Would you like to write your own digital guest blog post for Social Digital Space?. Thanks for visiting!There’s a popular theory when collecting information via a web form that less is more. The idea is that by asking for less information in your web form, you’re increasing the likelihood of someone submitting it by reducing the friction they might feel about handing over their details. Makes sense right? It’s a good theory that has certainly proven true in my experience. But there are times...

It’s that time again, the deadline for your upcoming email newsletter is looming and you just can’t find the energy or inspiration to even start. In fact, you find yourself staring at the screen with eyes slightly out of focus and fingers itching to type ‘w-w-w-dot-f-a-c-e-b-o-o…’ into your web browser. Sound familiar? Well help is at hand. Instead of procrastinating, shake off the cobwebs by going for a walk (depending on the neighbourhood), bouncing ideas around with a colleague, or...

In the end it’s all about good old-fashioned editorial skills! “Paid, owned and earned are here to stay.” So said Keith Weed who, as the CMO for Unilever (the second largest advertiser on the planet), knows what he is talking about. He was speaking at the recent Advertising Association summit bringing together the great and good from all sides of the industry: media owners, brands and agencies. Weed told the audience of high-powered executives from the likes of Google, Mindshare and The Guardian...

Good news for advertisers, media research enthusiasts and data fans last week as Conde Nast announced they will provide readership and behavioural data on each issue of their magazines’ tablet editions. This is a huge leap forward given that the primary currency of ad effectiveness for most of the magazine industry is still the blunt instrument of paid circulation data. For Conde Nast to share, the results must be pretty good. This news reminded me of a story from October last year on the decision...

First of all it’s probably worth explaining what Pinterest is: Pinterest is a pinboard-style social content sharing website. The service allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections. The site’s mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Some Pinterest stats: Pinterest has approximately 12 million active users 2.2 million active daily users 2,702.2% increase in traffic since last year Retailers...

As reported in the latest study by Outreachr, Twitter plug-in penetration in France is surprisingly low. We analysed 350,000 domains in the travel and finance sectors to find that only 0.5% of French websites had any kind of Twitter button or plugin on their pages. By comparison 7.2% of English websites had the Twitter plugin installed. Our findings are backed up by social media survey giants Sysmos, who also report a 7.2% Twitter penetration rate for Twitter in the UK. Let’s explore some ideas...

The Mobile World Congress, held between 27th February to 1st March at Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain, is the world’s biggest mobile event where manufacturers have the opportunity to present and launch new phones. One of the biggest mobile trends for the past year or two is supersize phones with touch screens that are becoming the size of its ancestors back when Mr. Graham first invented his hammer-sized telephone. Despite the increasingly large size of the phones, more and more people of all...

The Twitter account surrounding Angelina Jolie’s right leg at the Oscars, @AngiesRightLeg, has become an overnight sensation, amassing 47,465 followers to date [correct at the time of writing]. But beyond that, what has been even more surprising to me, is that the spoof account has made the news of many major online and offline news publications. I am genuinely baffled as to why this is such big news. Here are some examples of some respected publications covering the story: Angelina Jolie’s...

Advertising agencies were outraged earlier this month following Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald’s comments in a conference call with analysts following P&G’s Q4 results, when he announced that he plans to ‘moderate’ P&G’s $10bn annual ad spend because they can now get ‘free’ impressions via social media. The robust agency response is understandable – this move potentially puts their traditional business models at risk and if the world’s biggest advertiser is changing...

A lot of email industry folk will tell you that the subject line is the first thing recipients look at when determining whether or not to open your email. But they’re wrong! The truth is that it’s second. Because the first thing people look at is the ‘from’ field to determine who sent them the email. When people decide whether or not to open your email, they start by evaluating you as the sender. If you’re someone they recognise and trust, they will go on to read the subject line to see...

Getting a pretty website built is great but what you really need are website visitors. There are many ways to market a website including Pay Per Click advertising (Google sponsored listings), e-mail marketing, social media and other offline methods, however in this article we will focus on on-site Google optimisation, specifically page content. The website build, structure and page content play an important role when being listed on search engine result pages for a particular key phrase. Make sure...

As a part of my social media consultancy work I’m often asked about blogging; specifically how to build a blog, and the plugins one should use without any coding knowledge. Today I will share with you five WordPress plugins you might want to install now or bookmark for your next project! 1.  In-post Template allows you to place additional content to every post, without having to hard code the template. This is great if you want some sort of call to action or widget, making it visible after the...

I love this time of year. We’re all feeling refreshed following the Christmas holidays and a whole year worth of opportunity lay ahead of us. It’s the perfect time to reflect on what we should be focusing on, what to stop doing and what to start doing more of. As you ponder these ideas and consider ways to grow your business in the year ahead, remember that email marketing continues to deliver value with a whopping ROI of $40.56 for every dollar spent. So how do you plan to utilise the power...

Emails containing a video are an excellent way to increase subscriber engagement with your content. The human element creates a ‘realness’ and more personal experience for the viewer, often resulting in higher clicks within the email. In fact a 2010 study by the Web Video Marketing Council found most marketers (73%) say video-based email marketing is also more likely than static content to generate higher conversion and purchase rates. When inserting video into your emails, we recommend you steer...

Google always produce excellent promotional videos. Below is a quick look back at some of the hotter Google’s promotional (viral) videos from the start until the end of 2011. My personalise favourite is the last one. If you know of any more that were hot on the viral list last year, please add them to the comments section of this blog. Enjoy!