970s, but with the rise of mobile and apps, its…

Tone of voice is no longer simply a case of using your corporate brand tone on social – you now need specific guidelines (or the opposite, depending on your brand!) for social channels. Now, I’m not necessarily talking about the marketing messages, the sales posts or the brand…

Facebook announced its latest move to try out manoeuvre Twitter in the battle for real-time conversation. The range of second screen tools launched to engage TV viewers as they tune into live shows. Hashtag voting, polling for live events, photo and video submissions as well as custom icons…

People say that there is someone in this world for everyone. Well the same is true of social media sites. Fed up with Facebook? Tired of Twitter? Loathing LinkedIn? Why not try one of these social networks? Although you are going to need some pretty niche interests to…

Which campaign worked best – and which was most cost-effective? An issue which must be deliberated when running ad campaigns to prove ROI. In an effort to provide answers to this key question and to entice marketers to spend more of their marketing budget on Twitter, the platform…

Here at Immediate Future, it goes without saying that we an incredibly social bunch, but it recently struck me that we are a rather charitable lot of individuals too. This got me thinking – perhaps there is a correlation between these two qualities… Earlier in the year,…

All brands, big or small, can benefit from market research. And it can feed into an organisation at any level – whether that is for something as big as a re-brand; a change in strategy; a product launch; or something as ‘simple’ as a seasonal campaign. However, market research…

With the very recent developments in GIF posting on both Facebook and Twitter becoming somewhat relaxed the temptation to get involved in what seems like the most irresistible comedy action on social seems inevitable. When one can express themselves through the most iconic subtitled…

Did you know that there are almost 78 million search results for the term ‘infographic’? Content in the form of an infographic hit the mainstream in 2012 and its popularity with brands continues to rise steadily. Snack, share and stand-out There are plenty of reasons…

IF have been working in social for more than eleven years, and this question has consistently been asked throughout. “PRs will shape your narrative and manage your reputation – as we’ve been doing for years with your media relations”, some might say. Marketers will challenge: “now social is…

In the wake of the 2007 global financial crisis, many depositors have grown wary of over-sized banking behemoths taking high risks with their money, while corporate borrowers have been locked out from loans as those same lenders curbed their excesses and conformed with a plethora of new and…

Are you a fan of Hunted, the Channel 4 fugitive chasing reality tv show? It’s been great, hasn’t it? The mind games, the use of technology, and that thrill of the chase. What’s also been great has been their use of Twitter. The social media platform famed for hosting…

LinkedIn is one of the most used social media channels for recruitment and staffing, but how effective are all the other social media channels for recruitment purposes? Some say the death of the traditional paper CV is upon us, but this stance may be a bit premature, although…

Facebook has announced it will be partnering with Eutelsat, a French satellite internet operator, to transmit internet connections to offline parts of sub-Saharan Africa from late 2016. Although it now claims a mindblowing 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook has long been looking to…

Social media levels the playing fields to building a brand in the modern age. The ability to be able to connect with the world at the click of a button means that with the right message/product/offering anyone can build a brand. As an individual, talented musician…

We all know the 50+ generation is hot on social. 2014 figures from Adweek showed that one in five Twitter users are over the age of fifty and 49% have a Facebook account. So how does one go about targeting this age group aside from age?…

The sixth annual Social Good Summit took place last month at 92nd Street Y, a world-class cultural centre in New York. The star-studded summit coincided with the UN General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit, in which world leaders adopted 17 new Global Goals.

Following recent conversations with various clients, marketers and other agency peers there seems to be an element of obscurity and misconception on the actual role of the ‘community manager’. The term commonly adopted for someone who sits on communication channels for followers, fans and audiences of brands, companies and networks…

Welcome to part two of our Q & A with two of the industry’s leading digital marketers: Alex Ayling, Head of BBC Worldwide Digital Studios and Nick Moxham, Head of Digital, Universal Music TV. In case you missed part one which focussed on Alex, you can view that here:…

Whether you are a budding blogger, a professional journalist, or just trying to ramp up your brand’s content portfolio, Facebook’s latest content offering could prove a useful app with which to familiarise yourself. For years, tabloid newspapers and radio stations have been citing celebrity comments prised from verified Twitter…

Attending the NATO experts’ forum on social media for international organisations, I was struck by how much public sector organisations are committed to communicating through social. So much so that they meet challenges, obstacles and the changing comms landscape, head on. Often working with limited resources, in an…

London Fashion Week 2015 witnessed brands lighting up the digital world, from Burberry’s use of Snapchat, Hunter Original’s use of Periscope, and Topshop’s use of Pinterest. The digital world has introduced brands to a limitless audience. The use of Pinterest and Instagram in London Fashion Week enabled brands…

Last night immediate future, together with our friends at CDD, hosted a Q & A with two of the industry’s leading digital marketers: Alex Ayling, Head of BBC Worldwide Digital Studios and Nick Moxham, Head of Digital, Universal Music TV. Alex teed us off; he’s a wonderfully…

In recent weeks there have been a few big stories surrounding Emoji that represent the turning of the tide as more and more social platforms adopt them as the future. Firstly Twitter have sold the first of their new offering “Admoji” or custom Emoji, to Coca-Cola to promote…

If you work in social media, you’ll be used to hearing the term ‘real-time’. It’s been one of the hottest industry talking points since Oreo’s ‘dunk in the dark’ tweet. In reality, using social media to communicate at speed has been on brands’ radars for far longer than…

August is gone with the wind. With it go Notting Hill Festival, Reading 2015, V Fest, National Burger Day and summer. Relive the glory days of balmy summer evenings, sizzling barbeques and 30+ degree weather (sort of) by having a read through our top five IF blogs…

Apple’s recent announcement that it was going to be embracing ad blocking software has sparked some serious social debate and birth of the hashtag #adpocalypse. The move by Apple has brought into spotlight the morals and ethics behind the media industry and am sure will bring about…

Psst! Would you like to join a team of select brands – Old Spice, Pokemon and the BBC among others — who have led growth in a form of digital marketing gaining traction? The online gaming industry is rife with user-led content, with one of the biggest…

Real-time engagement has been a real buzzword in 2015, but is it easier said than done? And how far are brands pushing the concept of real-time engagement? How realistic is it for brands to be ‘always on’? These are all questions that have been bandied around the industry…

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage yesterday for the latest Facebook Townhall Q&A. He spent the better part of an hour fielding a mix of serious and silly questions about everything from virtual reality and artificial intelligence to why he doesn’t wear a different coloured shirt…

What are your main objectives when your company attends an event? Leads? Awareness of new products and service? Positive brand interactions? Whatever your ultimate end goal is, more often than not, the marketing activities that I see, especially across digital and social, do not tie together with a clear…

Marketers around the world are pronouncing the death of demographic segmentation, and behavioural segmentation has swept in to pick up the pieces. Thanks to the digital invasion, marketers are armed with the tools to analyse consumers’ behaviour. And as we all know, this is called behavioural segmentation. This has…

Mark Zuckerberg will be hosting his 7th Town Hall Q&A session on Tuesday the 15th of September. This much anticipated event will provide the Facebook community, and a live audience at Facebook HQ, with yet another opportunity to quiz Zuckerberg on a range of (mostly)…

With Instagram Ads slowly rolling out to engagement-hungry marketers, and Twitter adding advanced coverage of all events as well as upping their game on Windows 10 and iPad Twitter apps – where does that leave the ever-dominant Facebook? With the…

All too often driving attendance to events in the B2B world is an afterthought. Companies spend hundreds-of-thousands of ££’s on set-up, stands, design, product and offline marketing and organisation. Then, in the weeks running up to the event, they realise they have not placed enough focus on making…

From Iceland to India, Twitter ads are open for business, and the global reach of its network of 100,000 active advertisers is about to get a whole lot larger! Although late in the game compared to other social networking giants, the event marks a substantial…

Over recent years, many football fans have felt disconnected from their football clubs, and largely due to the wealth gap, disconnected from players too. With the increasing popularity of social media amongst sports fans and the growing acceptance of its importance at executive level, here are some of the…

We call it ‘the power of a connected network’; uniting your workforce to harness the potential influence available on social. “Well that’s just social media tosh”, you might say. I assure you it is not. And here’s why: The most overlooked use of social is internal communications and…

You might have noticed twitter is full of ghosts. You might have asked ‘Why?’ or ‘Who am I going to call?’ well I can tell you, Snapchat is why. An ever growing number of users are utilising Snapcodes to migrate Twitter followers over to Snapchat and with…

Everyone has heard about the spectacular fails on social media. But this isn’t a post poking at those brands that make mistakes. This is about raising the bar on the quality of social communication. Which right now, isn’t always that great. Social media marketing is on pretty…

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…

The social media industry is always exciting, with new social media sites popping up all over the World Wide Web offering different concepts and uses. Two of the most notable social media platforms that have grown exponentially in recent years have not been born on an American…

YouTube has launched a new service designed specifically for gamers, YouTube Gaming, in a brazened attempt to compete with Twitch – a company that it lost out to Amazon in trying to buy last year – in the live streaming arena. While it…

As brands become comfortable with social customer service, crisis response, in-house community management and even some command centre style executions, the thirst for an ‘always-on’ approach to marketing only gets more intense. Let’s face it, it’s sexy stuff, some would say a necessity but it ain’t that…

When people think of paid advertising in social media they usually think of platforms like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Nothing wrong with that. They have hundreds of millions of users. But how about blog sites? Already blog sites offer thought-provoking…

We all know that more often than not mobile beats desktop when it comes to online traffic and social media usage. Browsing on the go, or second-screening, are topics discussed at length. However, what isn’t discussed in much detail is how on-the-go browsing and double screening is having an…

The UK wedding industry is worth around £10 billion every year, with an average of around £36 thousand being spent on each wedding (W.I.F.E). It’s an industry which is steeped in tradition; from the importance of wearing something old, something new, something borrowed and…

Video is racing ahead of any other medium on the web. It’s capability to lead on engagement and shareability is undeniable. Web consumers are eating up video at a rate that is literally shifting mainstream provision from larger production channels. On demand services like Netflix are clearly challenging…

Governments, not always naturals for open government and publicity, are hoovering up opportunities to develop their cyber presence via social media. Perhaps in defiance of what we recently discussed in this blog on a retreat among UK investor relations professionals, both private sector boardrooms and governments are starting…

The micro-blogging site Twitter recently dropped its 140-character limit from direct messages, in what less-is-more puritan fans saw as infidelity to its one-liner ethos. Already struggling as a loss-making social media platform, with fears for its sustainability, Twitter has braved the raised eyebrows and thinks it is onto…

In the unlikely event you missed Tinder’s social meltdown last week, here’s a recap of what happened: Journalist Nancy Jo Sales published an article titled Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’ in this months’ Vanity Fair. Tinder reacted poorly to the article,…

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…

Back in the pre-Kardashian era of 2002, HSBC ran a campaign called ‘the importance of local knowledge’ and it’s as relevant today as it was then. More specifically the importance of local dialect in relation to social media. This week…

Social data is powerful. We should know, our performance-driven campaigns are based on extracting the right demographic, geographic and psychographic data from unstructured social conversations. It delivers results. Knowing your social data works. It works because we subscribe to the 10:90 rule by Avinash Kaushik who…

Facebook has recently launched a dedicated messaging site similar to their Mobile messaging app that allows users to log in with their Facebook credentials and make phone calls, video calls, or text messages. With the launch of this new site, Facebook aims to integrate its…

It’s no secret that Facebook has its eyes fixed firmly on the prize when it comes to being the internet’s biggest video platform. In April Facebook reported that it is getting 4 billion video views per day. Besides being extremely attractive for advertisers, numbers like…

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