Blog

7 Holiday Ads That Dominated Social Media

We may know it as the season to be jolly, but for advertisers the holidays are a time of cutthroat competition.

Blockbuster-quality seasonal ads are part of a longstanding tradition, with many companies investing millions of dollars each year (just look at retailer John Lewis, who spent $8.7m on their 2015 slot alone). Ultimately, they know it’s a smart investment: the National Retail Federation predicts this year’s holiday spending to exceed $650 billion in the US alone, and the right ad can be key to directing those funds your way.

2016 saw an impressive number of holiday ads go viral, with contributions coming from seasoned veterans (we’re looking at you, John Lewis) and newcomers (well-played, Allegro) alike.  To see how this year’s ads stacked up, we used Keyhole to dig into what the people of Twitter have to say. Instead of focusing on view count, we decided to rank the Top 7 ads based on social buzz (and we’re glad we did – take a look at #4!)

Read more

Influencer Marketing 101 – How To Find The Right Influencers

Influencer Marketing is a form of marketing where the focus is placed on key individuals who can influence the buying decisions of the target market. 


A 2010 study by the McKinsey Quarterly team found that “marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising.” This positive impact seems to be lasting – the same study found that customers acquired through word-of-mouth had a 37 percent higher retention rate.

Although this study focused on word-of-mouth marketing, there are many parallels between influencer marketing and word of mouth. Your brand’s advocates review and promote the products or services you offer, which becomes a form of a direct recommendation.

Read more

#Instagood: How Your Business Can Get Ahead On Instagram

There is one universal language that people from all over the world can understand.

No, it’s not English. And no, don’t get cheesy — it’s not love either. What we’re talking about here is not the language that you hear or speak, but the language you see and interpret emotionally: The language of pictures and images.

Read more

15 B2B Social Media Strategy Tips [+ 5 Best Practice Examples]

B2B social media budgets are growing, but the 2016 CMO Survey reveals that 40% of companies aren’t happy with the performance of their social strategies.

Despite this, social media will make up almost 21% of the average business’s marketing spend in five years. That compares with less than 6% in 2009.

Read more

How to Create And Run A Successful Twitter Chat [Madalyn Sklar Interview]

Madalyn Sklar has run Twitter chats for more than five years, using them to help grow into a marketing thought leader.

A coach and consultant for businesses looking to strengthen their presences on social media, she’s lectured at schools and spoken at events such as South by Southwest (SXSW) and Social Media Marketing World (SMMW).

Read more

10 Facebook Metrics For Brands And Businesses To Prioritize [+ Tips To Grow Them!]

As social media managers deal with a range of Facebook metrics, it’s easy to lose focus on improving numbers that play clear roles in brand and business growth.

To reach and capitalize on target markets in a sea of 1.6 billion monthly active users, it often helps to create strategies that concentrate on a small group of analytics.

Read more

How To Build And Market Brands From The Ground Up [Ed Leake Interview]

He started his digital agency as a home business and, in five years, evolved it into a staffed marketing firm that has a collection of partners with annual revenues of at least £1 million.

The managing director of Midas Media, Ed Leake has a clear goal when working with these companies: Ensuring they too see rapid growth.

Read more

How To Grow Your Following Using Trending Twitter Hashtags

Twitter’s trends list catches the eyes of most users, making many social media marketers think: “How can I use these trending hashtags to my advantage?”

They generally require fast action, but there are audience-building strategies you can use when new or relevant trends pop up.

Read more

How To Use Social Media To Affect SEO

The typical digital marketer knows how to engage audiences and drive website traffic through popular social media platforms, but using them to influence search engine ranking is far less clear.

Moz’s oft-cited ranking factor study finds a positive correlation between social metrics, such as shares, and SEO (search engine optimization) growth.

But correlation isn’t the same as causation. So, although there’s a relationship between SEO and social media, its nature is questionable.

Read more