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Welcome to our expert blog on social media, marketing, technology and lots more

What makes a Giraffe so awesome?

COVER GIRAFFE

Good question...

Firstly, did you know that at six metres tall the Giraffe is the world’s tallest animal? I know right, that’s HUGE. Their scientific name is Giraffa camelopardalis and their first experience of life usually consists of a nice, sharp two meter drop to the ground! (Females opt for ‘standing’ in childbirth… cheers Mum.)

Giraffe are also excellent diplomats! Males and Females tend to eat from different parts of a tree to ensure that the sexes do not ever have to compete for their food; and every time they lift their huge necks, they effectively bench 550 pounds! That’s like picking up a Baby Grand Piano weighing approximately 240kgs every time you lift your head

In short ladies and gentlemen, Giraffe are the diplomatic, spotted Schwarzeneggers of the Sahara and they must be protected.

Although Giraffe are currently listed on the 'ICUN Red List of Threatened Species’ as of ‘Least concern’, the next step on the list is ‘Near Threatened and it is generally accepted that their population is declining (in 2008 just 100, 000 individuals were recorded). In light of this, several  projects designed to sustain Giraffe preservation are already well and truly underway, supporting not just Giraffe, but all endangered and almost endangered species.

Our official partner The Giraffe Conservation Foundation is doing amazing things to help sustain Giraffe populations and stabilise the ongoing conservation effort. You can support the foundation and stay up to date with their excellent work here:

Support the foundation and keep up to date with what's going on.

Support the foundation and keep up to date with what's going on.

They have also created a nice Giraffe Conservation Guide which you can download for free here:

Giraffe Conservation Booklet

And if you want to keep up to date with causes to support the foundations work, there is a Justgiving page here where you can check out what other people are doing to help!

https://www.justgiving.com/giraffeconservation/donate/

Remember to enter our #GiraffeGiveaway competition on Facebook! Just follow this link, like the page, click on ‘Competition’ and submit your entry for your chance to win!

The #GiraffeGiveaway promo

We’ll be giving away a Giraffe Adoption for one year in partnership with Marwell Wildlife for one lucky child! And to make the whole thing even better, we are even throwing in another ticket to grant one adult Free Enrty to the park and plenty more!

Prizes

Thanks for checking out our blog and please do share your pictures and Giraffe stories with us! We read them all!

Giraffe Social Media

VIEW THE FULL DETAIL ON GIRAFFE ‘RED LIST’ STATUS HERE: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0

How Social Media formed the Flappy Bird craze

FLAPPY-BIRDFlappy Bird is, or rather was, a simple game for mobile phone platforms in which you controlled a small pixel style bird through a series of pipes by tapping the screen to make it flap. The game was created by an independent developer, Dong Nguyen, who used Twitter to talk about development and ultimate release of the game.  The game was taken down from all app stores by the developer in mysterious fashion. Here we have a look how it became so popular and how social media had such a big part to play.

Development and Social Media

It all started out on Twitter. Dong Nguyen posted little snippet updates through the social media platform in the early stages of the game development including this one:

New simple game. Flap Flap. pic.twitter.com/Dmt9AXsYzY

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) April 29, 2013

  These tweets gained relatively little response and notice. At the time he was a small, unknown developer making games for mobile platforms.   In the middle of last year on the 24th May, he tweeted that he’d just had approval from the App Store to release Flappy bird onto the iPhone platform. Again, this went pretty unnoticed until a few people started playing the game and posting tweets and vines venting frustration in comical fashion at how hard the game was.   A combination of top comical reviews and social media posts started attracting the attention of others who wanted to see just how frustrating the game actually is. It certainly worked for me!   Within a few months the game grew huge in popularity, reaching the dizzying heights of the top 250 free list of the app store. More and more people started posting about the game via social media, which produced even more awareness for the game.   Then in January 2014, it reached the top 10, and ultimately number 1 in the free game category of the app store.  When you think about the fact there are over 1 million apps in the app store, it’s quite an amazing achievement: especially when it’s only form of marketing was through users of social media. To this day, it's creator insists that he used absolutely no form of paid marketing, but just simply tweeted that it was available in the app store along with a few other updates in development and his own personal high score.   Once the game had reached its height, other media outlets started taking notice. Websites like Mashable, Kotaku, The Huffington Post and even the BBC News website started reporting on the game. The official app store twitter feed even gave the game its nod of approval by tweeting this:

We got to 99. What's your high score? http://t.co/SJhgdUOyy8 pic.twitter.com/hSMYrFGwFA — App Store (@AppStore) February 6, 2014


It was this popularity and the apparent constant requests for interviews that lead Dong Nguyen to take the app off all app stores saying that the game had “ruined his simple life”.

Once this decision had been spread across Twitter and other social media, it soon became apparent how popular the game had actually got. The game was downloaded 10 million times in the 20 hours after the announcement and trends such as #saveflappybird started appearing on Twitter. The campaign to save the game was sadly unanswered and the game is still not available to download, although it still works on phones that downloaded it before its deletion.

Literally hundreds of games very similar to it have popped up and are available, but there's something about that little pixelated bird that warmed and enraged our hearts.

It's quite an amazing little tale of how social media can explode and create frenzy even for the simplest of things.

By Content Assistant - Sean Haydock

Spring Clean your Social Media ready for employers

social-media-stalkingIn recent years employers and social networking sites have become greatly familiar with each other. Your employer can check up on your site, which is likely to be an insight into your personal life, featuring photos documenting your social life, statuses or tweets expressing your opinion on a topic – which they might disagree with – and clues of your personality, which may ruin the professional image you wish to portray. So how can your social media be made presentable to employers?

Privacy settings – This is the best place to start, choosing what you do and don’t want an employer to see! Everything you post of Facebook has the option to be shown to everyone, only you can even customize it to block an individual viewing it. This can all simple be done by going to ‘settings’ and ‘privacy’. This audience selector is also available for information such as your hometown and birthday. However, some information on Facebook is always public – your photo, cover photo, name, gender and username – this is because they are classed as ‘essential’ in connecting with people.

Twitter is less optional, with your tweets either being open for everyone to see even if they are not following you. Although there is a private setting that allows you to accept followers, to make your Tweets exclusive to a minority. Similarly your location can be ‘on’ or ‘off’.

Making sure your profile is tidy and respectable is a necessity, but there are also positives to prospective employers checking out your social media profiles. Keep your ‘employment’ section, particularly on Facebook and obviously Linked-in, up –to-date. It’s almost like a mini CV showing the types of places you’ve worked in and your job role. In addition, you can indicate how long you stayed at the job, which allows you to boast your reliability.

Try to leave behind any light hearted ‘groups’ or ‘pages’ you joined from your youthful school days, such as “It’s 5am, I’m drunk and on Facebook”, it’s not like you’ll miss them… Remove any comments from friends, which could affect your reputation and make sure any comments or tweets made by you are not discriminatory.

LinkedIn is one of the best social networks for boosting your professional image. Unlike Facebook, it gives you the space to emphasize your accomplishments whilst describing your positions, besides from just listing them. Comments from previous employers and colleagues can also be added, as well as ‘endorsements’.

Remember to keep your email up to date and workplace appropriate – not the nickname you had in college. It would be helpful to have spellcheck activated for all your statuses and Tweets, as poor grammar will not impress employers.

Overall, clean up your social media from back in the day and conduct yourself as you would in person, in a professional setting. Obviously you can still use it socially, keeping in contact with friends and storing images – but remember, ‘a picture is worth 1000 words’. Don’t post anything that may cause controversy or be misread. Use your social media to present the person you would want to be seen as in the work place.

By Content Assistant - Alice Hughes - @aliceeehughes

Five Businesses that have used Social Media to Thrive

There is no doubt in the fact that social media has become an integral part of modern society, with Facebook, Twitter and various other social networking sites sweeping the globe as we speak. Social media is a fantastic tool for your business, as it can increase brand awareness, build new contacts and create long lasting relationships with your target market. Here are five examples of businesses that have thrived from the use of social media, hopefully inspiring your business with some simple but effective techniques!

1. Three Mobile

singitkittyYou may associate Three Mobile with a poor reputation for customer satisfaction; however they sure know how to engage with their audience. Their latest impressive marketing venture presents the ‘Sing it Kitty’ advert, featuring a little girl riding around on her bike singing Starship’s rock classic “We Built This City”. Despite the simplicity of the advert, it has won the nations heart, with the advert sweeping across many digital platforms. The subsequent ‘Sing it Kitty’ app has also proved to be a hit, with technology allowing you to replace the girls face with a photo of yourself. Not only is this comedy gold for us at home, but Three are cleverly exposing their brand cheaply as the nation post their hilarious results on social media using the hashtag #SingItKitty. Three really have nailed it again, proving how social media can work in your favour, and how a little bit of fun goes a long way.

2. Nando’s

Nando’s - everyone’s favourite chicken restaurant of course, and another business constantly utilising social media effectively. With 1.5 million Facebook fans, the Nando’s UK Facebook page shapes its content to fit the interest of its young customer base. With posts including GCSE and A level good luck messages, and Bestival ticket giveaways, Nando’s are always making sure they are interacting with their target audience on a more personal level. Similarly on Twitter, with 1.33 million followers, Nando’s takes pride in responding to mentions, offering give-aways and making sure the relationship between the restaurant and the customer is firmly cemented. It is lucky for Nando’s that most fans are doing the marketing for them, whether it’s checking in at Nandos online, or tweeting a picture of their meal, Nando’s thrives on social media for brand exposure and to maintain its notorious reputation.

3. ASOS

asosASOS is one of the most popular UK retail brands, with 3 million fans on Facebook, they lead above their competitors Topshop and New Look. Most of the content on the ASOS Facebook page promotes its new range of clothing and sales items, with each post usually receiving hundreds of likes and comments. ASOS, again, pride themselves in ensuring they reply to customers with any queries in order to build a relationship and improve brand loyalty. A particular ASOS success was the #bestnightever Christmas campaign which intended to increase sales whilst deepening brand engagement with fashion-loving young girls. By utilising social media, ASOS posted music videos, celebrity interviews and styling tips to help make the #bestnightever, where customers were encouraged to tweet in their own versions. The campaign proved highly successful and increased its social media audience by 12% in 8 weeks, proving again the power of social media and the infamous hashtag.

4. Nike

The company that told you to ‘Just Do it’ is now making sure you ‘just do it’ through the use of social media. Focusing in on digital marketing, Nike has expanded through Twitter, Facebook and their own specific social network Nike+. Through these social media channels, Nike has introduced several products and services under the brand Nike+. With Nike owning the data and providing the services for their customers, their brand loyalty is constantly increasing, encouraging customers to buy more products. Also on Twitter, Nike has one of the most active customer service feeds, operating in order to resolve product questions and technical needs. This dedicated customer service feed also answers hundreds of questions per day, a simple way of satisfying customers. After all…nobody wants to be stuck on hold on a phone for hours!

5. Red Bull

red bullLastly, Red Bull is a prime example of how a brand has thrived significantly with the help of social media. With over 43 million likes on Facebook, the Red Bull page consists of images and videos of extreme sports and athletes sponsored by Red Bull, promoting its brand image as a lifestyle choice rather than just an energy drink. Their strategy, which is different to other competitors, proves to be highly successful through posting these extreme stunts. Debate has sparked by fans on social media sites, which in turn raises awareness for the brand. Red Bull demonstrates through social media how they can reach a massive audience and don’t have to bombard customers with product advertising to get their attention.

By Content Assistant - India Minns - @indiaminns

Social Networks Explained: Circle

Circle-Nearby-Friends-Chat-android-app-300x146

Location-specific apps are becoming more and more popular and have created their own kind of new social network. Now whatever city you’re in or wherever you’re on holiday there is most likely an app telling you what events are going on, the best places to eat and special information shared by locals. The newest in this collection is Circle: The Local Network.

Sharing everything from crime, to nightlife, to the search for a missing puppy, this is more than your average social network, with location-based recommendations hoping to connect people like no other network can.

With a trendy and updated layout it aims to attract everyone, from students looking for the best night out, to families looking for a day out with their young ones. The minimalist design makes it easy to use and straightforward from the beginning with options to see recent posts, most popular posts and ways to share your own. Connecting through your Facebook or Google+ account automatically lets the app register your interests and any other friends that are already using it.

Your profile is automatically filled in with Facebook information, which you can later edit or add pictures to. The profile itself is very simple, showing your posts and activity, and your followers and following. The posts are set up in the same sort of style as Twitter, but so far on my Sheffield page, it seems to only be posts about the winter and who’s going out tonight, nothing of much real interest by people I don’t know.

That said, the app is gaining much more traction in larger cities so it is sure to catch on to the smaller ones sooner rather than later.  The app is also a perfect place for small businesses, restaurants and cafes to promote events and interact with potential customers, once there is enough of an audience.

With geo-tagging on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, this location-based social networking is definitely the future. It is especially good for those in larger cities, where there is so much going on day-to-day. Circle has made it possible to find all of that information in one, easy to use app.

The only way the app is really going to develop and come into its own is as more and more people begin to really become involved on it and build up the information. Despite its original launch all the way back in 2012, the app is only beginning to really grab the attention of the social media-savvy, mostly through invites sent on Facebook. Although still lesser known than most social networks, this should definitely not be discounted as the future of social networking.

By Content Assistant  - Taylor Fleischner

Five blog genres with guaranteed traffic!

11It’s worth considering starting a blog that is connected to your website. Take Giraffe for example. Our blog allows for tags and search terms that are relevant to our customers, which helps drive traffic to our company website. Here are some classic blog genres that will always generate traffic no matter what the content, so it might be worth considering investing in blog content to improve the traffic to your site.

1. ‘How to’/tutorial blogs – No matter how bad, untrue, how good or legit the content is in step by step ‘how to’ blogs, they will always receive high traffic. This is because they have titles, which will have high matches when typed into search engines.  Obviously, if the topic is a common question there will be competition. Your blog won’t be the only outcome of the search, but it still has that chance. If the topic is unusual or very specific the options will be narrowed down and your blog has an even more likely chance to be viewed. People are constantly using Google or fellow search engines to find answers to ‘how to’ queries so these generic blogs will rank high in the traffic they attract.

2. Fashion – One of the most popular genres of blogging and one a lot of ‘newbie’ bloggers are likely to try. There is a big network out there for fashion bloggers, therefore connecting with fellow fashionistas will link their viewers to your blog and vice versa. No matter if the content is of poor or high quality, the hashtags used on your blog posts are likely to be highly searched due to the popularity of fashion blogs. Especially if you are reviewing or commenting on big names and labels, these hashtags and designs will attract traffic to your blog. We’re all nosey and wanting to know what other people are wearing or what they should be wearing. Fashion blogs will remain popular, as let’s face it, we all wear clothes!

3. Food – Everyone is constantly researching online about what the latest health craze could be. Looking for inspirations in cooking or simply researching a recipe. Whatever the content is, if it is linked to food your blog, it is guaranteed to attract traffic. Personally, I have recently started a small blog featuring food and fashion and my food blogs always get more hits and likes. Food hashtags are such a popular search that your blog will get viewed. However, I think a big difference between successful and not so successful food blogs are the images – people love food, but they’ll love it even more if it looks appealing. The image will attract him or her to the written content and without knowing it, you have probably inspired someone to go and cook!

4. Music – Another generic popular starting point for newcomers to blogging is music.  It’s everywhere around us and constantly changing, introducing new people and sounds. Therefore, up-to-date blogs about the latest artists, best new records and who to look out for in the future are likely to get high amounts of traffic. Even if the content isn’t great, it’s always the hashtags that will help, as people will automatically be directed to that blog. Although if the blog content doesn’t flow or isn’t greatly presented, people may still be intrigued by the artists you mention. Music blogs are also how some people break through into the industry, so people are continuously on the lookout for who is up and coming and so music blogs always rank high in popular blog genres.

5. ‘Top 10…’ blogs – This style of blog is such a popular past time (take that from a student) to distract yourself in the lunch break. Lists are easy to follow and quick to read. I think people reading these blogs aren’t particularly viewing the presentation and full content of them, more likely the title of each number and scanning the rest of the text. The more entertaining and relatable they are, the more likely they are to be popular. But again, thanks to search engines, a simple ‘Top 10 books you must read’ will receive a lot of matches and should be guaranteed views within time. A more specific title such as ‘Top 10 bars in Albert Road’ won’t have as much competition because a smaller proportion of people will be interest. However, this means more of a guarantee of views from people searching this. Keeping it small and local such as the previous example could also mean a more popular blog than a worldwide-related one because people will know where to go to find out this information if your blog is the only resource.

Points to consider to increase your blog traffic include keeping the content simple; not making it too overwhelming for the readers, but keep in mind the target audience and what they want to know and whether specialist language is needed or expected. Use your other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in to promote your blog and share links to it. Communicate with other bloggers by commenting on their posts and getting involved. This is likely to get you more communication in return. Hashtags and SEO are important to gain an audience that are clearly interested in the subject and will get your blog noticed by people that might not usually come across it.

By Content Assistant - Alice Hughes - @aliceeehughes

 

Could Snapchat ever be used by business?

snapchat_manage_hero

The ways in which individuals and businesses can create feverish levels of excitement and/or annoyance on social media are endless. For instance, you could try a new cover photo, which overlaps perfectly into the profile picture, or host a competition to win an iPad. Alternatively, if you're a z-list celebrity like Piers Morgan, you can troll and post tweets which divide football fans, opponents and supporters of gun control, other celebrities, fans of the Apprentice and much more. But beware of the consequences; you might have your prime time TV slot cancelled. Oh wait, it already has!

Personally, there's always a better way than Piers Morgan, as demonstrated whilst editor of the Daily Mirror, when he authorised the publication of fake images which put the lives of British soldiers abroad under greater risk. So, what are the alternatives? Let's take John Lewis as a good example. They have developed a huge following online in the last few years thanks to their Christmas adverts, which have showcased emotive stories, musical talent such as Ellie Goulding and Gabrielle Aplin and hashtags including #bearandhare and #snowmanjourney. Social Media is always moving forward though, as shown by the demise of sites like MySpace and Bebo and the increased popularity of others including Reddit and Snapchat.

In summary, Snapchat is a free photo and video messaging mobile app that allows users to share content to a select group of friends. That might seem a little bit boring yes, but when opened, the image can only be seen for a maximum of ten seconds, before being removed from view forever. Inevitably, that's going to get the hearts racing slightly. But if you don't live on the edge of your seat though, there's 'Snapchat Stories', launched in October last year, which allows individuals to view something unlimited times over a 24-hour period.

These ten-second and 24-hour windows provide organisations with the perfect opportunity to promote and sell, especially to those between the ages of 13 and 25: Snapchat's central market. How this is done depends on the ambition of the business, but examples could include competitions which encourage friends to share a photo or video, adverts that can be shown to a Sales Assistant in order to receive a promotional discount or images which preview product launches, ticket sales or secret gigs. It could even be used to encourage users onto other social media platforms, promote the best goal scored on FIFA or showcase news headlines of the day, all of which would interest young people.

The founders of SnapChat are yet to take the advertising bait though, despite a rumoured $3 billion bid from Facebook, who recently took over the running of WhatsApp. However, companies can masquerade as a business, there isn't a corporal portal, yet. I think it's only a matter of time though and when it does happen, Mark Zuckerberg will have to cough up more cash to secure yet another platform.

By Content Assistant - Alexander Blakey

Five formidable viral ad campaigns

go viral

The definition of a viral campaign refers to a marketing technique that uses pre-existing social networking services. It aims to produce an increase in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives, through the use of self-replicating viral processes, similar to that of a computer virus. However, the creative use of said process is altogether something much more effective. Here are 5 examples of some successful creative viral campaigns.

Old Spice 

The man your man could smell like.

One of my favourite adverts of all time. The advertisement featured actor, Isaiah Mustafa, standing topless addressing female viewers, questioning the use of ladies scented body wash by the men in their lives. Suggesting that he is the man their men could smell like. Whilst I realise it doesn't sound like much, I highly recommend you give it a watch. With some perfect comedic timing and a well-delivered performance, this ad uses comedy to sell. And it works! With nearly 48 million views on YouTube and 170,000 likes. I had shared this with everyone I knew before I'd finished laughing... after watching it for the 27th time. And they didn't stop there. The Old Spice YouTube channel now boasts over 250 equally hilarious ads, all with views going into the millions.

Turkish Airlines 

Kobe vs Messi: Legends on board

After old spice I started to think, what else have I promoted and shared without even realising? And then I remembered Turkish Airlines. I had to question this myself, although I personally loved this ad as a massive fan of both Kobe and Messi; I had no idea how successful it had become. Reaching an astonishing 107 million views on YouTube.  The ad features masters of their professions, Kobe and Messi, aboard an aircraft (Turkish airlines of course) vying for the attention of a child. Through the use of some skilfully funny one-upmanship, only for the child to be won over by an air hostess with ice cream. Another fine example in the creative use of viral campaigning, using the popularity of Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi mixed in with some humour. Perfect and definitely worth a watch... and maybe a trip around the world with Turkish airlines of course.

Dove 

Real Beauty Sketches

Possibly one of the most moving campaigns I have ever seen. Throughout a series of videos, FBI forensic trained artist, Gil Zamora, sketches a collection of women, without ever actually seeing them; drawing solely from the women describing themselves. He then draws the same woman, again using only a description, but this time the description is provided by people asked to spend time with the women. The results are very emotional. Proving that how we see ourselves is a warped reality. Ignoring the very things that make us unique and beautiful, whilst emphasising every flaw and minor imperfection.  Dove wishes us to realise that the world doesn't judge us as harshly as we judge ourselves, and with 62 million views, I'd say they were doing a good job.

Skittles

Taste the rainbow

On March 2nd 2008, Skittles, the much loved sweet brand owned by Mars, daringly transformed their website into a consumer populated online portal. The home page became a live Twitter feed, as YouTube and Flickr took over the sites video and image media pages. The ‘friends’ section of the site became a Facebook fan page. This was initially so successful and popular, it was rolled out it brought down twitter that day! There is no denying the creative nature behind this campaign, however the success was shorted lived. A mere two days after its launch, Skittles was forced to rethink its strategy. Though they are hardly to blame. Their only fault was underestimating what anonymity had done to the general public. The site was soon flooded with a series of appalling and crass comments. Although it did have everyone talking about Skittles.

Red Bull  

Stratos -  Mission to the edge of space 

On 14th October 2012 Austrian skydiver, Felix Baumgartner, flew approximately 24 miles into the stratosphere in a helium balloon, breaking 3 records in the process. Felix is now not only the first person to break the sound barrier without any form of engine power, he also holds the record for the highest altitude jump, and the record for the highest manned balloon flight. Again I had to question this, but not due to popularity. With over 8 million people live streaming the event on the day and the mission highlights video now with over 36 million views, the popularity could not be questioned. The question here is whether this could be classed as a viral campaign? As you have probably figured since I have included it, yes, yes it can be classed as a viral campaign. It may not have started out as such, not entirely anyway, but there is no doubt due to its success and popularity that Red Bull will forever be remembered for this.

There is no doubting the success of any of the campaigns above. All with elements that are striking and something you won’t forget quickly; the daring feat of jumping from the edge of space and the equally daring feat of a brand creating an entirely consumer populated site. I hope you agree that the above are some of the finer examples of creative campaigning.

By Content Assistant - Simon Weise

How to get more interest to your Pinterest?

WhatTheInterestPinterest

Unless you're having a seriously committed go at dieting, a slice of cake, warm pudding or pastry, maybe even all three, is a wonderful thing to have once in a while. It's even better if you buy it from an independent baker or retailer, like the ones I saw in central London recently, or even have the motivation and ability to make it your yourself; something I sadly don't have at present.

If you do have that motivation and are looking for some cooking inspiration, along with fascinating images of the world and other bits and pieces, then you may want to take a look at Pinterest. It is an ocean of personal prose. Whilst writing on Pinterest myself, I spied low fat Chocolate Recipes, perfect if you think the Weight Watchers equivalents taste similar to sawdust. You could even indulge in Lemon Soufflé, Pretzels, Macaroons and Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookie Bars.

But how can you become the social media equivalent of Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry when you’re struggling to drum up interest and perhaps some drooling towards your recipes? Admittedly, I have only used Pinterest fleetingly to post photos of my travels in Ireland, but here are my observations:

  • Just like a Facebook page or Twitter account that promotes a business, you have to post content regularly. The more the better, but don't go over the top. Try to strike the right balance. If you have too much to do either in a personal or work capacity, why not make use of a tool such as Viraltag. (www.viraltag.com). It allows you to schedule all sorts of Pinterest stuff well in advance, although it'll cost you after the 14 day trial period, but if you’re serious, it could be a good investment.
  • Use text for your boards and pins which is relevant and will allow random users to find your content.
  • Having a board called 'tasty stuff' might not be as effective as 'cake', 'fruit tarts' or 'London'. However, this might not be such an issue if you are a social media marketer for a huge organisation.
  • Share your Pinterest content on your other social media profiles. A lovely picture of a rich home made chocolate fudge cake will also get interest on Facebook, Twitter, maybe even Instagram if you're into that. But you can generate additional 'likes', shares and re-tweets with a bit more work.
  • If you have a picture of your fine looking dessert, why not add a link to the recipe you used or even a link to the list of ingredients within a supermarket's online shopping basket.
  • Finally, always think about variety. Are you satisfying the tastes and desires of different groups of people?
  • And always consider using hashtags.

If you're managing a Pinterest page on behalf of a business, don't forget to track your performance too.

Now, where have those cookies gone...

By Content Assistant - Alexander Blakey

Why does Facebook continue to take the top spot?

facebook-crown

With the growth of technology and user rate for all of them growing and growing, it is a surprise that an older site like Facebook is staying in the spot light.

Social media is constantly growing. Sites are being added at a rapid rate, so it makes you wonder, why is it Facebook continues to stay on top? It’s not even like Facebook was the first ever social media site to exist. Bebo and MySpace were doing perfectly well until Facebook showed up.

Social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine are all making a strong name for themselves but none of them have as many users as the recently celebrated ten-year-old site, Facebook. Some would even argue that we are reaching an age where, if you don’t have a Facebook page, you just aren’t normal.

Facebook’s non-stop success can be mostly put down to 3 reasons:

1.Diversity

Facebook supports text, image and video based posts. Unlike other popular social networks that specialise in just one of these, Facebook does them all and is no "jack of all trades".

2. Large audience

Social media is stereotypically seen to be for younger members of society. This is true to a certain extent with sites like Instagram and Twitter having most of their users aged 16-25. Facebook however sees people of all ages. It is a great way for teenagers to stay in contact and adults to get back in contact. You must also remember that the youngsters that joined Facebook ten years ago, are now reaching their thirties. In short, Facebook has been popular for an amount of time that has allowed it to start stretching over various generations

3- Simplicity

Although Facebook has made some changes in order to keep up with its competition, it is still undoubtedly simple to master when it comes to new users.

Facebook has been one of the top social networks since it was created in 2004. It is used for more than just networking with old friends. Facebook is used by people to check popular TV shows, connect through gaming, share precious photographic memories, which will then be permanently saved on Facebook, advertise new ideas, companies or business, used by PR to connect with customers, create events for socials, create a group for an out-of-work hobby. Overall, it is fair to say that Facebook is flexible, adaptable and always growing. It is limitless compared to it’s social media counterparts and unless a formidable rival appears suddenly, Facebook is sure to remain on top.

By Content Assistant - Liam Parker
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