Blogs
Image http://www.digitaltrends.com
In case you hadn’t heard, multi-national internet corporation Yahoo! has acquired content creation platform Tumblr in a billion dollar deal yesterday that not only sent any other start-up owner into an envious dither over the 26-year-old billionaire’s new fortune, but left the rest of us pondering Yahoo!’s long-term strategy.
This is mainly a revenue generating exercise for Yahoo!, since being over taken by Google in terms of the online advertising go-to site, CEO Marissa Mayer has been searching for a sturdy foundation to strengthen Yahoo!’s otherwise crumbling content bastion in a constantly changing digital climate.
By tying down Tumblr’s giant audience; a collective monthly page view number of 17.5 billion; Yahoo! had this to say,
“The two companies will work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance the user experience.”
From time to time, members of the SEO community will publicly ask: “does X tactic still work?”
Cue people from all ends of the colour spectrum (that’s black to white) throwing their hat into the ring and proclaiming that Google has no right to do this; they’re still getting results from that; they expect everything to be less valuable in future and you should be on Google+ just to be safe, like that little red +1 on your website’s door will make Penguin walk on by like some sort of SEO Passover.
The question that gets asked far too rarely is: “should this tactic still work?” and, in the case of press releases, I’m not sure that answer is in the affirmative.
The world of social media saw plenty of action last week with many updates but the Google I/O 2013 event in San Francisco seemed to have taken the main stage across the board in digital marketing industry so let’s take a look at what it was all about:
Continue reading »
We love our comedy here at Branded3, which is why we’re very excited today about the launch of YouTube’s first ever comedy week this weekend.
The online event kicks off with a global YouTube livestream, The Big Live Comedy Show, at 1am on Monday morning (5pm Pacific Time) and will continue for entire week, right up until Sat 25 May. You can also catch a pre-show an hour before the official launch.
Here’s a little word about the event from The Governor himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger!:
St Ives Group
B3 Towers is abuzz with excitement today as it has been announced that Branded3 has been acquired by the St Ives Group; the UK’s leading publishing and marketing solutions group; in what will prove to be a momentous step for our agency.
Adding to what has already been a fantastic year for us with the launch of our first London office and appointment of a new MD, David Crawford; this strategic move further boosts our agency towards achieving our ambitious growth plans.
So what does this mean for Branded3? Well, not much on the face of it, we’ll still operate independently as a standalone business led by the existing senior management team of CEO Vin Chinnaraja, Director of Search Patrick Altoft and Managing Director David Crawford.
This means that our insight-focused and innovative culture built up over the last decade will still remain. There’ll be no changes to the team structure, day-to-day running of the company or the office locations.
Put simply, this exciting move gives us an extra push towards our vision; to be the ‘go-to’ agency for Fortune 500 companies.
Plus, we’re in great company; St Ives Group owns an impressive portfolio of marketing companies, and so the acquisition generates a lot of opportunities for Branded3 to collaborate with some truly forward-thinking businesses.
One man whose excitement resonates through the entire team is Branded3 CEO Vin Chinnaraja, who had this to say:
“I am really proud of my team and what they have helped Patrick and me to achieve. The success of Branded3 is really a credit to them.
“We are focused on being the best and doing the best for our clients and the support of St Ives will strengthen our mission here for both existing and new clients.”
Patrick Altoft shares Vin’s delight and commented:
“This exciting move means that we can continue to grow and expand both in the UK and internationally, whilst still retaining our known and well-respected reputation in the industry.
“Reaching this major milestone is testament to what our team has achieved, and we can’t wait to see what the future brings for our agency.”
So today is a significant day for Branded3 and all those working for it, as we move another step closer to world domination reaching our vision. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this day and continue to support Branded3 as we approach an exciting future.
On Friday 31st May, armed forces charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers will be attempting to break the world record for the longest game of rugby union at Leicester Tigers stadium, lasting a staggering 25 hours.
Two squads of 22 players – the armed forces Tri Services team and Scotty’s team – will be taking to the home ground of Premiership rugby team, Leicester Tigers, on Friday 31st May to battle it out on the pitch until the next day; and Branded3 will be right behind them!
At 11.52AM on the 14th of May 2013 Colin was apparently here. Where you ask? Well the Twitter account of Sky News Newsdesk of course. The original post garnered over six thousand retweets and nearly 2,000 favourites before it was seemingly discovered by the account’s administrator 18 minutes later.
The tweet was subsequently deleted but some clever social brain over at the main Sky News account followed it up with this retort:
Panic over. We’ve found #Colin. All is well. Normal service has resumed over on @skynewsbreak — Sky News (@SkyNews) May 14, 2013
Since then, Twitter has been a flutter with Colin related banter, this being reflected in the trending topics section:
The industry is abuzz with the phrase ‘Content Marketing’ but many people are unsure about exactly what it means and how it fits into your overall marketing strategy.
Our Head of Content Scott Mason and Content Strategist Stephen Kenwright will be leading this month’s Brunch with Branded3 Google+ Hangout on Friday at 11:30am (BST), to reveal all about what makes a successful content strategy and how to align it with your marketing and business goals.
I was feeling my usual Friday afternoon lull, you know the one, when all you really want is for it to be 5pm and the weekend but you actually have three hours of work left. Then I got back from a meeting to find a parcel waiting for me at my desk, considering I didn’t remember ordering anything I was most excited.
I opened the package to find it full of goodies from Ray Ban – a beach towel, some playing cards (which I absolutely did not play with during work time) and a cotton bag. A nice little treat considering I couldn’t for the life of me think of why I’d received it. I then found the note which had the PeerPerks logo in the top corner.
For anyone who’s not aware, PeerPerks is created by PeerIndex which previously just measured social influence but now aims to reward those most influential on social media. They do this through ‘rewards’, basically discounts, and ‘perks’ (PeerPerks) which vary based on how influential you’re deemed to be.
As a Data Analyst with my own blog; naturally, I’m always intrigued to check out some of the keywords that bring people to my site.
Focusing on video games, my blog attracts some pretty random keywords, take a look at this one I found the other day:
So, I decided to check it out for myself. By using the Google image tracking filter AJ Kohn wrote about, I was able to tell this came from image search. So before long, I was searching for photos of ‘pretty emo boys’ to see what image was ranking.
Google+ Hangouts introduce new functions
- Details – Google has introduced new user functions for its Google+ Hangouts such as on-air video processing and immediate publishing. Viewers now also have the ability to live rewind during a Hangout.
- What does this mean? If you use Hangouts as a means of outreach, customer relations management or simply in an attempt to grow your audience on the channel (something which, in my experience, is a very lucrative strategy in terms of G+ fan base) your experience, as well as that of your viewers will be enhanced and the process streamlined.
LinkedIn introduces Channels
- Details – LinkedIn Channels make it easier for users to find, aggregate and share the information they find on LinkedIn.
- What does this mean? LinkedIn has long been about the individual over the company and this update further entrenches that trend. With this update, it is even more important that you are educating your staff about LinkedIn as well as encouraging them to create and cultivate their profiles. Since users can now sort their content by ‘Influencers’, it would be a shrewd business move to ensure your staff fall under that category.
You can now book your place at Branded3’s next SEO & Digital Seminar in London, encompassing talks from Patrick Altoft, Tim Grice, Branded3’s experts and two guest speakers.
With 10 expert sessions covering the latest advice in SEO & Digital Marketing, our 10 Digital Secrets Seminar on Tuesday 11th June is guaranteed to equip in-house marketers with the latest tips for successful strategies.
Coinciding with Branded3’s 10th birthday, the day looks set to be a celebration of the best digital marketing techniques out there, offering a day with interesting people, insightful presentations and great food!
To take a look at what the presentations will cover and see the day’s schedule, head over to our Seminars page where you can also book your ticket.
For the amount and quality of advice you’ll receive, the 10 Digital Secrets Seminar is incredible value for money compared to many other industry events and attendees will enjoy a truly memorable day.
The event takes place at The Hatton venue in Farringdon, London, and is easily accessible by all forms of public transport.
Places always fill up quickly at Branded3’s Seminars so we’ve added extra places this time around, but be sure to get yours booked soon!
For any questions about the day, feel free to call us on 01132 60 40 10 or drop an email to seminars@branded3.com where we’ll be happy to help out.
Hope to see you there!
Latest from B3Labs
- Another milestone reached for Branded3 as it’s acquired by the
St Ives Group - The latest media consumer findings & what they mean for digital marketers
- Talk to Branded3 at @BuyYorkshire in Leeds next week!
Latest from Blogstorm
- Why your press releases are getting you penalised
- After five years, Google still doesn’t know how to rank images
- Tickets now on sale for the next #B3Seminar in London – book now!
