Posts

#MarketingTitbits – entrepreneurial must-read books, Flipagram, Amazon at 20

reading-flipagram-amazon-smaller1. 10 entrepreneurial must-read books to kick off your summer reading listProfessors from the University of Michigan, Len Middleton and Jim Price, have compiled a list of their favourite entrepreneurial reads, ranging from traditional success stories, to those focused on the psychology of taking risks or facing rejection. So, whether you’re on a plane jetting off on holiday or sitting back on your lunch break, now could be the perfect time to reinvigorate your entrepreneurial spirit.

The list includes inspiring stories of inventors that have shaped a nation, insights into the future of medicine, how being crazy could work in your favour, the importance of character and more. Whatever you’re interested in, you’ll be sure to find something that piques your entrepreneurial interest.

Take a look at the full list of must-read entrepreneurial books here.

2. Is Flipagram the next big social platform for brands?

You may not have heard of it yet, but in 2014, Flipagram burst onto the scene and grew faster than Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat did in their first year, hitting 33 million active users per month. With the latest social media platform aiming to hit the 1 billion mark, will it become the next big thing?

The app allows users to create short videos from photos or video clips and set them to music, as well as link these clips to external sites. The platform presents an opportunity for brands and has already been integrated into social media campaigns by the likes of Jack Daniels and Uber.

Take a look at how Flipagram could be useful to your business here.

3. Amazon at 20: The brand, the challenges and the future

Amazon has been celebrating its 20th year in business, but what has made the ecommerce brand so successful? According to the consensus among marketing experts, advertising has little to do with it.

Verdict analyst, Patrick O’Brien, and M&C Saatchi’s chief strategy officer, Mark Sinnock, both echo each other’s views and believe that Amazon is far from a “classic advertising brand”. Thanks to the scale of its online operation and the combination of personalisation, targeting and retargeting, the brand has grown to become increasingly powerful and dominant within the market.

What do you think their success is down to?

Click here to find out more.

 

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – Instagram marketing, brand taglines, Google+ changes

instagram-travel-google-smaller1. What brands need to know about Instagram marketing
By 2017, Instagram’s mobile ad revenue is due to quadruple to reach $2.81bn, making its mobile display ad business bigger than both Twitter and Google in the US. There are already more than 500 brand campaigns and Instagram continues to add new features to make the service more appealing to advertisers.

As Tom Richards points out from We Are Social,Instagram already has a parent company in Facebook that has already built up and multi-billion dollar social ad business and can use its learnings to help Instagram grow even faster. Marketers have used the site to sell an image of their brands, in particular fashion and travel sectors.

For more on Instagram’s expansion, click here.

2. Lost in translation: when brand taglines don’t travel

Brand taglines such as KFC and Mcdonald’s are the most recognised in Britain today, but when they cross oceans they can mean something entirely different. We searched the depths of the internet to find the best, or worst.

KFC’s ‘finger licking good’ slogan is known all over the world. But when the fast-food giant hit China, the translation of their tasty slogan wasn’t so appetising. Pepsi experienced a similar problem in China where their slogan ‘come alive you’re with Pepsi’ translated into something completely different. Due to this, sales have dropped significantly since the launch of the campaign.

Click here to find out more.

3. What the Google+ changes mean for marketers

Since its launch in 2011, Google+ has been an integral part of the Google experience, as the search giant used it to unify its disparate services. Google has made it clear that it knows it is never going to compete directly with Facebook for social networking supremacy. However, as Bradley Horowitz explains, Google’s VP of streams and sharing, a Google account will be all you’ll need to share content.

For marketers, the diverging fortunes are a reminder that the most meaningful platforms of tomorrow are equally likely to come from companies nobody has heard of. Either way, marketers still using or interested in Google+ can now treat it as something other than a poor Facebook competitor.

Take a look at more Google+ changes by clicking here.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – emoji campaigns, psychology principles, stock images

emoji-psychology-images-smaller1. From McDonald’s to Ikea – 7 of the best emoji marketing campaignsEmojis have become the world’s fastest growing digital language and a number of brands are beginning to incorporate them into their marketing campaigns. But whose will catch your eye?

As outlined by Marketing Magazine, a variety of brands are adopting the language, ranging from WWF’s #EndangeredEmoji campaign to Domino’s ‘Easy Order’ emoji tweets. However, this seemingly simple campaign is not without its own risks as fast food giant, McDonalds, discovered.

Find out what went wrong for McDonalds and how other brands are using emojis by clicking here.

2. Six psychology principles that can help your content marketing

Most businesses will use content marketing as a tool to help drive traffic to their site, boost engagement levels and convert leads into sales. But how can a business encourage a consumer to take these actions? Take a look at these top psychological theories from Econsultancy to find out.

From theories proposing that people are automatically drawn to something others already like, to those that suggest everyone has a ‘fear or missing out’, you can easily find tips to help with generating content for your business.

Click here to find out more.

3. 7 sources of free high quality stock images

As the internet has grown ever dominant in our digitally-centred lives, it’s no surprise that there is an overwhelming number of free stock image websites, but which should you be using?

Sites such as Pixabay, Unsplash and StockSnap are perfect for the searcher looking for unlimited downloads to add a great, high quality touch to blogs and promotional material, making them a popular choice amongst many. But that’s not all. If you’re looking to remove all the hassle when it comes to finding images, Death to the Stock Photo and Snapwire will deliver them straight to your inbox.

For the full list, click here.

 

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – Google, websites – then and now, Twitter election

google-websites-election-smaller1. The Google algorithm update may be a thing of the past
Google’s algorithm updates are known by names such as Penguin or Panda and will regularly move the SEO goal posts, leaving marketers awaiting their arrival with a certain level of anxiety. But this could now be a thing of the past.  Since 2012, the number of updates released by Google have decreased each year.

In a recent post on Search Engine Land, Nate Dame, the founder and CEO of search and content marketing firm Propecta, revealed his thoughts for fewer algorithm updates from Google and the reasons behind them.

To read more, click here.

2. An internet blast from the past!

Can you remember what LinkedIn looked like when you first visited the site in 2003?

Web design has come a long way in the last 20 years, so we’re sure you will enjoy looking at how some of the leading websites have changed since the early days of their existence.

On the list you will see how our favourite social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have all evolved, as well as Google, Amazon and eBay.

To see how the websites have transformed, click here.

3. ‘Twitter can be crucial to connecting people at this General Election’

With the General Election just over a month away and social media at its peak, it comes as no surprise to see that 34% of people in a survey carried out by Twitter have changed their vote from one political party to another after seeing something on the social media site.

The country is now at a point where people are feeling more disconnected than ever from politicians, so it is clear that Twitter could become a powerful tool for improving engagement, with 78% of members of parliament now signed up. Those in the running for the election could take tips from politicians like Barack Obama, who benefited greatly from his social media strategy during his campaign.

It’s expected that the 2015 electoral campaign will top the 7 million tweets generated from the Scottish referendum, but what influence will this have on votes? Head to MarketingWeek to find out more.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – Facebook video, Mark Zuckerberg, news articles

facebook-markzuckerberg-articles-smaller1. Facebook video use has increased by 75% globally
In March last year, Facebook launched its premium video platform, competing with the might of dominant video rival YouTube. Statistics have recently been released indicating that 75% of smartphone users now watch videos via Facebook from their devices 2-3 times per day. With predictions for the use of video to grow even more, it’s no surprise that the likes of Twitter and other social networks may be planning to join in.

Brands are becoming increasingly aware of the power that video has to offer, with positive reviews from many brands who say metrics improved as a result.

What do you think of the evolution of video? Will you be using it for your business? To see more, click here.

2. Join Mark Zuckerberg on his 2015 reading challenge

Each year, Mark Zuckerberg makes a rather extreme New Year’s resolution, and this year is no different. Previously, he chose resolutions that included vowing to eat only meat from animals he’d killed himself, while another year involved learning to speak Mandarin. After thousands of suggestions as to what his 2015 resolution should be, Zuckerberg has chosen to read a new book every other week and is challenging you to do the same.

The purpose of this challenge is to learn more about the world we live in – about culture, beliefs, technology and history, etc. If you’d like to get involved with the Facebook founder’s year ahead, he’s set up a page named ‘A Year of Books’, which you can like to join in with the discussions.

To read more into the announcement, click here.

3. The Marketing Year – the top 10 news articles

2014 was a year of ups and downs for the retail world, but what was included in Marketing Week’s top 10 articles of the year?

Tesco is one of the brands that will be wishing 2014 a swift goodbye after appearing in the list 3 times, resulting from the accountancy scandal and the ever-lasting discussions surrounding the future of their original building block – the Tesco Clubcard. Others hitting the top 10 include Coke and John Lewis, while brands such as Paddy Power sit with their heads bowed as they faced the wrath of the ASA with controversial ads.

f you’d like see more about the articles, you can do so by clicking here.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – YouTube ads, negative SEO, Marmite

youtube-negativeseo-marmite-smaller1. The top 10 most popular YouTube ads of 2014
Now-a-days, the most popular YouTube ads tend to be made for an online campaigns, instead of airing on TV, so it’s no surprise that most of the top 10 featured in Marketing Week’s article have followed this trend.

Included in the list are the likes of Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Nike, Marks & Spencer, Always and Pepsi, who all created ads with a social media audience in mind, however, also aired shorter versions on TV. A lot of brands are now creating and sharing stories within their advertisements and this can be difficult to do in a TV ad space of typically 30 to 60 seconds, and this is where YouTube comes in. Consumers are now happier to spend time with branded content online, dependent on the entertainment and relevance delivered.

If you’d like to see the top 10 adverts, you can click here.

2. What is Negative SEO and how can you protect your website?

Negative SEO is the process of using techniques similar to those of black hat SEO, but to attack and undermine a rival’s website that can lead on to damage their rankings in search results.

This can be done in many ways, including:

  • Having a huge number of links directed to your site that are low-quality and spam-heavy with keywords that have little to no relevance.
  • Copying content from your website that is then distributed across the internet, which could possibly interfere with Google’s policy on duplicate content.
  • Damaging your reputation by being negative about your business. That could involve fake social media profiles being created, etc.

You can click here to learn more about negative SEO and the steps you can take for your business to avoid it.

3. Marmite looks to replicate 2013 success by bringing back revamped ‘End Marmite Neglect’ campaign

We spoke about the ‘love it or hate it’ brand back in November when they picked up 2014’s Brand of the Year Award, and as predicted, Unilever have chosen to start a ‘full-scale Marmageddon’ with their parody on animal rescue programmes, entitled ‘End Marmite Neglect’. Although this approach attracted over 500 complaints back in 2013, the ASA chose to take no further action with the ad, allowing the jar to make a comeback this year.

But will this campaign follow in the footsteps of the 14% sales increase that it produced in its first run?

Keep an eye out for the ad, but for now, you can read more by clicking here.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – Google Translate, Twitter, SEO

googletranslate-twitter-seo-smaller1. Report: Google app will soon let you translate voice to text in real time
Google Translate has helped many of us over the years to overcome the language barrier, but now Google are taking their electronic dictionary to new heights with the introduction of real-time voice translation. Although the app offers voice-to-text translation at present, the update will allow it to automatically recognise a language and then translate it to the language you desire.

It’s not yet apparent when the new update will be released and with 90 languages to work on, it’s no wonder the project started way back now, in July 2013.

To learn more about the upcoming feature, click here.

2. Prince William and Kate now have an official Twitter account

The day has finally come! Kensington Palace, which is home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, has created its own Twitter account, gaining over 130K followers in just over a week. Much to the disappointment of many around the world, there are no plans yet for the royals to be tweeting personally.

Instead, the Twitter account will provide updates on engagements, following in the steps of Clarence House and The British Monarchy, who both have Twitter accounts officially dedicated to the Royals.

To check out more details, click here.

3. How social and mobile work with SEO

Marketing generally works best when it is integrated. Different channels interact and build on the work each other does, combining to deliver an enhanced ROI. With this in mind, consider how can social media and mobile marketing work together to lead to improved SEO rankings?

One of the keys to making this work is to optimise the posts and content you are putting out through your social media channels – think keywords and location. The new Google Pigeon update, which focuses on geographic location when generating mobile-based search results, delivers the most relevant local businesses for the searcher. Google will reward sites that are mobile-optimised, so maybe it’s time to get working on that responsive-designed site.

Click here to discover more tips on how to succeed in the SEO, mobile and social media world.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – hashtags, social analytics tools, SEO tips

hashtags-analytics-SEO-smaller1. Use hashtags to generate greater brand engagement
Are hashtags a fad? Their growing popularity has seen them start to overtake the infamous Facebook ‘like’ button for brands looking to drive consumer engagement. Such is growing obsession over hashtag creation for brands, that some are even employing ‘specialists’ in the field. They may seem like clever creations, but if the brand doesn’t generate any actual positive engagement via this process is there any purpose to them?

Take the hashtag #FirstDraftEver for example – it featured on an ad for ‘Avocados from Mexico’ in what was their first appearance at the Super Bowl. It generated 25,000 mentions in the first 24 hours. This may sound impressive, but the problem was that many Tweets didn’t mention the Mexican brand itself. So did it drive brand awareness?

If you’d like to read more about how hashtags can be used to boost your brand, click here.

2. Five tips for picking the right social analytics tool

Have you ever considered the use of a social analytics tool for your business? If you’re in need of help, Econsultancy has created a few tips to help you along the way.

When using social analytics tools, it is important to focus on how business goals can be achieved rather than social goals. Ask yourself questions – what problems can be solved? What price gives your business the best value? These are important considerations that will lead to a successful investment in tech.

To see the full list of tips on social analytics, click here.

3. 32 simple SEO tips for small businesses

SEO can be a complicated concept for many people to grasp, but the good people at Econsultancy have put together a great list of tips, you can be sure to come away with some valuable insights you can implement straight away. We’re outlining just a few!

Firstly, by creating a blog, you can update your site frequently with valuable content that is interesting and engaging for readers, which in turn will build a strong online presence for your business. Another idea would be to take a look at your competitors; see what they are doing in terms of keywords and site optimisation and how you can improve upon them in order to stand out from the crowd and give people a worthwhile user experience.

To find out more about SEO and how your business can improve, you can check out the list of tips by clicking here.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – writing tips, LinkedIn, marketing fails

writing-linkedin-fails-smaller1. 12 handy tips for writing better web copy
Some people consider writing for the web more difficult than it actually has to be. If you fall into this camp, Econsultancy may be able to help. They have put together some handy tips to keep in your mind when writing web copy.

If you haven’t heard of the inverted pyramid method, you have now! Put simply, include everything an individual would need to know in the opening paragraph. As the reader progresses through the article more in-depth information can then be revealed. It is a common journalist trick to engaging the reader quickly.

Other important factors for better web copy include: knowing your audience, using short paragraphs (in web terms this is a mere one or two sentences) and numbering or bulleting to format and break up chunks of text.

The tips don’t stop there. To see the remaining tips,click here.

2. LinkedIn to let marketers use more of its data to track users

As the biggest business-orientated social networking service, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn is expanding its offerings. The latest development is the introduction of advertising products that allow marketers to track their 300+ million users across the internet, followed by a targeted send of personalised messages to those users.

It comes as LinkedIn reveals plans to merge with its latest acquisition, Bizo, a digital marketing group bought in 2014 for a sum of $175m. Brands like Groupon, Lenovo and Salesforce are currently trialling the new product, with Groupon marketing executive Stephan Heller revealing the success that it has brought them.

If you would like to find out more about LinkedIn’s new venture, click here.

3. Five marketing fails

After the unfortunate mistake of the Hull Branch of Krispy Kreme relating their promotional club to the KKK a few weeks back now, PR Week has given us a round up of some top historic marketing fails.

You’ll find some use of mistaken language from not one, but five brands! Named and shamed in these mistakes are Sharwoods, Wang, Honda, Umbro and an Italian mineral water company.

Click here to see how these brands got it wrong.

/0 Comments/by

#MarketingTitbits – YouTube, LinkedIn, billboard campaigns

youtube-linkedin-billboards-smaller1. YouTube tops the list as favourite digital brand among children
Childwise, a market research company, has published a report highlighting that YouTube was the most popular site for 5 – 16 year olds over a 7-day period following a survey of the age group.

YouTube visits outnumbered the likes of Facebook, Snapchat and Google, and children / teenagers rate the video streaming platform as their favourite website (23%) and favourite app (8%). Amongst the children surveyed, 11-16 year olds were more likely to put video sites and vloggers at the tops of their favourite brand lists, whereas 5-10 year olds preferred social gaming brands.

It was notable that the popularity of Facebook amongst younger audiences continues to deteriorate. Do these findings indicate a changing of the social media guard?

To read more about the survey, click here.

2. How to use LinkedIn’s publishing tool to increase your social reach

Last year, LinkedIn released its publishing tool which allowed users in the US to create and post blogs on the platform. It has now granted publishing power to those outside of the US too, which means LinkedIners in the UK can now benefit from the function. You can add a headline, insert images to support  the blog and header, and copy and paste directly into the text box, which will preserve any links you have. How can you use this to your advantage?

One way of doing this is explained by Matt Owen from Econsultancy. The concept involves multiple people posting different blogs to their own LinkedIn pages, covering a wide range of connections.

For a thorough explanation on how you can make the most of LinkedIn’s publishing tool, just click here.

3. Bruised woman on London billboard heals as people pay attention to her

Canary Wharf in London saw the first in a short series of billboard campaigns surrounding the issue of domestic violence last week. Using facial recognition technology, the ad is designed to catch the eyes of busy passers-by.

The poster promotes a simple message, informing people to look at the bruised face of a woman and watch as the bruises heal when more people pay attention. The campaign was brought together by ad agency WCRS, charity Women’s Aid and the photographer Rankin.

To take a look at the striking adverts, head to Mashable.

/0 Comments/by