Search results for "engagement"

How’s Your Facebook Relevance Score?

How’s Your Facebook Relevance Score?

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

5 ways to measure Snapchat marketing success

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

How paid is cannibalising ATL advertising

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

Context, not content, is king

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

Cannes Lions – big brands discuss their content strategy    

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

Usefulness is key for brands to really connect at festivals

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

10 Takeaways from Social Media World Forum

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

Measuring website content performance for success

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

True Relevance – The Basics of Data Driven Twitter Targeting

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

Is brevity knowledge, concise e-commerce messaging or Newspeak?

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

How the hospitality industry can use reviews in their social marketing mix

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

Join the ‘Social Media Day’ Revolution

It’s no secret that social media connects millions of people worldwide and has irreversibly changed the way we interact. The abundance of social media platforms has necessitated a change in the way brands engage with customers, how we consume news, our communications with friends…
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How to target B2B clients at events on social

How to target B2B clients at events on social

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

View performance stats for LinkedIn Publisher Posts

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

Just how social was the #socialmarathon?

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

4 assessments brands must make before jumping into the multi-networking trend

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

Social Media Automation Pros and Cons

For small business owners, automation tools can be incredibly useful things. But, like all tools, relying too heavily on social media automation will end in tears. Maintaining a brand identity and personality on social media is an important part of the relationship you want to have with your customers,…
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Is Klout any good for finding influencers? And how should we measure influence?

Is Klout any good for finding influencers? And how should we measure influence?

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

Facebook Topic Data – A new age of ‘Human Data’

A huge change in readily accessible data on social media is about to occur. On 10 March Facebook announced it would be closing off third party API access to its user activity data to make way for something a lot more exciting. Facebook Topic Data. What does…
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Becoming The UK’s Most Social Beverage Brand – Pepsi Max at Social Speakeasy

Becoming The UK’s Most Social Beverage Brand – Pepsi Max at Social Speakeasy

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

27 Free Digital Tools to get you started (on Digital Transformation)

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

3 ways to uncover the best times to post on social media

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

5 do’s that will help embed a data driven culture

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

Finding your influencers through link listening

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

Hillary Clinton turns to social to announce “I’m running for president”

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

Elevate your employees on LinkedIn

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

Reiterating Social Media ROI – how can you realistically calculate value?

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

The importance of regular social profile audits for brands

How many social networks do you have a personal account on? Now think about how many you actually use on a regular basis – those two numbers will most likely be different, and from a personal perspective that is not necessarily a negative. Now ask yourself the same questions about…
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4 ways to make your brand’s social voice sing

4 ways to make your brand’s social voice sing

Voice is a big thing for me this week, partly because I have a cold and appear to be losing mine, but mostly because so many brands on social, need one. There is just no excuse for posts and tweets that are vanilla, samey and predictable? After all, most brands…
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Social Login is becoming prolific, but how safe are your details?

Social Login is becoming prolific, but how safe are your details?

Convenience has been at the fore-front of user experience in computing for at least the last 30 years and for the web, this emphasis on convenience has resulted in the proliferation of easy-to-use login services. After all, who wants to fill in lengthy forms…
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How to shine on social in 2015

How to shine on social in 2015

So I attended this Drum event just before Christmas which was all about how to run an agency and be a leader. Half of the session was led by Simon Hartley from Be World Class whose whole business mantra is focused on what differentiates…
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5 ways to take your advertising on LinkedIn to the next level

5 ways to take your advertising on LinkedIn to the next level

We use the LinkedIn paid platform for clients on a daily basis. Despite its rather dated layout and reasonably thin set of features (when compared with the big boys like Google and Facebook), there is no doubt, for me, that LinkedIn still very much has the edge…
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6 uses for Bing Translate in Tweetdeck

6 uses for Bing Translate in Tweetdeck

Bing, the Microsoft owned, ever-growing search and data resource has returned its translation feature to Twitter-owned monitoring suite Tweetdeck. Originally introduced in July 2013 the service offered users a two click option to get quick and dirty translation of any none-native language tweet in…
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Facebook’s WhatsApp exceeds expectations by hitting 700M active users

Facebook’s WhatsApp exceeds expectations by hitting 700M active users

The world’s most popular mobile messaging service, WhatsApp which launched back in 2009 and has now reached over 700 million active monthly users across the globe. WhatsApp’s co-founder Jan Koum made the announcement on his Facebook page. The company was acquired by Facebook for $19…
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What is the future of the social media department?

What is the future of the social media department?

As we move through social media maturity, with some organizations already focusing on optimizing activity and performance based models, the question is – when does social media just become part of everything else? And what is the future of the social media department or even team?…
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3 reasons social media professionals need to step up or risk their jobs

3 reasons social media professionals need to step up or risk their jobs

There are almost 10,000 vacancies for social media manager on Indeed right now and the numbers keep on growing. In fact there are even more jobs in social media, especially when you search for social analyst, content manager, editor and the many burgeoning job titles. There are university courses and…
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Facebook to roll out call to action buttons for Pages in 2015

Facebook to roll out call to action buttons for Pages in 2015

It has been a very busy year for Facebook, from the re-launch of Facebook Atlas; which has opened up up new opportunities for re-marketing without cookies and linking online ad engagement to offline purchases; to Facebook’s rooms, a new way to discover and explore interests with like-minded individuals. It’s clear…
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UK set to see tremendous rise in digital ad spend in 2015

UK set to see tremendous rise in digital ad spend in 2015

New research conducted by Group M has forecasted that in 2015, the UK will be the first country where over 50% of total advertising spend will be allocated to digital and online media. Why? Because we are a nation obsessed with social media, online shopping and all…
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#Skeletakeover and #SecretScanta The Top Social Campaigns of Winter so far

#Skeletakeover and #SecretScanta The Top Social Campaigns of Winter so far

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

App Install Ads on Tumblr

You’re on your phone, in an app, an ad pops up, what are you more likely to spend your money on? • A Jacket • A Meal • An App SPOILER ALERT; It’s an app. Everyone and their mum wants you to download their app these days, from…
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Black Friday is upon us

Black Friday is upon us

It has been predicted that this year’s Black Friday will be the fastest growing online sales day of the year, with an estimated 28% year-on-year growth in sales (Social Bro) in the US. Over here in the UK Black Friday has also been taking retailers by storm, thanks mainly to…
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It’s not just Vloggers that need to know ASA rules

It’s not just Vloggers that need to know ASA rules

Today the BBC reported a crackdown on paid promotions via vlogging (video blogs). The example was given of Mondelez brand, Oreo, paying well-known vloggers to promote their biscuits (not a new or particularly unethical practice in itself). However, the vloggers did not declare that this was a…
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From real-time to data driven personalisation, how Coral tackle social

From real-time to data driven personalisation, how Coral tackle social

Sharing content that is relevant to your audience at the right time is one of the main facets to success on social channels, but as we heard from Tania Seif at the most recent Social Speakeasy, it is especially important for betting firm Coral. Learning fast and playing catch up…
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Breaking traditional marketing models – reactvertising, real-time, agile, social command centres and other such buzz terms

Breaking traditional marketing models – reactvertising, real-time, agile, social command centres and other such buzz terms

This post has been inspired this week by a hell of a lot of model drawing, inter-brand and agency conversations – scoping the models that will shape our clients in 2015 based on sterling work during this year so far in the real-time social arena. Then this video came up,…
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5 great tools to discover fresh and relevant content

5 great tools to discover fresh and relevant content

Sourcing fresh content that genuinely engages and adds value among your community is always a challenge. Making sure you discover content that is not only fresh but also on-trend and totally relevant for curating back to your social following is key to gaining positive…
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5 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Infographics

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Infographics

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Infographics The use of infographics in marketing and on social media is nothing new but here are a few reasons why you should be using these incredibly versatile tools; 1) 90% Of Information Transmitted To The Brain Is Visual. Your eyes have more sensory…
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Spot.IM – The on-page social network that hits the Spot for brands

Spot.IM – The on-page social network that hits the Spot for brands

Brands use Facebook and Twitter in a variety of ways, most of them very successfully. But as effective as they are, existing channels don’t necessarily result in more sales, page views or direct engagement with the customer. Spot.IM, a free, one-size-fits-all social network, aims to…
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Why Twitter data is so much more than real-time trend spotting

Why Twitter data is so much more than real-time trend spotting

Moves are afoot, and money is being spent, to dig a whole lot deeper into the Twitter conversations. Earlier this year Twitter gave researchers data grants to back-test hypotheses with large quantities of historical data. It is also funding (to the tune of $10m) an MIT programme to analyse social…
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‘Please retweet’, ‘Follow’, ‘Free’: What are the top buzzwords you need to use in your social media activity?

‘Please retweet’, ‘Follow’, ‘Free’: What are the top buzzwords you need to use in your social media activity?

Content is king, we all know that. But when it comes to social media, particularly when you have so few characters to get your message across, the words you use become incredibly important. We all want to seem intelligent, witty and eloquent when we post on social, but in the…
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Social Listening is Dead | Long Live Social Intelligence

Social Listening is Dead | Long Live Social Intelligence

The next generation of social listening is fast coming. Whilst social media offers a vast wealth of consumer data in response to brands and initiatives, solely monitoring the social sentiment will not provide the complete, deep nuances of consumer social interaction. Listen up; your social listening needs to be more…
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5 steps to B2B Real-time social for Thomson Reuters

5 steps to B2B Real-time social for Thomson Reuters

Yesterday we wrapped up a social command centre for the Thomson Reuters brand Accelus OrgID. It has been a week of frenzied content creation, tweeting and posting. All designed to amplify the company’s presence at Sibos 2014 (a major financial trade conference) and drive leads. And in our experience, real-time…
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Are all social marketers at risk of developing a split personality disorder?

Are all social marketers at risk of developing a split personality disorder?

Despite the ubiquitous nature of social media and its increasing impact in digital marketing, the majority of marketers fail to maximise the channel’s full potential. We are seeing it time and time again. What many seem to have forgotten is that social is sold on relationships. In an earlier blog…
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Get your GIF on

Get your GIF on

If you’re like me you probably have an attention span that can only be measured in nano-seconds. To grab your attention online, especially on social media, things need to explode and cartwheel about just to stop you scrolling for 5 seconds. That being the case I…
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3 reasons why Tesco’s CEO needs a social presence

3 reasons why Tesco’s CEO needs a social presence

Since yesterday, Dave Lewis, Chief Executive at Tesco, has been in the firing line. He is new to the role and battling against a crisis that, whilst not of his making, puts him centre stage. Yet a search on the networks shows that Mr Lewis has no…
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How the fashion industry is leading the way in digital

How the fashion industry is leading the way in digital

“Luxury retailers are leading the way with in-store technology” was the title of an article that I read recently and something I have been watching for a while. Yes, because I have a natural interest in fashion but also for me I really believe that the fashion…
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Social media activating political progress

Social media activating political progress

Social media has changed the way we communicate and engage with politics, igniting grassroots activism, clearly demonstrated in the lead up to last night’s no vote, in the Scottish Independence Referendum. With so many taking to social media to share their 2 cents, it became an open forum for the…
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Future-proof your business with disruptive social content: it’s the Microsoft Mobile way

Future-proof your business with disruptive social content: it’s the Microsoft Mobile way

Last week we were joined by Clare Izhaky, Head of Social Business for Microsoft Mobile (formerly Nokia) at the Social Speakeasy, who shared some terrific insight into her team’s approach to social media… Don’t be Bob. Who is Bob, you ask? Bob is dull, unsociable, doesn’t listen to people and…
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How can updating social media policy add value to UK Police forces?

How can updating social media policy add value to UK Police forces?

As a new report is published uncovering Police social media behaviour over the last 5 years we discover hundreds of cases of alleged Police misuse or misconduct of ‘social media’. Several cases of officers blurring the boundaries between personal and professional activity often confusing personal authority, professional responsibility…
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Sharing is caring!

Sharing is caring!

As you might expect, being in the social media industry, means I often find my work filtering through into my personal life. It doesn’t help being a self admitting social geek but, I must admit, that I often find myself looking at the engagement and activity of my friends Facebook…
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Don’t want to advertise on Twitter? Think again, with objective-based campaigns

Don’t want to advertise on Twitter? Think again, with objective-based campaigns

Last week Twitter announced objective based ads. A new way for those using promoted tweets service or Twitter ads’ to set up new campaigns. The new feature allows marketers to create tweets based on their key function and only pay when that function occurs. So if you were trying to…
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Are social logins the real power behind paid social?

Are social logins the real power behind paid social?

  It’s more or less been accepted that with targeted advertising online, be that AdWords or social, the main drivers of the targeting algorithms lay in your browser dropping cookies and particularly in social, your likes, shares and other forms of engagement. However is the rise of…
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Size matters in social…more than ever

Size matters in social…more than ever

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

Timehop knows what you did last summer, and the summer before that.

Timehop The app service that sends you a reminder of your updates of this time last year, 2 years ago, 3 years and so on, is by no means a new app. However their more recent functionality changes have increased downloads and driven engagements, now enabling users…
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Brazil may have failed at Football, but they’re winning on Instagram!

Brazil may have failed at Football, but they’re winning on Instagram!

The Brazil vs. Germany game earlier this week was devastating for this year’s hosts, with the sad faces of their fans been made into countless memes and shared relentlessly across social, making it the most tweeted about sports game ever with over 35.6 million tweets posted throughout the game.
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Germany are winning but Twitter are the real champions of Brazil 2014

Germany are winning but Twitter are the real champions of Brazil 2014

The most tweeted about sporting event in history. The day Germany smashed world cup hosts Brazil in a 7-1 victory. Twitter set out to win big during Brazil 2014 and they continue to excel their own benchmarks in smashing records and taking their event coverage to the…
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YouTube in a minute: Are you getting the most out of your videos?

YouTube in a minute: Are you getting the most out of your videos?

2.7 million views. 100 hours a video. 1,388 channel subscriptions. A lot can happen in a minute. We are of course talking about YouTube, the video sharing behemoth that is the third biggest website in a world and not only has millions of views every 60 seconds: it’s also raking…
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Lithium + Klout = Value

Lithium + Klout = Value

Lithium customer service management tool, used by services such as Spotify and Post Office and Skype, plans to incorporate its, recently acquired, online influence scoring app; Klout into it’s monitoring system. Adding value and unique…
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Instagram Ads expanding to the UK

Instagram Ads expanding to the UK

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

Getting serious about content marketing – LinkedIn’s most influential brands

Content, content, content. I am not quite sure how many times I use the word “content” in a day but if I did, and I got a £1 for every time, then I would be buying myself Google Glass (even if they are £1000, seriously!). So back…
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Social Trailblazer Awards champions social media innovators

Social Trailblazer Awards champions social media innovators

Today’s social media practitioners are digital pioneers. They are setting benchmarks and establishing best practice for businesses all over the world. They are setting the social media agenda, and we think it’s time they were recognised by the wider industry for their outstanding contributions. So we are shining…
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What the 2014 World Cup really means for Twitter and its user base

What the 2014 World Cup really means for Twitter and its user base

Twitter’s strengths lie in fast conversation around events as they happen with an inherent wealth of live breaking news. As one of the biggest international sports tournaments kicks off today (pun very much intended) the platform is ready with several new features to up its user sign…
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Has Facebook app advertising met its match?

Has Facebook app advertising met its match?

Facebook App install advertisements are slowly becoming an old familiar in your app based news feed, carefully honed by Facebook’s famous targeting tools. Personally I can vouch for their effectiveness of targeting (unlike the time I got an email from Pinterest…
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What does Hootsuite’s rebrand mean for its users?

What does Hootsuite’s rebrand mean for its users?

Hootsuite quietly ushered in a rebrand and updated service offering overnight, but it wasn’t long until Twitter feeds were booming with the news. The familiar owl icon has now been replaced with what resembles an avian Darth Vadar. Hootsuite has definitely met the dark side mirroring…
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Video: the king of content marketing?

Video: the king of content marketing?

As businesses begin to appreciate the value that quality visual content can bring in capturing the attention of prospects, which in turn drive clicks and sales, video becomes an ever more compelling part of a brand’s content strategy; Cisco predicts that by 2017 video will account for…
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Content Marketing Score and LinkedIn resources not to ignore

Content Marketing Score and LinkedIn resources not to ignore

LinkedIn’s recent set of proposition from their marketing solutions team again illustrates the focus the platform is placing on content, and being the centre point for your daily fix of industry news and views. After announcing widening the publishing platform up to all users, LinkedIn have…
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The future’s bright, the future’s augmented

The future’s bright, the future’s augmented

  Print media is widely seen as a dying medium with the lack of targeting and personalisation seen in comparison to digital advertising. US print media has seen a spend dip from $35.8bn in 2011 to a projected $32.2bn in 2014, whereas…
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The new Twitter profile layout now shows the world who you are

The new Twitter profile layout now shows the world who you are

Twitter has finally launched a new profile layout design for all its users rolling out a long overdue makeover of its previously and somewhat stuffy browser based layout. The new design falls inline with Twitter mobile design updates and instantly shows a big focus on visual enhancement…
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Shattering content for social media

Shattering content for social media

We social media lot are unique. The job requires many skills and ‘special’ characteristics- creativity, organisation, energy and a love for everything techie. The campaigns we run seem effortless from the outside but trust me, every tweet, Facebook post or LinkedIn update requires meticulous planning.
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Managing the real-time challenge: where are brands struggling?

Managing the real-time challenge: where are brands struggling?

What is real-time marketing about? Responding to customers, following trends and ultimately creating a strong, relevant relationship with your audience. It doesn’t sound so bad when you sum it up like that. But real-time marketing is easier said than done. Our research report ‘In the Social…
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Twitter: They say one picture speaks a thousand words, so how about four?

Twitter: They say one picture speaks a thousand words, so how about four?

Twitter has already carved out its name as one the top social media sites to market and advertise from but in an effort to become more ‘social’ it recently revealed two new features that allow users to upload up to 4 photos in a single tweet and…
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Brands should break the process if you want real-time social to work

Brands should break the process if you want real-time social to work

Paraphrasing some recent advice at our Social Speakeasy from Jerry Daykin of Mondelez International, “If you want to become a real-time engagement focused business then you need to break some of the traditional marketing practices”. Advice that is mirrored in our brand survey results on real-time social engagement. Where brands…
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LinkedIn: The lean, mean content marketing machine!

LinkedIn: The lean, mean content marketing machine!

LinkedIn is running ‘full steam ahead’ in its content marketing efforts as it announces the release of two new content analytics tools, dubbed as the “Dynamic Duo” for businesses. Read on to discover why the news should come as music to the ears of B2B brands marketing…
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Why over 50% of brands struggle to get real-time data and insights

Why over 50% of brands struggle to get real-time data and insights

Brands know that they need to be monitoring conversations if they are to make the most of real-time social engagement. Our survey, ‘In The Moment’ benchmarks real-time social amongst leading brands. It shows 62% of marketers think the most important best practice is monitoring trends, headlines and…
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Do you know the branded content possibilities?

Do you know the branded content possibilities?

Best of Branded Content Marketing: 10th Anniversary Edition from Justin Kirby I know everyone is talking about content. But I urge you to take time to read the eBook, Branded Content Marketing. For a start…
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Barclaycard’s Head of Social Media banks on measurement metrics to deliver ROI

Barclaycard’s Head of Social Media banks on measurement metrics to deliver ROI

Measuring, analysing and benchmarking your social activity is essential. It highlights what you are doing well, when you need to improve, and whether you are delivering what your customers want. But in truth, social media isn’t about promoting your business at all. It’s about engaging with your community (something easier…
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Maximise your social media measurement with Lucy Wren at the Social Speakeasy

Maximise your social media measurement with Lucy Wren at the Social Speakeasy

For many brands using social media, you want to prove one thing: that your campaigns are delivering ROI. Whether it’s the number of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, the number of retweets, clicks to your landing pages, email registrations or product downloads, there are a multitude of metrics that…
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Why ‘micro visuals’ are essential for your social media outreach

Why ‘micro visuals’ are essential for your social media outreach

For brands using social media, visuals matter. No matter the platform and whether its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, incorporating visual elements into your posts is essential. But its more than just using a random photo with your posts to fill the image quota on your posts. Quality, original and…
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#LFW #BAFTAS and #BRITs2014 – A week of social media furore

#LFW #BAFTAS and #BRITs2014 – A week of social media furore

Furore in the capital this week has been combined across several major awards and industry events. The Baftas, The Brit Awards and as you may have noticed on your Twitter trends or Pinterest boards; London Fashion week. Brands, labels and designers galore compete for their annual chance to set…
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Social CRM: battle of the social login

Social CRM: battle of the social login

So often in social media we are concerned with what is happening “in platform” that we forget the bigger picture. Over inflated company valuations that we are so familiar with nowadays are down to one thing – data. G+ is the 2nd biggest social network in the world due to…
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Give up thinking of Facebook as a free marketing channel. You need to invest in ads

Give up thinking of Facebook as a free marketing channel. You need to invest in ads

My view of Facebook advertising has changed in 2014. I used to think of ads as a supplement to boost campaigns. Now, I’d describe advertising as an essential activity for any brand or business using Facebook for marketing. Without the investment, you will struggle to create any cut-through (so if…
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Dear Social Santa…

Dear Social Santa…

Writing a Christmas letter to Santa is not as easy as it sounds and it really could take you a while. What happens if you have forgotten something? Will he be able to read your hand-writing? Is the address written correctly? There are just too many things to worry about.
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Online word of mouth marketing – what’s so great about it anyway?

Online word of mouth marketing – what’s so great about it anyway?

A few days ago, I read an interesting article in Social Media Today, which got me thinking about word-of-mouth marketing via social media. Social has had an enormous impact in transforming the way we talk about and endorse products/services to friends and family. But social should not…
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Inspiring social media of 2013

Inspiring social media of 2013

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

What it takes to be truly excellent in social media

Social media is an exciting, yet demanding arena of work to be in. I suppose that’s what makes it good fun. The skills and capabilities required for social media excellence are sometimes chopped up and divvied out to specialists within large agencies. For others, agency and in-house folk alike, all…
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5 Inventive ways B2B brands use Vine

5 Inventive ways B2B brands use Vine

Is Vine suitable for B2B brands? This is a good question, which I hear being raised over and over again. “Shouldn’t only food brands and celebrities use Vine?” – some may ask. A little investigation I did this morning reveals that, B2B brands can be equally creative Vine makers, and…
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5 Twitter tools you should not ignore

5 Twitter tools you should not ignore

Twitter is a truly fascinating social platform. Launched merely 7 years ago the company is now valued at $24bn. Some argue this is an over-valuation (Twitter is yet to make a profit), however the numbers speak for themselves: 230+ million monthly active users 500…
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5 facts about micro-videos you must know!

5 facts about micro-videos you must know!

© Vine. Logo. © Instagram. Logo. As we know Vine and Instagram videos have been a great success and added something extra to the social media armoury. There is a lot said about Vine and Instagram but what are the most important figures that…
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Fanning the flames: #AskBG live Twitter Chat

Fanning the flames: #AskBG live Twitter Chat

Last Thursday British Gas tweeted this: Our Customer Services Director Bert Pijls will be taking part in a Q&A about our price rise at 1-2pm. Tweet your questions using #AskBG! — British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013 The company already has a…
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Battling with Facebook reach: How to get more eyeballs on your posts

Battling with Facebook reach: How to get more eyeballs on your posts

It is reported that on average only 16% of Facebook page posts reach fans – a somewhat disheartening statistic when community managers spend  a great deal of time and creativity nurturing and managing their business’ Facebook page. It’s frustrating when they take stock and realise that such…
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