Me And My Muzzie: Movember 2018

When I set out on my Movember journey I didn’t even really know if I could grow facial hair. At 26, I still only really shave once a week (as a clean up job) and so the idea of growing something substantial has always interested me. So here it was, an excuse to both raise funds for charity and push the boat (and hairs) out to see what would happen. As I learned by interviewing Jack O Connor from Movember Ireland earlier this month, the foundation has done a lot of great work since it started ten years ago.

It manages to use the novelty elements of both social media and moustaches to engage people in either their own campaigns or their friends campaigns. Having seen my friend Niall take part in the initiative last year and raise a massive sum of money, I felt it would be worth seeing just how much sponsorship money I too could grow alongside “the mo!”

Day 1: So full of hope

So as Halloween drew to a close and I ignored my friends pleas to “give yourself a head start of a few days”, I took out the razor and gave myself the closest shave I’d ever had! Now all that was left to do was wait… then nothing happened. It became apparent after about three days that my daily updates on Instagram were absolutely needless. Like a slacking gym bunny after a 30 day challenge, I was trying to use Hollywood lighting and angles to trick even myself into thinking there’d some progress!

Much like the moustache, the donations were slow at the beginning. “I wanna see more than that before I hand my money over” barked my sister in the general direction of my measly whiskers. Ten days in and I had begun to lose hope. I would shave my entire face bar the stache every two days so it would become crystal clear to everyone that I was taking part in the campaign. Maybe that way they would begin to support the cause? 

Potential Promo Poster for Movember 2019?

As I got over that two week initial slump, the hair was beginning to become thicker and to be fair the whole look was starting to “grow” on me. My girlfriend and parents didn’t seem to feel the same way though as they would quietly remind me daily that it would be fun once it was gone in December. Despite this, I began spending on average 30 seconds more looking in the mirror each day to have a quiet few words of encouragement with the moustache. By the time I was two thirds of the way through the month, for the first time in my life I felt like a real man.

The donations had really started to flow in too. Everyone loves an underdog so I think the sad reality of my increasingly pointless daily updates encouraged a few people to get behind me and the “little muzzie that could”. A big breakthrough came when my own mother bankrolled me with a massive donation. What she didn’t realise however was her accompanying comment would be publicly visible. I have two sisters by the way…

When pay day came in work, a quick email around the office made a huge difference as my colleagues at Blue Insurance (or the Blue Crew, as nobody calls us) were unbelievably generous! As the month came to a close it was time to tap up the last of my closest friends and family for those final donations. I was finding it hard to believe that my closest group of friends had left it until the final day to sponsor me. I “gently” reminded them on the 30th in the Whatsapp group that this was their last chance. They all quickly replied that they had indeed already sponsored me.

The penny dropped and it suddenly became clear that any of the unusual or surprising donations that I had received during the month had been in fact them using a different name. These different names included random neighbours, old friends, the mother of an ex girlfriend and someone who I studied abroad with over 3 years ago. They had obviously hoped that I’d write to these people who would be completely unaware of it until my getting in touch. A classic stitch up that is as mean as it was genius. Thankfully I was waiting until after the month to get in touch with all the donors to say thanks. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it ;)

Day: 23: I met Marty Whelan and he complemented me on my moustache. The last part there didn’t happen.

With all these genuine and fake donations flooding in on the final days of my journey, I was able to ignore the impending moment where I would have to say goodbye to my new little friend. My muzzie had seemingly bedded in for the winter and became almost bushy in it’s final few days. It also became clear that had I would never have the ability to grow a full beard, it would always end up being a patchy ginger/blonde mess.

Like most Movember campaigns, this was mainly just a vanity project for the person taking part. During the weeks however, I did learn that with very little effort and a fun initiative, people are willing to give a lot of their money towards a great cause. As the month came to a crescendo, I had really grown attached to my new look and held onto it for two extra days to say my heartfelt goodbyes. Before shaving it, I put a quick poll on Instagram and asked my family on Whatsapp for their honest opinions. Although Instagram was in favour of the stache, it’s safe to say my Dad will always tell me what he really thinks.

To any of those who sponsored me over the month, I really do appreciate it. I made a massive €901 and that was way more than I ever could have hoped for. If you’re looking for ways that you can help Movember Ireland in the future, visit their wesbite.

The Art Of Writing The Perfect Social Media Caption

Ever sat over a picture, video or something you have to publicly post to the internet and been gripped by fear? You hesitate with the caption, re-write it or end up scrapping it altogether only to start over again. “Caption anxiety” is a term you sometimes hear people utter when it comes to attaching that line of text to your ad, story, picture, video, blog etc. What many social media users and marketers forget to remember is exactly what a caption is used for. Whenever I struggle with it, I revert back to this simple definition:

“A good caption informs us about the things we cannot see and encourages us to look at an image more closely.”

In the ultra competitive world of social media however, captions have become almost as important as the image they accompany. Despite this, 90% of captions we see online include “living my best life” as a caption for literally anything that could be perceived as a good time. Couples photos are also invariably captioned with the words “partner in crime,” “best friend” or even “this one.”

Originality is something we don’t see a huge amount of on social media but for those who are able to offer it, the likes and engagement will come. You may think that when it comes to writing good captions or ad copy, you either have it or you dont. Well that’s where you’re wrong and in this blog I’m going to show you some simple steps on how to create better social media captions;

What’s the message:

Firstly, think to yourself what the basic message of the post will be. If you’re sharing a photo of a product or something highly visual, then maybe you want the photo to speak for itself? In this case keep your caption snappy and eye catching. Many people make the mistake of explaining exactly what their picture says. For example: if you’re posting a picture that has “50% off our new sports line” written in the picture, you don’t need to repeat this word for word in the caption also.

If the goal of your post is to have people share it or direct people to click a link, then a strong opening line and a clear call to action at the end is essential. This was done brilliantly by Iceland for their Christmas ad that was posted to social media. The initial line is eye catching and entices you to watch the video and the call to action is simple and clear.

Length:

The perfect length of social post captions are between 50 and 80 characters. The sentence you have just read was 75 characters and so you should aim for something similar. You can read the limits of various social post captions here but between 10 and 15 words in my opinion is optimal regardless of the platform that you’re posting to.

If you’re writing a caption with much more detail and those reading it will need to click the “See more” button to finish it… then it’s too long! Most people on social media will simply scroll by posts like this. If you do need to put a lot of text in a post i.e. for the T’s and C’s of a competition, then post these T’s and C’s on a landing page you can link off to, or just post them in the first comment.

#Hashtags

On social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, using hashtags properly can be the difference between your post being seen or not. For example: the next time you’re sharing an Instagram post, if you put #travel in your caption, Instagram will straight away tell you that there are say 54,000,000 posts with the same caption. By combining both popular hashtags and more niche hashtags that are relevant to your photo, your posts will appear on more discover and home pages.

If you’re working for a brand, then keep an eye on relevant hashtags that your brand might be able to post about. This is an authentic way to get discovered and add to a conversation among your audience. Don’t post too many hashtags either as posts with over 20 just look spammy and desperate.

To Emoji or not to Emoji?

Back in 2016 when I worked as a full time meme maker, emojis were the name of the game. Nothing got posted without an appropriately relevant emoji. In 2017 alone, emoji usage on social media increased by 766%. I’ve even recently noticed them making their way onto LinkedIn posts since it began altering it’s newsfeeds to look more like Facebook. My advice on emojis would be to use them sparingly but they definitely do make posts more attractive and engaging especially on more visual platforms like Instagram.

Humour:

One thing that I believe is key to social media posts is that they have a conversational or humorous tone. Although this may not work for every brand or individual on social media, keeping your captions and messages as informal and fun as possible should be a general rule. I’ve written before about how Conor McGregor’s ridiculous Instagram captions are part of the reason why he is so popular and the same goes for lots of well known brands online.

Proof-read it:

If there’s one thing that social media has taught us, it’s that the range of grammar and spelling levels in comment sections and captions is something that I could write a whole other blog on. However, it’s a lot easier to make spelling or grammar errors than you might think. Whether you’re posting a holiday snap or writing ad captions for a campaign, have a read over them or get someone else to review it before you post.

If your branded posts don’t normally get a big reaction, try post something with visible errors and within seconds there’ll be a flood of comments from people correcting you. That wasn’t a sideways tip for getting more engagement on posts but it will happen. I’ve mocked up the below to include some of the most popular grammar and spelling errors that I regularly see online. Grammar Nazis look away now.

If you didn’t see much wrong with the above, then seek some help immediately! If you’re still struggling with your brands’ captions or written content however, then get in touch with me. You can also scrutinise any and all of my future social media captions by following me on Instagram and Facebook.

Iceland Use Social Media To “Share” Their Story This Christmas

It’s around that time of the year again where major retailers begin their big marketing push in for the bumper Christmas period. With Black Friday less than a week away, it’s also a time when people will have their eyes peeled for a few bargains. Although for many, myself included, it’s still too early to think about the C word. Billboards, radio stations, newspapers, bus stops and our social feeds are flooded with festive messaging to help us on our way to creating that “perfect” Christmas. Few companies however, manage to capture the “magic” of Christmas in their ads like British retailer, John Lewis.

Each year they put together ads that manage to mix music, characters, animation, family and the “magic” of Christmas to leave millions of people who watch them in tears. This is content marketing at it’s absolute best and is something that people all over the UK and the internet, look forward to. Below is their effort for this year;

If you’ve taken a moment to cry after watching that like I may or may not have, then it’s hard to argue that John Lewis are not the best in the business when it comes to Christmas ads. Despite the army of parents complaining that their own kids were now expecting £800 pianos for Christmas, the ad within a day of posting already had 75,000 shares on Facebook and shot straight to number one on the Youtube trending page where it was widely well received.

It’s well on it’s course to reaching the same or greater amount of people as their previous viral holiday pieces but sadly that won’t be enough for it to “win Christmas” this year. This is because less than a week before the release of their latest masterpiece, they’d already been beaten at their own game. They’d been beaten by an Orangutan.

Not only does Iceland’s ad have a distinctly John Lewis feel to it (see their 2013 animated classic), it focuses the thing that people online love more than anything else - activism. People love sharing, commenting and engaging with content that highlights a certain cause. Whether it’s the damage of single use plastics, worldwide social injustices or even the plight of Steven Avery, people love to support the latest trending cause. This was a PR masterstroke by Iceland who obviously understand the power of “hashtag activism”.

What really gave their ad the extra push it needed was the fact that they shared it on social media after it was “banned from TV for being too political”. By positioning TV as a representative for the “mainstream media” and by using the word “political”, Iceland painted the ads message and your sharing of it as being almost rebellious. Their tag line of “Will you help us tell the story?” is a not so subtle call to action that gives it a final push.

I don’t believe the ad was ever really intended for TV. If you think about it, it’s an animated piece that seems geared towards young children but it’s dark subject and Bambi-esque mother sequence is neither Christmassy nor really suitable for a young audience. I can’t even picture it on TV alongside a cheerful Vodafone ad or one for the latest popular children’s doll.

I believe going down the route of social media was part of Iceland’s strategy from the beginning and it has so far been a massive success. With over 650,000 shares on Facebook alone and over 15m views at time of writing, the video has gotten an enormous reach and has highlighted a very important issue that Greenpeace are working to fight against.

Those of us who were blissfully unaware of how damaging palm oil could be, will surely have to be more conscious about what we buy. That might be harder than most of us think though, if you've shared the Iceland video then you may need to have a closer look at some of the staple items in your weekly shop. Bread, lipstick, cookies, pizza dough, margarine and many other household products all said to contain palm oil.

In fact, the use of palm oil is so rife in consumer goods that Iceland themselves have stressed that they’re only getting rid of palm oil in their own brand products while trying to encourage some of their other suppliers to do the same. So we can expect to see palm oil products on their shelves for the near future anyway. To me that's kind of like taking a stand to be vegan but only when you’re the one doing the cooking!

Nevertheless, I do think that Iceland have played an important role in educating people about this issue while managing to give their own brand an enormous lift at a crucial time as part of it. Their continued use of “Geurilla marketing” show they're committed to sharing this story and making changes in more ways that just a once off viral video but whether this results in wider changes to consumer behaviour is yet to be seen.

Looking to give your own Christmas campaigns an extra push? Get in touch with me today for a campaign proposal. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook for future blogs, videos and other content.

The Global Social Media "Ginspiracy"

My uncle Chris has been drinking gin and tonic for the last 30 years with his wife Helen. In the last few years however, he’s found that ordering a simple gin and tonic isn’t really an option anymore. He has to specify to the bar staff that he doesn’t want some new flavoured gin, he’s not interested in cucumber or a grapefruit garnish and “for the love of jaysus dont put it in one of those giant fish bowls”. Sadly for Chris, the drink he has grown to love has been forever changed by a younger generation moving in. It appears that Chris has been the first victim of a phenomenon that I’m going to call “Gintrification”.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3 years and didn’t notice, gin is in. It’s absolutely everywhere, from Christmas tree “gin baubles” to gin flavoured tea. The popularity of the “Boomerang” feature on Instagram would have no doubt worn off by now if it wasn’t for giant gin bowls being clinked each weekend. The Irish Spirits association released a study earlier this year detailing that gin sales had increased by 44% in 2017 alone! With recent wider studies revealing a worldwide boom in the spirit, it’s clear that this isn’t just impacting the Irish market.

Some people would dismiss this as just a trend like any other. Like an alcoholic version of those black “Vans” shoes with the white stripes that appear to be compulsory among the youth of today… Or maybe it’s just a shift in the drinks market towards lighter spirits or new exciting novelty products and experiences around gin. There’s even a place in Dublin that now serves you your gin cocktail in a miniature bathtub complete with a rubber duck! (Jesus wept). Fish bowls, flower pots, bathtubs and other novelties aside, it’s clear that there’s more to the gin rush than anything thats come before.

Ever asked someone who loves gin how long they’ve been drinking it for? Many won’t have even heard of gin before 2015 and if they had, they’d of dismissed it as an old woman’s drink (sorry mam). The reason everyone loves it so much is because they’ve been caught up in what I believe to be a social media conspiracy - a “Ginspiracy”. When it comes to strictly building a buzz of awareness around a product or brand, I believe social media is the best way to do it. Gin producers and related companies have managed to harness the power of social media to create a sort of gin fever that has most of us hooked.

Gin producers use the perfect mix of influencer marketing, sponsored content with huge online publishers and novelty viral recipe/product videos to put gin front and centre of our newsfeeds. This content usually get a massive amount of engagement (likes, comments, shares) and once you engage with these kind of videos, you’ll only be shown more by the platforms algorithms. People see their friends commenting on gin related posts or sharing their own gin pictures and FOMO will push them to at least try the drink. Repeat these steps day in day out and suddenly Christmas trees around the world have a new kind of bauble! 

In my current job, I manage the Facebook and Twitter pages for multiple brands related to themes such as home, travel, gadgets etc. The audiences of these would vary the ages of 20-40 and so to test out just how effective gin content is on social, I began sharing some of the viral gin videos on our own pages. For example, I shared a video about a “gin spa” in Scotland to our travel page and within seconds the likes and comments were flooding in - “Ah @Paul there’s me Christmas present sorted wink wink haha :P” you get the idea.

I do realise that it would be foolish of me to present you with these theories while not allowing some of the more informed people in the drinks industry to comment on the phenomenon. When I did contact some experts however, I was met by a deafening wall of silence. A growing Irish gin brand and an "Irish gin expert" didn’t reply to my questions about the phenomenon. It seems that the Illuminati, or "ginuminati" don't take too kindly to outsiders with questions.

When will it all stop though I hear you ask? Like most crazes, I think gin will retreat back into the darker corners of bars at some stage in the future. I also suspect we’re on the cusp of a new age - The Aperol Sprits era. The pink drink had appeared on a lot of peoples social feeds this past summer and I believe it could have the potential to "shake up" the drinks industry again. For now however, gin will continue to win.

If you’re looking to make sense of social for your own brand or business, then give me a shout. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I promise I’ll keep the conspiracies to a minimum. Think I’m completely wrong about gin? Comment below 5 reasons why you love the taste of it that don’t include “cos it’s lovely”.

Charities In The Age Of Social Media: Movember 2018

Charities have traditionally used direct email campaigns, flyers, fundraising events and other offline ways to gain donations for their various causes. In recent years however, with the explosion in social media and particularly mobile payment systems, it’s clear that there is more opportunity to engage people with charity initiatives online. Everything from natural disaster relief campaigns to Facebook birthday fundraisers have now become a normal part of the way people do their bit to help those in need.

One particular charity campaign that has grown significantly through social media is the “Movember” campaign. At this stage, we all know someone who has gotten involved in the campaign and has helped raise some much needed funds. After carrying out some vital research, I’ve decided to get involved to raise money for the work they do. To find out more about the campaign and the way it uses social media to drive its success, I got in touch with Jack O’ Connor from Movember Ireland;

What is “Movember” and how has social media led to its success? 

Movember was started in Melbourne (2003) by 4 mates who were inspired by the breast cancer movement, and their collective fondness for moustaches, to raise awareness and stop men dying too young. When Facebook hit the internet in 2007, it connected the world in a way that was unprecedented.

I have no doubt that the dawn on this age of social media has played a significant part in the rapid growth of the Movember campaign and in 15 years we have grown over 5,000,000 moustaches, in over 23 countries around the world and invested in over 1,200 men’s health initiatives.

What important causes does it support? 

Movember is the world’s leading charity dedicated to men’s health. We want men to live happier, healthier and longer lives and we do this by highlighting the three most critical points of men’s health today; prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health & suicide prevention

How can people get involved both now and in the future? 

Go to Movember.com and sign up for the campaign - you can grow a Mo, take on the Move challenge or Host an event. I would recommend getting some friends or colleagues together and starting a “Mo team”. It’s more fun with more Mo’s and you can take the mickey out of whoever has the worst tache!

Image Via: Movember Foundation USA

How do you feel social media will change the way charities operate in the future? 

I think ultimately it will help, social media is already a powerful tool for NGO’s to communicate with their fundraisers & donors about the work they do and I think that this will only increase as time goes on. We will probably see an increase in one off temporary viral campaigns like the “Ice Bucket Challenge” too.

A big one is Facebooks fundraising platform, this has made it easier than ever before for people to fundraise for causes that are important to them and makes asking for donations very straightforward. I always encourage our MoBros & MoSistas to add a Facebook fundraiser to their MoSpace.

Image Via: Movember US

So as I set out on my own “Mo journey”, I’m filled with excitement and apprehension. I know for a fact that I won’t end up looking anything like the men above but I am excited to see just how bad my tache turns out!

I’m hoping I can raise as much money as possible over the month too so if you would like to support my efforts, you can do so on my “Mospace account”. I imagine it will all start to look something like this when December rolls around!

Image Via: Larry Busacca / Getty Images

Follow me on Instagram for daily story updates on my muzzy and keep an eye on the Movember Ireland website to find out about the other ways you can support the cause.

Social Media Live 2018: What The Future May Look Like

If there’s one theme you may have picked up so far from my blog, it’s that the world of social media can be a very weird place. From “like and share competitions” to shapeshifting beauty apps, it’s constantly offering us novelty ways to interact with both our friends and brands online. This week I got the chance to attend “Social Media Live” at the RDS for Blue Insurance to see how we can better leverage our own social activity. The event promised to “explore the exploding tensions that underlie what’s changing in how we use social media and shape what’s coming next”. What really peaked my interest in this event was the unusual way it was marketed. You may remember back in July when a VR headset wearing troop of young people marched around the city sending social media into a frenzy? Well that was them!

Image Via: Social Media Live

With an interesting mix of international speakers made up of Youtubers and media industry experts, I was excited to see what kind of insights they might have on the ever changing social sphere. David Nihill (The MC) kicked off the conference by joking that social media has changed even the simplest part of our daily routines. In years gone he remembers how we’d wake up and be summoned to use the bathroom before starting off our days. Now we’re summoned instead by our newsfeeds, notifications and the dopamine that comes along with that quick scroll. Nihill added that this can sometimes get to the point where we’d rather Google “how long can you leave it before your bladder bursts?” than get up to actually go. This set the tone for what was to come from the “You Talk Funny” Author.

The first speaker of the day was Elaine Doyle, the head of Youtube in Google Dublin. Doyle is an expert in all things video marketing and she explained in detail the multiple ways and video formats that marketeers can use to target their desired demographic. She also informed to a surprised audience that Youtube has a greater video viewership than all other social platforms combined. As for the future of Youtube and video marketing? Doyle predicted that AR (Augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) will play a large role as video is expected to grow to 90% of all online traffic by 2022.

Second up was Katie Manor from Mediacom. Manor spoke about how agencies have began massively scaling up both their social strategy and creative departments in the last three years. This is of course a response to the huge growth in the industry and this trend will no doubt continue as we spend more of our time scrolling. Alfie Deyes was then interviewed by the brilliant Jess Kelly (Newstalk) about his own experience with creating content. Deyes is the boyfriend of Youtube megastar Zoella and between them they have over 15 million followers on the platform. The insight from Deyes was that whether you’re a brand or not, creating content that you honestly enjoy making (and would neutrally enjoy consuming) is the best way to grow an audience that care about you and what you have to say/sell.

The term “Influencer” has become almost like a dirty word in 2018. To debunk some of the myths around influencer marketing, there was a chat between Luke Townsin (Whalar), Chris Davies (Gleam Futures) and Jennifer Quigley Jones from Digital Voices. The trio spoke openly about their experiences managing clients and influencers on large scale partnerships and campaigns. On the idea that Influencer marketing is a bubble that will soon burst, the three came to a conclusion that it will just need to go through a “professionalisation” period.

During this period, both influencers and brands will begin to weed out some of the shadier dealings (i.e. fake followers) in the practice. They also stressed that finding influencers (big or small) that are passionate about a brand as opposed to just holding it up for a solitary sponsored piece is always the right way to approach things. As Chris Davies commented in one of his responses, influencer marketing is at its heart simply “word of mouth at scale”.

The next roundtable style talk involved a panel of Michael Nagle (Paddy Power), Katie Manor again and Verena Papik (TuneMoji). They were questioned by Donagh Humphreys as he presented the findings of his teams recent “Thinkhouse” study on Gen Z consumers. Gen Z (people born between the mid 90’s and mid 2000’s) apparently have a different outlook on buying than their millennial counterparts. They are the “Stars of their own story” on social and so present a great opportunity for brands to build a more meaningful relationship with them. They also interestingly scroll faster than the rest of us on feeds and loathe the fact that they spend more time “than they should” on social media.

Jana Damanbouri (Jungle Creations) gave her own findings on importance of making your content valuable to its audience. Every piece of content she added should be an “equal value exchange”. For example, if you want to sell an alcohol product, then create a video that includes the product as part of a novelty recipe for say a cheesecake. That way you’re rewarding the audience with something of value (the cheesecake recipe) in return for their attention. Stephen O Leary from Olytico then gave a great talk about Olytico’s work in the social listening and sentiment tracking area of social. O Leary also played their video collaboration with Irish comic act “Foil Arms and Hog” which is a clever example of both the nuanced nature of sentiment and how sponsored content can be done effectively.

Technology played a major part throughout the event with Grad Conn of Sprinkler speaking about validation and measurement for Chief Marketing Officers going forward. Conn then joined a panel discussion entitled “Whats coming next?” featuring Matt Navarra (Digital Consultant), Blaithnaid Healy (CNN International) and Andy O’Donoghue (The Gadget Buzz). They talked about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will begin to play a greater part of marketing activities as computers and data gathering becomes more sophisticated.

David Schneider (comedy actor turned agency owner) had everyone laughing with great examples of humorous social posts that his agency are famous for. He stressed that relate-able humour is one of the sure fire ways that brands can create “thumb stopping” moments. Nic Newman (Reuters) delved into the recent controversies in Facebook as he pondered the idea of whether social platforms should now be treated as publishers. Cian McDonagh from Three Ireland urged attendees to stay true to their own “brand tune” and touched on some of Three’s recent groundbreaking mobile first campaigns like “First Data”.

Finally, to finish Malachy Browne from the New York Times went into how AR and VR technologies are also informing new ways of reporting the news on social media. Overall, the day was an interesting look at both the factors that are influencing social media today and the technology that will shape its future! The main message common to all of the speakers however was that brands and individuals should always create valuable content that their audience will enjoy on the platforms they use the most.

If you’re looking to get your brand started on social or want to get more out of what you’re currently doing then get in touch with me today. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook for future blog posts and other content.

Like, Share And Comment Below For Your Chance To...

The Year is 2026 and a young child looks to their mother and asks “Mammy? What made you and Daddy decide to live in this house?” “Well my dear, it’s actually a funny story. Your father liked and shared a Facebook post from the county GAA page nearly ten years ago. This was so he could win a free ticket to a big raffle for a brand new home and here we are today!” “Is that all Mammy?” “Well no actually, he had to tag both your aunties and his football team in the comments first before he shared it but that was it”.

This dialogue sounds like something from a dystopian future but the sad truth is that it’s very real. In an almost “Black Mirror” like response to the housing crisis, even county boards and developers have began using social media giveaways as a way to gain both awareness and engagement online. Just look at that “Free House” headline and forget about the usual mortgage process as all you desire could be just a few clicks away.

The above is an extreme example but there’s a reason why we are seeing more and more giveaways clogging up our social media feeds in recent years. Recently, I wrote about my time as meme maker back in 2016 when organic (not sponsored or paid for) reach was still an important part of social media marketing. Individuals, businesses and other pages could post content and take for granted that it would be seen by their page fans or followers. This in turn could lead to greater reach, followers, fans and engagement with their audience.

Facebook and other social networks caught onto this and began changing the algorithm to make it more difficult to achieve organic reach. To coincide with these changes, the same networks rolled out more sophisticated advertising tools so that businesses could instead pay to guarantee that their content would be seen by the right audience. Sounds like a good deal doesn’t it? Well it wasn’t for users or businesses but it has completely transformed social advertising and made social networks billions.

In response to this shift in digital algorithms, smaller brands who wanted to gain a large following were left with really only one option; To run giveaways. The bonus of these competition posts are that they take minimal effort, minimal spend (other than the prize) and yield quick and substantial rewards. The Facebook/Instagram users who enter by engaging with these posts can be targeted directly with social ads in the future.

With these kind of posts being so successful, it’s no surprise that there are always a number of scam competitions doing the rounds. A recent one from “Aer Lingus Airlines” (complete with dodgy logo drawn by a toddler) is so blatantly fake that it upset me when I saw that over 10,000 people had fallen for it.

This “Aer Lingus Airlines” page will now most likely target those who’ve been stupid enough to enter with ads from one of their legitimate business pages which is most likely selling travel related products or services. It’s kind of like the social media illuminati and it’ll never stop as long as there are thousands of “Sheeple” willing to get involved! The real victim here though is clearly “Hailey M. from Amsterdam”. Unable to receive the prize was she? She was yeah….

I still ask my brother in law if he’s heard any news on that “Free Audi A6” Facebook competition that he entered over a year ago. This was of course another scam but sure “if you aint in it, you can’t win it”. With so many competitions on social media today and scams like the above going around, is it really worth entering them at all? I used to think it wasn’t until a friend in work told me about some of her big wins. Leanne has entered competitions since Facebook pages started running them and enters between 1 and 3 per day.

She told me her key to winning them has been to enter smaller local competitions as opposed to ones that have already have thousands of likes, shares and comments. This technique has served her surprisingly well as over the last three years she has won food hampers, a widescreen tv, flip flops, a hotel voucher, sports juices, hair/beauty products, pantry vouchers, dining vouchers and a months free gym membership. So maybe next time you see one pop up on your homepage, it might be worth entering. Just make sure it’s not a scam!

It’s clear that as long as social media platforms limit organic posts and people enjoy free stuff, these kind of competitions will always run in one way or another. If you’re looking to run some competitions for your brand or just looking for a content plan, then I can help.

You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook and share this blog for your chance to win my appreciation. Thanks and good luck!

Welcome To "The Facetune Generation"

Over a year ago, I read an article about Barack Obama banning the pubic from getting selfies with him at events. At first it seemed like he was doing this to avoid the endless swarms of people who no doubt flock to him wherever he goes. He went on to explain however, that it wasn't the people that were the problem. He said he missed a time when meeting individuals involved eye contact, a firm handshake and some conversation. Instead people would hijack the opportunity to strictly ensure that they got that invaluable selfie “for the gram”. The story went viral because it spoke to us about just how far we’ve thrown ourselves into the digital world of selfies.

Fast forward to 2018 and we’re now all “living our best lives” at a rate which we haven’t seen before. Smartphone manufacturers now pump more and more into developing and marketing their rear and front facing cameras. They claim that these advancements can improve our selfies, portraits and show us in the best light possible. This is of course also a reaction to the way in which we use our phones to show off our daily lives and tell our stories. With a recent report claiming that over 250 people have died while trying to get a breathtaking selfie in the last few years, it’s clear that the obsession goes too far for some.

This isn’t just another modern issue that has been brought about by the millennial generation either. Ever since cameras were invented, people have been acutely aware of their best angle, favourable lighting and other elements of editing that can enhance our images. In the last year however, the world of selfies has brought about a worrying trend.

When the Irish Instagram page “BloggersUnveiled” started in 2018 and exposed the dodgy dealings of Influencers and brands on social media, it began to amass a huge following. Among other things, the page showed us all how widespread the use of picture manipulation apps had become among online influencers. In the months since BU has been deactivated, it appears that lots of people have gotten over the initial shock of this and started using the apps themselves.

Ever been scrolling through your newsfeeds and scratching your head over why someone you follow now looks almost like a cartoon version of themselves? Well if you’re not familiar with the app they’re using, it’s called “Facetune” and it’s recent popularity (now at over 5 million downloads) has opened up a scary world of photo manipulation to the masses. It essentially allows users to brush away any perceived defect on your face and completely alter your shape.

How good is it though? Well I downloaded it to find out. I took the below on the left after a night out (hence the no life behind the eyes and coldsore) and decided to see just how gorgeous I could make myself with the app. The picture on the right is the final result.

With tutorials on the app you can quickly learn the ways you can brush, smooth, remove and enhance any part of a picture. Some of the edits I made to the left photo was to smooth out my face, nose, hair and remove all freckles, scars, stubble and the coldsore. I then gave my eyes some much needed life. Finally I brought my cheek bones in and made my nose thinner.

These are all edits and features that the app highlights as being popular with users. Side by side the differences are pretty clear but had I uploaded the one on the right to my instagram I wonder if people would have noticed that something was up. My mam said that she much prefers the one on the left so If I did have any niggling hang ups, they’d have been forgotten after those kind words. <3

So what has turning myself into a Ken Doll like avatar taught me? I don’t think it’s really taught me all that much. I do worry about the impact of what apps like this may have on impressionable teenagers, but then again magazines and TV have always churned out images of unattainable perfection to the masses. In 2013, a viral video showed us just how much photoshopping goes into models we see in magazines.

The video has eerie similarities to the types of adjustments you can make on Facetune just a few years later proving that mobile photography technology can compete with that used by production houses. It’s not too long ago that people thought putting filters on our pictures was deceiving yet now we routinely scroll through each of them before giving ourselves a healthy glow and hitting that share button. I think we are just seeing the evolution of this and more people will start to join those online who push an image that in no way resembles what they really look like. I can safely say however that I won’t be joining the Facetune generation any time soon.

Looking to give your brand a digital face lift but in the right way? Get in touch with me today and we can put a plan in place. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

What Brands Can Learn From Conor McGregor's Instagram

With Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon after nearly two years edging closer, it’s clear than no matter what way the fight goes, brand McGregor will always keep on winning. The fighter has had a rather controversial 2 years since he last stepped into the cage. His two “mega fights” in the interim with both Floyd Mayweather and a bus window may have appeared to many as somewhat (or entirely) staged, but this upcoming fight will be a return to what McGregor calls “true fighting”.

An idol to many young men in Ireland and the representation of all that is wrong with masculinity to many of their mothers, as his popularity has grown so too has the controversy around the way he “talks the talk” and “walks the walk”. I personally tend to set the moral decency bar quite low for millionaire cage fighters and so I don’t get let down when he starts his usual tirade of “smack talk” with his opponents. His brash behaviour is usually broken up by regular philanthropic outbursts too so for many of his more ardent followers, it all balances out in the end.

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that McGregor and his team have built an empire around his brand by leveraging his own social channels to build attention, hype, and keep us wondering what’s coming next. Having just signed up to a 6 fight/whiskey promoting deal, I believe we’ve only seen the beginning of what his brand is capable of. Let’s take a look at some of the clever ways he’s managed to use his Instagram in particular to boost his commercial success and how these same steps could be used to build any brands online presence;

80/20:

One of the main rules in social media that has persisted since its beginnings is what people call the 80/20 rule. This rule states that communication from brands on social media to their audience should be 80% informative, entertaining and useful with the other 20% being left for directly commercial purposes. If brands or influencers flood their feeds with strictly sales pitches or ads, then they’ll alienate their audience pretty quickly. The very best social feeds tell a visual story and McGregors Instagram is full of examples of this. Whether he’s training, calling out possible opponents or just sharing pictures with his son, he is engaging his audience with what he knows they want to see.

If you contrast this with the content from full time influencers on social media, it becomes apparent very quickly that the 80/20 rule is rarely even considered by most. Below is a picture of 15 recent Instagram posts from Conor McGregor’s accounts beside 15 recent posts from Geordie Shore’s (UK based reality TV show) Holly Hagan. I’ve placed the word #ad over any of the posts that have either a product or company tagged in the photo or caption.

You can see from the above how much Holly Hagan’s Instagram has been bought out by brands pushing everything from “Tan Gummies”(yes they’re actually a thing in 2018) to dating apps. McGregor on the other hand, opts to focus heavily on sharing his training and other aspects of his life with his following. With a recent article from Business Insider stating that David Beckham can get paid up to $300,000 for a single sponsored post on Instagram (he has double the followers), it’s perhaps surprising that McGregor is not trying to cash in more.

McGregor and his team understand that the greater money will be made over the long term and that building an audience of fans (MMA or otherwise) through engaging content will help to secure this. This strategy is a must for brands especially on a platform like Instagram. Focus on sharing relevant, helpful or entertaining content around your brand and it’s niche and save the sales pitch for intermittent sponsored campaigns.

Collaborations:

When McGregor does do collaborations or ads, they are usually with brands that make a lot of sense. He has promoted energy drinks, teeth whitening and other fashion products over the last few years in what were no doubt very lucrative deals for both parties. Usually he tries to put his own spin on these however and play up to his own character to make it seem almost less about the product and more about himself. The perfect example of this was his 2018 ad with fast food giant Burger King below.

If you manage a brand then choose your collaborations, influencers and other advertising partners in an authentic way. There’s nothing worse than hearing a clearly forced and scripted sales pitch come from someones mouth. Let your advertising partners work on the ad copy, scripts, blogs etc with you to let them carry your message in a way that suits both their audience and yours.

Cross Selling:

Not content with just being a millionaire fighter, McGregor has always looked for new ways to diversify his revenue streams within his own brand. Despite recent reports of his McGregor Sports and Entertainment Ltd making a loss in 2017, I doubt the Crumlin native is too worried about this blip. He has had a part in building other ventures like The MacLife, an online publisher pumping out daily MMA content, the McGregor F.A.S.T training programme, his upcoming David August clothing range and most recently his Proper 12 whiskey. It’s the way he seamlessly cross sells these through his Instagram however that is most impressive.

These products all become part of his story and everything from training to toasting victory is backed by the appropriate brand. It never feels forced or like a hard sell, but it’s there in the background making an impression. This is cross selling and content marketing done right and proves that there could be no end to what he will promote in the future. With baby Conor Junior now having a Instagram account with over 160k followers (it has a blue tick but may still be fake), I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a “MacBaby” range on the horizon.

Humour

The main takeaway from McGregors Instagram that I think brands should consider is the general way he approaches social media. With many celebs and big brands social feeds now closely managed by agencies and with content appearing almost like manicured press releases, it’s clear that McGregor has more control over his and that he can (or just decides to) post what he wants when he wants. These can be random photos from nights out with his friends or bizarre posts that get people talking online. One example of such a post is the time McGregor decided to take to his Instagram to pay homage to Irene, who he says had the “gaf sparkling”.

Image Via: NotoriousMMA

Another great example of this was the time McGregor went to visit 2 Pac’s last “gaf” after landing in LA to begin training for an upcoming fight. This should have been a memorable moment for McGregor but you can see from the caption below that he wasn’t all that impressed. I’m hoping for a future autobiography part ghostwritten by Roddy Doyle.

Image Via: NotoriousMMA

What stops many brands from posting to their social feeds is the fear that their content may look unprofessional compared with others. The key to really building a loyal following is not to have perfectly professional content, it’s posting regular and engaging content. This could be sharing out a relevant viral video or image, a staff member bio, a customer review or a quick but slightly grainy snapshot of your latest product release.

Don’t take yourself too seriously on social media and try to have as much fun with it as possible. If McGregor isn’t always precious about what he shares with his millions of followers, then you shouldn’t be with your content either. If you’re looking for guidance on how you can start to get more from your digital content, get in touch with me today. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

What The Ads You See On Social Media Say About You

At the beginning of this year, Facebook was in the news for all the wrong reasons. The media spotlight was on the company’s perceived misuse of our data and how much of this was for monetary gain. This pressure was then compounded by the Cambridge Analytica scandal that gave us the impression that democratic elections could be swayed with the right combination of cleverly targeted social media ads and messages. Although I do think that influencing an election may be a bit of a stretch, social media no doubt has the power to build awareness among us and influence our consumer decisions both consciously and subconsciously.

These controversies were all happening at a time when GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) was on the horizon meaning that online advertising was about to change. As I spend a large part of my day job setting up social media ad campaigns, I thought it would be interesting to study the types of ads I’m targeted with every day and if these ads would be relevant to me and my interests? I decided to screenshot every ad that appeared on my phone for a week to find out. I also hoped I’d be able to determine the types of companies that are spending big on social media advertising while I was at it.

Firstly, I set out some simple parameters for the test and would base my results strictly off mobile ads I was shown on my personal Facebook and Instagram (also owned by Facebook) accounts. I disregarded my work accounts on these platforms and Snapchat entirely because it’s 97% “HiSmile” teeth whitening ads anyway. The period of this study was from the 26th of March until the 1st of April 2018 and I found that on average I was spending 1.5 hours a day across both apps. That makes up roughly 16 hours worth of social media during the week in question which is not something I’m proud of. Much of this time is actually spent watching random videos, browsing comment sections, reading in app articles and using the messenger app. When I focused solely on newsfeed scrolling, I was seeing roughly one ad every 5 posts on Facebook and one ad every 4 posts on Instagram.

As you may be aware, Facebook advertising allows businesses and brands to show targeted ads to Facebook and Instagram users based off certain factors i.e. interests/friends interests, history on the app, history on other linked apps and search history online. From what I’ve given over to Facebook in this regard, I imagine it’s aware that I'm a 26 year old male, I enjoy content related to sports, travel, memes, tech and video products and I use social media and other office applications every day. The types of pages I follow and engage with on social media include clothing brands, travel pages, publishers, sports teams, influencers etc.

If Facebook (and the marketeers setting up their ads) got their targeting right, then these are primarily the types of ads that I would have seen. By the end of my week I had seen a total of 290 ads across both apps. If you don’t believe that I actually recorded all of these, well I really am that sad and I’ve compiled them in a short video complete with some jazzy music! Enjoy

If you sat through all of the above, then fair play to you because I wouldn’t. When lined up in the order in which they were screenshot, it’s hard to see any sort of trend or pattern to these ads. If you start to categorise them however, you get an idea of which industries are spending the most money on social media advertising and which ones Facebook identifies I am most likely to engage with. Using every ounce of Excel skills I have (not much), I put together a pie chart to represent how many of the 290 ads fell into each category;

You can see from the chart that the big spenders on social media ads are tech companies, travel companies, recruiters (all in this case were linked to my field of work), educational institutions and online retailers. The ad frequency was highest for shopping related websites that I had visited online with one particular H&M sale ad popping up five times before the week was done. The types of ads that fell under “other” were one for hair transplant clinics, some government initiatives and charity fundraisers/events. The real advantage of Facebook over traditional advertising is that if you were to do the same experiment with your own newsfeed, the ads could be almost completely different and tailored specifically to you.

Having spent my life convinced that I’m my own unique person, it turns out that Zuckerberg’s machine was able to build a pretty accurate profile of me as a user and more importantly a potential consumer. So what have I learned from a week spent screenshotting ads other than that I need to put the phone down and get out more? The main thing I have taken away from this is just how powerful social advertising can be at getting a relevant message out to your audience. I was also reminded of the importance of proofreading and spellchecking your ads after this shocker from a company who’s identity I will protect;

Are you looking to set up your social media ads and don’t know where to start? Get in touch with me for a free social media ad campaign proposal that will help you get your message in front of the right people. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

The Life Of A Full Time Meme Maker

A meme is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as:

“An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.”

When I graduated from Maynooth University in Media Studies in the September of 2015, I had aspirations of landing a dream job in media. What I couldn’t have predicted was that within a few months, I’d be making memes full time (so it pretty much came true). An opportunity came my way when someone posted about a job vacancy as a “Content Creator” on a media graduates Facebook group. Although I didn’t know what a content creator was at the time, I didn’t let that stop me and applied for the job. After putting together some fairly ropey photoshop samples (Youtube tutorials can teach you anything), I interviewed for the role and started creating content for CollegeTimes and TeenTimes the following week.

CollegeTimes were like Ireland’s answer to LADBible back in 2015 and TeenTimes was similar to publishers like Pretty52 but aimed predominantly at a teenage female audience. For anyone unfamiliar with how publishers operate on social media platforms, here's a quick run down of how they become profitable;

1. They identify an audience on the web and social media

2. They engage that audience with content (videos, images, blog posts etc)

3. They convert this new audience into a loyal following through future content and competitions making them more susceptible to seeing their future posts and ads

4. They run sponsored ad campaigns to promote their own brand/merchandise or affiliated products/brands to this audience through articles/targeted ads etc. This is then scaled up and the profits become greater

Social networks themselves generally work to an ever changing algorithm that ranks posts on your timeline based on your likes, characteristics, behaviours on the platform and the activity of your close friends. Publishers take advantage of these algorithms and deliver content that focuses solely on share-ability. This means that it’s not enough for a user to simply "like" their content, they must either comment underneath it or share it on their own timeline to give it greater reach. 

If this content is then directly shared by other popular pages and influencers, it accelerates the reach of both this piece of content and thus your online brand. Publishers make their money by consistently pumping out content like this and being in a constant state of “virality” (I don’t think that’s even a word….yet) among their audience.

Although most of the above will be obvious to anyone who spends time on social media, my role involved sharing viral videos, articles from our team of writers and creating my own memes (9 a day!) to build our following at a relentless pace. This may sound easy but I am about to take you on a journey into the dark corners of the meme world. This piece isn't meant as an exposé on other full time meme makers but I am about to lift the lid on the whole industry (kinda).

Generally, as a meme maker, you work off trending topics, pop culture imagery and current affairs to put together a fresh idea that then becomes your meme. Unfortunately, when you’re trying to churn out 9 memes a day, this isn’t always realistic. To combat this, I’d routinely scan Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to spot where that perfectly relevant meme was just waiting to be discovered. Once discovered, I’d redesign it and add our logo. Some would call this process stealing, I called it inspiration so I could sleep at night.

This is common place in the meme world and by the time any meme has really gone viral, it’s original source becomes insignificant. Once out there, it belongs to the ether of the web and is destined to float there in it’s multiple forms for eternity. In many cases, we would find that some of our most popular memes would appear on larger or smaller pages with similarly high levels of engagement. It was kill or be killed!

Enough of the blabbering, it’s time to let some of my finest work do the talking. TeenTimes was a publisher aimed mainly at teen girls from the ages of 12 and 18. Content for this page was mainly related to things like BFF’s, fairy light room decorations, Gossip Girl and Channing Tatum. These topics (as stereotypical as they may sound) were almost a sure fire bet when it came to getting those likes, shares and comments.

When it came to the memes specifically, TeenTimes already had a distinctive design for their memes which they called the "Emoji Memes”. Michael Breen, a student intern from DCU at the time, initiated me into the world of Photoshop as we began to design and share masterpieces like the below on a daily basis;

The sad fact that I was a 23 year old man designing memes like the above all day was not lost on me. The experience did teach me a lot about social media though. Why that meme did so well (386,000 shares) was because it spoke to that audience in a way that encouraged them to tag their friends or share it out on their own pages. The page did already have over 1,000,000 followers at the time but that level of organic engagement for a single post is still incredible.

Facebook has since hindered publishers and brands massively when it comes to organic reach but the above still illustrates how even the simplest pieces of relevant content can stimulate engagement. When you share content like this consistently, then “pennies make pounds” and your page reach and thus awareness snowballs. Below are two more of my tragically cringe worthy TeenTimes memes that further illustrate this point but are also just great to laugh at (my captions are particularly priceless).

College Times on the other hand had a smaller audience of around 280,000 fans when I began to create content for that page. With the help of a great team of content writers producing blogs and my ever increasing meme powers, we began to push the reach of the page to new heights. Identifying that the audience for this page was more about skipping lectures to go on the rip than their younger TeenTimes counterparts, we focused our content on exactly that.

Again, I’d like to note that personally I never really found any of these memes to be clever or funny, I just knew by looking at them that they would get the engagement levels we were after. Below are just two examples of the types of memes we would share on CollegeTimes;

The beauty of the meme game is that even when you feel like you have it worked out, there’ll always be a surprise waiting for you. My surprise came on the day of May 7th, 2016. Having arrived into work to review my previous days memes and reply to any of the top comments, I was shocked to see that one I hadn’t really thought much of had began its viral journey to an unprecedented 80,000 likes, 67,000 comments and 25,000 shares.

Now I’m not a mathematician but if you account for the way the algorithm on Facebook worked at that time, I’m gonna say this post alone reached more eyeballs than the World Cup Final in Brazil the summer before. This is still a meme that I see regularly pop up in random corners of the internet and I always give it a quick like to keep it going on its way.

I didn’t only make earth shattering memes during this period of my career, I also got the opportunity to create promotional posters, feature images for blog posts and most memorably a recruitment poster aimed at writers in the summer of 2016. While brainstorming how we could do something different with this poster, I scanned the internet again for inspiration. After a couple of minutes, I opted for a nod to the then clown like figure who was always in the news during his laughable attempt at becoming the president of the USA.

Sadly for me, as quickly as I had gotten a foothold in the meme world, my foray into social media virality (I will make it a word) was to end. The company that managed both pages was sold in the middle of 2016 and I had to give up the meme dream. I did learn a lot from my time as a professional meme artist and the experience has honestly been a great basis for my work in digital marketing since.

Memes will always be around in some way or another online as long as there is content that engages people and their inherent need to share it with others. Marketers and brands should always operate on this basis when their posting to social media platforms in particular. If you’re not putting out consistent content that people will enjoy (videos, images etc), then how can you expect them to listen when you’re giving a more commercial sales pitch?

If you’re looking to boost your own brand through content marketing or just looking for someone to talk to about your meme addiction, get in touch with me here.  You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook.