The research compiled by Figaro Digital and Lightspeed Research threw up some interesting insights into community engagement. Although not groundbreaking in depicting how you would expect a user to behave, it did raise some important questions around evaluating the depth of engagement and the relationship this has with building long term loyalty.
According to the research, 20.6% of respondents stated that the reason they’d engaged (liking, following, commenting) with a brand was because of specific discounts and offers. This was followed by the appeal of competitions (19.6%) and to a lesser …

Unless you’re a Coca-Cola of this world, if you want to launch an online community, your user acquisition strategy will be key. No one will accidently stumble across your page, like it and become a lifelong fan.  You need to work, and work hard to get people to commit to you – and even that commitment can be transient if not managed correctly.
The problem is, gone are the days of social media novelty. As consumers, we are now inundated with brands in social media slowly pushing themselves further and further …

So as to not replicate the plethora of blog posts covering social media predictions for 2012, I thought it would be worth listing the ten areas I’d like to see develop within the social media and digital comms industry over the next twelve months. In no particular order….
1. Twitter to be able to offer UK case studies for their advertising packages. To date the offering looks unsophisticated with limited results for brands outside of the entertainment industry
2. Brands to get a lot smarter with integrating their above-the-line and social strategies. What really …

So this week I got all legal and attended a briefing on the ASA’s extended digital remit which, if you weren’t aware of already, comes into effect on the 1st March. To date, company websites have been excluded from ASA regulations which basically means they can say what they want about their products and services without validation. This is the first thing that is being addressed. Non paid for space (ie: social media channels) which are under the control of a brand/organisation as well as ‘earned media’ (user generated content) …

Ok – so I obviously missed the boat first time round with YouTube’s Search Stories Video Director but this is fun and further emphasises the importance of solid SEO in how you/ your company are perceived (yep – I know mine is pretty poor and am trying to work on it). Fun stuff aside, it provides a useful tool to show clients how they are currently performing in Google and therefore provides the opportunity to demonstrate how certain influential sites/social networks impact on results. Oh, and you have your choice …

Horray – now do you believe Twitter is a viable communications channel? Not only do the new developments make Twitter.com more inviting, they open up new opportunities for brands to create a personality for themselves which is not just inferred through the tone of their tweets. It’s the larger icon, the images and video – all housed in one destination. ‘A Facebook feed’ I hear you cry! Yes, there’s no doubt, but what’s interesting is when individuals pull in brand content to the right hand column of the their own …