relationship Immediate Future

Social is becoming the oil in the engine

Over the last 2 years there has been a noticeable shift in our client base at immediate future. No longer are we just working alongside PR or marketing folk – something that is nicely expressed in the infographic below. Social isn’t simply an extension of a marketing campaign. It’s become integral…

How many of your Twitter followers are on Facebook and Google +?

Ever wondered how many of your brand’s Google+ circles are repinning away on Pinterest? Or how many of your LinkedIn connections also use Twitter? And just how many global users does Facebook have this week? Wonder no more! Global Web Index has shed some light on engagement patterns across social…

Listen and learn: how to rise above a social customer crisis

With an increasing number of consumers – and particularly those under the age of 25 – expecting customer service through social media channels, brands have a new and highly visible opportunity to turn negative sentiment into public and positive advocacy. Successful social customer service, however, treads a fine…

How social media is changing the landscape of social media

We love this recent infographic from the guys Our Social Times. With more than 57% of consumers searching online to solve customer service issues, it’s an area that just can’t be ignored. If you would like to find out more about the way social media…

Why you can’t ignore the young social customer

Lying low isn’t an easy thing for brands to do on social media, particularly when it comes to the young and socially savvy customer. According to a recent study by Sitel, 15% of 16-24 year-olds in the UK use social media as their preferred channel for resolving…

B2Bs take note – social media needs to empower staff, says global study

There is a perception in the industry that B2B “doesn’t do social”. I have often been asked if B2Bs “should use Social Media?” as part of their marketing mix and if “B2Bs can utilise Facebook?”…

The Three R’s of Facebook Moderation

Creating a branded Facebook page can be daunting for any business; doing so without a robust moderation policy in place can be disastrous. A branded Facebook page can be an open-invitation for foul-mouthed detractors to fill the page with expletives and abuse. Perhaps less obvious are the implications of a…

4 points for a marketer to consider before venturing into Google+

Before hastily setting up a Google+ page for your business, you need to step back and consider whether there is any value in joining the early adopters. We pulled together 4 points to help you evaluate whether it is worth your company embracing Google+: 1. Objective…

Are Google+ branded pages only for Muppets?

Since Google’s announcement, there has been an enthusiastic response to Google+ branded pages. Generally the applause has been loud and energetic, with over 600 news articles and innumerable blog posts. The positive response has proved interesting. After…

Measuring the Emotional Intelligence of community management: Part II

We’ve taken the three most engaged Facebook pages and for the past week we’ve been watching to see just how much emotion plays a part in their community management. In Part I of this series we laid out our measurement criteria; in Part II we put it to the…

Social media skills and the decline of the fourth estate?

A survival guide for journalists and the marketing profession The revelation that taking notes and time management are considered more important journalistic skills than understanding social media, has caused quite a stir. The worrying conclusion from the National Council for the Training of Journalists has been described…

Social media marketing: what not to do

Social media marketing is not new. We’re all familiar with the basics and brands are actively engaging with their consumers on a daily basis. So, why are people still doing it incorrectly? Here, we share what to do and, more importantly, what not to do when it comes to the…

Avoiding Facebook community f*ck ups. 5 moderation tips

Facebook pages give brands an opportunity to build close relationships with consumers; however, they also present new challenges for online community managers. Unlike forum based communities, brands have little real ownership over the platform: posting is instant, 24 / 7, and pre-moderating is restricted. This means that the risks are…

B2B social media case studies

There is a real dearth of social media case studies when it comes to business to business. The scarcity is even more profound when you are looking for examples from UK companies. Yet, surveys tell us that almost half of UK companies…

UK growth in use of B2B social media drives success

41% of UK businesses (up from 33% last year) are winning new customers through social media – this is according to a global survey of 17,000 businesses by Regus Group The infographic outlines global social media adoption…

No such thing as bad press?

Search is a hot topic at the moment. With innovations in mobile and local search and the impact of real time mentions and social media, the competition for the much sought over front page position is hotting up. For some, the temptation may be to take advantage…

Social media monitoring, the questions to ask

As a social media agency, monitoring tools have become a valuable component in our toolkit. With a plethora of new tools hitting the market, staying on top of the latest technology and understanding their differentiating factors is a challenge – so here are a few of the…

The thrill of the chase. Discounts and e-commerce.

Last night I went to the hairdressers. I paid with a ‘recommend a friend’ voucher; and I left with a 10% off my next cut token. And a few for my friends. The haircut was good – and the fact that I got a good deal made it even better.

Social engagement is not just for Christmas

This year, it seems Christmas is truly social. And for many brands social media marketing is definitely playing a big role in the festive push to consumers. M&S and John Lewis are integrating TV with their social media efforts, whilst Argos is pushing out…

All I want for Xmas is my two favourite blogs

It’s that time of year again: lists, retrospectives, best ofs, highs and lows. Take twelve months of experience and package it up into a pithy blog post or a commemorative special issue. I am, frankly, powerless to resist. My list of the top ten albums of 2010 has been under…

Stuart Baggs – your brand is out of control

I’m not claiming to have come up with the notion that your customers write your brand and your employees write your company culture, but it’s one I keep coming back to. If the brand is a promise – setting the expectation of an experience – then to be fulfilled, someone…

Rewarding influencers – it’s not all about the money

Our social shopping research revealed a high propensity for influencers [and consumers] to want rewards for recommending a brand or reviewing a product/service. There is, unsurprisingly, a high demand for incentives that discount (75%). But the intriguing insight is how this is coupled…

immediate Insights – Converting to purchase from social media

The conversion from “like” to purchase is currently a hot topic for brands seeking to optimise social media opportunities; and recent research from YouTube, supported by the IAB, has highlighted the magnitude of this challenge. 60% of people who “like” or…

What women want. The fashion shopper.

There’s a bit of a quirk emerging in the retail research report detail that, as a social media agency, we’re interested in exploring. It involves fashion. And women. And how we can’t get enough of talking about our clothing – yet we seem to have quite a clear idea…

The secrets to social media ROI

There is much debate about whether social media can generate a return on investment. It is certainly a hot topic given the increasing investment in social media activity. As a social media agency we work with…

Should we reward customers for social media recommendations?

Developing brand loyalty and encouraging repeat sales is a challenge for online retailers, particularly in an increasingly competitive and crowded marketplace. With the ability to move between retailers at the click of a mouse and with a multitude of comparison sites for the savvy shopper, encouraging brand loyalty can…

The Social Shopping Explosion

Today we are launching our report on social shopping and its impact on consumer behaviour. Online retail has traditionally been characterised by price-driven sales and purchase-driven consumers. The focus, for retailers, has been on engaging the…

Social Shopping: reaching the 50% that aren’t buying

“The key to social commerce is understanding the roles of the social consumer and the parts they play in the grand production of your marketplace.”[1] By 2012, online retail sales in the UK are predicted to hit £44.9bn. And social is changing the way we shop. In 2007,…

Digital PR showing its SEO teeth

The lines between PR and SEO are becoming ever more blurred. Back in February, Matt on his InfluenceFinder blog asked “Is PR the next SEO or SEO the next PR?” Yesterday I came across a new eConsultancy Q&A with John Straw…

Social media in a league of its own

With a new football season underway and an eagerly anticipated Premier League campaign due to start this weekend, I’ve been considering my consumption of the global game recently and how it’s changed. Not just for individuals, but for brands as well. Everyone knows football is big business…

Getting emotional about social networking

For years we’ve been told that the internet and new technology is stopping traditional face to face communication. Parents have been warned that if their kids spend too much time surfing the net and chatting on social networking sites they’ll become void…

Marking a milestone with memories

Facebook is expected to reach the very impressive 500 million user milestone this week. Putting this half billion member mark in perspective, The Washington Post reports that, “the population inhabiting Facebook now equals that of the United States, Japan and Germany combined. Or, two…

It’s good to talk!

In this day and age of social networking, many PRs are now beginning to rely too heavily on email and instant messenger to sell-in their stories to the media. Gone are the days of the telephone and the hour long lunch briefing. Now it seems, we are becoming guilty of…

How the hungry corporate caterpillar hatched into a social butterfly

Back in the day, we were taught not to mix business with pleasure. These days - with the help of Web 2.0 - the two worlds have collided to form an altogether more social way of doing business.

Has Google lost its buzz??

Times they are a changin’, or so it seems. The powerhouse of the internet that is Google has a pretender to its crown. Facebook has managed to gain a level of momentum that could well see it take over as the most…

Leap of faith

This week I enjoyed ‘An Evening with Rufus Wainwright’ at Sadlers Wells in London. Watching the very unusual first half of the performance, I was mulling over the power of the performer, the generosity of the audience, the nature of being an expert and…

Social Media for Social Change

Recently there has been a major shift in the world of Corporate Social Responsibility. Climate change and the current economic climate have pushed companies to adopt a more pro-active approach to CSR. The bottom line is now centred around people, planet and profit. As businesses aim to build more sustainable…

Customer service boldly going where competitors dare not go

Recent message exchanges with a major mobile phone company have made me think about the role Twitter plays in establishing, building and maintaining customer relationships. Such a short message by nature needs to be succinct and to the point, not something that the majority of big companies…

Google’s algorithms – secret recipe or evil formula?

Rumours, insinuations and accusations have been bubbling around for a while now, but today’s announcement that the European Commission has launched a preliminary anti-monopoly probe into Google’s affairs is the first concrete action to…

Net Promoter Score – a flawed science?

Yesterday, I attended a WOM UK espresso breakfast briefing with Professor of Consumer Behaviour Dr Robert East from our very own Kingston University. Dr East and his MBA students have been researching consumer behaviour and word for mouth for 10 years. Without serious funding…

17 things you should know about building links

I read an interesting post at SEOmoz about the different factors which influence how valuable a link is in terms of improving the target page’s search engine rankings, and wanted to share it with my colleagues. But being a busy lot I knew they probably wouldn’t have…

How bit.ly will change the world

On the surface, URL shortening services such as https://bit.ly are a great idea, because they can turn long, messy web addresses like this: https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article6788774.ece Into nice tidy addresses like this: https://bit.ly/g4ol9 This is especially useful for posting to Twitter, since it…

SEO advice for PR professionals

A lot of people in the PR industry view search engine optimisation (SEO) as something of a voodoo dark art and, consequently, are afraid of tackling it. The main problem with the SEO industry is that unless you already know a lot about the subject, it’s kind of hard to…

Understanding the difference between online PR and SEO

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the purpose of online PR these days. Too many people think that the sole job of online PR is improve the client’s search engine optimisation and help drive traffic to their website. Granted, SEO and online PR do go hand in…

Four essentials for brainstorming creative ideas for online PR

Just before Christmas, we experimented with some new brainstorming techniques across a number of clients. It got me thinking how there is a lot more to a creative brainstorm when you are planning for social media ideas. Offline, a PR brainstorms rely upon understanding a client: its business or products, its audience, and its requirements. In addition, a good knowledge of what is newsworthy, the media and what is currently capturing the headlines is essential. Of course, this knowledge is necessary for online PR brainstorms too, but you have to add to the mix with a more detailed understanding of social media.

Will branded wikis be enough to inspire conversation

A rather clever idea by our friends over at Picture Production Company has just launched: a [tag]wiki[/tag] for Fox’s Fantastic Four film release. The idea is simple, viewers can change, edit and submit to the website in…

Traditional Media will have to become social media relations experts

Emily Bell has run an article in today’s Media Guardian commenting on the Guardian’s new look homepage that grabbed my attention. Most interesting is a point referenced to Jeff Jarvis, highlighting the recent drop in importance for the homepage. Visitors to…

Roundtable on the future of online says it’s all about social media

A roundtable from e-consultancy (declare: they are a partner) reveals that future thinking of some of the digital industry’s forward thinking players. What strikes me is that throughout…

Search results for "relationship"

Social is becoming the oil in the engine

How many of your Twitter followers are on Facebook and Google +?

Listen and learn: how to rise above a social customer crisis

How social media is changing the landscape of social media

Why you can’t ignore the young social customer

B2Bs take note – social media needs to empower staff, says global study

The Three R’s of Facebook Moderation

4 points for a marketer to consider before venturing into Google+

Are Google+ branded pages only for Muppets?

Measuring the Emotional Intelligence of community management: Part II

Social media skills and the decline of the fourth estate?

Social media marketing: what not to do

Avoiding Facebook community f*ck ups. 5 moderation tips

B2B social media case studies

UK growth in use of B2B social media drives success

No such thing as bad press?

Social media monitoring, the questions to ask

The thrill of the chase. Discounts and e-commerce.

Social engagement is not just for Christmas

All I want for Xmas is my two favourite blogs

Stuart Baggs – your brand is out of control

Rewarding influencers – it’s not all about the money

immediate Insights – Converting to purchase from social media

What women want. The fashion shopper.

The secrets to social media ROI

Should we reward customers for social media recommendations?

The Social Shopping Explosion

Social Shopping: reaching the 50% that aren’t buying

Digital PR showing its SEO teeth

Social media in a league of its own

Getting emotional about social networking

Marking a milestone with memories

It’s good to talk!

How the hungry corporate caterpillar hatched into a social butterfly

Has Google lost its buzz??

Leap of faith

Social Media for Social Change

Customer service boldly going where competitors dare not go

Google’s algorithms – secret recipe or evil formula?

Net Promoter Score – a flawed science?

17 things you should know about building links

How bit.ly will change the world

SEO advice for PR professionals

Understanding the difference between online PR and SEO

Four essentials for brainstorming creative ideas for online PR

Will branded wikis be enough to inspire conversation

Traditional Media will have to become social media relations experts

Roundtable on the future of online says it’s all about social media