LinkedIn’s self-serve ad platform has been going through a few recent changes in the last six months. Earlier this year, company page managers and advertisers should have noticed design changes and even new tools such as conversion tracking and the ability to save target audiences. Just recently, three additional changes should have advertisers (that aren’t spending $25,000 a month) jumping for joy! Retargeting website traffic If you have a decent amount of quality traffic to your website, retargeting can be an expensive way to remind…
I have a love/hate relationship with social advertising. On the one hand, there’s always something new to learn, meaning my work helping clients develop social advertising strategies is never boring. I’m always feeling like there’s something new to understand/master. On the other hand, there’s always something new to learn, meaning once I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code, something changes, and I feel like in many ways I’m back to square one. Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed a few changes to…
According to LiveStream, a video live stream platform, 80 percent of users would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82 percent prefer live video from a brand to social posts. If those numbers don’t convince you that your organization needs to be considering live video as a part of your marketing strategy, I’m not sure what will. If you haven’t read up on live streaming lately, you may be missing opportunities to engage with your online community, not to mention the chance…
If you already subscribe to our monthly newsletter, aptly named the Press Box, you might’ve noticed we’re doing things a little differently this year. Don’t worry, we’re still sharing some of our latest client news and celebrating our office culture, but we’ve added a section we’re calling “The Rundown” which will keep you informed of the latest media relations, content marketing and social media trends we’re seeing. We like to think of it as the Skimm or NextDraft for PR (and marketing) folks (or at…
Our work for Hilldrup has transformed over the years, and recently we’ve been able to fully implement an Earned, Owned, Paid strategy which includes pitching local and trade media, writing web content, managing social media profiles (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) and promoting content using social advertising. Gathering content for clients with operations in multiple cities often can be a challenge, and today, users on social media expect to see engaging content (video/photos) all the time. So when the opportunity to visit Charlottesville and Chapel Hill…
If you work in marketing, public relations or social media, you know that the social media landscape is in a constant state of flux. With changes happening at what seems like a daily rate, staying on top of these trends can be a daunting task, and sifting through the clutter can be time consuming. To help you stay up to date, we’ve sifted through the news ourselves and compiled a list of recent changes, and rumors of possible changes to come that are worth paying…
If a marketing automation system has made its way onto your company’s marketing wish list, bear in mind that, like most things in life, there are some pros and cons to incorporating these systems into your workflow. Here are some things to consider before spending your money on a new system: The Pros Many of the potential positives are pretty obvious — you’ll have the opportunity to achieve better ROI and track your leads and conversion rates. This can make your overall marketing efforts much…
Photos and graphics are important elements that can make your posts and pages stand out and break up copy, making it easier to read. Unless you create your own images, however, you’ll need to make sure that you’re legally entitled to use what you download. Why you can’t just look for a copyright symbol? You might assume that if an image doesn’t have the word “copyright” or letter C in a circle (©), you can freely use it. This isn’t necessarily the case. Images first…
If you know anything about the culture here at Hodges, you’re probably aware of our mild addiction to sweets. We’ve celebrated birthdays with cakes, cookies, pies and even ice cream from local Richmond businesses. Today we celebrated the opening of a new neighborhood bakery, Whisk, by stopping in for a quick treat. The work they’ve done to the inside of the old Globehopper café has made the space bright and inviting, creating it a great place to grab a quick afternoon coffee (supplied by Lamplighter). I…
Earlier this month Instagram announced that it was making its ad API (application programming interface, which allows users to access the platform’s analytics to help monitor and drive marketing campaigns) available to marketing partners. More simply, much of the same audience and campaign data that’s available on other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn now will be accessible also on Instagram, opening the floodgates for new brands wanting to advertise on the platform. Back in spring of 2014, (yes, just a little over a year…
They say imitation is the best form of flattery, and it seems that Twitter is following once again in Facebook’s footsteps. This time the imitation comes in the form of auto-expanding link previews. This change shouldn’t be surprising considering Pew Research Center’s latest report showing that the percentage of users who get their news on Twitter is up 11 percent since 2013. What links look like on Facebook: What links used to look like on Twitter: An example of the new auto-expanding link previews: At this…
You may have seen this recent story in the news about a teacher mailing letters students wrote to their future selves 20 years ago. Today, I received a letter I wrote to myself when I was a senior in high school (in 2008), mailed to me by one of my high school teachers. My letter was just one page and to my surprise I have the exact same handwriting as I did seven years ago. Here are some of the best excerpts from the letter:…
