April 7, 2020 — Published by: Drew Benvie
All Posts in Social Netowrk
April 11, 2017 — Published by: Fereshta Amir
Periscope rolls out custom hearts for brands & one in five videos on Facebook is now Live
August 16, 2016 — Published by: Janey Spratt
How Instagram is making itself more appealing to brands
October 14, 2015 — Published by: Mashaal Punja
Will Pinterest be the new online shopping marketplace for fashion brands?
Last week, Pinterest rolled out the ‘buy’ button to thousands more merchants, four months after it unveiled its e-commerce plans. Social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have all jumped on the bandwagon to make their sites and apps shoppable with an additional button to buy the product featured, shortening the process from decision to purchase.
Whether you're planning a wedding, searching for outfits, creating arts and crafts with your children or decorating your home, Pinterest has typically been the platform used for practical and inspirational ideas. Today, the platform stands as a ‘social shop’ for its followers and removes the hassle of searching for an item of interest externally.
According to Fortune.com, the visual discovery tool now has more than 60 million ‘shoppable’ pins available across its platform, with users often searching with the intention to buy. Interesting and eye-catching ‘pins’ - or visual bookmarks - previously directed users to blog posts or a completely different website. However, with ‘buy’ buttons now embedded onto Pinterest itself, could this affect the way shoppers purchase items from their favourite fashion brands?
Dedicated fashion followers and bloggers are always open to new and innovative companies. Whether it’s eBay, charity shops or vintage marketplaces, they’d go anywhere to get their hands on the unique and exclusive. Let’s face it... no one wants to be caught in the same outfit as someone else, which is why apps including Depop, eBay, Asos Marketplace, ASAP54 and Grabble have generated a stream of income for fashionistas recycling their apparel. Apps like online fashion directory, Shopstyle, owned by POPSUGAR Inc, also has a click-to-buy option and offers high-street brands, but could Pinterest’s latest venture see the likes of POPSUGAR being dethroned?
It's fair to say that there are platforms available for every type of shopper, but Pinterest seems to be the go-to platform which will create success for bloggers and smaller, independent brands who ‘pin’ on a regular basis. With 100 million users, Pinterest already has the numbers and fashion brands to capitalise on its offerings. Many brands have seen company profits double since the ‘buy’ button was introduced, however, bigger brands also stand to benefit from uploading their lookbooks and driving more traffic to their websites through Pinterest.
April 2, 2015 — Published by: Janey Spratt
The rise of dark brand campaigns
Recently we've been seeing a growing trend in the use of 'dark' marketing and PR campaigns, where brands use private social networks to connect with their audiences. Today, Laura Saggers, the US-based singer-songwriter, is debuting her new single and video on Snapchat. You can view the promo video for the next 24 hours before it vanishes. This kind of marketing goes against the grain, but with the captive audience that can be created with such an approach, it is definitely on the rise, and here are the trends we've been seeing in this space.
1. The rise of brands and talent using Snapchat
As well as Laura Saggers, we’ve been noticing more and more influencers (particularly YouTubers such as Caspar Lee, Tanya Burr and Connor Franta etc.) joining Snapchat to connect with their fans and when we were totting up the social media stats for March’s Battenhall Monthly, we saw that Snapchat has now acquired 100m users. Brands are also beginning to add Snapchat into their content mix and early adopters include; Chiquito, Nars, NBA and Heineken.
2. The rise of brands using messaging apps
We're also noticing the rise of use for private messaging app Whatsapp, who announced this week that they've launched voice calling. This week, Clarks also announced that they'll be launching a 'dark' campaign using the app to add a 'coolness' factor to the brand. There's also some luxury fashion brands such as, Cartier and Diesel are using the app in India to offer a premium and personalised service.
At Battenhall, we use Whatsapp to send out daily news alerts to our subscribers and we use it internally to communicate with each other and our clients everyday, something which is also on the rise across our client base too. As a result, we’re seeing fewer emails and phone calls and for us, it’s a logical way of working.
3. The rise of brands using dating apps
The final trend that’s caught our attention recently (or at least the singles in the office...) is slightly more niche - brands using dating apps for PR and marketing campaigns:
- Mini and Happn: This Valentine’s Day, dating app Happn ran a competition with Mini offering users the opportunity to match with the Mini profile and win a weekend away for two
- Ex Machine and Tinder: Movie Ex Machina promoted their movie using Tinder at SXSW this year where users who matched with Ava were soon disappointed to learn that she was in fact a robot
- Shelter and Tinder: The charity is also using Tinder to try and put an end to the housing crisis where app users can match with ‘Brick 22’ – if you’re lucky enough to match with the lonely brick, it will give you more information about the housing crisis and encourage you to sign their petition.
We're keeping our eyes out for how these private networks are developing but also the different ways that we can experiment and use these networks to engage with brand audiences.
December 19, 2014 — Published by: Drew Benvie
Global Social Network and Messaging App user numbers: December 2014
Here at Battenhall we review the world's top social media and social messaging apps every month, and we publish this data in our publication the Battenhall Monthly. We thought we would do a special end of year review, with Instagram having just hit 300 million users, overtaking Twitter in the process, this is the most up to date chart we think you'll find.
It's a way before any social network catches up with Facebook, but we predict WhatsApp and WeChat will be the growth stories of 2015.
November 21, 2014 — Published by: Anton Perreau
New Social Network ‘This’ launches
Whilst many social networks are self-proclaimed 'Facebook killers', few have actually been able to convert a considerable number of the masses that flock to the social network daily. In November, a new social network named 'This' launched, and whilst it doesn't claim to be a Facebook killer, it might just give the social network some serious competition. Why? Because this social network is solving one of the biggest issues at the moment - noise.
It’s no surprise that most of the time, the key things people are sharing on social media networks are links with their own third party endorsement for the content, complemented by some reasoning from the sharer. For those wondering where this fits on the magic triangle of social networks, it's finer curated than Facebook and much more streamlined than Twitter. You don’t really have to go far to find a user that is fed up with the way some existing social networks have become.
Unlike App.net and Ello, this social network doesn't rely on the masses to be a success - it's simply a hat tip to the fact that there is plenty of good content across the web, and that people love sharing content with their communities. Whilst This does have a long way to go, it's already proving a point - follow the right curators on the network and you'll read just the right amount of varied content daily from across the web that you actually need. Anyone familiar with “Media Twitter” will recognise plenty of names on the service’s growing user list. This offers a different experience for those digital natives, as explained by Pando Daily, "This offers sharing without the pressures of The Stream(TM)".
The project, funded incubator-style through Atlantic Media, was envisioned by Andrew Golis - a sort of entrepreneur-in-residence at the company. Every media organisation, newspaper, magazine and outlet has a set of 'must reads' for the day - now with This, everyone can be a curator of their own. To learn more about This or to sign up to become a member, visit: this.cm
September 26, 2014 — Published by: Drew Benvie
Internet goes wild for Ello launch
At about 10pm last night the internet was reverberating with word of a new social network. Ello was causing mass excitement as hundreds of people faithfully shared the headline 'the invite-only social network Facebook users are 'fleeing' to'.
Interestingly we also saw a lot of skepticism just two hours in to launch. Some wrote it off as another 'new hipster' network while others said it was doomed to the same fate as Path, App.net and Google +. One thing was clear, loads of people wanted in on the beta launch...we even caught Emily Bell having a little moan about her lack of access, quite understandably.
The gang at Battenhall got in early, bashed things around and have done the reading for you. Here's a quick overview of all you need to know so far:
Ello is keen to let you know, you are not a product. This platform (currently) does not intend to sell your data.
The network is ad free. Sweet relief!
Ello is free to use - as such they plan to introduce special features which users can pay for at some point. We're very interested to see what these will look like.
They make it very easy to delete your page - big fat button, you can't miss it. You are not being forcibly held.
The design of the network is extremely pleasing. Clean, simple and beautiful. It was made by designers and artists at design studio Berger & Föhr - that explains that then.
We've heard people moaning about glitches and it being buggy but we say just a few hours in following a viral 'sign me up' tidal wave...give these guys a break. It's free, pretty slick and they're probably pooped.
So what do you get?
A nice profile as you'd expect (profile pic, header image and a bio), the ability to add friends - there's a nice visual panel of them. You can post status updates, pictures and GIFs, comment on posts and even see how many people have viewed your post.
More features are on the way, they say they'll be coming through daily - but we're satisfied for now - this is a beta after-all. We're just enjoying having a new platform to play with.
Fancy a go, drop us a comment below and we'll add you in...we've each got a handful of invites! We'd love to know what you think of it so far...
