Friday 25 July 2014

August New Media Breakfast - The Power of Images

    

  



THE POWER OF IMAGES

How to make the most of images in your online marketing


DATE: 29th Aug 2014
TIME: 7.30am for 8am
VENUE: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

It's no secret that images play an enormous part in social media. The explosion of Instagram and Pinterest is a clear demonstration of the popularity of image sharing. And, posting images on Facebook has long been the best way to achieve genuine engagement and real reach.

Images are powerful - they speak a thousand words...sometimes more! Are you using images in your marketing? If so, are you using them to their greatest effect? What's more, are you using them legally?

We are hearing many examples of people being fined by image libraries for using images they are not entitled to use. There is also a common misconception that because an image is public, it is in the public domain; this is not the case. Image libraries will continue to pursue offenders, and with the development of more and more sophisticated image recognition software, the chances of being caught out are even greater.

But, there are ways to source royalty free images, and there are new platforms where you can source the perfect image for your content. Moreover, most SmartPhones will allow you to capture excellent quality images yourself which are ideal for your own use with no fear of breaching copyright - but what if you could sell them to other content creators?

The August New Media Breakfast will explore the power of images and how to use them effectively and legally.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Anyone creating content that utilises images whether it's on a web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest... or any other platform for that matter.

SPEAKER
Gordon White, Managing Director of fatBuzz Ltd will present this breakfast.

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 29th July 2014
Time: 7.30am for 8am
Cost: £10+vat

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:


No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE 
If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and she will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

Thursday 17 July 2014

Some feedback from the LinkedIn presentation in Edinburgh (Glasgow next Friday 25th July)

    

  


Here is a selection of the Twitter feedback from the New Media Breakfast presentation in Edinburgh today - a full house seemed to find it extremely interesting.  We think it's a mustattend presentation because of the amount of information we share about this truly powerful platform.

You should try to get along to the Glasgow presentation on Friday 25th July, you wont disappointed.  Full booking details are at the bottom of the post.











GETTING THE MOST FROM LINKEDIN

How to use LinkedIn effectively for yourself and your business

DATE: 25th July 2014

TIME: 7.30am for 8am

VENUE: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow


Remarkably, it was July 2012 when we last looked at LinkedIn, and much has changed in the last two years.

In fact, there have been changes in the last two months that may well impact how you use LinkedIn in the future. So, we thought it might be time to take a fresh look at what is perceived to be the business social media platform.

Also, thank you to Bronagh Bell, General Manager at The Beardmore Hotel & Conference Centre for suggesting this as a topic. We welcome all topic suggestions, so let us know if there's anything you would like us to explore in the future.

WHAT WILL WE COVER?
The July New Media Breakfast will take a look at the following:
  • Optimising your personal profile and making it really work for you 
  • LinkedIn Business pages and optimising them for your services or product 
  • LinkedIn Groups and why these are important to you 
  • LinkedIn Amalytics 
  • Sharing content on LinkedIn 
  • Building a relevant community on LinkedIn 
Too many people waste time on social media channels, and in particualry LinkedIn, because they don't fully understand how it works, or how it can work for their business. The session is designed to help you understand the real power of LinkedIn and how it can be a useful platform to engage and to find people relevant to your business.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This New Media Breakfast is suitable for everyone in the workplace. Whether you're an employee looking to improve your connections and generate leads, a graduate at the start of your career, or a business owner looking to find new business, this breakfast session will have something for you.

If your are using, or thinking of using, LinkedIn you should come along and find out the true potential of the platform and how to make it really work for you.

WHAT SPECIFICALLY WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW?
Every business requires its own tailored social media solution so if you have a specific question relevant to this topic please send it to us. If you would like to ask a question please email gordon@fatbuzz.com and we will be happy to consider it as part of the presentation.

SPEAKER
Gordon White, Managing Director, fatBuzz Ltd will be presenting the July New Media Breakfast presentation.

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 25th July 2014
Time: 7.30am for 8am
Cost: £10+vat

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:


No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE 
If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and she will add you to the attendance list.


We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.


If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

Monday 7 July 2014

There Can Be More Than One Winner At The World Cup



    

  


World Cup fever, as well as tennis fever, has gripped the fatBuzz office over the last few weeks. Account Manager, Graeme Geddes, put some time aside from client work to discuss all the opportunities that have arisen, so far, from the tournament.

For the last few weeks we’ve all be gripped by World Cup fever. Many will argue it’s the best there’s been for a good number of years. I’m one of them.

But let’s put the football to one side for now. There have been endless marketing opportunities made possible by the tournament.

There have been a whole host of talking points which have done the rounds on Facebook and Twitter, with an abundance of World Cup-specific hashtags flying about too.

And speaking of Twitter, there’s actually a service the platform introduced for the tournament which allows fans to ‘go behind the scenes’.

The service allows users to immerse themselves in the many aspects of the tournament. From seeing pictures from teams and players, to tweets specially about the matches, to live updates on current matches. It’s heaven for the the social football fan. For me.



However it’s not just on Twitter where the World Cup has got everyone in a frenzy. A couple of my very own clients have launched competitions on their page which are all about the World Cup. Tapping into the hysteria that’s ensued since it started way back on June 12.

Casting my net wider, I thought I’d look at some companies that are a bit further afield to see what they’re doing during the World Cup.

As I touched on earlier, hashtags have played a huge role, so far, during the tournament. For those clever enough, and quick enough one particular incident gave an incredible marketing opportunity. I am, of course, talking about THAT Luis Suarez moment.

Social media exploded after pictures showed him appearing to bit Italian defender, Giorgio Chiellini.

Soon after a whole host of brands were jumping on the bandwagon, not necessarily to promote a product or service, but more as an exercise in brand awareness; to get their name out there.


One example is a tweet sent by Snickers which poked fun of the incident but also promoted the product. Snickers wasn’t alone though. If you click here you’ll see some other brands who took advantage of the Suarez incident.

But that isn’t where it all ended. In the days that followed a new hashtag was born. #Suarezing. The hashtag would be accompanied by an image of the Twitter used standing next to a Suarez poster to make it look like they were being bitten by the Uruguayan.

As the trend began to spread it seemed the need for a Suarez poster wasn’t that important and tweeters were just getting their friends to make it look as if they were biting them instead.

So why am I writing about this? Yes, it’s funny but there’s a serious point to what I’m trying to say.

The points I’ve touched on today are excellent examples of how brands have piggybacked on the World Cup and used hashtags to engage with consumers and tap into conversations to help promote their brand and sell products.

But this isn’t exclusive to the World Cup. This can be, and should be, done with every major event, whether it’s a sporting event, concert, or award ceremony. There are opportunities for you and your brands everywhere. Something I, and my colleagues at fatBuzz, are forever saying to clients.

So has your brand done anything during the World Cup? If so get in touch and tell me about it. Tell what you did and how successful it was. And if you haven't, fear not, there are six more match days for your brand to make an impact.

There are many more events scheduled for this year in Scotland; The Commonwealth Games, Homecoming Scotland, The Ryder Cup Matches, and the referendum are just a few examples.

All of these events offer opportunities for your business to raise awareness and engage with your community. If you would like to discuss potential opportunities please give us a call or drop us an email at hello@fatbuzz.com, we will be delighted to chat over a coffee about how we can help you.


If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.


    

  

Thursday 3 July 2014

Social Media Podcast 66 - SEO: What business owners and marketers need to know in 2014 with Tim Barlow



Play the podcast here:

Social Media Podcast Edition No.66 provides a valuable insight to SEO in 2014.  Moreover, it highlights the need to optimise your business if you want to limit the cost of SEO and be truly successful.

Gordon White is joined by Tim Barlow, Managing Director at Attacat who provides some great advice and a refreshing approach to SEO by demonstrating how they look beyond the web site to deliver value to businesses so that SEO is the outcome rather than a strategy or tactic.

Tim recently presented this topic at our New Media Breakfasts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and because it was so well received, he kindly agreed to extend the reach of his presentation to the Social Media Podcast listeners.  We are sure you will find it both interesting and enlightening.

During the podcast we discuss the following:

  • Why Tim believes SEO is an outcome rather than a strategy or tactic
  • Why some sites just 'can't' be optimised
  • The difficulties some businesses have in communicating their unique value proposition
  • The latest on Linking, and what are good and bad links
  • Spam in blog comments
  • The need to fully understand what people are looking for
  • The most effective methods of identifying relevant keywords
  • Why paid search should be a consideration in 2014
  • Iain Wilson, Blot Design asks if the cost of effective SEO is beyond the reach of many small businesses
  • How you can reduce the cost of your SEO
  • The mistakes people make when using Google Adwords

During the podcast, Tim mentions a couple of books that he recommends, these were: 

Age of Context by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
The Circle by Dave Egger

Play the podcast here:



More about Tim

Tim Barlow is the managing director of Attacat, the Edinburgh-based search engine and internet marketing firm. Tim has been involved in search engine promotion since 1999 when he managed the first Innogy website for National Power. In 2001, Tim launched Pastures-New, one of the UK's leading rental portals, gaining similar levels of traffic with a marketing budget of £100 a month as Rightmove were then achieving with a multi million pound TV campaign. Attacat was set up in 1994 to take advantage of Tim's knowledge.

Pay per click (such as Google AdWords) has been a long time specialism of Tim and Attacat. Indeed Tim was one of the very first Qualified Google Advertising Professionals in the world and Attacat has held the company version of the qualification since its inception. Attacat use pay per click (PPC) to drive £10s of millions of business for a variety of clients from classic e-commerce sites to B2B businesses in niches you probably never knew existed.

Tim on LinkedIn

Tim on Twitter

Attacat Web Site

Would you like a presentation on social media and customer service?
We're offering a range of bespoke or generic presentations on the topic of social media and customer service, if you would like to find out more please go to the following link: Are you prepared to lose control?

Have you listened to the digital copyright podcast?
We continue to see people using images, video content and other files taken from the internet without consideration to potential copyright issues. We would encourage all of our listeners to download Social Media Podcast 50 which clearly outlines what you should and shouldn't do with images sourced online. Find it on iTunes now.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO TALK ABOUT?

If there is a specific topic you would like us to cover in a future podcast please let us know. You can email gordon@fatbuzz.com or send us a message on Twitter @MediaPodcast or, you can post it as a comment on the Social Media Podcast Facebook page.


If you have found this post interesting please share it with your on-line community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.