brands Immediate Future

Research shows if you want relevant content then you need to work for it

It seems this month every marketer is either talking GDPR or about creating ‘relevant content’. It’s not a surprise as the two are interlinked. With brands needing customers to engage enough to sign-up for consent programmes, content has to be meaningful, to resonate and capture attention. The trouble is the…

Instagram– a gift that keeps on giving…

Earlier this month, Facebook spoke of some very exciting planned updates for Instagram to be rolled out throughout 2018. Given the platform’s Stories feature now has 300M active daily users alone, viewing organic and brand-based content, it makes absolute sense for substantial investment. It really is the perfect…

Building Brand Buy-In With Social

Today’s connected world means that brands are positioned front and centre of their audiences and competitors alike. With so many platforms and channels at their disposal, it’s often difficult to know which one to leverage in order to garner customer loyalty and engender trust. Here’s where social media can help.

Fancy shopping around for your next influencer?

Facebook is building a Branded Content Marketing search engine to allow brands to find the best influencer partnerships for their marketing, particularly where Facebook ad campaigns are concerned. Brands can search based on certain parameters like location, interests, gender and education. You can save selected creators in a private list…

Is UGC missing from your content strategy?

Conversations between a brand and a consumer are no longer a one-way street. Today’s consumers are empowered and connected like never before, and they’re producing content like it’s going out of style. It’s our job as marketers to produce lots of great content that will engage the consumer. This can…

Instagram Launches Payments for Commerce

According to a recent article, almost 50% of Instagram users research products on social media and over a third of the platform’s users have purchased a product online with their mobiles. That makes this segment 70% more likely to convert to the purchase phase than non-users. It…

Is Instagram after world domination?

Last week Snapchat released its Spectacles 2, and while Snap was frantically trying to tell the world that these glasses were definitely improved and not a joke, Instagram had been testing new features that could seriously ruin Snapchat. With a whole array of features being tested it won’t be…

YouTube go for the cord-cutters with TV ads

Let’s talk about the video giant, YouTube. YouTube viewership is increasing on TV. Its apps for smart TV and gaming consoles are growing and growing among viewers who prefer to watch on the big-screen, instead of the little screen in their pockets. In the past, YouTube saw…

Facebook reveals an increased use of pre-roll ads and more…

Facebook reveals an increased use of pre-roll ads and more… We’ve all heard of Watch – Facebook’s platform for shows. Having released this to a small US-based audience in August 2017, Facebook shared episodes — live and recorded — that followed a storyline or theme. With promising results, Facebook are…

Snap inaugurate augmented reality m-commerce

Users love new, inspiring features on social media – that’s no secret! Remember earlier this year, when Snap debuted an in-app AR ecommerce experience for Nike’s Jordans? Well, it clearly wowed customers, because Snap has released a new feature that it’s calling “Shoppable AR”. What does it…

Facebook Premieres bridge the gap between Lives and edited content

Just when you thought Facebook couldn’t better its video proposition, it’s done it again – the platform is using a select group of creators and broadcasters to test a new format called Premieres. To the average Facebook user, the videos will look a lot like Lives – viewers will be…

Facebook’s ‘Loyalty Prediction’ ad tool

Facebook’s new Loyalty Prediction ad tool We’re all familiar with Facebook’s targeting. Together with detailed demographics, user preferences and past actions, we’re able to deliver relevant messages to refined audiences through the platform. A confidential document, examined by The Intercept suggests that Facebook may be working on…

Our opinion; JD Wetherspoons’ social withdrawal

JD Wetherspoons has announced its exit from social media. You’re bound to have plenty of questions. Why come off social media? Will it hurt the brand? How about the long-term? Should other brands follow suit? We’re giving you the answers in this Serious Social. As a single-brand operator, the…

Spoons calls it quits – What did we learn?

Many of its 44,000 Twitter followers were shocked at yesterday’s announcement that JD Wetherspoon will be closing all of its accounts across all social media platforms. The reasoning behind this bold decision however, remains relatively vague. Wetherspoon’s CEO, Tim Martin, listed a few reasons why he’s calling it quits –…

Episodes of Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories have been going strong for a year and a half, gaining success and slowly reeling in the Snapchat Stories users. In this time, brands have been experimenting with the feature and use it in many different ways. A few companies are doing it differently – Bustle being one.

Is VR the next step for social?

As marketers, we’re always looking for the best way to interact with our customers and to create meaningful and engaging interactions with them. We do this through email marketing, TV and print advertising, social media, and now some brands are doing it with virtual and augmented reality. As we’ve mentioned…

LinkedIn goes all-in on B2B with video sponsored content

LinkedIn has been criticised for its lack of sponsored video support for quite some time now and most of us have almost given up on the idea that it will ever ACTUALLY happen. However, last October it began beta-testing video for sponsored content with more than 700 participating advertisers. The…

Insta’s shoppable posts have crossed the pond

UK-based e-retailers! You’ll step up your social when you hear this… Instagram are giving UK online retailers the chance to publish shoppable posts. Shoppable Instagram posts have been on the horizon for a while. The feature was available to American businesses last year, so it was only…

How to win brand loyalty with one word

Do you want to build brand loyalty and stand out from the crowd in a busy marketplace? Well, you need to first answer the question “why?”. “Why does your brand exist?” And no, you’re not allowed to say profit! So, go on, have a little think… Do you exist because…

Insta’s latest algorithm changes

It’s taken Instagram a long time to respond, but for the past year, users have been complaining about their feed and the way in which the app displays posts based on relevancy. Initially, Instagram used a chronological ranking system and users saw the latest posts when they opened the app.

5 Ways to Maximise Your Brand’s Twitter Presence

With the jump in Twitter’s share prices earlier this year, it seems that the social giant is going from strength to strength. Considering the playground of pundits and the cerebrally astute, how do brands cut through the rants and opinions and make the most of this platform?…

How your business can make the most of Instagram’s Stories

Since its recent algorithm change, Instagram now rewards posts with high engagement. Your reach is based on how much interaction your posts are getting. Anything from video views to comments and shares, if your post receives high engagement, it tells Instagram that your content is quality and worthy…

Facebook algorithm changes: what we now know

Wanna know how to thrive on Facebook in 2018? Here’s what Facebook’s second algorithm change means for brands. It focuses on prioritising content from friends and family, so it’s no surprise that has sparked huge concern, interest and conversation for brands. Publishers, marketers and news outlets will have lower…

Facebook Watch gets exclusive

You don’t have to be a social media expert to know that Facebook is transitioning into a much more video orientated platform, and ever since the launch of Facebook’s on demand video service, Watch, last summer, brands and advertisers have been waiting with bated breath to see if it had…

Facebook drops Explore & tests new Voice Clip feature

Facebook ends Explore & tests new voice clip feature Facebook are constantly making design changes, adding new features and ranking updates with the aim of improving the experience for everyone. Whilst some take off and are received well by the public, others don’t, and it seems Explore has fallen into…

3D posts on Facebook are a reality

With the launch of Facebook Spaces last year, Facebook aimed to democratise the world of social VR, and in October announced functionality that brought immersive 360 images (not just videos!) to the Facebook newsfeed. Until now however, posts have been limited to those created in Oculus Medium, and you have…

YouTube just updated its live-streaming offering

For years YouTube was the go-to platform for video content and only had a relatively small live-streaming offering. When it came to live videos, we saw a number of platforms enter the arena; Periscope and Meerkat to name but a few. And more recently we’ve seen Facebook’s video proposition go…

Social Commerce Needs More Social Video

It hasn’t even been two years since Facebook proclaimed that by the beginning of the next decade the platform could be ‘all video’, but it already feels like this prediction is fast-becoming a reality. For some time now, YouTube has dominated the online video clip space. But…

Facebook’s latest feature: Lists

Facebook have officially rolled out their Lists feature globally today. The feature is aligned to the status update box, along with the options such as Photo/Sticker, Polls and so on. With the recent shift to make Facebook a platform to help users connect to their loved ones, have more meaningful…

Now you can set up shop on Instagram

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen copious amounts of updates from Instagram, and just last week the platform announced that it has been testing a new way to enable brands to push purchases on the platform, in the form of ‘Collections’ ads. We first saw ‘Collections’ campaigns on…

Here’s why you should use Pinterest for seasonal advertising

It’s no secret that Pinterest users curate boards to plan birthday parties, weddings, Christmas, Halloween and every other occasion. Choosing a holiday destination, buying seasonal clothes, party planning. This is exactly why consumer brands should be using Pinterest for seasonal advertising. Pinterest is a place for beautiful images and products.

Facebook Watch to challenge YouTube in 2018

It’s been common knowledge for some time that Facebook wants to be a video programming hub and original content provider to rival Netflix or Hulu, for the sole purpose of increasing video ad space. Following…

Snapchat launches Bitmoji Deluxe and its own In-App store

You can now customise your Bitmoji in over a hundred different ways. Snapchat say they have responded to user requests and welcome even more feedback. Amongst changes to the overall design of the App, Snap has also discreetly introduced a way to mute notifications with a new “Do not disturb”…

New update from Instagram – 3 is the magic number

We first saw ads on Instagram Stories just under a year ago, a format that has over 300 million daily users. Last week Instagram announced that it is expanding its ad capabilities by introducing carousel ads to Stories. Recently, brands were limited to using just one image on their Instagram…

Time to seize the Twitter Sponsored Moments?

It may seem as though the initial moment passed without much fanfare in October 2015 when Twitter Moments rolled out. It was then released to influencers and creators in August 2016 then the wider public in Sep 16, but… didn’t really set the world alight. At its…

Instagram’s API finally allows scheduling

We know that Instagram doesn’t stop when we all leave the office at 5:30pm, and at the weekend, when we’re all making the most of our two days off, it’s especially alive. Whilst there have been unofficial solutions like Schedugram, which we’ve made the most…

Influencer Marketing – From mega to micro

Influencer Marketing – From mega to micro Using a celebrity or sports personality to endorse your brand or product is no new concept. However, in 2017, we saw brands use social media to find new and effective ways to use endorsement and incorporate it into their overall marketing strategy.

GDPR, increased social use…it’s time for a social media policy review

We know the clock’s ticking for May 25th, and there’s still scepticism around the application and effects of GDPR for every business sector. One thing is clear though, there are definite concerns for marketers. This blog answers a lot of questions, but glaringly, without the opt-in holy…

Why you should celebrate your brand’s anniversary on social

Anniversaries are a great opportunity to celebrate the high points from the last year. They also give brands an opportunity to devise a social campaign to make strengthen their brand messaging and appeal to a particular audience. For optimum success, they’re best celebrated alongside a news story, launches, initiatives, products,…

Content Is Facebook King Again

Following Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to once again change the inner workings of the Facebook news feed, the real impact of the newsfeed algorithm change is becoming clearer. Initially, publishers and advertisers alike were thrown into a panic by assuming the change meant the end times had come and we were…

Is storytelling the future of Content Marketing?

Storytelling is as old time. Stories have been used to tell tales of history and adventure, and to build communities. As humans, our brains are hardwired to remember stories. We search for connections between the characters, their challenges and their successes. Telling an engaging story allows someone to get on…

Compelling content & conversation- Social media 101

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg made a bold statement about his plans for 2018. With the aim to fix and improve the social network, he stated that big changes will be made to Newsfeed. The algorithm will now prioritise user posts over public content, such as posts from businesses, brands…

How to spice up your Facebook polls with GIFs

Facebook is saturated with brands on the constant lookout for new ways to engage with their audiences. We’re all fighting for our voices to be heard. Getting people to engage with brands on social media is getting harder, and people’s opinions are becoming more and more valuable. Unless your content…

Digital ad spend soars in 2017

With digital ad spend growing year-on-year, 2017 was the year that overall digital ad spend finally surpassed TV spend. Total global digital ad spend came to a whopping $209 billion, which is a huge 41% of the entire market. TV is now trailing behind with a $178…

Why you should follow Hashtags on Instagram

In the rush of Christmas parties, present buying and mince pie munching, you’d be forgiven for not realising the importance of an announcement Instagram released on 13th December. Luckily for you, it’s January, there are no excuses and we’re here to give you the low down. When you open up…

2018. How will your brand be heard above the noise?

It’s now the start of a brand new year, where new trends emerge and new opportunities for content creation arise. We hope you’ve had your fill of turkey and all the over-indulgent trimmings you could get your hands on this Christmas. We definitely did. However, it’s now time to look…

Lens Studio – with love from Snapchat

Snapchat have now made it possible to create your own AR lens. By launching a new desktop app that can be used on both Mac and Windows, Snapchat intend to make it easy to create AR objects and experiences on top of the geo-filters we all love! Snapchat have come a…

Instagram launches huge changes to Stories

Christmas has come early in the world of Instagram with two new features which will change the face of Instagram as we know it! Pretty huge, right? So, what are the new features? The first of the two features is Highlights. This new feature will appear directly underneath your bio…

Christmas is so over. Focus on the New Year or lose out.

Christmas is done. It’s over. There is no more time for planning. Execution is (well it better be) in full flow. It’s time for marketers to turn their planning heads to the New Year. And I don’t mean the 1st January 2018. I mean 16th February. Chinese New Year (CNY)…

Facebook ups charitability for #GivingTuesday

Facebook is an incredible platform for raising awareness of causes and being a means for people to donate to those causes. We often hear heart-warming news about stories spreading across social and raising enough money for life-saving operations, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and reuniting families. Yesterday was #GivingTuesday and Facebook upped their…

Snapchat says you won’t find its audience anywhere else

Following its shocking Q3 results (which I’m not going to talk about again, promise), Snap is still keen to prove its worth to brands with big budgets. This time, the company has commissioned app analytics tool, App Annie, to report on the amount of time Snapchat’s users spend…

Naughty or Nice? Pinterest’s got it sorted

‘Tis the season we all start panicking about what will land under who’s Christmas tree. Whether it’s family, actual friends (which is a much smaller list than my Facebook friends), or a random colleague (if they happen to be your Secret Santa at work), buying the RIGHT Christmas present can be…

Be more Netflix? Why AI, co-creation & brand personality can take you to the top

Is it the marketing holy grail when your business, platform, proposition, brand…grows to such planet-swallowing size that you make it into the common lexicon? Yep. Who doesn’t know what Netflix & Chill really means, but, we haven’t heard from their brand guardians or CEO to stop using it (yes Lucas,…

What will be in your 2018 social strategy?

It’s that time when we start to reminisce about the year we’ve had. What went wrong? What was a success and what can we do better next year? We’ve seen updates galore from all platforms. Twitter increased their character limit, Snapchat launched a self-serve ad manager, and we’ve lost count…

Facebook takes on YouTube with Creator app

In recent months, video content has bloomed. We’re seeing more of it than ever and it’s hugely successful as a content form across platforms. So, Facebook are rising up to the demand and success of video and taking on YouTube with their new Creator app. What can…

5 kinds of YouTube videos driving shopping patterns

Over the last few years, video has shown its might in every way across social media platforms. No longer the preserve of costly and time-consuming production studios, the medium has been revolutionised by social media. Immediate, available and free, the reach of digitised video has meant a plethora of new…

Snap Strikes Back with new Ad Manager updates

It’s been a week since Snap’s shocking (though somewhat expected) Q3 results, and yet we’re already hit with some exciting news! Snapchat has rolled its advertising self-service tools onto a single platform with Ad Manager 2.0. The new Ad Manager unifies several of Snapchat’s existing ad buying and management tools,…

News Spreads like Wildfire on Social

It seems like new features are being added to social media platforms every day. People are spending more time on their mobile devices like phones and laptops, on social media, and less time reading the daily paper or watching the TV. Traditional news platforms are becoming less popular, and news…

Serious Social 09/11/2017

What are you talking about? Shopping. What are you talking about? Reality show influencers who break the rules. Serious Social gets serious around the clampdown on influencers not declaring brand endorsements, while the Instagram conversation centres on social commerce, and how it’s a match made in shopping heaven.

Facebook Introduces Messenger Plugin for Business Sites

Now that the festive season is upon us, the sound of a call centre will never be music to an irate consumer’s ears. Whether it be a product query, a refund or to simply ask a question, watching those seconds turn into minutes, into tens of minutes on your mobile…

Do they know it’s Christmas? Yep, the seasonal ads are here

At IF, it’s been slowly and now concretely drummed into us: Christmas is coming. If your clients aren’t ready yet, then you need to be. Internally, it means designing our Christmas card, sorting the festivities and most importantly, making sure we are effortlessly ready to deliver everything before 2017 magically…

800 million users and counting…

If you still haven’t considered including Instagram as part of your Paid Ad spend, I’m hoping by the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll change your mind. From its launch in October 2010, Instagram has become one of the most popular Social media channels with 800 million active users.

Shoppable Posts on Social

Social commerce is growing and shows no signs of stopping. eCommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce enable purchases through social platforms, which drastically changes the customer experience and customer journey in a multitude of ways. It’s simpler, quicker and easier than ever for us to discover products and make purchases…

Watch out LinkedIn – Facebook is coming for you!

As someone who has spent the last few months frantically trying to find a job after returning from a 10-month teaching stint in China, I am always interested to discover new ways to get your CV out there in front of employers. Before landing my current job at IF, I…

A look back at a summer of travel on social

Summer holidays are a distant dream for most of us, now that we are headed towards the end of the year. All we’re left with are the pictures and memories on social media. Whilst we look fondly back on this summer, the Travel industry can use this post-holiday…

Crimes Against Emoji

To celebrate the release of iOS 11’s all new emoji set we thought it was time for a refresher course on the use of emoji in social media, to prevent some of the more common crimes against emoji. With Apple announcing the release of everything from…

Swiping just got professional!

Over the last few years I have read numerous articles and statuses from women who have been ‘flirted’ with when using LinkedIn, a website that’s sole purpose is for professional use only. So, to see that Bumble, synonymous with dating, is now launching Bumble Bizz – the lines between dating…

Why the Stage is Set for Social Commerce

In the first few years of this decade, it seemed that social commerce would transform the way we shop online. Yet whereas buying via social channels may have gained traction among the popular Asian social platforms like WeChat and LINE, in the West the online shopping experience is still firmly…

Snapchat launches sponsored 3D World Lenses into the real world

I mean finally! Recent announcements of Snap’s major losses have had everyone asking the same question: why can’t they lure advertisers? Well, they might have just flipped the coin. Snapchat’s Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan took to the Advertising Week New York stage on Thursday to announce what we’ve all been (not so…

Vanity metrics are bovine dung

Remarkably, the desire for vanity metrics is on the return. Why? Well, I’ve not got a tangible answer for you. Lazy marketers lacking robust experience? Increasing board pressure? Perhaps. Vanity metrics are the devil of Social Media. At immediate future, we’ve worked hard (for many years) educating clients, and industry,…

Instagram is changing: how much does a 4th column really matter?

The majority of those reading this post will be human and as such we all know that for the most part, we don’t like change of any form, in any way, by any amount. Social media platforms know that humans are full of contradictions. We complain about…

An I.F interview with Nick Entwistle of One Minute Briefs

Hi Nick. I know you’ve got more hats than Mr Benn but thanks for taking the time to answer some questions on you, social, creativity and whatever else we throw at you. For those not in the know, Nick Entwistle is a creative polymath. Still shy of his 30th,…

Is Facebook sneaking onto Tinder’s turf?

On Friday, we saw yet another rolling update from Facebook, this time encouraging users to interact with old friends and to try and discover new ones. This feature is more in-depth than the basic ‘friend suggestions’, it’s based on things you have in common, such as pages liked, events attended…

LinkedIn? Hot property? Amazing what a few tweaks can do

It’s not personal, it’s just business. Actually, it’s a balance of both. The whole point of LinkedIn is to be a social network for business, yet, in the fifteen years since its inception, detractors have been chipping away at everything from its design, to UX and lack of products like…

Step-up, stand-out and succeed on Instagram

Yet, Instagram has over 700m active users (that is almost 6 x that of Snapchat) and 400m daily active users (It’s reported to be the second most engaged platform after Facebook). 75% of total Instagram users are outside the US and over 80% are connected to brands…

WhatsApp isn’t just for your friends anymore…

When Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 for £11.4bn, it understood one vital thing – we like talking to our friends. As technology has changed, so have our habits – we’re not picking up the phone to talk any more, we’re picking up the phone to text. This makes messaging platforms…

Why Facebook’s most important job is some long overdue housekeeping

Last year Facebook disabled the use of ad blocking software. This meant that the big question was whether Facebook was still a viable social network, bringing people closer together or a multi-million-dollar advertising platform. The answer may be a muddy mixture of both. Rather than being able to login and…

Is instagrammability the new advertising?

In our ‘blink-and-you’ve-missed-it’ digital world, social media is leading the way in which most of us receive information. Instagram’s influence continues to grow. The platform topped 700 million monthly active users earlier this year and Instagram Stories reached 250 million daily active users just over a month ago. As we’ve been…

Instagram Bulks Out Its Live Capabilities With Collaborative Videos

A new Instagram feature lets users team up to broadcast live videos, opening up all kinds of possibilities for collaboration. The latest update is one in a string of changes to both Facebook and Instagram, intended to encourage more people to use live video on their platforms. While it’s only…

Facebook Messenger 2.1 – What has changed?

Some time ago, I wrote an article about Facebook launching Messenger 2.0 bringing group bots and a lot of cool updates to the platform. It is now returning with an updated 2.1 version that comes along with some updates that will please brands and marketers! For this new version,…

Facebook Stories gets two updates – and we’re still not convinced

If there was an update we didn’t really need on Facebook – it would be Facebook Stories. Like Instagram, the addition sits very obviously at the top of your mobile feed. Yet, nobody seems to actually be using it, and it remains permanently empty. (Seriously, apart from that one friend…

The meaning of Reddit in a Facebook dominated world

Earlier this week it was announced that Reddit, the social network that only a few of your outlier friends hang out on, had raised $200 million in new venture funding. That means that it is now valued at $1.8 billion according to CEO Steve Huffman. Now, that’s…

It’s time to get your Instagram Stories straight

It really is a constant battle between Instagram and Snapchat, but maybe, just maybe, it’s finally a little clearer which Stories your brand should stick with….for now! Firstly, Snapchat’s growth has slowed since Instagram Stories launched last August. There’s also been a 15 to 40% drop in the…

What makes a good back to school campaign?

It’s time for the summer holidays here in the UK which means we are weeks away from the second most wonderful time of the year; back to school and you can almost hear the sound of retailers, advertisers and marketers up and down the country clicking launch on campaigns designed…

60 Second Social 24/07/17

With Facebook & Twitter’s Q2 results looming this week, we’re predicting the future! We expect healthy results for Facebook, who have talked the talk & walked the walk when it comes to their new product offering. On the other hand, Snapchat still lag behind as their main focus…

The online consumption of Sports

The online consumption of Sports Online sports viewing has been growing significantly and as consumer attention gets scattered across multiple platforms and devices, it is interesting to understand what major marketing players are doing to follow suit. Trends A positive problem? Opportunities arise for advertisers as a need for engaging…

It’s a Millennial world out there

Millennial’s always want more. If you think something is new and upcoming, millennials are already ten steps ahead. With this in mind, they are also avid users of social media. However, it’s much more complicated than we think to reach them and keep up with what they want. Not only…

Facebook bolsters custom audiences on Instagram

We’ve heard on the grapevine that Facebook is making some significant changes to its Custom Audience feature, a brilliant way to re-target users who’ve interacted with brands in some way. Although it’s only in testing at the moment, you could soon be able to create a custom audience based on…

How to Write Great Branded Content

There are a million and one blogs out there that talk about how to write great content, and while some have valid points, there’s one thing they tend to miss. Great content comes first and foremost, from passion. Great content can’t be made to fit an audience. It can’t come…

Build a chatbot that counts

Chatbots are gradually climbing the ladder of popularity, providing brands with huge potential. Wondering what chatbots can do? Brands have the opportunity to have millions of simultaneous one-on-one conversations with fans without damaging the user experience. The masters of storytelling, Disney, Universal and Lionsgate are all proof that content and…

Instagram is testing “Favorites”

Instagram has noticed a strange phenomenon lately. People have started to create small, private accounts, so that they can share pictures with only a select cluster of friends rather than all their followers. In response, the platform (who’s smashing it lately, right?) has created a solution in the form of…

YouTube: King of the video castle?

We’ve always loved watching moving images. From the ancient zoetrope to retina-scorching 3D on a massive screen. The development of the moving image has been swift and rapid. One medium in particular looked to kill of cinema and rule the home roost. At one point, it looked like the ubiquity…

How to fend off the adpocalypse

It’s been a while since I’ve written about the ad blocking war that is being fought between advertisers and consumers. Every time advertisers find a way to get behind ad blocking enemy lines, ad blocking companies tinker around with a little bit of code and instantly launch a counter attack.

Why you should use Emojis in Facebook Ads

Lost for words? Using emojis in your marketing campaigns has now become the secret ingredient to success. Yes, we are now seeing emojis daily in all social media activity, it’s the talk of the town! Yet, only a few brands have yet successfully included emojis in their Facebook marketing campaigns.

00-Instagram is here – have you got the licence to post?

Nowadays, influencer marketing is playing a major role in brand marketing. It’s not a fad or a passing trend, it’s here to stay. From micro influencers, to stars with millions of followers, brands are investing a lot of money to place their products with the right people, and…

Snapchat Launches Self Service Ad Platform: Will you be joining the brand waggon?

Facebook did it, now Snapchat have made the financially lucrative choice to make their ads platform more accessible to small and medium enterprises. As the paid media specialist at immediate future, I have been waiting to sink my teeth into this new proposition since I wrote my first blog about…

The Art of The Takeover

Twitter, in partnership with MAGNA, recently announced the results of a scientific media trial examining the location of video ads within a social environment. This was called The Art of the Takeover: Optimizing What Consumers See First. The study was designed to test and formulate best practices for in-feed advertising, while at the…

Dads on social? They’re well connected thanks to the Dad Network

Here at IF Towers there are some older dads in the mix. Yep, there’s traditional dad stuff like photos on desks, and dad jokes flying around, but as is our business, we’re living and breathing social. It’s not the sole preserve of the young. We invented it doncha know! So,…

The role of affluent consumers in influencer marketing

As time spent social networking per day continues to climb (now standing at over two hours), networkers have been presented an ever-expanding choice of content to engage with. Cutting through this noise demands compelling content, and social’s ability to allow brands a way of associating themselves with…

Search results for "brands"

Research shows if you want relevant content then you need to work for it

Instagram– a gift that keeps on giving…

Building Brand Buy-In With Social

Fancy shopping around for your next influencer?

Is UGC missing from your content strategy?

Instagram Launches Payments for Commerce

Is Instagram after world domination?

YouTube go for the cord-cutters with TV ads

Facebook reveals an increased use of pre-roll ads and more…

Snap inaugurate augmented reality m-commerce

Facebook Premieres bridge the gap between Lives and edited content

Facebook’s ‘Loyalty Prediction’ ad tool

Our opinion; JD Wetherspoons’ social withdrawal

Spoons calls it quits – What did we learn?

Episodes of Instagram Stories

Is VR the next step for social?

LinkedIn goes all-in on B2B with video sponsored content

Insta’s shoppable posts have crossed the pond

How to win brand loyalty with one word

Insta’s latest algorithm changes

5 Ways to Maximise Your Brand’s Twitter Presence

How your business can make the most of Instagram’s Stories

Facebook algorithm changes: what we now know

Facebook Watch gets exclusive

Facebook drops Explore & tests new Voice Clip feature

3D posts on Facebook are a reality

YouTube just updated its live-streaming offering

Social Commerce Needs More Social Video

Facebook’s latest feature: Lists

Now you can set up shop on Instagram

Here’s why you should use Pinterest for seasonal advertising

Facebook Watch to challenge YouTube in 2018

Snapchat launches Bitmoji Deluxe and its own In-App store

New update from Instagram – 3 is the magic number

Time to seize the Twitter Sponsored Moments?

Instagram’s API finally allows scheduling

Influencer Marketing – From mega to micro

GDPR, increased social use…it’s time for a social media policy review

Why you should celebrate your brand’s anniversary on social

Content Is Facebook King Again

Is storytelling the future of Content Marketing?

Compelling content & conversation- Social media 101

How to spice up your Facebook polls with GIFs

Digital ad spend soars in 2017

Why you should follow Hashtags on Instagram

2018. How will your brand be heard above the noise?

Lens Studio – with love from Snapchat

Instagram launches huge changes to Stories

Christmas is so over. Focus on the New Year or lose out.

Facebook ups charitability for #GivingTuesday

Snapchat says you won’t find its audience anywhere else

Naughty or Nice? Pinterest’s got it sorted

Be more Netflix? Why AI, co-creation & brand personality can take you to the top

What will be in your 2018 social strategy?

Facebook takes on YouTube with Creator app

5 kinds of YouTube videos driving shopping patterns

Snap Strikes Back with new Ad Manager updates

News Spreads like Wildfire on Social

Serious Social 09/11/2017

Facebook Introduces Messenger Plugin for Business Sites

Do they know it’s Christmas? Yep, the seasonal ads are here

800 million users and counting…

Shoppable Posts on Social

Watch out LinkedIn – Facebook is coming for you!

A look back at a summer of travel on social

Crimes Against Emoji

Swiping just got professional!

Why the Stage is Set for Social Commerce

Snapchat launches sponsored 3D World Lenses into the real world

Vanity metrics are bovine dung

Instagram is changing: how much does a 4th column really matter?

An I.F interview with Nick Entwistle of One Minute Briefs

Is Facebook sneaking onto Tinder’s turf?

LinkedIn? Hot property? Amazing what a few tweaks can do

Step-up, stand-out and succeed on Instagram

WhatsApp isn’t just for your friends anymore…

Why Facebook’s most important job is some long overdue housekeeping

Is instagrammability the new advertising?

Instagram Bulks Out Its Live Capabilities With Collaborative Videos