social media

The video and image pinboard site Pinterest recently revealed that they would begin rolling out price drop email alerts.

For users, the alerts will serve as a handy little alert to the latest promotions on products they’ve pinned. For businesses it’s a free, personalised email marketing offering coordinated via Pinterest. A great addition for all, I’m sure you’ll agree.

A recent survey revealed that one in 10 children have a mobile phone before the age of 5. Five years old!

The reasons behind this are perhaps obvious, but what does this early exposure to digital do to a developing imagination?

I will spare you a long introduction about how many companies use social these days, and how good it can be for them. We know all that.

Instead, I'd like to talk about how it's not enough to just be 'on' social media.

The death of Hannah Smith, a young girl apparently driven to suicide by anonymous bullying on ask.fm, is the latest tragedy in a list of ‘Deaths Caused by Social Media’.

When collaborating on an idea using IT or social media, disagreement is inevitable.

Finding a channel is not difficult, but finding the right one for you can take time and research.

After the fuss, it's fizzled out. Facebook has launched hashtags, but are they working?

Perhaps I follow people and brands that don’t realise that hasthags can be used, but I think it's more likely they just don't give a monkey's about them.

Quick Sprout, the digital marketing and social media hub, has released a useful infographic outlining the factors which influence the chance of retweets. Adhering to these guidelines will apparently boost the chances of your tweets being shared:

Social Media Week London 2013 is approaching rapidly, and we're celebrating the release of two of our three Official Hubs!

Our SMWLDN HQ location is still being kept a secret, although we can confirm that it will be located in Covent Garden! Bloomberg's tech savvy offices in East London will serve as the location of our Business & Entrepreneurship Hub, while Virgin is hosting the Disruptors Hub in Paddington.

Sharing and declaring are the foundation of social media, but businesses are still unable to decide on one issue: is there such a thing as the ideal post?

What makes consumers like a post? What makes them share? Answering these questions is tough, but can lead to an increase in awareness and stronger customer relationships.

Really clever things are happening on Vine and Instagram, two free social apps that ask us to communicate through images. Sift's Digital Engagement Manager, Elena Goodrum asks:

How can not-for-profits make the most of them?

Understanding Social Business, Social Data and Social CRM

The true value of social media, say the wise, lies in business, data and CRM.

Those elements, along with customer service and engagement marketing, will be discussed in detail next week, on July 8-9 in London, at Social CRM 2013.