Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), largely through Google, has been the main way to be visible to customers researching your category, product, or brand for 15 years now. Sometimes loved, sometimes loathed, it’s been essential, as the internet has directed ever more of our time and purchase intentions.  The last few years have seen this evolve. This has (and continues to) receive too little attention. Quite possibly because website metrics still focus on the ‘last click’ which often stays with Google, even though the steps before are taken elsewhere. Equally possible, is that, much like Hemingway described how one goes broke as “Gradually, then suddenly”, we don’t realise quite what’s happening until it overwhelms us. So, if Google isn’t the only way we research things now, what is?  Put simply - social media. Algorithm-driven results, within social platforms. We're calling it Social Media SEO. TikTok is staking a claim to be the world’s third-biggest search engine after Google and YouTube. Google has  noticed , and TikTok is even  experimenting  with having Google results alongside its own. YouTube’s role in search has been underappreciated for years, with its videos appearing within Google results, but also queries inside YouTube that require a significant amount of research. So, what should someone do, who wants to optimise for their brand/product’s visibility? One route is to consider how different audiences use different platforms to search. Think Social Search Optimisation, or Social SEO. TikTok will not meaningfully challenge Google’s dominance in the over-50s anytime soon. But for thirty-something women, Instagram is a viable rival for searches around fashion and beauty.  The other route is to look at the role of different platforms for different categories. Financial Services and Google remain firmly entwined. YouTube for auto, however, is significant, and Instagram for travel, and TikTok for books… etc. Researching the different behaviours, meaningfully, in a data-led way, matters. The biggest shift from the Google-dominated age, however, is a shift away from keywords and hashtags to algorithms. Optimising for visibility in a social platform which contains many more signals to the algorithm, means users seeing personalised results. This mitigates in favour of a much more audience-led approach, understanding different cohorts will use different platforms to search different things at different times. So... what does social SEO mean for me? Ultimately, it’s making it more complex to be visible. It means the role of brand in driving visibility becomes more important, as algorithms pick up authority signals, but also cast a halo factor for well-followed profiles. It also requires greater integration of brand, performance marketing, and PR, to ensure visibility across a basket of activities. Ultimately it requires a new lexicon, moving beyond SEO, to broad visibility on brand, product, or topic level. For marketers beloved of acronyms, silos, and templates, this may yet prove the greatest challenge of all.

TikTok recently released their report on how brands can get involved with Valentine's Day on the platform; here's everything you need to know, plus our thoughts on some of their advice. When do brands need to start talking about Valentine's Day on TikTok (and other social media channels)?  According to the report, uses of #ValentinesDay peaked the first week of January last year. That’s right, we’ve already missed that moment, and it’s only January 16th. What!? Now we know that for big events like Christmas, research and planning start much earlier than the day itself, but Valentine's Day surely can’t require as much planning as that?  We dug deeper into the data… First stop, TikTok itself. We headed to TikTok Trends and took a look at #ValentinesDay Hashtag use over the past 3 years… and their data here looks a little different to the report, with peaks showing the week of itself. Next, we headed over to Google Trends; Google searches for Valentine’s Day do start to rise from Christmas onwards, then, as you’d expect, peak around the big day and drop down right afterward until the following Christmas. This reflects what we often see in a multi-channel marketing mix; Google is where people go to research and plan with intent; social channels are where consumption moments are shared. That’s not to say there isn’t a role for discovery and inspiration on TikTok, but for many brands, it’s going to pay off to focus efforts on search now, with social coming in closer to the big day.  So, what have we learned from this? Nothing major. Get PPC running now. Start planning your Valentine’s content over the next few weeks, and don’t be afraid to start posting it a little earlier than the day itself. After Valentine’s Day? Don’t bother.  What types of content should brands post on TikTok for Valentine’s Day?  TikTok prompts four areas in which brands could join the conversation in their report, which are: Valentine’s Day looks (makeup, clothing) Romantic trips (travel) Home decor for cosy nights in  Delicious recipes Back to TikTok trends and we’ve found a few other trending formats to try: Celebrating with friends and family - #GalentinesDay shows us it’s not just about romantic love over on TikTok - friends and family can be treated too “This or that” - an easy format, with community outreach asking people whether to spend their Valentine's Day doing/dressing/eating option 1 or 2.  How I’m spending my Valentine's Day filters (like this ) ASMR What creative tips should brands use for marketing on TikTok for Valentine’s Day? The TikTok report gives some quick insights into how brands can approach creative. We’re not going to write about all of them, because if you’ve landed here on this blog, we think you’re probably already aware that you should create content with your brand and audience in mind. But here are a 3 of our favourite other pieces of advice for branded TikToks: Use trends to spark creativity,  looking at top hashtags and sounds to identify opportunities for content creation. This is something we do daily when we’re identifying key moments and content ideas for our clients - everything we do at OneFifty is driven by data, and this is a great source of inspiration and insight for content creation Make the first 6 seconds count; TikTok supports video lengths ranging from 15 sec to 3min and any video within this range can find success, but we know from experience (and the data) that you have to hook in your audience within the first 6 seconds if you want to see success Lean into lo-fi;  Smartphone camera quality is perfect for TikTok, but be sure to avoid pixelated or blurry videos, and videos should not be below 720P. This is something that will have some brand managers biting their nails with nerves, but a more minimal and made-for-platform aesthetic is what drives success here. It’s why, when we’re filming TikToks at OneFifty, we’re not bringing our 4k DSLR cameras - we’re taking our phones and using capcuts and native features to make videos engaging and fun How should brands advertise on TikTok for Valentine's Day? Unsurprisingly, the rest of the report is dedicated to educating brands about the need to spend money on their ad platform to build brand love for Valentines Day. We’re shocked.  Their suggested route to drive down the funnel fully is: Prime the market with Video Shopping Ads. Leverage VSA Prospecting to target and prime broad audiences of prospective buyers, and if you don't have a product catalog, leverage Web Conversion ads instead.  Drive reach and excitement across the platform. Generate excitement on peak day using Reach & Frequency for maximum reach and to increase awareness. Turn interest into sales with effective retargeting. Scale up your retargeting spend after peak moments and capitalize on increased traffic to your website/app. Convert these users into customers with VSA Retargeting and Web Ads. It’s great they’ve given this suggested route but it’s worth keeping in mind that there’s no size fits all solution to advertising effectiveness for any product or brand. When we’re running campaigns for clients, TikTok is often one of the channels we’ll use, but as part of a wider digital ecosystem that includes multiple channels, such as Facebook, Instagram and PPC, to ensure clients get the best bang for their buck and the best possible chance to convert customers efficiently. And, as we’ve said above, when it comes to a multi-channel marketing journey, you’ll want to look at search before social to catch those researching with the intent to purchase.  What does this mean for me, the average brand owner / marketer / creator on TikTok? Well, firstly, it means you don’t need to worry about reading the Valentine’s Day report because we’ve done it for you. Second, if you’ve read this and feel like you need some help growing your brands on TikTok, you’re in the right place… We’re a digital consultancy which uses data and models of behaviour to anticipate what, where, and how organisations should behave, across social and digital media, including TikTok. We then make that happen. Get in touch to learn more. Link to the report

Instagram announced late last week that they’re modifying the Discover algorithm . Whilst this represents a minority of time spent inside the app (estimated at c.20% of time spent), it represents the majority of how content is discovered which isn’t surfaced by your immediate network of followers. So, this is significant from an audience growth, but also from a strategic perspective. Instagram has acknowledged that the current method favours high-reach established creators. The new model will encourage smaller creators. Sound a bit (lot) like TikTok? It is.  You’ll hear some excited hype around what Instagram's algorithm update means for brands. Likely nothing, however - as brand accounts are treated differently by the Instagram algorithm to begin with, and almost certainly will be - they get limited algorithm traction. It’s not in Meta’s (ad business) interest to change that. So, realistically, there are potential moderate impacts for an influencer strategy on Instagram, whereby micro influencers may play a bigger part in content discovery and visibility campaigns - but the effect is likely to be greater for consumers’ scrolling, and influencer’s metrics. Want to know more? Get in touch with us to chat about what this could mean for your brand.

Pinterest recently released a report into the 2024 summer travel trends they expect to see over the next few months based on user search data. We love any chance to dig into data, and, like our deep dive into the  Tiktok Valentine's Day report,  we wanted to see whether the trends were platform agnostic or whether there were lessons for travel brands based on how people use digital and social channels to plan their holidays.  We took 3 Pinterest trends and compared their data to what we have available across other platforms, such as TikTok and Google Trends.  Why those platforms, you ask?  Great question. Firstly, they have great data resources that are publicly available for trending topics, keywords and searches. Secondly, and arguably more importantly, they serve different moments in the purchase journey.  Generally speaking, TikTok and Pinterest are platforms for entertainment and inspiration, whereas Google serves as an entry point to start a booking journey. In other words, we wanted to know whether people putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to trending travel.  Let’s dive into the 2024 travel trends… A quick summary of the Pinterest 2024 travel trends report: In the report, Pinterest positions itself as a major source of travel inspiration, with over 1 billion travel-related searches and 10 billion saves in a year, with 8 out of 10 weekly Pinterest users relying on the platform for planning their summer trips. Wellness travel is predicted to dominate in 2024 - searches for quiet and calm places have surged, reflecting a desire for tranquillity and digital detox  Solo travel, where travellers can focus on personal growth and reflection (‘Eat, Pray, Love’, anyone?) Adventure travel, including activities like mountaineering and safari lodges, is on the rise post-pandemic Interest in mysterious destinations has grown, with travellers looking for a blend of wonder, adventure and the unexplored Gen Z travellers are turning to road trips for affordable and spontaneous travel experiences with friends A few notes on the data, before we dive into it… Pinterest doesn’t give a timeline for the data they’ve used, so we’ve looked at 120 days of data for TikTok (the maximum available), and 5-year trends for Google Trends It’s also not clear whether the Pinterest data is global or UK-based, but we’ve chosen the UK for our research to make it most relevant to you, dear reader Travel Trend: Calm travel Pinterest tells us to “ say goodbye to crowded cities and hello to off-the-beaten-path destinations that promise tranquillity and self-discovery”, trending searches for which include “wellness retreats” and “glamping”.  Perhaps it’s a reflection of the userbase of Pinterest compared to TikTok, but this trend certainly isn’t reflected on TikTok, where trending searches in the UK for the travel industry include Rome and City Break, as well as very much not-off-the-beaten-path locations such as Disneyland and Benidorn. Google agrees. City Breaks is the top related query within the Travel topic, alongside beach breaks, and “Glamping” searches have been on the decline post-pandemic, peaking in 2020.  So in this instance, it’s pinning > purchase.  Travel trend: Adventure travel The total antithesis of the previous trend, this one is about “seeking exhilaration, a reconnection with nature and a departure from the mundane”. Sounds great. One of the biggest increases in searches on Pinterest within the topic was “ Water park rides” (+144%), which does align with TikTok’s trending topics, where we see rollercoaster, theme parks and Thorpe Park.  So does the trend translate to tickets? We compared the terms “Water park”, “theme park” and “rollercoaster” on Google Trends, and all of these agree with Pinterest, trending slightly upwards following a low pandemic.  However, there’s an argument to be made that it’s too early in the year to assess whether they’re truly kicking off, as we see searches increasing throughout the summer when children are on their holidays and in need of entertainment. It’s also worth noting that these are very much weather-dependent, so whilst the desire might be there on Pinterest or TikTok, a rainy summer might derail the trend.  One to keep an eye on in the summer… Travel trend: solo travel Travellers looking to have their “Eat Pray Love” moment are flooding to Pinterest to plan their perfect opportunity for “personal growth and reflection” according to the report, and this trend is translating to intent over on Google Trends. Just look at that trend line on the graph below!  How does TikTok feel about travelling solo? It’s not one of the trending hashtags for the travel industry, but it does have thousands of videos dedicated to the subject, including  this clip  with 1.3m views declaring 2024 the year of solo travel. This was shared the same week as the spike in searches at the start of 2024 on Google. Causation or correlation? Hard to say. But we would say Pinterest has nailed this trend, and travel brands should be looking at how to engage audiences around some of the following popular subjects across Google/TikTok: Location guides for solo travel Safety tips for solo travel Female-focused trips Travel Trends 2024 - In conclusion It’s always a good idea to compare multiple data sources, as consumer behaviour differs across different channels, depending on where they are in their purchase journey. Whilst Pinterest is a brilliant platform for inspiration and planning, it’s not where people actively go to book a holiday. This means these trends ultimately may stay in the realm of the aspirational, rather than driving real-world booking, and TikTok might be a slightly more accurate place to dig around if you’re looking for trends or topics to inform your content planning. Like this? Get in touch to see what research we can do for you.

Olivia has been working from home ("WFH") for the last two weeks and we’ve all been grateful for these tips. So in true OneFifty style, we’re sharing. As a proclaimed WFH expert (according to my boss on an all-team Google hangout this morning, thank you, Alex) following two weeks of doing so, here are my top tips for you during these upcoming months. Get up at a normal time. If you’re logging on at 9am don’t get up at 8:50am – trust me, that extra bit of sleep is not conducive to a productive day’s work. Keep your alarm time consistent and early enough to allow you some time for yourself before your working day starts. Honestly, you can do so much better than a bowl of cereal for breakfast now you don’t have your commute time… Get out of your pyjamas. It is a better option even if you’re just getting into a different set of pyjamas that you didn’t sleep in. Staying in what you slept in makes your day a continuation of your nights sleep, then you just go back into another night’s sleep with the cycle never really ending. Get up, get dressed, so you can get going. Be active. During the past two weeks, my housemates and I have got up every morning and gone for a walk around Tooting Common. Firstly, when much of your life is spent within the four walls of your home you really appreciate open spaces… Secondly, it is good to get up and get active. Another top tip would be start bringing in lunchtime runs a few times a week, they will become a much loved time of your day allowing you to get out of the house and away from your screen. (Note: these activities are currently aligned with government advice as they are in open spaces, but please use your judgement as to whether you think it is safe to be partaking in them). Have a designated WFH workspace. Do not work from your sofa, or your bed. Assign yourself a clear working space, so that you create a distinction between your “work” and “play” even if that is all happening within the same house. This physical separation will also help you switch off easier on an evening as you don’t hold an association between your sofa and working, meaning you can enjoy some downtime a lot more easily. Set up a call room. This one is more specific to my fellow housesharers out there. When there are four of you WFH’ing at the same time, with three of you working in consulting, you can bet there will be a lot of calls throughout the day. Set up some spaces, even if they are just bedrooms, that act as designated call rooms, allowing a quieter space and avoiding interruptions. Allow yourself a break. You have so many unconscious breaks when you’re in the office. For example, you get your morning coffee from the kitchen with a colleague, and you’ve actually got up and taken a 15-minute break. Grab a coffee when you’re working at your kitchen table, and you’re looking closer to two minutes. Your brain needs a break to have sustained productivity throughout the day. So, don’t feel bad, take breaks. Check-in with your friends. You spend so much time with your work friends, so check in with them. Still have that morning coffee you always have together (or, that 5pm Friday wine…) but just do it virtually. Book in some time together, get on Google Hangouts and have a catch-up. Self-isolation can feel – you guessed it – pretty isolating, so take that time to check in. It will benefit everyone involved and is not exclusive to your work pals. Set an alarm for “home time”. It is very easy to keep working at home; you have stuff to do and nowhere to go. But, it isn’t sustainable. We don’t know how long this WFH period will last, so you need to think long-term. Log on in the morning, then set yourself an alarm for the time you would like to have finished by. It doesn’t mean that when that alarm goes off, you shut your laptop instantly, but it acts as a check on yourself, letting you know that you should be looking to wrap things up for the evening and logging off. No, you won’t be able to abide by your alarm every day, but it is a good habit to get into. Keep in touch with your anxiety. The circumstances under which a lot of us are going to WFH’ing are abnormal and uncertain. There are a lot of factors around the whole situation that are anxiety-inducing, let alone any anxiety you may deal with from other areas in your life. Recognise this and explore different methods that help you deal with this. I will not recommend particular methods, but I will talk about my own. If I am anxious, it seeps into my dreams, leading to me becoming overly tired and more irritable. Then, in turn, more anxious. I find that meditating before I go to sleep, even if only for 10 minutes, helps me to dispel these thoughts and get a good night’s sleep. Mediation might not be your preferred option, but allow yourself this opportunity to figure out which is yours. I can say that a sustained WFH period is a weird thing when you’re not used to it, and I am very happy to work for a company where I would much rather be in the office with my colleagues, but also very lucky to work for a company that WFH’ing doesn’t compromise by ability to do my job. I hope these tips help you have a more enjoyable (and productive!) WFH period and stay safe, because there are better times to come at the end of it. #waysofworking #wfh #workingfromhome

2017 was a pretty epic year for OneFifty but we’re even more excited about what’s coming up in 2018. We might be going a bit rogue… Are you looking for a paid, 3 month, social media and digital marketing internship? We’re launching something new in the next couple of months (which we’ll be talking more about nearer the time!) and we’re on the hunt for someone to join the team initially on a paid three-month internship. This is a marketing internship for someone who lives and breathes social media. They’ll have social content creators they passionately follow, they know what gets the most clicks, likes and shares on their own content and they’re naturally curious about how social platforms develop and grow. They’ll be responsible for building great relationships with social creators (and you might be one yourself), so strong interpersonal skills are a must.   It might be you, it might be someone you know. Get in touch , we want to hear from you. Responsibilities Social influencer identification and relationship management Research and information gathering Development of business materials Operational business support Learning Skills In-depth knowledge of how social platforms work and the role of social content creators Regular personal use of Instagram and/or YouTube and actively follow social creators Ability to research within social platforms Well-organised Strong ATD and a drive to deliver the best work Strong interpersonal skills Internship Salary: London living wage. This social marketing internship is a great opportunity to join a leading social media agency and digital marketing consultancy in a new content creator engagement role. #hiring #recruitment #socialmedia

You’ve heard of the dice game . Well, we’re going to spend 2017 doing the social media equivalent. Every month, we’re going to live a consumer trend, which we’ve identified via social data analysis. We kicked things off with veganism  before moving onto cycling , then things took a different direction with gin and currently we’re having a  Spring health reset  – April is the new January for health.  Why are we doing this? Well, firstly, we have the ability to predict and live the bleeding edge of consumer culture. Which means we can understand better, and sooner, the lives of those we’re aiming to engage with. Secondly, one of the biggest problems facing any consultant, but especially those in the digital environment, is becoming too insular. There’s a bubble effect – confirmation of your beliefs, interests and lifestyle, through the self-selecting choices we make, and algorithms which reinforce those preferences. This ensures we step outside them. Finally, well, it’s fun. Or so we confidently believe. Time will tell if we’re right. #consumerculture #consumertrends #vegan #veganism #trends

One of the questions we get asked the most is: Why OneFifty Consultancy for a Social and Digital Marketing Consultancy? Much like website dwell time, that’s a data point that can be taken as either positive or negative. Do they ask because it is so thought-provoking and memorable, fully conveying the range of our values and proposition? Or is it because it is confusing and unclear? Naturally, we opt for the former. However, although we mentioned it when we launched , it merits expansion. So, Why OneFifty as a name for a social and digital marketing consultancy? Well, it is inspired by Professor Dunbar . He is such an inspiring chap, he got a number named after him. We kid you not. That’s serious life goals, right there, eh? 150 was the number. But what did Professor Dunbar do, and why is it relevant for a consultancy? Well, his research (you can read more, much more, here  or here ) is illuminating the nature of human connections. Throughout communities, from primitive to modern, villages to factories, social networks to parishes, the number hovers around or just below 150. The number 150 acts as an upper bound for the number of active social connections a human can maintain. That felt incredibly relevant as an expression of the challenge we fundamentally address: how to meaningfully connect with people on a social level. Our tools of choice are typically social or digital ones, but the premise remains the same: in a world in which we are hardwired by biology to have a cognitive limit to our connections, how can you earn your way into that elect group? There is no research on whether organisations are included in the 150 number. Although this research on phone calls (for example) rather suggests (but doesn’t prove) that technology merely services our existing capacity for connections, rather than augmenting it. Did we think about other names? Sure. One day we might use some of them. They were pretty cool for a marketing business. But nothing summed up, so succinctly, our fundamental purpose. Or indeed, on an existential level, ALL of our existential purposes. BUT – we’re “OneFifty”. Written in full. No space. Capitals. Always. Unicorns cry when people call us “150” or "One Fifty" #networks #Dunbar #names #naming #OneFifty #connections

Analysing performance is second nature to Nathaniel . Having spent years as a professional athlete on the GB Rowing team , quantifying what works, what doesn’t, and what just hurt, isn’t something one does just when it comes to social content and engagement. As a consultant with OneFifty, Nathaniel is now helping brands win their own social and digital races. Nathaniel’s a man of contrasts. Tech early adopter, yet loving nothing more than some sweat and cold air. Growing up in rural County Durham as the eldest of five, he found sporting excellence, winning Junior World Championships, before moving to London to study law and continue rowing at university. He then became a full-time athlete at the National Training Centre, ultimately becoming a European and two-time World Champion, and most recently representing Team GB in Rio. At the same time, he was exploring digital tech. An early drone flyer, he admitted, “I was on YouTube surfing for hours on end before it was even cool, and found some pretty weird corners of the internet as a result.” He’s carefully followed the development of the internet over the last decade, and sees the shift: “I saw when brands or public figures changed from broadcasting messages to genuine interaction or just really novel uses of tech to get themselves noticed. I loved the Felix Baumgartner RedBull space jump but have no idea why he or mission control didn’t say the words “Redbull gives you wings” as he jumped off the platform…” As he moves from a life training, to a life surrounded by social and digital media, his personal routine has changed too. “I used to tweet pretty regularly around my training and thoughts on sport. Now I post less frequently and use Instagram more to share what I’m doing rather than Facebook or Twitter.” He’s clear about the opportunities for brands and creators alike: “People need to be more readily willing to commit to a cause and create change to the world around us.” Likewise, what he wants to see less of: “I don’t enjoy being fed content that reinforces what I’ve already seen; I want to learn new things, not hear the same again.” “I’d say social feels like a university common room, wild ideas and a few dominant personalities often drowning out a fairly silent majority. I’d like to see it turned more into a family dinner vibe. All comfortable to chip in with some thought and reason into what is being said.” To stay ahead in social media and digital marketing, think/do: Top Twitter follow: Probably not the best thing I follow but probably one that readers aren’t following is CourtNewsUK – live updates from the weirdest stories currently in courts in the UK. A more predictable answer is rorysutherland for a great eclectic mix. Top Insta follow:  Dronegear – I was a fairly early adopter of buying a proper outdoor drone and this feed is good for reviews and cool inspiration for new types of shot. Productive habit: If possible I try to respond there and then to emails otherwise they get lost forever. Unproductive habit: I have a tendency to burning the candle at both ends. Favourite brands: Guinness looking back, Tesla looking forward #ArchitectofNext #newjoiner #rowing

How do you use social media and digital engagement to build a challenger brand, in a fiercely competitive sector, to a savvy customer base? Lots of people talk about it, but Architect of Next Nikki Towler  does it as Bare Escentuals’ Senior Online Manager for Europe.  Bare Escentuals is the beauty brand which launched the mineral makeup revolution with bareMinerals. The brand’s USP is natural-looking skin with good-for-you ingredients, which means the marketing has to be equally natural, authentic, and inspiring. The brand sets out to make a positive difference in women’s lives, and ensuring it is driven by real, inspiring advocates is key—therefore, social media and digital engagement form natural components of this. Nikki’s passion runs deep. At age three, she remembers deconstructing her mother’s dressing table to get at her makeup. Her first teenage job was in Boots, working on the makeup counter while spending all her wages on makeup. Having studied marketing at university, she joined Bobbi Brown Cosmetics , and so her professional career embraced makeup. When pressed on what fascinates her professionally about makeup, she responds around the speed of adoption: “Marketing in makeup sees such customer responsiveness. You have immediate, tangible evidence for what you’ve done. Related sectors like fashion are much slower to respond to marketing shifts. That customer passion and speed keep you engaged and driven.” That focus on results reflects her belief in marketing as a core business function. “Digital marketing is a key part of our business – I live and breathe our online offer – but you must keep a holistic view. Our bricks and mortar offer remains the bigger part of our business.” She cites this as a key benefit of studying a broad rather than digital-specific degree. Bare Escentuals stands out for its embrace of the customer lifestyle. Nikki sees the focus online “as much about tips and advice as about sales. Customers want to be engaged and involved, feeling part of the product offer. That goes back to our origins as a girlfriend community in San Francisco.” This customer-centric focus is something they share with Asos, the online fashion retailer. “They’re absolutely brilliant for what they’ve done as a pure play brand – the way they act as a mirror to the customer’s best life.” No discussion of beauty marketing in 2016 is complete without touching on blogger and vlogger endorsements. “Working with bloggers and vloggers has undoubtedly got tougher – they’re not ‘free publicity’ anymore, as they have careers. We have a keen strategy and budget behind it, but I think it’s fair to say no one in the beauty space has entirely cracked this yet. That’s not least because it can be hard to identify the best route: working with fewer established names or a greater number of up-and-coming names?” “The introduction of blogger’s own ranges has really changed the dynamic in recent years, too. These more indie and discrete brands change how everyone markets to focus more on engagement, not just promotion. Digital marketing in the sector as a whole used to be much more about straight price/product promotion. It’s much more sophisticated now.” Nikki cites her biggest challenge for digital and social engagement as being the age-old classic of business ‘ownership’. “Digital touches so many parts of the business, and yet people have to allocate resources and responsibilities. Yet the customer doesn’t care. They really just see you, the brand, and want it to work.” At the same time, she sees ever more exciting change ahead: “The ongoing rise of UGC continues to present a huge opportunity. The intimacy and authenticity of Snapchat is exciting for a brand like ours in that respect.” With a new website launch around the corner, she continues to be enthused: “It’s the constant, rapid evolution of digital which makes it so relevant and exciting. We’re never standing still.” On that note, appropriately, she’s gone, to tend to the Bare Escentuals online ecosystem. If you want to get ahead in social media marketing, read/do: Top Twitter follow: I have to admit that I’m not big on Twitter – I spend enough time on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram already! Top Instagram follow: madeleine_shaw_ – love the healthy food inspiration and pics Top blog subscribe  mummydaddyandmemakesthree  – I have a one-year-old, so basically, any mummy blog! My productive habit is: to-do lists… I am totally a list person and have one for everything (and everyone)—much to my husband’s annoyance! Unproductive habit: My commute disappears as I get a little too absorbed in the entertainment tab on the Mail Online app My favourite brand is:  The White Company. I could quite happily live in one of their shops! This is our #ArchitectsOfNext series, where we aim to inspire others with firsthand insight into how people shaping innovative digital engagement models think and deliver their work. #makeup #BareMinerals #engagement #onlineecosystem #ecommerce #NikkiTowler #marketing #BobbiBrown #BareEscentuals #onlinemarketing

We all too often believe in data’s power of indisputable “truth.” However, we fail to ask key questions of data analysis, which leads us to blindly follow “data-driven truths.”  This is not to say that analysis should be scrutinised down to the last line of code or row, but that we should probe to understand how fit-for-purpose the data insight is. For instance, you wouldn’t make consequential business decisions from a statistical model with a small sample size (statistically significant or not). How is one to know without asking or being informed?  We obviously don’t want to review raw data manually all the time, so why do things go wrong?  Data Visualisation - How the Same Data Can Show Two Different Stories From a young age, we are all taught to read graphs a certain way so that we can interpret one in seconds, and the best graphs should do just that. However, this is one of the most obvious ways in which data can be misinterpreted (or, unfortunately, manipulated).  Look at the graphs below—both use the same data, but by amending the y-axis, we can tell a remarkably different story. Neither is incorrect, but both are extremes that require the interpreter to come to their own conclusion. Is the graph on the left too blasé about a profit decline, or is the graph on the right too alarming? Both will need more context and data for the reader to discern the most appropriate visualisation. Using The Right Tool for Interpreting Data Often, danger strikes when we don’t understand how specific tools function or when we use them for the sake of doing so. But it’s using our data and outputting some results, so how wrong can it be? Again, the results aren’t wrong, but is this the best tool to provide the best solution? Selecting the right tool and understanding its caveats is pivotal to making informed decisions.  Below is the London Fire Brigade data of incidents within Camden from 2009 to 2017 (left). One useful insight for the LFB would be to locate high concentration of incidents to allocate resources to nearby stations. We can apply a k-means algorithm (some machine learning because everyone is doing it these days!) to find clusters of fire incidents. Even though we’ve applied machine learning and used a sufficiently large dataset, is this enough analysis to pass on to someone else? Probably not. Only by understanding how the algorithm works would you know that you have to specify how many clusters you expect to find, in this case, six, which is biased in itself. The algorithm also has a random element when finding clusters, so if we were to run the process twice more, we would arrive at two different outputs below. So which one is correct? All of them are not fit for purpose. Regardless of how complex the algorithm is, it may be clear that we are using the wrong tool for the wrong job. The Dreaded Data Dredging Also known as p-hacking, data dredging is a common pitfall when working with data, especially in academia. Data dredging is when one looks for any statistical significance within data and selectively pursues significant results rather than testing a single hypothesis. It often occurs from pressure from employers or funders to publish statistically significant research. A common phrase is “correlation does not imply causation”. Just because something is statistically significant to a 99% confidence level does not make it true. For example, the chart below shows a correlation between the consumption of mozzarella cheese and the number of civil engineering doctorates awarded. We could (blindly) conclude that having more civil engineers causes the consumption of cheese to increase. This is unlikely to be true. However, let’s consider underlying factors of both. The more affluent one is, the more disposable income one has to buy cheese, which also increases the likelihood of attending university. So, there may be a connection between engineering degrees and cheese consumption, but the causal relationship might lie with affluence rather than because the data and statistical tests say so.  So, what questions should you be asking regarding Data Interpretation? How was the data obtained? Why are we doing this type of analysis? How does the tool work? What are the limitations of this analysis? What’s the theory or rationale behind the numbers? Next time, ask us about our analysis. We’d love to prove it. #data #dataanalysis #DataVisualisation #dataviz

We’ve just been awarded B Corp status - showing our commitment to business as a force for good.  Why was it important to become a B Corp digital marketing consultancy? We went through B Corp accreditation  because we think it’s the world’s toughest and most robust standard of business behaviour and impact. It spans all the key components of a business that does the right thing  (our internal mantra for how to act) - recognising those who balance profit and purpose to create a positive impact on their employees, customers, communities, and the environment.  It assessed us across all areas of our business - from the organisations we work with to the businesses supporting us and how we engage as a team. We’re very proud to have built a B Corp marketing business that can meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.  What are some examples of what B Corp certification means in practice?  We profit share with colleagues and have employee ownership opportunities, with an industry-leading level of holiday (30 days) We’re very deliberate about which organisations we work with, and why - driving stronger, more ethical relationships, driving unusually strong client retention and relationships  We bill by the work done, not the person delivering it for better transparency We have the country’s 3rd most popular entry-level recruitment scheme, beaten only by Unilever and P&G, with avenues to meet candidates from all backgrounds where they are today A commitment to ‘homegrown’ talent development, targeting over 50% of the team to have started with us, which now results in a senior leadership team who began with us What do B Corp companies need to do? Doing business better and differently requires all of us, and that’s recognised by B Corp - so thank YOU for being part of this milestone. We couldn’t have done it without you and this accreditation is a reflection of the impact we have together. We’re sharing the news far and wide because we want more people to join us on this journey, and we think it’s important to stand up for business being done better and differently.  If you’d like to chat about what it means to us to join B Corp brands like Patagonia, Ben & Jerrys, Toms and Fat Face, or you'd like to work with a B Corp marketing agency, we’d love to talk. Contact us here.