Our Social Blog

Mobile Marketing Budget to Increase to 10 Percent


Written by Kerry Butters
April 30th, 2013

Mobile New Media Share to Grow to 10% MinimumA study carried out by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has found that whilst the current budget allowance for mobile marketing in most companies is around 1%, this should be 7% for optimum results.

However, this figure will rise to over 10% over the next four years, based on the adoption of smartphones only. The growth won’t stop there though, as more effective targeting, innovation in technologies and “creative excellence” will come together to contribute to an increased spend in the market.

ROI analysis and optimisation

The results of the study were brought about by “a scientific ROI analysis vs. the simpler “share of time (should) equal share of budget” proxy that is often offered in lieu of ROI optimization”.

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5 Amazing LinkedIn Apps for 2013


Written by Cormac Reynolds
April 29th, 2013

LinkedIn Mobile AppsLinkedIn is the best way on the web to find like minded professionals. Owing to this there are a number of great ways to boost productivity and prospects. LinkedIn apps can really provide increases in productivity and are a fantastic aid to your efforts.

TripIt

This app links your Tripit and LinkedIn accounts together and so allows automatic travel updates on your LinkedIn stream. The app is a great one as it allows users to share their travel details with networks and so offers them the chance to increase engagement and opportunities to meet people when they’re away from home. So, if you’re big into LinkedIn and do a lot of travel, then this could be the app to benefit you.

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Saturday Social: Issue 36


Written by Kerry Butters
April 27th, 2013

Saturday Social 36UK man admits Facebook death threats, Viber app security bug, Android notebooks coming soon, Suarez bite hits the headlines

A UK man who threatened to kill 200 people in the US whilst using a false Facebook name has pleaded guilty to the offense this week at Newcastle Crown Court.

Reece Elliot, 24, of South Shields was remanded in custody and is expected to face a custodial sentence in June, with the Judge commenting that a prison stay is inevitable.

Elliot made the threat in February this year on a memorial page which was set up for a girl from Tennessee who was killed in a car accident. According to the BBC, the posts upset so many children that a huge 3000 missed school the following day in Warren County.

Your typical thoughtless internet troll, Elliot apparently thought it would be a gas to post “My father has three guns. I’m planning on killing him first and putting him in a dumpster,” on the RIP Caitlin Talley page.

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6 Social Media Security Tips for Business


Written by Cormac Reynolds
April 26th, 2013

6 Social Media Security Tips for Business Social media is like any tool – you need to keep it secure. Just as a builder doesn’t leave a site without shutting a gate, you shouldn’t fail to take security precautions with social media. In both the private and the business sphere, social media can be a catalyst of immense damage if hacked. Remember a good reputation can be lost in a tweet or Facebook post.

For example, during the week Associated Press was hacked. Its Twitter account proclaimed that Barack Obama was injured after a White House bombing. Idle stuff you’d imagine, only it sparked fear, caused the FTSE to fall by 150 points and in the aftermath of the Boston bombings caused general chaos until the White House reassured the nation it was a hoax.

We’re not going to get your backs up here. Social media sites do all they can and spend billions on security – for them it’s an investment. However, with the rise of super hackers you just never know when your own precautions could save you. Simply put, there’s no point having an expensive home security system if you’re not going to lock the door.

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Importance of Securing your WordPress Site


Written by Kerry Butters
April 25th, 2013

Importance of Securing your WordPress SiteWordPress is now one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world, powering around 700 million websites. Naturally, this means that it has come under attack from hackers and other cybercrooks.

This month has not only seen a massive botnet attacking WordPress, but a couple of its biggest caching plugins, WP Super Cache and W3TC, have also been classified as having serious vulnerabilities. These allow a remote code to be executed and allows an attacker to execute commands on the target machine.

The main problem with these plugins, which speed up a WordPress site, is that they have a huge amount of users who may not necessarily update them, although a new version has already been issued by developers. The newest versions disable the vulnerable functions of the plugins by default.

Update plugins

Anyone using these two plugins should update them immediately in order to protect their site. However, it’s thought that the problem with sites using the plugins will only affect those that have comments enabled.

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Mobile Security Tips – How to Protect your Smartphone from Malware


Written by My Social Agency
April 24th, 2013

Mobile Security TipsThe amount of personal information people store on smartphones, make mobile handsets a prime target for hackers. Not only are you susceptible to identity theft, but now that mobile technology is moving into the realms of online banking, auto-pay accounts and digital wallets, hackers can use malware to access your money.

Mobile phones infected with malware are pretty easy to detect. If you have ever had a virus on your laptop or desktop computer you will recognise irrational behaviour. It is the same with your phone. It will send random messages, open apps by itself, and the battery drains quicker than usual. You may also detect unfamiliar charges on your phone bill.

Curing malware attacks is easily resolved by downloading Lookout Antivirus from Google Play. It´s free of charge. If you own an iPhone use Trend Micro Mobile. But by the time you have fixed the malware threat, you may have already lost personal information and money that you cannot recover. Therefore you need to take preventative measures to ensure mobile security.

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Top Tips to get the Most out of SlideShare


Written by Cormac Reynolds
April 22nd, 2013

Slideshare TipsSlideShare is the largest community for sharing presentations and slideshows on the Internet and allows for a variety of great options for business demonstrations.

One of the reasons SlideShare is seen as punching far above its weight, lies in the fact that it commands attention from higher end, decision making clientele. This means that if you want to impress those who make business decisions, you need a better SlideShare – here’s how.

Presentation Basics

Shorter is better when it comes to presentations and nobody wants to sit through forty minutes of slides. The fewer slides the greater chance of people following to the end – ideally 10 – 15 slides is enough.

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A Potted History of Facebook Advertising


Written by Kerry Butters
April 21st, 2013

A Potted History of Facebook AdvertisingFacebook is the world’s most popular website, with approximately 1.6bn users and generating an overall revenue of $5.1bn in 2012. This has meant that not only has the social network become a favourite with consumers, but marketing professionals also quickly realised that it’s a great resource for digital marketing.

An overview

Facebook was founded in 2004 by the now world-famous Mark Zuckerberg, along with Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. However, Zuckerberg is the only one who still has a controlling interest in the company.

Briefly, the site began as a ‘hot or not’ comparison site at Harvard University until it later became thefacebook.com and finally plain Facebook. By 2005, the site usage had spread to include many of the colleges in the USA and a school version was launched before finally opening to the rest of the world in 2006.

The rest, to coin a cliché, is history.

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Saturday Social: Issue 35


Written by Kerry Butters
April 20th, 2013

Saturday Social: Issue 35Facebook testing new links in newsfeed, Twitter launches #Music service, EE Doubles 4G speeds, Evolution of Music

According to Will Sigsworth, writing for Social Media Today, Facebook is currently testing two types of new links in newsfeed. These are image-based, which suggests that the social network is still working on optimising images as much as possible for the site.

The new design for posts is dominated by an image pulled from the article which has been posted with the article title and short excerpt text shown above the image, rather than to the side. When the image is clicked, it takes you to the full article, rather than an image enlargement as it is at the moment.

The second proposed design which is in testing is similar to the current design but again, takes advantage of the more image-centred design which is seen in the current newsfeed.

The headline and subtext appears next to the image, but with the source site name and logo at the bottom of the post box. Again, when the image is clicked, it takes the reader to the full article and whilst there’s speculation that video could be included in both test cases, this is at yet unconfirmed.

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Is Bitcoin Social or is Social Bitcoin – The Cryptocurrencies Interdependency


Written by Cormac Reynolds
April 19th, 2013

Is Bitcoin Social or is Social Bitcoin – The Cryptocurrencies Interdependency Bitcoin’s quite the little minx isn’t it? The digital currency has been on a wild ride of late and has managed to engross not just the hard core internet users, but the world in general.

From a standing start at $7.20 around 15 months ago, Bitcoin managed to hit $266 at around a week ago, before taking a hit and falling back to around the $100 mark and now it’s rising again. It doesn’t take a stock market expert to realise that it’s quite a volatile item.

One of the more interesting aspects is its link to social media. Like any stock, currency or investment, confidence and trust are major factors in determining worth. In Bitcoin’s case they’re significant and maybe even the only factors, as outside of these two areas there is little real value to the cryptocurrency.

In a lot of ways Bitcoin is the first real investment area that a lot of normal people are taking a gamble in since the dot com boom of the late 1990s. Back then people invested in rapidly growing companies with skyrocketing prices, somewhat similar in the way a Bitcoin graph looks.

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Write for us – can you see yourself contributing to Our Social Blog? Do you have something interesting and relevant to say about digital marketing? We are always on the look-out for quality guest writers and guest posts. Things we like: guides, tips, tricks, lifehacking, and interactive media. Things we don’t like: spammy outreach emails, non-exclusive posts, ill thought out suggestions. If you want to contribute, please read the blog and suggest something original and fresh then get in touch and let us know your ideas – WRITE FOR US

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