Businesses have finally landed a place on Instagram

The world’s leading photo-sharing app has announced a new feature that we’ve all been waiting for – company pages!
Instagram previewed the new profiles and tools for businesses earlier in the month, and they will soon be available to people in the US, New Zealand and Australia over the next few months. But don’t panic Britain; they’re slowly introducing the new feature, so we’ll get our hands on it at some point!

The new update will add a contact button to profiles, as well as detailed analytics and easier access to promotional tools, which can transform company posts in advertisements.

For companies, the most useful feature will be the addition of a contact button, where consumers will be able to easily interact with the brand. Companies will be given the option to add an email address, contact number or text message option, alongside location directions.

As stated earlier, Instagram will also give users with a company profile the ability to access analytics data. Similar to Facebook analytics, Instagram’s insights provide a detailed look at post engagement, audience and follower demographics.

Alongside the new business feature, Instagram is also testing a new algorithmic feed, which will order posts by relevance, rather than chronological order – a move that has particularly upset many businesses and personal users alike.

Being fans of the photo-sharing app ourselves, we’re eager for the new business feature to roll out into the UK. Let us know your thoughts!

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RE: Tips for increasing your email opens

Did you know that you have fewer than 5 seconds to convince a recipient to open an email? When it comes to email marketing, enticing your audience to engage with your email is a common struggle, and with a bland subject line, your chances of getting that email opened markedly decrease.

New trends are emerging throughout the world of email marketing all the time and a number of these revolve around the never-ending quest to create engaging and eye-catching subject lines. For instance, of late, you may have noticed the retail sector increasingly using emojis in their subject lines to attract you to open their email. However, whether this is suitable for own audience needs to be considered carefully. The fundamental goal of a subject line is to get as many opens as possible, and to give you a little help, we have come up with 5 top tips for writing an irresistible subject line.

  1. Less is more

Whilst it’s important to make your subject lines as clear as possible, it’s also important to keep them short and sweet. For best results, a subject line shouldn’t be any longer than 50 characters. Whilst this may be a struggle, give it a try and see how you get on.

Particularly with mobile devices, making a subject line longer runs the risk of it being cut off prematurely. According to a study from Sidekick, 40% of emails are opened on mobile first – where the average mobile screen can only fit 4-7 words max.

  1. Beat that filter

There’s only one thing worse than having your email sent to the ‘trash’ folder, and that’s the email being sent to the ‘spam’ folder. Sidekick found that 69% of email recipients report emails as spam based solely on its subject line, so making sure that your subject line isn’t ‘spam-worthy’ is a must.

There are also a range of words that act as a warning sign for email accounts, so be sure to avoid the following:

  • Reminder
  • Increase your
  • Dear
  • Free
  • Help
  • Get out of
  • Urgent
  1. Make it personal

One of the easiest ways to get an email deleted from an inbox is if it comes across as too generic. These days, consumers are attracted to a product or service with their name plastered on it – a prime example being CocaCola’s #ShareACoke campaign.

Personalising your subject line is one of the most effective methods for generating opens for an email campaign, and it can even be as simple as using the term ‘you’. Emails which contain personalised subject lines are 20% more likely to get opened – it’s a no brainer!

  1. Urgency is important

There’s nothing wrong with creating a sense of urgency in your email. We have a deep fear of being left behind, or missing out, and this can be your chance to use it to your advantage!

In recent years, Sidekick have seen a 61.8% increase in opens when using the word “alert” in a subject line.

You need to make your recipients feel like they must open your email without any hesitation. Examples include:

  • Get your marketing MOT today
  • Today only
  • Ends soon
  1. Be humorous

We all love a bit of ‘banter’ here and there, and a humorous subject line can really stand out from the other dull, bland emails that surround it. However, humour can be a touchy subject, and without knowing your audience well enough, it can go wrong, so be aware.

We’ve come across a range of amusing subject lines:

  • Groupon – “There are no deals in this email”
  • Customer Surveys – “Baby got (feed)back”
  • Move Loot – “Seat your heart out”
  • Barack Obama – “Hey”

 

If you’re looking to be sneaky, include ‘RE:’ before the subject line, as the top 5 subject lines in a recent study from Sidekick had ‘RE:’ at the beginning.

Whatever you choose to do to improve your email marketing’s effectiveness, make sure you put improving your subject lines at the top of the list. It doesn’t matter how great the content in the email is, if it doesn’t get opened.

If you have any tips for successful subject lines, get in touch!

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10 years of Twitter and some interesting facts that will blow your mind

Did you know that one of the early names considered for the platform was “Friendstalker”? We’re not so sure how successful the network would have been with that name or even if it would reach its 10th birthday; but, having done so and with over 305 million monthly users, we’re sharing some of the most impressive and fascinating facts about the platform to date.

Most retweeted tweet

Can you guess? That’s right, Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie, with her Hollywood A-lister friends, received over 3.3 million retweets on Twitter. Selfie-taking (for better or worse!) has now become a way of life for us all, to the extent that the term itself has now been accepted into our dictionaries. It somehow seems fitting then that the modern selfie phenomenon would lead to Twitter’s most significant sharing moment to date.

Most followed person

Somewhat surprisingly you might think, given the competition, American pop-star Katy Perry is Twitter’s most-followed person, boasting nearly 85 million users, which is more than the population of Spain. Katy is closely followed by pop prince Justin Bieber, with 78 million followers and pop princess, Taylor Swift, with 74 million.

Most tweeted emoji

To date, the most tweeted emoji with 14.5 billion impressions is the ‘tears of joy’ emoji. Personally, we like the aubergine!

Most tweeted hashtag

Hashtags have been named ‘the child of Twitter’. Their development enabled users to employ the hashtags to start a conversation, participate in trends and make new connections. The most popular hashtag to date is #FF – Follow Friday. For those of you not already #FF savvy, this is a popular phenomenon where users encourage their followers to follow new accounts; either because they’re new to the network or have done something worthy of recognition.

Total number of tweets

Since Twitter’s launch 10 years ago, the network has managed to generate 500 million tweets per day across the world. On average, 6,000 tweets are tweeted every second, which corresponds to over 350,000 tweets per minute.

Most geo-tagged location

Surprisingly, the most geo-tagged location is south-east Brazilian city Sao Paulo, having received over 638 million tags. Sao Paulo is classed as one of the world’s most popular cities with well over 11 million inhabitants.

With Twitter reaching its 10th birthday and generating 6,000 tweets per second, us marketers are intrigued to know what the numbers will look like on its 20th birthday? Will it even get there? With the rapid rise of rivals Instagram and Snapchat eating into Twitter’s audience and user base, some marketers are heralding its imminent demise. Will it become the next MySpace or have Twitter got something up their sleeve to secure its position in the social media platform hierarchy for another decade? Only time will tell…

If you’ve found any more fascinating facts about Twitter which you think is worthy of being added to our list, get in touch!

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Technology shifts and their impact on content marketers

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With technology continually evolving, content marketers need to ensure that they stay on top of the trends and technologies that will influence their audiences and marketing channels going forward. With this in mind, we take a look at some of the emerging technologies that are shaping the world of marketing this year. Is your business on top of them?

Social purchasing

Social purchasing has been a growing trend over the last few years. It involves consumers being able to purchase products and services direct from an organisation’s social media channel, rather than their website.

Facebook have lead the way with social purchasing, through their Facebook ads, but other social media channels, such as Pinterest, with their buyable pins (where consumers are able to buy products straight from the network without leaving the page) have supported them. According to a study by Deloitte, 47% of millennials say their purchases are influenced by social media, indicating social purchasing opportunities are only going to increase. Businesses that have to-date ignored social media marketing, could be missing out on a trick!

As you might expect, social media is the most popular marketing channel for marketers looking to share content and build an audience. With the rise of social purchasing, it does raise the interesting question of is this the beginning of the end for the traditional business website?

Live streaming

Streaming live video has become a growing trend, with apps like Meerkat, Twitch and Periscope appearing more frequently on our smart phones. Even mainstream social apps like Facebook have adopted their own live streaming features, and users are beginning to demand new ‘in-the-moment’ content, rather than pre-scheduled.

This could put a heavy burden on businesses large and small. Even large organisations, like Red Bull and Home Depot in the States, who rely heavily on video content to engage with their consumers, will be challenged to come up with genuinely engaging ‘in-the-moment’ content. It will be particularly interesting to see how video leader, YouTube, will respond to the growing trend, with their platform currently set up to deliver pre-recorded rather than live video.

Live streaming also offers opportunities for SMEs looking for closer engagement with their target audiences. It is important that marketers in smaller businesses don’t discount this exciting medium. It is not all about the big brands!

Mobile usage

Mobile messaging apps are beginning to transform the way consumers interact with brands, and Facebook is once again at the forefront of this trend. In March 2015, Facebook announced their partnership with Dutch airline KLM, giving KLM passengers the ability to access booking confirmations and boarding passes via their smartphone.

The practice of carrying out transactions through messaging apps is already expanding in China, where consumers are moving rapidly towards mobile purchasing, and away from online purchasing. The rapid rise of mobile purchasing will force businesses that offer an online-only service to adapt and evolve.

The dramatic growth of mobile usage and the rise of the smartphone is heralding the slow demise of traditional PCs and computers. For a long time, laptops and desktops were the preferred choice of consumers for researching and purchasing, but now the tables have turned. With the advent of 4G and Wi-Fi becoming ever more ubiquitous, amongst us in shops, cafes, restaurants and even banks, smartphones are becoming our primary means of running our lives. From a content marketers perspective, ensuring your content can be easily accessed on a mobile device is now a must.

If you are involved in content marketing and aren’t considering the impact of these and other technological developments on your strategy, you’ll be missing out on some very exciting opportunities.

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TLC’s Campaigns of the Month

With the New Year now gone and Easter on the horizon, it is a good time to review how some of the bigger brands have been boosting their marketing in early 2016 (or end of Dec 15 in one case!). Whose campaigns have stood out and why? We’re taking a look back at 3 of the more innovative and quirky campaigns that kicked off the year, just in case you missed them.

We saw pop-up shops from the likes of Crème Egg and Skittles and live-streaming billboards from Land Rover. Take a look at the details below to see if you can draw inspiration from any of them.

Crème Egg Café

January 22nd was an exciting day for all London-based Cadbury Crème Egg lovers, with a new Crème Egg Pop-Up Café opening in Soho, London.

The café is spread across 3 floors, where consumers are able to order takeaway Crème Egg toasties on the first floor, Crème Egg brownies and even Crème Eggs with soldiers on the second floor, and access a Crème Egg ball pool on the third.

According to EventBrite, the tickets were on sale 3 days prior to the opening, and were sold out by the time the café was scheduled to open. The café is open from 5pm Friday – Sunday for 7 weeks, and with nearly every day sold out, I think we can all agree that this is a highly successful campaign.

Land Rover

Land Rover’s Instagram filter OOH billboards definitely brought a new perspective to the people of London and Leeds last month, as part of their #Hibernot campaign.

Land Rover transformed the cities’ landscapes with their Instagram-like live filters on digital billboards, encouraging consumers to ‘see winter differently’. The billboards displayed live images of the immediate area and then applied their own ‘Land Rover filter’, encouraging consumers to follow their Instagram page, and get out and about to explore the season by taking a drive.

Skittles Pawn Shop

Wrigley-owned sweet brand, Skittles, opened a pop-up shop in Toronto on 26th December for 4 days. Consumers were able to exchange unwanted goods for sweets. Now, we understand that this campaign wasn’t quite in January, but we loved the idea so much we wanted to include it.

Consumers were encouraged to bring any items that they no longer wanted, and receive Skittles for them. The store particularly promoted novelty gifts, such as knitted clothing and cuddly toys. All items received were donated to the Goodwill ReUse centre in Toronto’s Scarborough district.

To extend the reach of the campaign, Skittles launched an accompanying digital campaign for those who weren’t in the area at the time, where fans could see how much their unwanted items were worth in exchange for Skittles.

We loved these campaigns and look forward to what 2016 has in store for us. Stay tuned for the best marketing campaigns of February!

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Facebook celebrates its 12th birthday, but will brands be celebrating in the future?

Facebook celebrates its 12th birthday, but will brands be celebrating in the future?

Last Thursday marked Facebook’s 12th birthday, and they were kind enough to let us users be a part of it with their ‘Friends Day’ video experience! The special occasion enabled users all around the world to view a personalised video experience at the top of their news feed, which included photos that were marked as ‘special moments’.

The ‘Friends Day’ videos were pre-populated, but users were able to customise and switch the photos being used to create the video, with their customised version being posted on their Timelines shortly after.

Despite a marked decrease in number of under 18s using the platform regularly, there are still many more birthdays to come for Facebook, thanks to the 1 billion users actively using the platform each month, but how many of these are actually brands? Below are just a few examples of how the big boys are using Facebook in its 12th year:

Nike

Nike is arguably one of the biggest brands out there and their Facebook page plays a key role in their overall marketing approach. The page is a balance of new products, science and charitable initiatives, but one way they differentiate themselves is using different pages for each of their product lines. From snowboarding to golf, Nike has a page for all interests. Do you?

Microsoft

When marketing a technology product, it can be challenging not to get too ‘techy’ and alienating your audience. Microsoft’s Facebook marketing is a great example of avoiding falling into this trap.

Their latest campaign was based around the hashtag #5to9, which was designed to focus specifically on a user’s time outside of the office. They also subverted typical workplace acronyms like PTO and ETA, converting them into non-workplace phrases, indicating that their products can be used at home, as well as in the office. Microsoft’s use of social media platforms like Facebook, is in marked contrast to Apple whose use of social media marketing is very limited.

Cadbury’s

As Cadbury’s Dairy Milk approached their 1 millionth like on Facebook, they decided to celebrate with an innovative campaign – the thumbs up! Cadbury’s built a giant thumbs up out of 1 million pieces of chocolate and allowed fans to participate and engage with the campaign through their Facebook page.

Cadbury’s are still devising quirky campaigns on Facebook now, with their festive #cadvent Christmas campaign last year a great success at generating consumer engagement.

With all of these brand giants embracing Facebook marketing, what does this mean for us marketers of smaller businesses?

Facebook is still developing new ideas for brands to showcase their products; their new Carousel ads, first introduced back in 2014, are a key example. Since then, advertisers have seen carousel ad links drive 30-50% greater consumer spend as a result of the social network. This, along with the rapid rise of video on Facebook, all points to the social media giant continuing to play a central role in many marketers’ social media strategies in 2016 and beyond.

What are your thoughts about Facebook marketing for SMEs?

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#MarketingTitbits – Google’s Guidelines, Instagram Changes, Original Logos

google-instagram-logos1. 12 practical content tips from Google’s Page Quality guidelines
During November last year, Google released a series of Page Quality rating guidelines for website owners, based on Google’s approximation of the highest and lowest quality content found today.

One particular guideline which caught the attention of entrepreneurs was to improve their 404 (page not found) message, where many website owners now give an explanation to why the page couldn’t be found. Google also suggested that websites shouldn’t be stingy with contact information, providing specific email addresses and phone numbers rather than a contact form.

Click here for the full 12 practical tips from Google’s Page Quality guidelines.

2. Instagram looks to woo small businesses through further Facebook integration

The photo-sharing network is turning its attention to small business owners to boost their advertising offering, as part of its global expansion strategy. Facebook acquired the photography app three years ago for $1bn, and according to Instagram’s chief operating officer, Marne Levine, Instagram have been heavily relying on their parent company’s sales team.

Levine states “I think that what you’ll see in 2016 is small businesses starting to advertise more and take advantage of this platform”. In 2015, research indicated that marketers are rapidly embracing Instagram, are you one of them?

To read more, click here.

3. The original logos of Apple, Amazon and other tech giants

Symbols and colour choices are vital for a brand’s identity, and as trends change, brands change. Often companies go through a strange brand phase, and large organisations, like Apple and Microsoft are no exception.

Apple’s early logo, dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton, is a far cry from the slick, clean, minimalist design now associated with the tech giant. Microsoft experimented with an ‘edgy’ style in 1980 and Amazon’s early logo perhaps indicated the company’s long term designs to extend their offering far beyond books. A book was nowhere to be seen,  despite it being their core product at the time.

Want to see how more big brands have developed their logos? Click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – 2016 Business Trends, 10 New Year’s Resolutions, #Twitter10K

trends-resolutions-twitter1. 2016 trends: what will impact your business this year
New Year, new business? Marketing Week has put together a list of key issues to keep an eye out for in 2016. Other than pricing, will brands find something new to go to war on?

Mobile messaging is about to transform the way consumers interact with brands. Not only will this be for customer service issues, but also to manage appointments and make bookings. Hitting the #2 spot is mobile-friendly apps, where the UK will see the launch of Atom Bank – the first mobile-only bank. Same-day delivery services will also be top priority for businesses.

To view the 2016 trends in full, click here.

2. 10 New Year’s Resolutions entrepreneurs should make every year

Have you still kept to your New Year’s resolutions? If you are guilty of making unreasonable and unrealistic New Year’s resolutions, this could be for you. New goals being set at the beginning of each year can be a valuable assist in determining long-term success for businesses, and is something that entrepreneurs should consider seriously.

One of the top resolutions that every entrepreneur should make, is to commit to understanding one’s finances better, meaning familiarising oneself with accounting basics better. Being able to effectively run a business is an exhausting job; therefore improving health is another vital resolution. Keeping up on current events can also be important when looking to open conversations and build new relationships.

Were any of these on your list? If you’d like to see the full list, click here.

3. #Twitter1K: possibility of 10,000 character limit creates big buzz

As you probably already know, Twitter has some big changes in store for this year, and it’s created a huge buzz. Having to change words such as “you” to “u” will no longer be an issue, as there’s a strong possibility that the character limit will be extended.

In response to the proposed changes, many have shared their thoughts by using the hashtag #Twitter10K. Stephen Murdoch, Vice President at Enterprise Canada, shared “#Twitter10K. If someone can’t articulate their thoughts in 140 characters, it’s probably not worth reading”. On the other hand, Danny Gonzalez asks, “Why don’t people want the character limit to increase? I think it’s awesome. #Twitter10K”. What do you think and what will it do to Twitter’s appeal?

See what others thought by clicking here.

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#MarketingTitbits – CES 2016, Social Media 2016, Year Of The Reviews

ces-socialmedia-reviews1. Five learnings for marketers from CES 2016
The Consumer Electronics Show hit Las Vegas last week, and it gave us marketers a chance to search out those innovative ideas for the year ahead. The Global Chief Strategy Officer at Initiative, Sarah Ivey, has managed to see through to the trends behind the tech, to make sense of what it means for marketers.

Machine communications lead the way at CES and are becoming a real force in marketing. We’ve all experienced Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana, and with Ford revealing their plans to explore how a connected car could talk to an Amazon Echo home automation hub to control features in the vehicle and at home without your input, the opportunities for marketers are huge. Virtual Reality, the 4K viewing experience, the human UX and more all promise new and innovative channels for marketers.

Click here to view more learnings from CES 2016.

2. Five things great brands will do differently on social media in 2016

To say that 2015 was a success for social media platforms would be an understatement. Facebook alone generated revenue of £3.1bn. With no signs of social media marketing being on the wane, what will the big brands be doing differently on the platforms in 2016?

Investing more, embracing video even more, thinking differently and more.

To discover what brands will be doing differently for 2016 in more detail, click here.

3. Forget your testimonials page, 2016 is the year of reviews

Are you making the most out of your testimonials page? 2015 was a huge year for local search, with brands increasingly taking an interest in reviews. Reviews have always been important for consumers choosing a product and service, and with brands taking notice of this, 2016 is the year when the importance of reviews gets even greater.

It’s likely that the only traffic going to a business’s testimonials page is from the staff. Customers want to read honest, unbiased reviews on third-party sites. Since consumers are increasingly ignoring testimonials, links to other review sites are increasingly becoming the norm for brands. Is your business taking notice too?

For more information, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Coca-Cola’s Marketing, YouTube’s Viral Moments, Brands Colours

cocacola-youtube-brands1. How Coca-Cola overhauled its marketing in 2015
From its ‘single brand’ strategy to lower calorie, flavoured products, Coca-Cola are determined to keep up with changing consumer tastes. Back in March this year, the soft drinks company introduced a one brand strategy, where its four product family – Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life, were placed under one master.

The new branding came from its consumer research which found that half of consumers didn’t know that Coke Zero has no sugar or calories, as well as not knowing the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke. Bobby Brittain, GB marketing director for Coca-Cola says “We’ve failed to communicate clearly enough the product differentiation. That’s a major wakeup call for us”.

Want to read more on Coca-Cola’s marketing? Click here.

2. YouTube has released its annual video mashup of the biggest viral moments of 2015

YouTube have recently paid tribute to all the biggest viral moments and people of 2015, and it already has 44 million views! From the tribute, people who are well-versed in internet culture and YouTube stars will recognise dozens of in-house jokes; others on the other hand, may not.

YouTube’s culture executive, Kevin Allocca, shared that shooting for the 7-minute piece took 21 days across multiple cities, in the US and around the world. He shares: “Some of these (YouTube creators) are pretty huge stars who are busy with crazy schedules, so to have them in the same place is really fun”.

Watch the video now by clicking here.

3. Quiz: do you know why these brands chose their famous colours?

For many brands, their choice of colouring can be just as iconic as their logo, and sometimes even their name. Have you ever wondered why brands like Coca-Cola chose red and white, or why Starbucks chose green?

Coca-Cola’s colours go back to the mid-1890s, when the company began painting its syrup barrels red so that the tax agents could easily tell them apart from alcohol during transport. Google on the other hand, chose a rainbow-coloured logo as it implied playfulness, particularly the order of the colours. Cadbury’s also shared that the colour purple was first introduced as a tribute to Queen Victoria, as it was her favourite colour – how sweet!

To see other brands’ reasoning for their colours, click here.

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