What Social Media Platforms Are Right For Your Business?

/in , , /by

Looking to give your business an edge on social media but not sure where to start? Well, your first step is to choose the right social media platform. Between Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Pinterest, it can be tempting to join them all. However, an effective social media strategy involves time, consistency and financial investment. There is a lot of traction to be gained through social media, so it’s important to only pick the platforms that are right for your business. 

Understanding Your Business Needs 

Are you looking to demonstrate the usefulness of a particular product? Are you wanting to network with others in the industry? Are you a freelancer looking to showcase your work? Or perhaps you’re looking to connect with customers and interact with them. 

Knowing what your business needs are is important when deciphering your social media marketing goals. There are hundreds of different platforms out there, each with their own bespoke algorithm and unique features. So, knowing your business needs and what kind of content you want to post will help matchmake the right social media platform for you.  

Social Media Platforms (In A Nutshell) 

Traditional Social Media Outlets: Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) allow you to share both text and visual content to whomever you like. They share features like networking, event organising, polling and advertising. 

Image-Based: Other platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are image-lead and allow you to showcase your aesthetic business portfolio. They come with features that allow you to shop in-app which eliminates the need to drive traffic to an external site. 

Short-Form Video Content: TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels allow you to share short-form video content. These platforms leave a lot of room for getting creative with product tutorials and brand storytelling. Short-form video content platforms are high on the rise with 73% of consumers now saying they prefer short-form video content to search for products or services.  

Discussion Forums: Though a little trickier to implement in your social media strategy, Reddit and Quora can be unique ways to engage with specific online communities, join in on industry chat and help with product/service questions.  

Private Community Groups: Online groups such as Facebook Groups, Discord or Patreon pull people together making for great ways to share exclusive business insight, interact with users and connect with them on a more personal scale.  

Knowing Your Audience 

Knowing who your target audience is, their age group, language, gender, etc, is key to finding what platforms they hang out on. If your audience isn’t active on a certain social media platform, then it is not worth pumping time and money into it.  

Reading into demographic data matters and using tools such as Sprout Social to identify your audience’s respective go-to platform is a must:  

Know Your Competitors Too 

What platforms are your competitors on? Which platforms are working well for them? What type of posts are performing better?  

It may feel like a cheat code, but looking at what your competitors are doing on their socials is a useful (and free) market research tool when it comes to deciding which platform to invest in and what type of content to post. 

Look At Your Resources  

Building brand awareness is about the long game. Momentum and credibility is far more important than a ‘go big or go home’ viral post that will peak and trough in a short amount of time.  

As far as posting frequency goes, it’s best to post around 2-5 times a week. However, do leave some room for experimentation. If your audience engages better when you post less frequently, and that works for you, then carry on. At the same time, make sure to measure what resources you have. Having too many platforms on your plate can quickly spread your business thin, resulting in posts that may not be so tailored to your brand. Unless you have a huge budget, keeping to 2-3 social media platforms is the recommended golden number. 

Make The Most Out Of The Platform You Choose 

Once you’ve decided which platforms you would like to build a brand profile on, make sure to make the most out of them. Here are some top tips for helping you do so: 

  • Don’t be too ‘salesy’: avoid simply broadcasting to your audience – entertaining and insightful content will go a lot further. 
  • Keep up with what’s trending: the latest news, memes, industry updates, TikTok sounds, memes. 
  • Don’t forget to use hashtags: they’re a trusty way to win over the algorithm. 
  • Post consistently and regularly: it’s important that when someone clicks onto your brand’s profile, there is enough content to find out who you are and what you do 
  • Repost and interact with audiences: starting polls, responding to direct messages and replying to comments will help your brand build both a strong relationship with users and a loyal customer base. 

With Source PR, you can outsource your social media strategy. Click here to find out more. 

 

 

Insta Threads: Exploring The New Social Media App

/in /by

In the dynamic realm of social media, the emergence of new platforms always garners attention, intriguing both users and businesses. Among the latest additions this week, ‘Threads’ has been generating buzz. But what is Threads? In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at its origins, and its relevance in the social media landscape. Additionally, we’ll address the pressing question: Do we really need another social media app?

The Birth of Threads

Threads, developed by Facebook, was created as a companion app to Instagram, catering specifically to close friends and intimate circles. Its inception was rooted in the desire to offer users a more private and focused space for sharing content, messages, and updates within a select group of contacts. Threads prioritises real-time communication, enabling users to capture and share the present moment with their inner circle.

Threads Key Features

Reinforcing Privacy – In an era where privacy concerns are paramount, Threads addresses this need by providing users with a secure and intimate platform to connect with their closest friends. With its emphasis on sharing content exclusively with chosen individuals, Threads cultivates an environment of trust and exclusivity.

 

Real-Time Connection – Threads’ focus on immediate updates facilitates authentic and timely interactions. By encouraging users to share instant updates and statuses, the app fosters a sense of immediacy and facilitates stronger connections between friends.

 

Targeted Engagement Opportunities – For PR agencies and businesses, Threads offers a unique avenue to engage with a highly involved audience. Leveraging the app’s intimacy, companies can communicate directly with a select group of loyal customers, fostering a stronger sense of community and personalised connection.

 

Should Your Business Be on Threads?

This question looms large as the social media landscape becomes increasingly saturated. However, Threads brings notable advantages to the table that can benefit PR agencies and businesses.

 

Niche Audience Targeting – If your PR agency caters to a specific audience or operates within a niche market, Threads presents an opportunity to engage directly with a select group of customers. Leveraging the app’s privacy features, you can foster a sense of exclusivity and build stronger relationships with your most dedicated followers.

 

Authentic Brand Storytelling – Threads’ emphasis on real-time updates and genuine content sharing aligns well with the focus on authenticity in modern PR. By utilising the app, your agency can showcase the human side of brands, fostering deeper connections and enabling more personal and engaging storytelling.

 

Relationship Building – PR agencies thrive on building strong relationships with clients and target audiences. Threads allows you to connect with a small, loyal customer base, facilitating meaningful conversations, gathering valuable feedback, and creating a tight-knit community around your clients’ brands.

 

Remember, adopting a new social media app like Threads should be a strategic decision based on careful evaluation. Ultimately, it’s up to you, your brand, and your PR team to decide if you would like to adopt another social account to connect with your customers. Prioritise aligning with your overall brand strategy, assessing available resources, and understanding the relevance and potential benefits of Threads for your target audience.

Do We Really Need Another Social Media App?

While Threads may present itself as a new social media app, it’s important to recognise that it follows a similar pattern seen in many other platforms. Brands are posting variations of the same content to more or less the same audience across multiple channels. With the interconnected nature of social media, it’s unlikely that newer apps like Threads will exist in isolation from other established platforms. In fact, Threads requires users to link their account to Instagram, indicating a connection and overlap between the two. Consequently, one could argue that by adopting additional social accounts, brands may end up targeting the same audience through different channels. It raises the question of whether the efforts put into maintaining yet another social media app truly bring added value or simply dilute resources and fragment the audience further.

 

In conclusion, as a PR agency, we understand the importance of staying informed about new developments in the social media landscape, including apps like Threads. While we have examined the potential benefits and considerations surrounding adopting another social media app, it’s important to remember that each brand’s situation is unique. We encourage you to share your thoughts on Threads or any other social media platform with us across our various social media channels.

If you need assistance with your own business’s social campaigns and strategies, we are here to help. Feel free to get in touch with us for expert guidance and support.

The Power Of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) In PR

/in , , , /by

CSR or corporate social responsibility is something that businesses of all shapes and sizes are incorporating into their operations and it’s something we like to do with almost all of our clients at Source as it can be an invaluable tool for building a business’ profile.

From conglomerates to regional SMEs, companies are increasingly recognising the importance of integrating positive social and environmental policies into the business.

Whether its reducing plastic waste or funding community projects, CSR initiatives are a great way to build brand reputation and attractiveness to customers but without PR, your good work will be hidden from view.

Here at Source PR, we have the tools and the team to get your positive work out there and really showcase your commitment to worthy causes and ethical operations.

Why should you promote CSR initiatives?

 

Enhancing your industry reputation

CSR initiatives are a great way to demonstrate, to customers and investors, that your business is committed to socially and environmentally sustainable operations, beyond simply profit-making.

By promoting these initiatives through PR in the form of media coverage of social media campaigns, your business can build a positive reputation among key stakeholders and really strengthen your brand image.

These days, it matters to consumers, customers and stakeholders that, as a business, you’re having a positive impact on the world around you and are increasingly conscious of company practice.

In fact, 88% of consumers across the globe would choose to buy from a business that engaged in sustainable practices over ones that didn’t.

Whether it’s an environmental accreditation or a workplace support scheme, these initiatives are definitely worth shouting about!

Getting ahead in a competitive market

One of the key reasons why companies turn to PR agencies is to get ahead of their competition and in a competitive marketplace, CSR can really set you apart from other businesses.

We operate as an extension of your team so we’re able to quickly understand the sector you’re in and utilise key channels such as social media or news publications to showcase your CSR efforts.

This can help to highlight initiatives such as community engagement, approach to operating sustainably or employee welfare and give you an edge over competitors who may be slow off the mark in adopting these practices.

Retaining and attracting talent

Employees are, of course, the most important assets of any company and ensuring that you can retain and attract the best talent is vital to the long-term success of your business.

When it comes to applying for roles, people aren’t necessarily looking at the profits you turned, they want to work for an employer that cares about their employees and operates ethically.

By promoting CSR initiatives through PR, businesses can showcase their commitment to causes such as mental health awareness and employee welfare which will help attract talent.

This can also boost the engagement and job satisfaction of existing employees, which is critical as ultimately, engaged employees are more likely to stay with the company and the high cost of hiring can be minimised.

B2C CSR

Here at Source, our B2C team work closely with clients to develop long-term CSR strategy that can effectively build brand reputation among their target audience and, ultimately, appeal to a more socially and environmentally conscious consumer base.

Miller Homes North West

We’ve enjoyed working with the North West arm of housebuilders Miller Homes for over 10 years and have consistently helped them to operate successful CSR campaigns.

Back in September 2022, Miller introduced its new Community Fund initiative, which was set up to provide community and charity groups across the North West with the opportunity to apply for donations between £250 and £2,000.

We’ve loved playing our part in helping our client to give back to groups and causes that are local to the areas in which Miller are developing.

This campaign has seen the housebuilder make a real difference in communities across the region with donations being made to inspiring schools, vital food banks, and some incredible charities.

We’ve then been able to showcase the amazing work that Miller is doing through the Community Fund, by securing coverage in local media which demonstrates to target audiences that the company is committed to giving back and helping crucial local causes.

Getting this message across helps to build Miller’s reputation among potential customers and ultimately helps to grow the company’s positive brand image.

B2B CSR

Promoting CSR initiatives among B2B companies, is just as important as B2C and that’s why our team work in partnership with clients to develop initiatives that will help the business to attract potential customers and set themselves apart from competition.

Meadow

Meadow, a leading ingredients business, is a company we’ve enjoyed long-lasting partnership with and whose key PR objective is promoting their commitment to operating sustainably.

Sustainability is the business’ top priority and we’ve been on hand to help Meadow communicate key brand messages, such as their decarbonisation strategy, through features, thought leadership pieces and particularly social media.

During Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, we worked with Meadow to highlight the excellent mental health support initiatives that the company has in place through social media communications on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The social posts reached over 6,000 people during the week and helped to showcase Meadow’s commitment to supporting its employees and partner farmers through support systems like their amazing mental health first aiders.

Social media campaigns such as this one can really help when it comes to attracting and retaining the best talent as it demonstrates to employees (and potential employees) that this is a business that cares about the wellbeing of its staff.

If you think the team at Source could help you with your PR or media relations, get in touch!

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

/in , /by

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?

/in , , /by

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.

Creating A Successful Organic B2B LinkedIn Strategy

/in /by

An organic LinkedIn strategy is all about building your business’ presence on the platform without relying on targeted ads or sponsored content.

But how do you go about creating a successful organic B2B LinkedIn strategy for your client?

 

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a valuable platform for businesses of all sizes, providing the opportunity to connect with professionals, showcase expertise, and generate leads and sales.

An organic strategy on LinkedIn involves creating and sharing content that resonates with your target audience, engaging with them through comments, and building relationships with industry peers and potential customers.

It’s a place where you can really establish your brand’s values and CSR initiatives, as well as highlighting the expertise and experience of key individuals within the business.

Whether you’re looking to build a LinkedIn presence for a business or an individual’s page, this guide will help to outline how you can create a successful organic B2B strategy on this platform.

 

Promote CSR initiatives

In today’s economy, we know it’s vital for our clients to be able to showcase to potential customers that their business is committed to corporate social responsibility.

In other words, highlighting key initiatives, such as work in the local community or how they’ve reduced your environmental output, will resonate with their target audience and serve to enhance their reputation as a business.

If your client has received an environmental accreditation or donated money to a local cause, talk about it on LinkedIn. These posts drive engagement, and with more engagement, comes more exposure.

 

Share your clients’ expertise and experience

It’s important to remember that your client will have unique insights into their industry that are valuable to the target audience, so share them!

At Source, we encourage our clients to offer insight into the key issues facing their particular sector, as doing so frequently will help to showcase them as being industry experts that they are!

Whether it’s providing a perspective on the recent Spring Budget, or a thought leadership on industry trends and predictions, their insights can indicate to potential customers, that they’re a significant voice within their sector.

Not only this but these kinds of posts are often very well received and tend to garner a great deal of impressions and engagements, which will result in the post being re-circulated across a wide range of news feeds and in turn, could see them accrue some new followers off the back of it.

 

Analytics is your friend

As with trialling any new marketing tactic, it can be trial and error. That’s why it’s important that you track the performance metrics, such as engagement rates and follower growth, to see what’s working and what’s not on your client’s LinkedIn page.

Using software like Sprout Social, can provide you with key data insights into how your client’s page has performed month on month.

These metrics can help you optimize your content by providing insights into which types of posts, formats, and topics are resonating with your audience.

By analysing your top-performing posts, you can identify patterns and use those insights to create more engaging and effective content or post most more of what’s working according to the data.

 

People buy from people

It’s a fundamental aspect of business but it’s something that’s often overlooked in when it comes to B2B LinkedIn strategies: people buy from people.

Your client’s audience will be interested in seeing the people behind the business, as people are naturally drawn to other people and by showcasing faces and personalities of the team, you can help humanise the brand.

Whether it’s a stand-alone image or part of a profile on a specific individual, posts that are accompanied by shots of a business’s people in action will always appeal to an audience.

 

Post the link in the comments!

You may have seen brands doing this a lot of late and that’s because putting your call-to-action link in the comment section of your posts can really help to boost the exposure your post.

The current LinkedIn algorithm rewards posts with comments and as such, adding the link to the comments can really help a post to circulate more widely and thus, be seen by a larger audience.

Graph showing clicks across B2B accounts

It also should be noted that just because the link isn’t in the main body of the text, it doesn’t stop people from clicking on it.

In fact, since we began posting links in the comments, we’ve seen an average of 88% more post link clicks across our social media accounts.

More clicks, means more traffic to key websites and, of course in turn, there’s a greater potential for sales to be made.

 

Incorporate carousels

Carousels on LinkedIn are not dissimilar to a slideshow as this type of post lets you display images or infographics in a single post, which your audience can swipe through.

They can be used to share information in a more digestible way, for example, you could create a carousel to showcase different features of your clients’ product offering, highlight CSR initiatives, or promote a thought leadership piece.

Carousels are so effective in telling your clients’ story as they tend to yield higher engagement rates than single-image posts on LinkedIn. This is largely because they provide more content for users to interact with and can be more visually engaging.

 

Use relevant hashtags

The use of relevant and focused hashtags within the main body of the post is intrinsic to any successful organic LinkedIn strategy.

Hashtags on LinkedIn allow users to easily find content related to specific topics, such as key events like International Women’s Day or a large conference in the sector they are in, which will help to drive engagement.

International Women’s Day hashtags

Deploying them can also help to augment your client’s position in their sector as through consistent use of industry-related hashtags, you can establish the business as a thought leader and build a strong brand identity.

By using pertinent hashtags in your posts, you can increase the visibility of your content, which can help your business page to reach a larger audience and attract new followers.

 

Consistency is key

Finally, it’s important to remember that posting consistently is an essential part of a successful B2B LinkedIn strategy.

Consistently posting on LinkedIn can increase the visibility of the business page in the newsfeed and search results, which can help your page attract more followers and potential customers.

Regular posts also help to establish your business as an authority in your industry and improve your credibility. By consistently sharing valuable insights and CSR, you can build trust with your client’s audience and position them as a go-to resource and establish a strong presence for them on LinkedIn.

If you think the team at Source could help you with your PR or media relations, get in touch!

Prime Time: The Impact Of Scarcity Marketing

/in , , /by

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

/in , , , /by

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.

The TikTok Tidal Wave – Is It About To Overtake Our Marketing Strategies?

/in , /by

This time last year, TikTok officially surpassed Google as the world’s most popular site. The perfect storm of lockdown boredom, a Vine-shaped hole in our hearts to fill and the demise of other social media platforms saw this relatively new idea rocket past its competitors. To date, there are over 1.5 billion active monthly users on the app, just under 20% of the entire population of the globe. Let that sink in.

With such colossal usage figures and endless potential, many are now questioning whether TikTok will overtake the likes of Google as the go-to search engine, as well as whether it will replace traditional news outlets, and basically become our one-stop shop for all things social in 2023 and beyond. It’s an interesting idea that everyone in the PR and comms industry should take seriously. Let’s look into this a little more.

Will TikTok Replace Google?

I’ll start by saying that personally, I don’t believe TikTok, nor any other site will ever come close to replacing Google and its influence on the searching world. I think I could approach anyone in the street and ask them to look something up for me, and the first thing they’d do is open up their web browser – not TikTok. I’m sure most in the industry would agree with me on this too.

But that being said, I understand the sentiment of those who believe that TikTok *could* become the next big search engine. Because it churns out a lot more inspirational content. For example, if you were looking for Christmas present inspiration or NYE party outfit ideas, you might be more likely to look this up on social than via a web search due to the quality of the results.

Presently, 92% of all searches are conducted on Google – and despite TikTok stealing a march on the site’s traffic – that’s a stat that’s going to be nearly impossible to chip away at. I completely understand the value of TikTok for idea-motivated searches, but realistically, what percentage of all searches fit into this box? I imagine not all that many, meaning that whilst TikTok probably does pose a genuine threat to some of Google’s users, the number of those searches in the grander scheme of things is probably very, very small.

But this is still important for PRs to take note of.

We all know how important SEO is to any good marketing campaign. Being visible on SERPs can bring in a lot of traffic, be it navigational, transactional, or informational – most users are valuable to your business in one way or another. In this industry, we can find ourselves spending a lot of time writing for and optimising for Google, so if TikTok is stealing some of that traffic – shouldn’t we be considering augmenting it too?

In my opinion yes. But not in the traditional SEO methods you may be used to. TikTok is all about inspiration. So where you may work on a blog to provide information to a user or optimise a landing page to enhance conversions – I think SEO on TikTok is all about creating genuinely engaging content that can stir and enthuse a watcher. I’m sure there’s no harm in creating content specifically for potentially high-volume searches such as “UK staycation inspiration” or “first date outfit ideas”, but I’d concur that the best method is to create a post that not only answers the user’s question but offers them choice, vision and above all – inspiration. What that looks like specifically is really up to the individual user or business on TikTok but figuring it out is all part of the fun!

What About The News Sites?

Another argument is that TikTok is becoming our news source, and more traditional outlets are losing out as a result. Ofcom did find it to be the fastest-growing source of current affairs for adults this year, but I think this is another statistic to take with a pinch of salt. Personally, I get a great deal of my ‘bitesize’ news from social media, for example through Twitter Trending or I might even hear about something for the first time on my TikTok ‘for you page’. BUT… I’ll go and search online to find out more – and this nearly always takes me to one of the nationals or regionals depending on the context.

Image: Guardian / TikTok

This means that there’s absolutely still value in traditional PR and communicating your news through the channels we’re used to – because they’re still incredibly valuable, a better source for conveying long-form content, AND, you have to consider that not all of your audiences are going to be on TikTok and other social media channels. The best strategies will cover all bases. The latest research by Statista still shows the BBC and ITV trump the rest of their competition in terms of being the leading news source, and even Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram sit far higher than TikTok.

Is TikTok Going To Overtake Anything?

I don’t necessarily think that TikTok is going to replace any site or social platform in the coming months and years – because I think it’s entirely established in its own right. Ever since we lost Vine, there’s been a great big gap in the market for a social based around short-form video content; and TikTok managed to fill it right up just before Instagram came in with Reels. The fact that both are now thriving shows that there was a demand for this particular kind of USP and suggests to me that there’s no need to speculate what TikTok will replace – as it can co-exist with all other existing platforms and still do as well as it is doing currently. Isn’t that a nice thought?

Image: photo via YourNikonMan / GettyImages Remix by Jason Reed & The Daily Dot

How PRs Can Use TikTok To Their Advantage

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about TikTok, and I’d wager it won’t be the last. Any good PR will always have their curiosity piqued by an upcoming social platform or idea (go ahead and ask me how many of the Source PR team downloaded Mastodon a few weeks ago!) and it’s important in comms to always keep one eye on the things that are evolving.

You can read my blog on why you should consider using TikTok for your brand on our website, but in short, the premise is that it’s always about whether you have something of value to add to the conversation – and not just hopping on trends for the sake of it. Give my other blog a read, and as always, we’d love to know your thoughts. You can reach us on all the social media platforms including Twitter and LinkedIn (and TikTok, of course 😉)

If you’d like to find out more about how Source PR can support your social media strategy (and maybe even experiment with a few TikToks with you!) feel free to drop our friendly team a line. We’re always happy to chat.

Are We Too Reliant On Big Tech In Marketing?

/in , /by

Written by our PR intern and university student Bridie Buckingham…

This week saw WhatsApp crash for over an hour and it was an hour of mayhem for some users. The messaging service owned by Meta (previously known as Facebook) left users unable to send messages, make calls or video chat for nearly two hours before apologising and getting servers back online!

During the outage, users took to Twitter (as we all do in a crisis) to air their grievances and create some hilarious memes. On Tuesday morning, #WhatsAppDown was trending on Twitter, with more than 140,000 tweets flooding the internet…

 

But whilst many were tweeting, others found themselves unable to conduct business or get in touch with loved ones. WhatsApp boasts over two billion monthly active users and has become a mainstay for messaging in most countries.

Understandably, Monday’s server crash sent some users reeling.

A similar situation happened in South Korea (where I’m currently living and working remotely from) last week when life went askew as a fire broke out in KakaoTalk’s data centre, knocking out all communications for the tech giant. KakaoTalk, as you may or may not know, is South Korea’s answer to WhatsApp but it has its claws far deeper in the average Korean’s life than it may seem.

The South Korean Super App

Unlike WhatsApp, KakaoTalk has built a countrywide franchise off the back of their instant messaging app, operating in several sectors. Their businesses include, KakaoT (a ride hailing service not unlike uber or lyft), KakaoBike (an electric bike rental service), KakaoBank, Melon (a music streaming service) and MANY more.

Not to mention they even have a whole merchandise line called KakaoFriends that features itself on every Kakao service, they originally began as emoticon characters but have expanded to become beloved figures all over the country.

This year, Kakao reported 47.5 million monthly active users in South Korea during the second quarter. That’s more than 90% of South Korea’s population of 51.74 million people, as of Nov. 1, 2021.

During the outage, millions of people had trouble getting in touch with one another. Many could not pay for everyday items at convenience stores or order food and groceries, and travellers were left stranded because they were not able to book taxis, depriving drivers of income.

The service is also used to do a lot of business. Store owners and business operators use the messaging app to get in touch with clients and take orders and reservations for services, but without any way to send and receive messages a lot of revenue was lost.

Kakao plans to compensate businesses that had taken a hit from the outage and ensure another outage is prevented. Alongside this, co-CEO Whon Namkoong resigned from his position after feeling a “heavy burden of responsibility” over the incident.

The days-long outage and the havoc it caused stirred a national reckoning over the country’s growing dependency on Big Tech.

Whilst it may seem convenient to have all your important apps and information in one place, is it really a good idea to place so much dependency on one company?

 

Get in touch via Twitter or LinkedIn and let us know your thoughts on this!