Our Social Blog

Five Alternative Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement


Written by Cormac Reynolds
May 6th, 2013

Increasing Social Media EngagementSocial media continues to evolve and ways to improve engagement are also changing constantly. There are always ways to tweak, change and alter social media to improve engagement levels and make a little more of your efforts.

Google+ Hangouts, Circles and Communities

Use your Google+ business account to create Google+ Circles, which others will be delighted to join. The ability to share circles is something that can be utilised here and can be a great resource for those looking for industry news, views or advice.

By doing so you are building an audience and many connected in the same circle will want to connect with you. Google+ Communities can also be a great addition and becoming increasingly active can benefit your business significantly. If there’s a very active company in your business area then join it and if not, why not create one?

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Saturday Social: Issue 37


Written by Kerry Butters
May 4th, 2013

Tablet sales soarAlaska kids phish teacher’s details, hack school computers; tablet sales soar; Facebook popularity declines in US and UK; Daft Punk goat lucky

A group of at least 18 enterprising kids at an Alaskan middle school this week took control of more than 300 classroom computers, after phishing their teacher’s account details and awarding themselves administrative rights.

It seems the cheeky blighters asked teachers to input their account details to accept a false software update. The teachers at Schoenbar Middle School, for 12 to 13-year-olds obliged and a little later pupils began to complain that their machines were not responding to instructions.

According to the BBC, the computers affected have now been seized, but nothing has been said on the fate of the unruly pupils, if indeed it’s known who they are.

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6 Ways to Make the Most of Vine


Written by Cormac Reynolds
May 3rd, 2013

vineVine’s six second video feature is one of the newest social media additions and also one of the most exciting. However, a little guidance can help, especially in the video realm. So, we’ve come up with some tips to help you turn over a new marketing leaf with Vine.

Purpose

Six seconds is not a lot of time to define a message and so you ideally need to decide on the one point you want to get across with the media. You want people to leave with a better understanding of your brand or service after the six seconds. One non-complex idea can be easily put across in the time period, so keep it simple and make it sweet. If it doesn’t fit succinctly into a six second clip, then put it on YouTube.

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Social Networks Should Provide Better ROI Metrics


Written by Kerry Butters
May 2nd, 2013

Social Networks Should Provide Better ROI MetricsThe latest report from Neilsen on paid social networking advertising models has found that whilst it continues to be an area of growth, a lack of metrics designed to provide ROI data is hampering stronger growth.

The study shows that advertisers themselves have more faith in paid social media models, whilst agencies tend to be a little more sceptical. This is because there is no industry standard that has yet been provided to measure ROI.

By collaborating with advertisers and agencies and using software, this could easily be overcome however, and lead to stronger growth within the sector.

6% of digital marketing agencies don’t use social

Of those asked, the study found that whilst none of the businesses questioned failed to use social media at all, 6% of agencies did. For paid advertising, more agencies used this model as a free tool, when compared to individual businesses.

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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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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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