Tag Archive for: social media

When’s It Time To Hire Help For Your Social?

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It’s often said that managing social media is like making a cocktail, anyone can do it but not everyone can do it well. Doing social media effectively, effort and knowledge of the platforms so here we outline some tips for businesses who think they might be ready to get some additional help with their social.

If you or your senior team members are spending more time on social media then on the jobs they excel at, then, it may be time for you to hire help for your social.

If your business is growing but your social media pages don’t quite match up to that, it may be time for you to hire help for your social.

If you’re finding it hard to keep up to date with all the ongoing social media trends, it may be time for you to hire help for your social.

And… If you don’t have any social media at all but want to get your name out there in the digital, then we think it’s definitely time for you to hire help for your social.

What Should You Look For?

When looking to choose a social media agency, we would suggest that you consider the following checklist:

  1. Specialist experts – Do they have dedicated experts available to support and understand your businesses aims and objectives as well as having knowledge of the platforms you are looking to use? Social media platforms are constantly changing and updating to ensure users get the right experience.  Your team needs to be ahead of the curve so your brand is able to cut through and stand out.
  2. Do they know your industry? Do they understand the sector you work in or are they willing to learn? You may not want to hire a social media agency that is handling a competitor’s account but it is useful if they understand the sector and have some experience in it. If that’s not possible to find the right fit, it’s important to have a team that has the right attitude to learning and can support you with real and relevant advice.
  3. Do they have the right tools? It’s not just about creating engaging posts, it’s about working efficiently, monitoring the channels and tracking engagement.  Whether scheduling posts, creating graphics or improving video or images – make sure they have the right tools of the trade to make social media management as efficient and effective as possible.
  4. Are they on hand to react? Social media can change quickly, whether reacting to a negative issue or boosting viral content, the team needs to be on hand and responsive. Although posts may be scheduled a week in advance, the best teams are those who are also able to react to opportunities or trends that present themselves.
  5. Do they plan and are they proactive? The social media agency needs to take the time to understand your business so they can be creative and plan effective campaigns. Have a team that selects the trends, offers creative suggestions and advice, and delivers on a weekly basis. As always, we advise being on the front foot with communications.
  6. Check their track record. When looking for a social media agency, ask for some case studies that show the work that they do or even their own social media accounts.  A good social media agency should be more than willing to share their successes.

Why Getting Help is Important

But why is it so important to get your social media right?

Social media offers businesses an unparalleled opportunity to reach and engage with audiences wherever they may be. But first, you must understand who your audiences are and where they are found.

Taking a brief look at the demographics of each social media platform will help a business choose which platform is right for them.

Facebook is still one of the largest platforms amongst marketers and consumers, accounting for nearly 60% of Meta’s income compared to Instagram. However, the platforms continue to evolve and amongst younger users Snapchat and TikTok are now the predominant channels.

Instagram has reportedly more than 2bn users, with 30% being made up for the 18-24 age group with the average user spending more than half an hour on the platform each day.  Although the platform may be feeling pressure from TikTok, its decision to push Reels and short videos has reinvigorated and increased the platform’s engagement levels.

Instagram is increasingly being used as a gateway to support e-commerce and nearly 60% of businesses aim to use the platform for this purpose in the next 12 months (already more than $43bn was spent via the platform last year).

TikTok is growing and growing quickly, particularly amongst the slightly younger audience.  The site is also accessed by users daily with an average of 45 minutes spent on the site each day.  As the site ‘matures’ we’re likely to see it become more business orientated and as the users age with the platform we may see further changes to the video format and content used.

There is much change happening at Twitter and this is likely to continue until the company’s leadership decides in which direction to take the business.  It is however still a powerful platform and remains the space to be if wanting to discuss breaking news or to share opinions and thoughts.  More than a third of Twitter users have been to university and the platform is increasingly attracting a high-earning and well-educated base.

Elon Musk deciding what to do with Twitter?

For B2B clients, LinkedIn remains the premier platform with more than 930m users worldwide.  It remains predominantly male (57%) and has a slightly older demographic, with a third aged between 30 and 39.  It is however a highly engaged platform with two-thirds (63%) accessing the platform each week and nearly a quarter (22%) accessing daily.

There are numerous other platforms to consider whether Snapchat, Pinterest or others but when working with a social media agency they should also help spend time understanding your audiences and how best to engage with them.  This can include an audit of existing platforms and an action plan to take the business forward to capitalise on the opportunities.

If you’re looking to choose a social media agency, get in touch and let us walk you through the world of social media and how together we can build engagement, awareness and opportunity for your business.

Fake News & Clickbait… Who’s Views Are You Getting On Social Media?

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One of my favourite adverts back in the 1990s was from The Independent newspaper (now the i-newspaper of course). The ad drew the reader’s attention to the fact that the majority of large mainstream newspapers back in the day were owned and operated by ‘media moguls’.

The advert cleverly printed ‘Conrad Black’ into the same font and layout of the famous Daily Telegraph and the name ‘Rupert Murdock’ into The Times mast head.  The objective being that they were trying to convey that the newspapers were anything but independent and instead simply portraying the views of their owners and paymaster generals.

Historically, Britain has proudly had one of the freest and boldest press corps in the world that rightfully and skilfully has ‘held power to account without fear of favour’.  The highlighting of the newspaper ownership therefore resonated with me as we were often advised (when studying history at university) to look at the author of the work before determining any bias to the information presented.

As technologies and 24 hour news cycles developed, the pressures on newspapers to keep up has been intense.  Not only have they seen significant drops in readership that have led to a corresponding drop in revenue, but we are also seeing strategies that undermine the quality of the news presented in an effort to attract readers to more sensational stories – otherwise known as clickbait.

The sad reality however is that newspapers are not winning.  Recent research now shows the impact social media is having on not only everyday life but also on what we view, believe and how we consume information.

On average, UK consumers already spend an hour and 52 minutes every day on social media, with over half of them using the platforms to post or send private messages (56%) and to stay in touch with family and friends (53%).

Interestingly, nearly 8 out of 10 (79%) of 16 to 24 year olds say that social media is their main source of news.  Due to the open platform nature of social media, the quality and content of this news is very hard to regulate and there have been numerous cases of alleged ‘fake news’ whether relating to the US elections, Covid management or celebrity stories.

Although UK law allows users to report illicit content to the police, there is currently no legislation covering social media regulation nor the publication of ‘fake news’. The process of putting in place a form of regulation has been in progress for quite some time, however it has received heavy criticism for long delays in its implementation.

The Online Harms Bill, first proposed by Theresa May’s government in April 2019, sets out strict guidelines governing the removal of illegal content such as terrorist material or media that promotes suicide. Social networking sites must obey these rules or face being blocked in the UK.  This may be all well and good but there is disagreement as to where to draw the line between ‘harmful’ and free speech and who will be responsible for policing the content which is likely to be a much more complex affair.

The recent Covid pandemic highlighted just how complex the issue is.  Faced with a serious threat to public health, the government looked to ‘control the narrative’ both in mainstream media and also online. Many of the legacy media outlets towed the line with regard to messaging, in part due to government media spend, and also through their ‘public duty’ however social media platforms came under scrutiny over the content of posts that were shared.

In some cases the platforms were accused of sharing ‘conspiracy theories’ that challenged the narrative, while those sharing the alternative views felt that they had their accounts arbitrarily cancelled or ‘shadow banned’ where the content of their posts did not reach their usual audiences.  By May 2021, Facebook’s fact checking team had removed 16 million pieces of content and added warnings to around 167 million posts. YouTube removed more than 850 000 videos related to “dangerous or misleading Covid-19 medical information.”

This raises the question as to who are the fact checkers and what medical or specialist knowledge do they have to undertake their roles?  Professor Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology in society at Cambridge University comments: “I think it’s quite dangerous for scientific content to be labelled as misinformation, just because of the way people might perceive that.”

This naturally leads to the question on who is determining what is right or wrong on social platforms as this in turn leads to what can and can’t be shared.

We have already seen the democratically elected President of the United States banned on Twitter.  If a company’s executive team are calling the shots on essentially who has a voice or not, this has serious implications.  The new owner, Mr Musk, has also introduced a subscription cost to Twitter, suggestion those who don’t cough up will have their accounts effectively silenced.  It begs the question as to what other topics or views could be silenced if they don’t marry with his agenda?

 

Fake news & Click bait - Trump banned from Twitter

Fake news & Click bait – Trump banned from Twitter

Twitter is not alone, TikTok is facing a total US ban because of its Chinese ownership (with the US government afraid of data being shared with a malign body and the potential influence it could have on a population).  If this happens I would expect other countries to follow.

The algorithms of the platforms already favour certain content over others and decide who has their views shared over others.  This is most apparent in how businesses now essentially need to pay to be heard on any platform. As the saying goes, “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”

With more than 12.5bn hours collectively spent by the UK population on social media in 2021 (or an equivalent of 1.4million years for one person!) and five out of the top 20 websites being social platforms, social content undoubtedly has the biggest influence on today’s population.

As social media and their platform’s owners become more powerful, just as it was back in the 1990s with newspapers, we all need to consider who really owns these platforms, as this massively influences what we watch, listen to read and absorb.

Prime Time: The Impact Of Scarcity Marketing

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When you look at Prime, it’s your standard energy drink. Loud and colourful with a name that suggests that inspires some sort of hyper-performance.

With Logan Paul and KSI behind the brand Prime was always likely to be popular, but the inflated prices and irrational behaviour it has caused cannot be attributed to the two’s stardom alone.

Somehow there’s an unquenchable thirst for this drink and its had people driving to a Wakefield off-license for an £100 bottle in a cost-of-living crisis, as well as hordes of customers descending on supermarkets that stock it.

So how has, on the face of it, a rather ordinary energy drink led to so many believing it to be Lourdes water’s equivalent? Scarcity marketing.

 

What is Prime?

Over the last few months, we’ve seen snaking queues and dives into shelves that would give Tom Daly a run for his money. All of this for KSI and Logan Paul’s new business venture, Prime Hydration.

The duo have enormous respective followings on social media and are two of the highest profile YouTubers in the world, which, of course, gives them an excellent platform for any product launch.

Paul and KSI teamed up to create the energy drink, in conjunction with supplier and distributor Congo Brands, and launched Prime in January 2022.

Since then it has become the official sports drink supplier for Premier League table-topping Arsenal and the UFC with its CEO Dana White signing the drink up on a multi-year basis.

 

What is scarcity marketing?

 Scarcity marketing is not a new phenomenon and it’s a basic economic principle. Well-worn phrases such as while stocks last, flash sales and limited-time offers are used to create a sense of product rarity and urgency among consumers. Limited supply = high demand.

One of the most infamous cases of scarcity marketing involves the diamond market.

We’re led to believe that a diamond is a scarce resource and gifting a partner one is a sign of true love.

Well, in actual fact during the nineteenth century the DeBeers mining company, who had a monopoly on diamonds, began stifling supply to create scarcity and therefore, increase demand for the stone.

The tight control of the supply of diamonds created artificially high prices and, subsequently, high demand.

However, when the price of a diamond decreased during the 1930s, the very same company created a clever marketing campaign involving celebrities of the day, to convince the world that the rare diamond was a true indication of love.

Essentially, as part of the campaign, it was claimed that the size of a diamond ring was exactly equal to the love a man had for his fiancée, which has created the lasting engagement tradition.

Scarcity marketing is a tactic that’s been deployed for over 200 years, but it’s become even more effective with the advent of social media and platforms such as YouTube and TikTok have been instrumental in spreading the narrative that Prime is a scarce resource.

 

From Aldi to Wakey: How Prime became ‘scarce’

Having been released to the US market much earlier in 2022, Prime first became available in the UK back in October when Asda began selling the drink and retailed at around £1.80.

However, the drink quickly became rather elusive and, although ostensibly limiting the supply of the drink was never part of the marketing strategy, Asda had to set a limit on the product to three per person due to finite stocks and concerns over resales.

The literal scramble for Prime grew more urgent when Aldi temporarily stocked the drink in its special buy section and limited sales to one per customer. Videos soon emerged of people desperately trying to get their hands on the drink, with one video even showing a grown man swiping a bottle from a child.

The aforementioned limited time nature of this offer by Aldi stirred urgency among consumers who felt they couldn’t miss out on having this product and with the videos of the supermarket scrambles spreading rapidly on TikTok, the craze surrounding Prime grew.

Then from amidst the chaos, an unlikely TikTok ‘star’ emerged, Mohammed Azar Nazir, the owner of the Wakey Wines off license. Clips of Nazir with customers who’d misguidedly bought bottles of prime for a disgustingly exorbitant price, began to go viral.

Wakey Wines became part of the national lexicon overnight and the shop’s fame outgrew the boundaries of West Yorkshire, overnight. The shop had capitalised on the absurd consumer demand for this ‘rare commodity’ and charge excessive prices, all the while taking full advantage of power of social media

Meanwhile on eBay, the energy drinks that were released in early January, have been selling at as much as £2,000. Such prices are morally reprehensible, particularly when you consider how so many people are struggling at the moment.

 

Prime: A perfect storm

In the nineteenth century DeBeers didn’t have social media to market their ‘rare commodity’ but if they did, it’s interesting to consider how this would have affected the demand for diamonds.

In the case of Prime, you have the combination of two of the world’s biggest YouTubers being the face of the brand, a product in limited supply and social media.

These three factors help fuel both the idea that the drink is a scarce resource and the fear of missing out.

Although the scarcity marketing tactic has been denied by KSI and Logan Paul, Prime is an example of just how powerful the idea of rarity is in advertising and marketing.

How To Best Use Influencer Marketing

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Influencer marketing is increasingly being used by businesses and brands to extend their range and reach into new and lucrative markets.  Although the marketing tactic has been used for several years, influencer marketing is set for exponential growth in 2023.

PR agencies have always been the preferred partner for businesses looking to engage in influencer marketing.  From the more traditional media briefings in which companies sought to inspire editors and the media agenda, through to brand collaborations when the reputation of an established brand is used to leverage exposure for a new or emerging brand – the right PR agency can help reach and influence new audiences like no other marketing medium.

Today however influencer marketing primarily refers to collaborations between brands and ‘influencers’ on digital platforms whether social media, blogs or other digital channels. The question often asked by clients is ‘what is an influencer?’ and how to gauge whether they have a genuine ‘influence’ amongst target audiences.

Influencer Marketing – Breaking It Down

One common mistake is to not differentiate between a celebrity and an online influencer. Admittedly many celebrities can extend into the role of influencer but in many cases, they are quite separate entities.

Most influencers have built a loyal and enthusiastic audience by posting relevant and engaging content that resonates with their followers.  People organically elect to follow these influencers based on their content, which in turn can vary from quite generic topics such as food & drink, parenting and travel right down to very specific subjects such as photography, wellness or types of gin (and everything in-between!).

Influencer marketing is not limited to consumer brands as an influencer can be a well-read business expert or blogger who tweets relevant content, or a respected marketing executive on LinkedIn with insightful views and opinions. Within any industry, there are influential people—you just need to find them – and that’s where working with a PR agency can help.

Some influencers have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of followers but there are also plenty who seem more like ordinary people. They may have less than 10,000 followers but they have developed a reputation for being the experts in their field. They are the go-to people who are trusted to provide the answers to people’s questions. Depending on their sphere of expertise, they can often be the people who make the most engaging social posts on their specialist topics. They share the best pictures, make the most entertaining videos, and run the most informative online discussions.

It’s important to realise that the influencer’s audiences don’t really care about brands specifically, more the opinions of the influencer towards the brand.  It’s therefore important to work with the influencer rather than push your rules, ‘brand guidelines’ or business practices into their actions as they can simply walk away, taking their followers with them or worse still become antagonistic.

The growth of influencer marketing

The statistics speak for themselves.  In 2016, influencer marketing was a $1.7bn industry worldwide, while last year (2022) it had grown to more than $16.4bn.  According to an influencer marketing hub report,  90% of survey respondents believe influencer marketing is an effective form of marketing and currently more than two thirds (67%) of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing.

The growth is set to continue as 75% of the survey respondents suggested that they would be dedicating a budget to influencer marketing in 2023. This rate is up substantially from the 37% who claimed they would allocate a budget to it just 6 years ago in 2017.

Tips for influencer marketing

So, for brands or businesses looking to engage with influencer marketing, we’d suggest that to be most effective, start with a plan that includes objectives, target markets and a budget and then begin careful research into who would be a good fit and provide you with a platform for targeted exposure.

When researching influencers, don’t be overtly swayed by their follower numbers but instead look at their levels of engagement.  How many people like their posts, comment or share as these are the key metrics to consider.  Often big name influencers may not be right for a brand or too commercial to develop genuine and lasting relationships.

Decide also how you are going to find and approach the influencer.  This can be time consuming so working with a PR agency that works with influencers can be a big help as often they may have existing relationship or the resource to target them organically.

When you have found the perfect partner, work with them and develop a schedule of activities.  Consider how their posts can integrate with your existing social media or content marketing schedule, what agreements are in place to ensure the right number of posts, reels or blogs are included in exchange for a product or service.  Is money changing hands and, if so, are the right contracts in place? Also remember the influencer must declare if a financial agreement or if a product has been gifted.

It’s also worth considering what doesn’t work.  Buying influence does not work as many influencers have spent time building their following and so wont risk tarnishing their reputation by selling out and promoting products they don’t like, relate to, or would not recommend to their followers.

It’s also not necessarily about quick results and fast sales.  Although this can be the case (most famously when Delia Smith recommends a kitchen product, they sell out fast!) the main objectives of influencer marketing is building the exposure of your product, its reputation and taking it to new potential audiences through the strength of third party endorsement.

Remember also to be specific as one size does not fit all.  Spend time to find the right fit with an influencer and when that’s achieved it’s proven to pay dividends.

For more information on influencer marketing, contact a member of the Source PR team and let us help build you reputation, product awareness and take your brand or business into new and exciting areas.

Skills You Need To Be A Successful PR In 2023

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It’s no secret that working in public relations and managing successful PR campaigns can be a stressful yet rewarding at times. One day you could be pitching in a hot new client story to the media, the next you could find yourself in Milan conducting a video shoot (okay, that doesn’t happen all that often, but it did for me recently, so I had to mention it!). Working in PR, means you get to add many strings to your bow and here, we explore the essential skills that’ll help you to enjoy a thriving career in PR.

 

Strong copywriting skills

Possibly the cornerstone of any role in PR and comms is solid copywriting skills. A huge part of the role, you’ll need to turn your hand to writing blogs, white papers, reports, press releases, case studies…the list goes on. If you’re in an agency role with several clients, it’s important to nail the tone of voice for each client and have the ability to digest sometimes complex information before drafting it up in an easily readable and understood manner.

 

An eye for news

A must-have skill in PR is knowing which story is going to hit the sweet spot with the media. In meetings or interviews, being able to pick out those golden key pieces of information that will leave journalists wanting to know more isn’t a knack that should be taken for granted.

 

Passion

Passion is what gets us through on the hardest days. Maybe you’re struggling to get in touch with a journalist, your social post isn’t performing how you wanted it to, or your event sign up numbers aren’t as high as anticipated – these things can really put you on a downer after weeks or even months of planning and hard work. A dash of passion and desire to do your best work is what is needed to get us through those tricky days!

 

A thick skin

Unfortunately, like many industries, delivering successful PR isn’t for the faint hearted. You may come across a cranky  (we all have bad days), challenging crisis comms work, or get some unexpected feedback on an article you poured your heart and soul into and it can be dis-heartening. Feeling this way isn’t a bad thing, it just shows we care!

Adaptability

“But that’s how we’ve always done it” isn’t a welcome phrase in our industry. As professionals, it’s important to be able to adapt, change and embrace new trends, techniques and technology. Gone are the days of cutting out individual press clippings and compiling them into a book to then send in the post to clients – and aren’t we glad of that!? If PRs had ignored this new method of communication called social media 10 years ago, then I wonder where we’d be now. Arguably, SEO only became a thing in the late 90s, and look how much that has evolved over the years. For me, there will always be a place for genuine content and print media, but there’s also plenty of room for the newer stuff too!

 

The team at Source PR have all of these skills in abundance, to find out how we could help you and your business, get in touch.

How Much Do PR Agencies Charge?

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As we head into what is likely to be another economic slowdown, there is often an uplift in businesses wanting to raise their profile in an increasingly competitive market.  With budgets tight and ambitions high, prospective clients often ask us ‘How much do PR agencies charge?’.

The short answer is how long is a piece of string, as there are a number or variables that can influence the amount PR agencies charge, whether it’s the amount of time spent supporting the account, the specialist nature of the work or the seniority and experience of the team required to deliver the results.

But it’s equally an important question as the predetermined budget is one of the key factors when selecting the right PR agency to support your marketing goals.

Here we’ve tried to outline some of the key elements that go into determining a PR budget, to help prospective clients pick the resource and team they need to support their business ambitions.  Knowing the information will hopefully help internal stakeholders understand why the costs are what they are and the agency is the right one for the business

Before appointing a PR agency, the first question must be whether the company has existing skills and resource available to deliver the plans.  If not, there is always the option to recruit a ‘PR manager’ to help, with typical costs of £35 – £50kpa depending on location, experience and skill set.  If selecting this route, ask whether they have all the required skills and industry resources to deliver the campaign as well as what plans are in place to cover holidays or other absences?

Another option could be to use a freelancer.  Freelancers often cost more than an in-house resource and can bring specialisms and experience, but often deliver tactically the strategy that’s been determined in house. Freelancers have specialities and niches, so if considering this you may need to hire one freelancer to handle your social media while another for media relations.  Costs can range from £150- £250 a day again depending on skills and experience and can quickly rack up if not managed carefully.

Selecting the right PR agency

When it comes to selecting a PR or social media agency, these typically fall into three categories, large, small and specialist PR firms.  Hiring an agency gives you access to a team of experts across the full spectrum of communications services from media relations, social media management, crisis communications, public affairs, SEO and more. Unlike a freelancer, agencies usually offer a team to deliver the strategic planning, measurement and evaluation along with tactical delivery and execution.

Smaller or ‘boutique’ agencies, typically have a staff of less than 20. Their monthly fees usually range from £1,500 – £5,000 (potentially more for a London based or highly specialist firm). The value is in the easier access to senior PR counsel as well as the agility and close working relations built with the team. Boutique firms can also specialise in specific sectors and services within the PR and marketing spectrum but offer a more personalised service to client businesses.

Large agencies usually have staff of more than 20 and have offices across the UK or world, offering support to clients that require that reach. Some of the brand names like Edelman, Weber Shandwick and Hill and Knowlton fall under this category. These agencies cost the highest with typical retainers more than £5,000 per month. These agencies are best suited for big corporations and governments, especially those needing PR support for multi-national launches and campaigns.

When it comes down to working out how much do PR agencies charge, most PR and social media agencies operate either on a project or retained basis.  Project rates tend to be for shorter term contracts between one and three months and can be used to support an event or crisis.  Project-based contracts tend to be priced higher than annual retainers because agencies spend a lot of time in winning the business, researching the company and getting to understand the various products or services. The short-term aspect can also put a lot of pressure on the agency’s resources to deliver within the time frame and the time spent on learning the account cannot be recuperated six months down the line once the project has ended.

Retained contracts run longer and are usually around 12 months duration, however at Source PR we are proud to say that we have supported several clients for more than 10 years on a rolling retained basis (as they value the work and results we deliver!). Retained contracts often cost lower than project-based contracts because the time spent and the research done in the initial few months by the agency are paid off in the long-term.

PR Agency Services

Services like media relations are offered on retainer contracts because the best results are achieved in the long term.  A one-off press mention in top-tier media can lead to a short spike in brand awareness or traffic to a website, but only consistent press coverage over the long-term will genuinely build and enhance a company’s brand and reputation.

Retained contracts typically allow clients to pay a fixed rate every month based on a specified scope of work or a fixed number of hours. Some months the work may be slower but it is usually balanced by months when the workload is higher.

One of the key influences into PR agency prices is based around the team allocated to support the business.  PR prices are proportional to the agency day rate card (i.e. how much time a member of the team would be required to support the business and the seniority / experience of the person or team). Naturally the hourly rate of an account executive is lower than that of an account manager, which is lower than that of an account director etc.

When looking to choose a PR agency, it tends to be best to work with a firm whose typical client is of the same size and budget as yours. Some clients with moderate budgets make the mistake of selecting a ‘big name’ agency only to have junior or less experienced PR staff working on the account as the client (or fees!) are not deemed as important to the senior team.  Smaller or boutique agencies typically give better access to the senior team at a more affordable rate.

Finally, one of the other key influences in determining ‘How much do PR agencies charge’ comes down to the services required by the client.  Some services like strategic planning, branding and public affairs understandably cost higher as they require more senior expertise. Crisis communications cost much higher as it requires the PR professional to be available 24X7 to respond to the crisis as it evolves and can take them away from other scheduled work

Similarly, services like media relations or working with influencers – where a PR professional brings their relationships built over the years also cost higher.  Services like social media management or blog writing can cost lower because they can be successfully undertaken without needing years of experience or decades spent building relationships.

The last question to ask is how much would it cost you not to recruit a PR agency?  What is the value of your time, do you have the skills and time to deliver a campaign yourself.  Equally what are the sales and opportunities you’re missing by not building your profile?  All are valid questions when asking ‘how much do PR agencies charge’.

Speak to us

If you’d like to speak to someone about PR pricing and what agencies can deliver against specific budgets, feel free to contact a member of our team.  Source PR is one of the North West’s leading boutique agencies and offers a full range of services to client business across the region and UK.

The team would be delighted to discuss your PR, social media and digital communication requirements and to meet to discuss your ambitions and how best we can deliver against your PR budgets and priorities.

Elon and Twitter – A Match Made In Heaven… Or Hell?

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On Monday, the board of Twitter accepted billionaire Elon Musk’s $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover bid. Only two weeks ago Musk made the shock bid claiming Twitter had “tremendous potential” that only he could unlock.

 

An avid Twitter user himself, Mr Musk boasts an audience of over 83.3m followers. His love of Twitter leads him to tweet prolifically, sometimes with controversial opinions and occasionally with catastrophic consequences. He was previously banned from tweeting about Tesla affairs by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) after one tweet wiped $14bn from its share price. In another instance he was sued for defamation following a tweet he wrote about a cave diver, in which he referred to him as “pedo guy” (the diver lost).

 

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” is how Musk describes his view on Twitter. Perhaps a little worryingly, Elon’s definition of freedom of speech proposes less moderation for his Twitter 2.0. Many Republicans, who have long felt that Twitter’s moderation policies favour the freedom of speech of left-leaning viewpoints, rejoiced.

 

What will he do with the site?

 

Perhaps most notably, at present, Twitter’s main business model is ad-based – but Musk wants to change this. He’s more interested in subscriptions, which could prove a hard sell in an environment where all the main social networks are free-to-use. Twitter users may decide they prefer for their data to not be used to monetise them and they’re willing to pay for that – but it’s a gamble.

 

He also likes crypto currencies. Could he use the platform to incentivise payments in volatile, unprotected currencies such as Bitcoin?

 

What does this mean for users?

 

Just these few changes could change Twitter’s demographic enormously. For casual personal pleasure users, this new environment could quickly become unaffordable, volatile and all too complicated – making the way for users of  servers such as discord and online forums to switch to Twitter now that the content restrictions are on their way out.

 

Musk’s Twitter would be a very different landscape for its current 300 million users. The move could see him reinstate Donald Trump, who currently has a permanent ban – and given that Mr Trump’s own attempt at a social network, Truth Social, appears to be floundering, he would probably be delighted to return.

 

Musk’s series of changes also include a relaxing of its content restrictions as well as the eradication of fake accounts. Some other less drastic changes he has proposed are the suggestions of allowing longer posts and introducing the ability to edit them after they have been published. Whilst this is beneficial now for tweets that could potentially cause offence, the new rules will see no use for this feature in such a sense.

 

Money talks

 

Mr Musk is the world’s richest person, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn, mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX and contributed to the success of PayPal. He is not interested in making money out of the site, but I suppose as a multi-billionaire you can have the occasional expensive hobby?

 

The takeover is expected to be finalised by the end of this year, but what are your thoughts? Will you still continue to use Twitter? Is this a step in the right direction or a total disaster move for the site? Get in touch with us and let us know – ironically! – via Twitter.

 

 

Featured image courtesy of Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nvidia/16660212029

Does Your Business Need A Social Media Presence?

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It’s perfectly understandable to question whether or not your business needs a social media presence – whether that’s on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or even Pinterest. In particular, companies in the B2B or business to business market may wonder if they want or need to have social media accounts.

 

After all, it’s something that takes time, money and effort to set up and maintain.

 

That’s why we’re here to give you the run down on just why your business – no matter how big or small – should invest in setting up a social media presence. As you’ll find, the reasons are endless…

 

 

4 Reasons Your Business Needs a Social Media Presence

 

 

1. Increase Awareness Of Your Brand, Without Breaking The Bank

 

Social media is easily one of the most cost-effective – and effective – ways of promoting your brand, putting it out into the world and gaining an audience that listens to the service you can provide for them. Even if you decide not to put any money behind the posts and profile you have set up, it shows your customers that you’re technologically savvy, easy to get in contact with and willing to share all your news, offers and thought leadership!

 

If you do decide to put some money behind your posts, for example, by sponsoring or promoting your page or content, the markup isn’t going to be as much as you’d think. The minimum spend for a Facebook boosted post, for example, is just $1 (75p). You can widen or shrink the radius of your target audience as much as you want, and even target based on job role, interests, gender or age.

 

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

 

2…And Just As Effective As Traditional Advertisements

 

 

There are countless examples of brands and businesses that have become enormous successes without breaking the bank by keeping advertisement in the ‘traditional’ sense (i.e. TV, radio, billboards) limited. Through their social media accounts, they have built up a following of people willing to purchase their products or services.

 

An example of this is Gymshark, which has an impressive multi-platform audience on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube that has been built up since 2012. Through a combination of body inclusivity, memes and ‘relatable content,’ the brand has rocketed into the mainstream and is now a major competitor of more well-known fitness wear brands like Nike and Adidas.

Part of Gymshark’s continuing relevance and appeal is its use of influencers, too. Having a social media presence affords you the opportunity to work with individuals (or couples) that have a strong, engaged fan base of thousands – even, sometimes, millions! This is a perfect chance to reach people who might not have otherwise heard of your brand – and might well become future loyal customers!

 

@gymshark via Instagram

 

 

Don’t forget, in order to reach such heights, your social presence has to be bold, interesting and just the right fit for your brand.

 

You might have heard the phrase ‘content is king’ – if your content isn’t interesting or applicable, there’s going to be little chance people will engage with you!

 

 

 

3. Communicate Quickly and Effectively

 

 

The myriad of events during the last few years have taught us many things: one of which is just how quickly circumstances can change. It’s unlikely you’ve held or attended an event since 2020 that hasn’t in some way been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Also, this winter’s bout of storms are also a reminder that, no matter how meticulously we can plan, sometimes things simply go wrong in ways we can’t prepare for.

 

Social media is an easy way of communicating with your audience base when something like this happens. If an event has to be called off last minute, chances are people aren’t going to ring up your business to find out – they’ll head to the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page for the latest updates, knowing that all that people need is a login to communicate with the world! Whether you’re an intern or the CEO, you can easily update your followers when bad luck strikes. It’s certainly quicker than a press release!

 

4. Humanise Your Brand

 

Think about it: which would you rather get in touch with for a business enquiry? A brand that has little to no communications ventures, or one you know for a fact has a presence on social media, that is regularly updated, and communicates with its audience. There’s an age old phrase that goes, “people buy from people.”

 

Putting your brand out there on social media gives your brand a voice – meaning it’s not only easier to reach, but easier to conceptualise, understand, and engage with. This is not only good for your potential (and existing) customers, but for journalists and advertisers, too!

 

 

There are so many reasons to make the big leap into putting your business out on social media. It might seem a daunting task at first, but don’t worry: we at Source are experts in what we do. If you need a hand setting up your social media presence, or simply want some advice, we’d be happy to help! Head to our contact page to find out how to get in touch, or call 01829 720789.

Developing PR Plans For 2022 – 5 Things To Consider

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As we look ahead into 2022, the team at Source PR shares below how they feel the pandemic has changed the way brands interact with customers and what PR and communication trends we’re likely to see as we head into 2022.

The pandemic has accelerated the changes in PR that have been coming over the past decade.  The move from more traditional ‘siloed’ communications towards a more holistic and integrated approach is complete.  For example, pure media relations can’t exist without reflective web content or supportive social media management – each communications silo needs to integrate and relate.

This has naturally led to a blurring of lines between PR, marketing and advertising, digital and offline – essentially requiring PR and marketing teams to develop plans that reflect an integrated approach to communications.

  1. Complete the shift to digital-first

The pandemic has ushered in a more digital world meaning companies should be looking at new ways of getting in front of their audiences and ‘meeting’ them in new ways.

In 2022, traditional PR strategies won’t work as well and companies need to adopt a digital-first strategy.  Marketers should however remember that although the platform is online that they’re targeting real people. We thrive on being liked, making conversation, and having meaningful interactions that we can relate to.

As we’re all individuals, this means that when it comes to engaging with customers, brands need to understand that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Customers care more now than ever about their experience with the companies they are buying from and don’t want to be bombarded with generic emails or social communications that just aren’t relevant to them.

Always remember that consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that they trust, have a relationship and can relate to.

  1. Engage with, or become an influencer

It’s hard not to be aware of the growing influence of the influencer.  But what is an ‘influencer’?  In short, it’s someone with a strong following who ‘creates unique content that reaches and engages people within a specific target audience’.  When chosen correctly, they can add credibility, authenticity, and personality to campaigns, providing they are harnessed in the right way.

PR agencies are well placed to work with companies and brands to shape and foster a community of advocates and influencers.  Influencers can also help humanise the brand in addition to boosting appeal and trust, promoting products and services to new cohorts, providing invaluable user-generated content (UGC), word-of-mouth recommendations and social media chatter.

When considering an influencer be sure to undertake the due diligence and to create genuine partnerships that have strategic alignment with brand values. As ever, key performance indicators (KPIs) will play a crucial role in demonstrating whether the return on investment (ROI) is beneficial.

If you’re a business leader with proven experience in a sector, what’s to stop you from developing your own profile as a thought leader in the sector?  2022 could be the year for this and we are looking forward to working with our clients to achieve this ambition for them.

Finally, although we live in the digital age, brands need to be backed up by real people, otherwise, they risk becoming faceless.  Analysis of the social media platforms we manage clearly show that consumers want to experience the human touch and to understand the people behind the brands.

  1. Develop a social conscience

There is also greater pressure coming from consumer organisations and the public to ensure the products we are consuming have been delivered in a sustainable way, haven’t unnecessarily damaged the environment or caused distress to people or the planet.

If companies are doing good work, it’s important to share the news or at least give a vision for the future that stakeholders can buy into or be part of.  In short, communicating with a conscience has never been more crucial.

We are however still at the stage where companies are positively viewed for their good works, however, in 2022 it’s likely that there will be a shift towards the greater expectation that a company is doing the right thing.  Not acting or doing the ‘wrong thing’ therefore poses a risk to an organisation’s reputation, which can quickly spiral out of control in a digital world.

Be careful not to virtue signal or publish ‘green guff’ as the public are getting increasingly savvy and there is a risk it could backfire.  If you keep your actions aligned to your vision, values and core principles you can’t go far wrong and always keep the communities you are looking to influence in the forefront of your mind when selecting a campaign to support.

2022 will be all about developing a PR narrative that allows clients to demonstrate their credentials in a meaningful way.  When done well, community-led storytelling is more acceptable and authentic than direct brand-led communication, but this community advocacy needs to be consciously harnessed and not left to chance.

  1. Create the right content

As we continue to embrace the digital era, social and web channels are only going to gain more momentum and be an increasingly critical communication tool. In the coming year, ensure that the content provided is authentic and relevant to your audience’s interests.

There has already been a monumental rise of short-form video this year, but more companies will use the format for sales and information, not just entertainment. Of course, the sales messages conveyed via video will have to be entertaining and engaging to capture and hold the viewer’s attention.

The power of speech as a search tool will continue in 2022. Already nearly a third (29%) of people in Britain now own a smart speaker and Forrester predicts the number of households with smart speakers in the EU will reach 57.5 million by 2024. When creating content consider speech search terms as well as those typically typed into Google as increasingly consumers will rely on voice to search for their favourite product or to request information.

  1. Manage your messages

As we develop a multi-channel PR and communications strategy, communications professionals should not be lazy but adapt their messages to suit the platform.  Whether LinkedIn, Twitter or TikTok adapt the message and content to suit.  As new platforms develop, they also become more mainstream so don’t write off Snapchat and TikTok as only being relevant to younger generations.  More and more Millennials and other older generations are becoming active there.

The final point to make is to ensure your messages are adapted for various audiences.  Although much of the above relates to acquiring new customers, don’t forget that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and that retaining customers that are already engaged should be an equal focus for companies and brands in their PR and communications.

 

We’d love to know your thoughts on what you feel are the topics and trends for 2022?  Whether you agree or disagree with the above, I’m sure we can all agree that the only real risk is to those who choose to do nothing.  We’d happily meet to discuss or support your plans in 2022 and always love to hear or share ideas – you can contact us here.

Whatever you choose to do – we wish you the best of luck and hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.

Photo by Djordje Vezilic from Pexels

Was The Social Media Blackout A Good Thing?

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Last week, the world experienced a six-hour social media blackout. The three social media giants: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, all crashed at once. Disaster! In light of this this, and other semi-apocalyptic events that have happened over the past 18-months, many thought this was another sign of humanity’s untimely demise!

But thankfully, it wasn’t.

Our thumbs were spared from scrolling while Mark Zuckerberg delved into what went wrong at Facebook, the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp. After some tinkering on the Monday night, he got the planet’s scrollers scrolling again by Tuesday morning.

According to BBC News, the outage was caused by “an internal technical issue which took Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram offline at about 16:00 GMT on Monday.” After this, what we’d like to know is whether you think temporary social media shutdowns are a good idea? Drastic I know, but hear us out…

 

The Idea of a Social Shutdown

What if, for two months out of 12 every year, the social media giants went quiet, and we were all logged out?

After a couple of years of only being able to interact with each other on our phones, we can certainly see the benefits of social media, and admittedly a blackout would be a challenge. Over the last couple of years, social media outlets have enabled us to continue to communicate with our friends and family from all over the world.

Businesses also rely heavily on social media to promote products or services. But this still risks creating a revenue shortage because there’s no one to advertise to. And, following the outage, the BBC revealed that Zuckerberg himself might have lost in the region of £4.4bn, while Facebook’s shares dropped by almost 5%.

So maybe it isn’t a good idea after all. But what if there was a way of solely targeting private social media users? Stay with us…

 

Would Routine Blackouts Work?

So, the financial implications for some companies are quite severe… Granted. But, if we take another look at the human side of things, ditching our social platforms for a while has been proven to help people’s mental health.

According to Parade.com, ceasing to use social media can cause people to feel anxious at first, and some even develop withdrawal symptoms. But, after a couple of weeks, your mental health should improve. Parade states that “studies have shown a direct correlation between depression and excessive social media use.”

After interviewing Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and Columbia University professor, Parade found that of “6,500 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S, those who spent more than three hours a day using social media might be at heightened risk for mental health problems.”

 

The Key? Focus On Yourself

Finally, I feel like the most compelling reason why we should all be forced to take a break from social media every now and again is because of comparing ourselves with others. This can cause disillusionment with your own life, and you can start to doubt yourself, which is a pretty precarious situation to be in.

Even though many of the ideas discussed above will not come to fruition anytime soon, the message to take away from this blog is that social media, unless you use it to make a living, shouldn’t be the be all and end all.

What do you think?

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