A recent survey found that while most businesses that are on social media have some sort of plan, only 33% of social media marketers have a long-term one. This is even though many also agreed that the longer a business is active on social media, the more likely it is to be successful.

If you have a long-term business strategy, your social media channels should have one too. Yet – according to Facebook’s latest figures – over 40 million businesses are active on the social network, but only 2 million are active advertisers.

So why should you have one?

The benefits

Having a social media strategy that is in line with your overall marketing strategy has many benefits. It takes time to see ROI through social media, but what you will begin to see is a build up of a loyal following that includes honest testimonials, a catalogue of user generated content and excellent ‘word of mouth’ marketing – much of which is free, or at least, acquired at a very low cost.

The questions

You understand the benefits, but how do you go about putting a strategy into action that will make your business stand out from the crowd? We suggest asking the following questions:

• Who will be responsible for managing your social media channels?
• Which platforms do you want your business to be present on?
• How many times will you post content each day? 
• How much time will you spend on social media management?
• What is your business’ tone of voice?
• Who is your audience?
• What are your competitors doing on social media?
• What aspects of your business do you want to show off?
• Will you spend money on advertising and promoted posts?
• How will you incorporate upcoming events onto social media?

Remember, your goals for social media should align with your broader business goals. Scheduling platform Hootsuite recommends that you shouldn’t “approach your content thinking ‘how will this help me achieve X goal.’ You don’t want to stifle creativity. Instead, come up with great ideas for content, then see how you can tie them back to your content marketing goals.”

Focus on what you think your audience would want to see. Not every post should be a direct sales post. By having a long term strategy that represents your brand honestly, your sales will steadily improve with this approach.

The tips

Whilst it is great to have content planned long-term, you also need to keep your audience engaged. Remember to keep active on social media by asking questions, responding to comments and encouraging customers to post their own content related to your business. If you’re a hairdresser, this may be a picture of your new hair #inspo, or if you’re a personal trainer, it could be a progress picture.

As well as having your business tagged in customer posts, coming up with a unique hashtag is a great way of keeping track of this type of content. High street retailer River Island does this well with the hashtag #ImWearingRI visible in their changing rooms and used on their Instagram photos.

Don’t forget to be flexible – new things are being introduced into social media all the time. Take live video as an example. This time last year it was hardly a thing, and now it is set to be the biggest tool for 2017. Have your strategy in place but be prepared to adapt it to new trends and develops, so you don’t fall behind your competitors. Social media can be really beneficial to your business, so have fun and keep at it – it will pay off in the long run.

Had a go but still having trouble? Talk to us today about how we can help you build your digital roadmap to success.

The post How to create a long-term social media strategy first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post How to create a long-term social media strategy appeared first on 24 fingers.

But if it all sounds a bit daunting to try yourself, or if you’re a little bit camera shy, let us take the pressure off with our complete guide to going live…

What is going live?

Social media is already an instantaneous world, but live video takes that one step further. In this context, live video is essentially the broadcasting of a video that is shared in real-time with your social media audience – whether it be friends, followers or fans. Those watching can also engage with you as you broadcast by liking and commenting on the video stream. It’s a pretty simple concept.  

How do I do it?

Although live videos have been around for a little while now, there are two main platforms that are really pushing the service at the moment – Facebook and Instagram. Some other platforms such also have live streaming options, but these two are the ones you’ll want to focus on.

First things first, you’ll need your phone out. Both platforms are working on ways users can use video software for more professional streams, but mobile devices are best for now.

Facebook

Open the app and head to where you would usually post a status from. Here, you’ll be able to see a ‘Live’ option – select this. You’ll then be asked to confirm that you want to start a live video, and then counted down in 3… 2… 1…

Live videos on Facebook can currently run for 90 minutes, with a recommended optimum of 10 minutes. Once your stream has ended, the video will remain on your timeline like any other post, and its title and privacy settings can be changed at any time. Live videos currently rank higher than others on newsfeeds, so more of your friends are likely to see you.

Instagram

Open the app and head to where you would usually add something to Your Story in the top lefthand corner. Here, you’ll now be able to see an option for ‘Live’ next to ‘Normal’ and ‘Boomerang’. You’ll then be asked to confirm that you want to start a live video, and then counted down in 3… 2… 1…

Instagram’s live videos can be up to 60 minutes in length, but unlike Facebook, the videos are not hostied on the platform. This means that once you have finished your video, it disappears – keeping in with the whole ‘live’ concept and living in the moment. Instagram also allows you to hide your video from people, turn comments on or off and block people at any time.

With both platforms, you will be able to interact and engage with those watching by responding to their likes and comments whilst you are on camera. You can also request that they turn on notifications for you, so that they are alerted the next time you’re live.

Top tips

• Show off your best side. Make sure your camera angle is right before you start. You can see this before you go live and you can swap the camera around to selfie mode, or to show everyone your surroundings.
• Get connected. Before you start, check your internet connection. WiFi is the most reliable, but if you’re out and about, then try to be on 4G.
• Shout about it. Tell people in advance when you will be going live. You can also ask them to turn on notifications for you so they don’t miss out in the future.
• Say hello. Interact with those who are watching you. You’ll be able to see who is there on your screen, so say hello and encourage them to ask questions you can answer then and there.
• Keep going. Both platforms encourage you to be live for more than a couple of minutes in order to allow your friends to see that you are live and start watching. The longer your video, there more prominent you will be on Facebook’s newsfeed or Instagram’s Explore tab.
• Have fun. Don’t worry about what you might say or do, just go with it! It’s all part of the fun of being live, to see where it takes you. The more you do it, the more confident you will be in front of the camera and more people will watch you.

Live video is great for so many things – including big announcements, launching products, showing people behind the scenes or answering Q&A’s. Need a helping hand or someone to hold the camera steady? You can book the crew here.

The post A complete guide to going Live first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post A complete guide to going Live appeared first on 24 fingers.

What is fake news?

Fake news is not a new phenomenon, but its prevalence in everyday lives is. In fact, it has been discussed so frequently in today’s culture that ‘fake news’ was named 2016 Word of the Year by Macquarie Dictionary, despite not having an official dictionary entry.

Understanding exactly what fake news looks like is important. There is a difference between false articles produced deliberately and those that are just poorly researched. Most fake news sites purposefully create content that contains false information, often in the form of satire. Others are more malicious, and often create these stories for political or personal gains.

With the growth of social media, it’s been spreading like wildfire.

Why is it so bad?

Before the social media boom, fake news was around but easily avoidable. Now, fake news outlets have a digital platform to spread their stories, and have come to look very similar in look and feel to legitimate ones. Appearing amongst real posts in news feeds,  fake news stories are convincing people that they are the real deal. So much so, they are being shared far more often than many real stories.

This became a particularly concerning issue in the months leading up to the US Presidential Election. People from all over the world were sharing stories with false accusations against both parties. The most outrageous? That Pope Francis formally endorsed Donald Trump. That might sound ridiculous to some, but shockingly, it was believed by many.

Towards the end of 2016, many people called for action to be taken against social media platforms hosting these stories. An open letter to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the social media giant “start an open conversation on the principles that could underpin a more accurate news ecosystem on its News Feed”. It was signed by many large, independent fact checking organisations, and was forefronted by FactCheck.org. Although Zuckerberg responded to the backlash, he did so very delicately with the oblique “identifying the ‘truth’ is complicated” and whilst Facebook will be making efforts to debunk fake news stories, they needed to tread with caution.

What can be done about it?

If fake news continues to spread as quickly as it is doing so, greater action needs to be taken. But what can social media platforms actually do to combat the issue? Start taking responsibility is one answer.

Tom Bourlet, a Social Media Marketing Analyst, thinks social media platforms need to focus on their algorithms:

Others believe readers need to be encouraged to rely upon locally sourced media for the truth:

and many media outlets want to work more closely with fact-checking organisations to validate the content they produce:

What do you think should be done to combat fake news? Reveal your real thoughts in a tweet to us @24fingers.

The post The truth about fake news first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post The truth about fake news appeared first on 24 fingers.

Generation Z – better known as ‘Generation Social’ – may be racking up hundreds of likes but they are also making themselves extremely vulnerable by utilising location services, public profiles and sharing personal information online. It is causing so much concern that towards the end of last year, the Children’s commissioner Anne Longfield called for there to be greater representation in UK government to protect children online and on social media. She also called for there to be a broader digital citizenship programme, obligatory in every school from ages four to 14. Many other educational representatives have been asking government to consider “implementing legislation protecting children’s privacy and data online, similar to what is being proposed by the EU” after a year-long study published highlighted the serious dangers children face on social media. It is rapidly becoming a very worrying issue.

Whilst most kids seem more tech-savvy than their parents, many of them do not read the terms and conditions they agree to when signing up to social media sites – and others simply do not understand them. They regularly and unknowingly leave themselves at risk of cyber-bullying, harassment and exposure to inappropriate content, as well as their personal information being publicly released or even sold.

Deputy Headteacher of The Charter School, Simon Williams, recognises the dangers kids are facing online:

“We regularly remind our students and parents about safe use of the internet and especially social media. It is fascinating that when students have found themselves in difficulties, even though they knew the dangers, they had gone ahead and behaved riskily regardless – such is the draw of this medium.”

Looking at the terms and conditions of these social media platforms, the small print can even be difficult for some adults to understand. Whilst it is clear on most platforms that services can only be used by those 13 or over, alarming studies indicate that children as young as seven are using these platforms, with 92% reportedly online “daily”. This recently led to a lawyer rewriting Instagram’s terms and conditions so that children could understand them, surprising many. However, Instagram defended their platform;

“We go beyond our terms and guidelines to offer in-app safety and privacy help – from reporting, to industry-leading comment tools and self-help resources. We have also produced a guide for parents to help them talk to their teenagers about internet safety.”

Snapchat have taken a stand for children by attempting to simplify their terms:

“We’ve drafted these Terms of Service (which we call the “Terms”) so you’ll know the rules that govern our relationship with you. Although we have tried our best to strip the legalese from the Terms, there are places where these Terms may still read like a traditional contract. There’s a good reason for that: These Terms do indeed form a legally binding contract between you and Snap Inc. So please read them carefully.”

Is this really enough though? Surely there needs to be tighter regulations, more support for children and parents on social media safety, and better guidance on where your information goes once it is uploaded.

What are your thoughts on protecting children on social media? Do you think more action needs to be taken? Share with us on Twitter @24_fingers, we’d love to hear your views and any situations you’ve experienced.

The post Children and the dangers of social media first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Children and the dangers of social media appeared first on 24 fingers.

It’s a scary thought, right? But it is a big possibility that Facebook could soon be in control of our thoughts. Find out how – and everything else you need to know – in this week’s edition on Social Snippets…

Everyone has a story…

Including advertisers, now. Instagram has opened up ‘stories’ for advertising. Although they won’t begin appearing until next week, we already know that the adverts will be skippable and will only appear in between watching one user’s Story to another (as opposed to popping up between each individual post). James Quarles, the vice president of Instagram Business, has also said the adverts would not initially have links included like usual posts can do, as they have been designed for “reach” rather than immediate sales.

The update comes at a good time, too. Rival app, Snapchat, has its IPO is coming up in the near future so this gives advertisers

Are you a mind reader?

Then you might be in luck – Facebook have advertised for some intriguing jobs at it’s mysterious and secretive, Building 8. The vacancies advertised include PhD-level roles for a ‘Brain-computer Interfact Engineer’ and a ‘Neural Imaging Engineer’.

The Facebook careers website says they are “looking for a slightly impatient individual willing to face down their fear of failure to accomplish bold things” to help develop “seemingly impossible products that define new categories that advance Facebook’s mission of connecting the world”.

Yep, sounds like they’re working on mind control. If this sounds like you – then we’re a bit scared – but you can find out more and apply here.

There’s no getting away from Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook has a vast range of privacy settings, but it seems that there is no escaping Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Users been trying to block him but haven’t been able to. When Mashable reached out to Facebook for an explanation after many users expressed they felt “repressed”, they said the block was due to viral activity:

“In very rare instances, a viral campaign will develop instructing lots of people to all wrongly block the same person”. Or perhaps Zuckerberg just wants to be all seeing, all knowing? It’s like Myspace Tom all over again.

Snapchat expands its London base

Not to be discouraged by the imminence of Brexit, it has been announced that Snap Inc. will be turning its London office into its international base to cover sales in the UK and any country where it does not currently have a local base – including France, Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

When speaking with the Financial Times, Claire Valoti, general manager of Snap group in the UK said “the UK is where our advertising clients are, where more than 10m daily Snapchatters are, and where we’ve already begun to hire talent”. Interested? Check out the exciting job opportunities here. 

The post Could Facebook control our minds? first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Could Facebook control our minds? appeared first on 24 fingers.

It has created supportive communities filled with people who encourage, empower and educate others. Everything from top techniques to low-fat recipes are readily available to the one billion active members who use Instagram each month – and whilst there is a grey area of the community that includes fake accounts, untrained advisers and manipulated photos, we believe there is still a great deal of good out there beyond just looking ‘picture perfect’.

Not the quick fixes, but the progress photos, following transformation journeys and having access to a steady (yet never boring) stream of healthy recipe ideas. It’s truly fitness at our fingertips provided by a whole range of people, combining real life photos alongside magazine-worthy shoots, tagged with phrases including #mondaymotivation, #fitspo, #eatclean and #instafit.

Why is it so successful? Well, for one, the posts are nice to look at. But they are also catering to people’s hopes and dreams. We all want to be healthier and fitter, right? Instagram has helped the fitness industry tremendously by allowing users access to personal trainers, nutritionists and motivators from the palm of their hands. There are experts helping others on their technique, live videos of healthy types making their breakfasts and selfies from those we aspire to be going on their morning runs, reminding us that we should be too.

Jess White, a personal trainer from London, began using Instagram for fitness support when she completed an incredible 1000 mile bike ride across the UK last year, and has seen directly how it can be a positive partner.

“I get a lot of people who watch my videos or like my pictures and have had a couple of clients from that. It’s such a huge community of fitness people now that I think overall it’s just given inspiration to normal people”.

Honest portrayals of people’s transformations makes users think “I can do it too!” and the easy accessibility means there is constant motivation and support from a strong, friendly and widespread community. It’s not only celebrities anymore (although, still very popular) but people like you and me who are showing us what we can achieve.

Not quite convinced? Whilst they may be curated through a filtered lens, statistics show that the pictures are paying off. More and more people are now going to gyms in attempt to get in shape. According to The Business Side of Sports, “the total number of US gym participants per year has increased from 24.1 million people in 2000 to 35.9 million people in the last couple of years, and this number continues to escalate”.

Lisa-Jane from Wildcat Fitness UK has seen this happening first-hand;

“People who attend my Group Fitness classes will nowadays often post selfies during or after their workouts and then tag me in which I absolutely love to see. Itt shows they’ve enjoyed their session with me and it’s good publicity! When I was first working in the fitness industry, recommendations usually came via word of mouth, and I believe social media – Instagram especially – has replaced this now. If people see their friends or even people they follow closely posting about the great results they’ve achieved with a PT or what an amazing workout an instructor gave them, then they are much more likely to get in touch or give it a try themselves.”

So, what form will this healthy obsession take in 2019? Instagram is already being used by 30% of internet users, and as live streaming becomes more of a priority this year, we can expect to see many more updates from the fitness industry in real-time being watched by more and more people. We’re feeling pumped already.

The post How Instagram changed the fitness industry first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post How Instagram changed the fitness industry appeared first on 24 fingers.

Hi ho, hi ho

It’s off to work we go. So on Tuesday the majority of the population went back to work. No one was sure what day it was, why they were up so early or what they were supposed to be doing in the office.

The struggle was real.

Bring on the weekend!

Keeping up with Kim, again

The queen of social took a three month hiatus from all social media platforms following the horrific Paris robbery back in October – but that still didn’t mean anyone forgot about her. We saw Kim Kardashian trending multiple times without any sign from the reality star herself, until now. On the 4th of January, she began sharing a series of personal pictures of her and her family across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

There was no real explanation to her sudden reappearance, but fans were happy to see her and it looked like she was happy to be back too…

Horse Play

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is a horse leaning into a London bus.

On TfL reported that mounted police attended an emergency on Upper Street, Islington, which is when the accompanying horse tried to see if he could help.

Once people knew the person on board being treated was alright, hilarity ensued.

https://twitter.com/CharlesLawley/status/816364584588156929

Or to the Nag’s Head, perhaps?

Dippy is ducking out

Our beloved treasure, Dippy the Diplodocus dinosaur, will be leaving the Natural History Museum after a mammoth 112 years, to go on a final farewell tour before retiring.

People from far and wide took to Twitter to talk about the Jurassic star – some sad for his departure, others looking forward to seeing him closer to home in the near future.

Whilst he will be sorely missed, his space will be filled once again as he is replaced by a real skeleton of an 83ft (25.2m) female blue whale, weighing 4.5 tonnes. Wowsers.

Trivial Pursuit

This week also featured National Trivia Day, where we found out a whole lot of fascinating facts.

Maybe we should spend less time on YouTube?

Yikes! But of course, it wouldn’t be a trend on Twitter without a few jokes too…

We see what you did there.

The post New year, new tweets first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post New year, new tweets appeared first on 24 fingers.

Live Video

If the concept of social media wasn’t instantaneous enough, this year we were introduced to live video streaming. The concept allows users to begin recording themselves in real-time, broadcasting the stream to friends and followers as if you were right there with them. Both people and brands alike having been using the feature, sharing snippets of their lives to the world.

Facebook was the main platform to really push the concept out and encourage people to use it, but Instagram and, most recently, Twitter have followed in the same footsteps. Twitter live-streamed a series of NFL games, and for the first time, the presidential election debates. But who could forget the most successful live streamer of 2016 – “Chewbacca Mom”, Candace Payne?

Instagram stories

Instagram changed the game big time back in August, when they introduced us to their ‘Stories’ feature. Despite the glaringly obvious fact that they ‘imitated’ Snapchat, Instagram Stories has been doing really well, with reports indicated that over a fifth of their active monthly users are also using it in the first few weeks. The feature has already developed a great deal since it’s launch, with updates to include links, tagging users and sending posts privately and directly to friends.

Snapchat Spectacles

Snapchat proved to well and truly be king of the castle when it came to social media this year. All other platforms bowed down to them, often copying many of its features (Facebook, Twitter, we’re looking at you). But what really set Snap Inc. (the company re-branded after branching out into eye wear) apart from the rest, is when they launched their unique ‘Spectacles’. The glasses can record video clips up to 30 seconds in length from the wearer’s viewpoint and can immediately be shared on Snapchat. Their success has thrown shade (so to speak) at similar concepts that came before, such as Google glass.

The ‘Spectacles’ are now being sold in pop ups around the US, and it is only a matter of time before they are available on an international scale.

Chatbots

The future is here, we’re being taken over by the robots. Well, make not just yet, but this year developments with chatbots came in leaps and bounds. Both Facebook Messenger and Twitter direct messages have allowed the use of chatbots which is particularly useful for companies dealing with customer service enquiries. Whilst these features are still in fairly early stages, this this is definitely a development that is set to grow much more in 2017.

So what’s to come for 2017? We predict more fun filters, and hopefully less fake news. It is pretty obvious that influencer marketing will continue to grow, but it’s virtual reality that we think will develop beyond even our wildest dreams. We literally can’t wait.

The post Social Snippets 2016: A Year In Review first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Social Snippets 2016: A Year In Review appeared first on 24 fingers.

Instagram sure is feeling generous

We must have been good this year, as Instagram have *finally* made some new updates to the app that we have been begging for what seems like an eternity. You’ll now be able to…

• Turn off comments for individual posts for the first time
• Remove followers without blocking them
• Reply to individual comments without having to retype @
• Like comments
• Pinch zoom photos

Can you believe it? It’s like all our Christmases have come at once.

Tree-ts from Pizza Express

Earlier this year, Facebook announced that it was rolling out a new function called ‘Messenger Codes’ (very similar to Snapchat’s ‘Snapcodes’) but we hadn’t seen much use of it, until now. Whilst out at lunch this week, we noticed that Pizza Express had Messenger codes at each table with a rather inviting ‘Scan Me’ message.

Once scanned through the Messenger app, you are immediately in conversation with Pizza Express chat bot and encouraged to play their festive game, #ShakeTheTree, for the chance to win pizza-related prizes.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win this time. But we can definitely expect to see more from companies in 2017, as they begin using the services to answer enquiries, send out useful info, or just to play a few more games with us. Garlic dough bauble, anyone?

Twitter has mixed feelings

If Twitter had to define its relationship status with president-elect Donald Trump, it would say ‘it’s complicated’.

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, was recently asked how he felt about Trump’s mark on the social platform and “complicated” was his exact response. Speaking at the Code of Commerce conference in California, he also went on to highlight the positive role Twitter played in the recent election, and pointed out the safeguards put in place for users around bullying, harassment and hate speech. You can read the full discussion here.

Social media brings hope

On a more serious note, a statement was released last night on behalf of major online media companies – Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube announcing their commitment to tackling terrorism content.

“We hope this collaboration will lead to greater efficiency as we continue to enforce our policies to help curb the pressing global issue of terrorist content online,” the statement announced. The companies will be joining forces so they can develop technology to identify extremism together, and ultimately put a stop to it spreading. That gets 24 thumbs up from us.

The post ‘Tis the season… for social media first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post ‘Tis the season… for social media appeared first on 24 fingers.

Facebook has launched a new, although somewhat familiar, gaming feature. ‘Instant Games’ will show playable HTML5 games directly through the Facebook News Feed and in Facebook Messenger. There are already 17 games live, and whilst Words With Friends instantly springs to mind, popular classics such as Pacman and Space Invaders are also included.

Developers at Facebook have said that “this new games experience allows people to easily discover, share, and play games without having to install new apps”. Not much more information has been revealed by Facebook just yet, but there is no doubt it will prove to be yet another advertising opportunity on the social platform. We can sense the competition growing fierce already. 

Don’t you have to tweet to work for Twitter?

what?

— Keith Coleman (@kcoleman) 14 July 2007

Well, apparently not. Twitter have recently hired a new VP of Product, and has given the role to one Mr Keith Coleman. He’s a start-up founder who has previously worked for Google, and interestingly, has only tweeted 147 times in the past nine years. Out of which, 43 have only been in the last month, and are mostly retweets.

Twitter’s Lead Product position has notoriously been a hard one to fill long-term, and its last vacancy had been advertised since June of this year. Hopefully Coleman’s somewhat novel approach will help improve the platform’s development. We hope.

Spectacles for the shortsighted

We’ve seen the Snap Spectacles popping up all across the U.S over the past few weeks, and now there is some more news. If you already wear glasses then you’ll know the difficulties faced when it comes to sunglasses or even 3D glasses in cinemas. It’s uncomfortable (not to mention a bit off looking) to wear two pairs, but equally blurry wearing non-prescription lenses.

Fortunately, US-based Rochester Optical – who have previously worked with Google Glass, have offered Snap a solution – prescription lenses for the Spectacles. Coming in at an additional cost (reports suggest $99/£78) people who have purchased Snap’s eyewear will be able to ship them off to Rochester, who will be able to adapt them to their specific eyesight needs.

Selena Gomez is crowned Instagram Queen

Selena Gomez has come out on top of Instagram in 2016, even though she had a 14 week break from social media. In fact, the top 5 most liked pictures this year were all hers. The most popular photo has over 5.9 million likes – and it’s an advert for Coca Cola. With an impressive 103 million followers, she was also the first person to go over the 100 million mark with a little help from her followers. During her digital hiatus as they used the hashtag #GetSelenaTo100M. We bow down to you, Selena. 

The post Get your game face on first appeared on 24 fingers.

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