Our Blog

We're a marketing and communications agency with a digital heart.

[herdl]

Our Favourite Marketing Campaigns of 2013

Happy New Year from everyone at Herdl! To get 2014 off to a flying start, we've chosen three of our favourite marketing campaigns from last year that showcase the most creative, unique and successful marketing campaigns of 2013.

Oreo Super Bowl Tweet

The first in our trio is Oreo’s expertly timed Super Bowl tweet, ‘you can still dunk in the dark’. Oreo’s tweet generated a wave of online activity and provides an excellent example of how effective real-time ‘newsjacking’ can be.

It was during the power-outage which affected the Super Bowl game in February last year between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. When the power went out in the Superdome, hundreds of thousands of viewers naturally took to the twittersphere including the well-experienced Oreo social media team. Oreo cleverly turned the 34 minute blackout into a priceless marketing opportunity with the below tweet receiving over 21,000 interactions via Twitter alone.

This tweet created a viral storm and was retweeted 10,000 times within just the first hour. A response such as this, however, is not simply the result of a sheer luck; in fact, many of Oreo’s marketing campaigns in 2013 were successful due to the simplicity and control over what, where and how they were implemented - as well as why they did it!

A previous example of Oreo’s well crafted marketing from 2012 includes their support of gay pride, ‘Proudly Support Love!’ which centred around an image of a colourful rainbow Oreo cookie. Again released via social media, their tweet generated more than 182,000 retweets and favourites combined.

Oreo’s real-time approach, alongside their knack for well-thought, simplistic and honest campaigns, is what has earnt them a well-deserved place in our favourite marketing campaigns of 2013.

Volvo Trucks

Volvo haven’t been the only brand to utilize the allure of Jean-Claude Van Damme in their marketing over recent years. However, ‘The Epic Split’ stunt in 2013 must surely top the list in terms of ‘weird and wacky’ for the 53 year old actor.

The YouTube video, which finds Van Damme doing the splits, wedged between two reversing Volvo trucks, aimed to “demonstrate the stability and precision of Volve Dynamic Steering”. The disturbingly, awe-inspiring feat went viral across the internet and generated well over 66 million views on YouTube. The resulting boost to product and brand awareness solidified the campaign as a side-splitting (or leg-splitting) success for the company.

See the spectacle for yourself below:

And still the campaign lives on! Van Damme’s display of extreme flexibility has inspired a deluge of spoof imitation videos. Other, well-known celebrities have jumped on the band wagon including Channing Tatum who performed ‘Jenko’s Epic Split’ on the film set of 21 Jump Street and received over 14 million views. Also, legendary actor Chuck Norris attempts to upstage Van Damme with the help of CGI performing a similar stunt wedged between two planes while balancing a team of pilots on his shoulders - this imitation has since totted up over 21 million views.

In respect of its uniquely bizarre concept and the outstanding viral response, ‘The Epic Split’ sits proudly as one of our favourite marketing campaigns of 2013.

Red Bull Stratos Space Jump

Our list wouldn’t be complete without including one of the biggest and best-known marketing campaigns of 2013 - Red Bull’s Stratos Space Jump.

Red Bull is becoming synonymous with high-octane, high-profile and high-budget marketing campaigns that do wonders for their brand recognition and customer perception. Year on year, Red Bull have consistently developed some of the most memorable marketing campaigns in history and 2013 was no exception. “Red Bull Stratos” was Red Bull’s mission to the edge of space where pilot Felix Baumgartner then made a 128,000 foot freefall jump back to earth.

Red Bull Stratos was a test of human limitations and coincides beautifully with Red Bull’s core brand values.

52 million people worldwide streamed the event live online. Countless more individuals have seen news clips, reports and re-watched the video as well as the supporting documentary from the dedicated event website. Red Bull’s Stratos Space Jump remains the most-watched live web stream ever in the history of the world wide web.

The echoes of this unbelievable stunt will carry well into the future. The jump challenged and broke 5 Guinness World Records, as well as Baumgartner achieving the title of the first human to break the sound barrier without engine power. True to their brand values, Red Bull’s event is not only an amazing marketing campaign but a historical feat for humanity.

For us, the Red Bull Stratos mission has it all and represents one of the greatest marketing campaigns of the modern era. Therefore, it rightfully sits at the top of our favourite marketing campaigns of 2013.

Throughout 2013 there have been some great marketing campaigns. Some campaigns have been creative and moving, others being very odd and bizarre; either way we’ve all been talking about them. Our favourite three marketing campaigns continue to live on, making them worthy of favourite marketing campaigns of 2013.

By Ellis Moore

[herdl]

SEO Jargon Buster

If you're confused by the jargon that accompanies search engine optimisation (SEO), you don’t need to feel ashamed - there are literally hundreds of phrases that have been coined over the past thirty years, describing numerous techniques, types of websites, pages, processes and links that experts use in their daily language (mainly just for posturing and to assert their dominance).

The trouble is that SEO jargon can alienate the rest of us, which is a side effect that some agencies relish. After all, if you don't understand what's happening, who are you to question their results?

Unfortunately, this type of relationship has become quite common with an old-hat SEO contract, but as an agile marketing agency we like to do things a little differently!

We don’t judge ourselves on criteria that our clients don’t understand. Instead, our aim is to work with you to achieve the overarching goals of your company. Working in this way allows us to provide genuine value, through a range of fluid marketing services tailored to your needs. This approach gives the benefits to the client, rather than the marketing agency doing the work.

As search marketing is an important part of the services an agile marketing agency offers, we want to help you to understand what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. It’s inevitable that sometimes we do use some language you may not understand but the bottom line is that SEO isn't as confusing as you might think! With our Jargon buster; we’ll help you to understand what SEO can do for you.

Algorithm

In the context of search engine optimisation, 'algorithm' refers to a search engine’s process, criteria and system of ranking a website in its search results. These algorithms are highly complex and are constantly updating. Google, for example, rolls out 500 to 600 minor updates a year with the occasional major update such as ‘Hummingbird’ earlier this year. For search marketers, staying up to date with these changes is crucial, as the spammy way in which SEO was undertaken before 2011 is an entirely different process to today’s content and user driven model.

Keyphrase

A 'keyphrase' is the query, search term or phrase which users type into a search engine. Researching what key phrases your customers are finding you for and identifying new opportunities is one of the most high-return activities in SEO. Optimising and ranking for the right keyphrases is an ongoing process which we aim to refine and develop over the course of a campaign to make sure that we’re bringing the right traffic to your site.

SERP

A SERP is the acronym for the Search Engine Results Page, meaning the results returned from a search engine in response to a users organic search. In search marketing, high rankings on the SERP page is the dominant term for search engine success. The majority of traffic (33%) coming from Google is through the number one result, meaning that achieving this elusive position will usually result in high levels of traffic. However, whether or not this is the right traffic for your site depends on your key phrase research, for example a luxury sock website achieving the number one position for ‘cheap socks’ is not useful to anyone and unlikely to result in conversions!

Domain Authority and Page Authority

Domain Authority is the predictive ranking system scored from 1-100 to reflect how likely your overall site or specific page is to perform in the search results. This metric is calculated through combining a number of metrics which include the number of links, the quality of these links and your social profile which acts as a way of predicting how trustworthy your site is - and how high up it will in appear in the search results. Domain Authority and Page Authority should only be used as an indication but, if these metrics are high this usually corresponds with high search rankings and increased levels of traffic!

Link Building

We like to think of links as votes or recommendations - the more links a page has, the more likely the page is to rank highly in the search results. In basic terms, links indicate to search engines the popularity, relevancy and importance of a page through factors known as link signals which determine whether links to a page are genuine and trustworthy. Link building and solicitation is therefore a key strategy and an essential component of any SEO campaign but also one of the hardest to measure as it's impossible to know the exact amount of trust that's passed from one link to another.

Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the generation of blogs, articles, videos, eBooks and so on, with the purpose of 'shareability' and the creation of inbound links. Google’s latest update, Hummingbird, focuses on the relevancy, trust and authority of content; which signals the importance of content marketing in SEO as well as the future of marketing. Link building is still important, however, a high number of links combined with a lack of social sharing can now negatively affect a website’s ranking. This focus on content marketing signals a change from ‘spammy’ SEO into engaging, customer focused marketing. In this new age of SEO, content is King.

We’re sure that you’ll come across many more phrases as you delve deeper into the world of search marketing, but as we use the phrases and techniques on a daily basis we hope these explanations are of use to you. Check out the rest of our blog for more tips and tricks, and let us know if you find this useful or if you have any suggestions!

By Sam Day

[herdl]

Herdl Interview with the Leicester Mercury Business Monthly: 'we eat, sleep and breath digital'

We're extremely delighted to have been interviewed and featured in the November edition of the Leicester Mercury Business Monthly newspaper. The piece offers great insight into our past, present and future, as well as detailing our agile marketing approach to services.

Directors, Ged Day and Gareth Morgans lead the interview, outlining the core values of an agile marketing and communications agency, The key word here is “agile,” - it’s what makes us different. [...] Being agile is what ensures we always remain focused on our clients and their goals.’ Our unique approach, explored in the article, displays a new format for buying and managing marketing services where client goals are the driver, and our services are dynamically resourced and applied to achieve them.

The featured article has been a great opportunity for us to communicate with local Leicestershire readers the motivations behind the company formation in relation to the wider marketing world. Ged and Gareth stated, ‘We’ve worked at digital agencies which have been built upon the traditional model and we recognised their failings. [...] We both worked for one of Leicester’s oldest digital agencies, [...] the company had lost touch with their clients and was focused on creating cash cow packages rather than building a great service. A lot of what was bad about that company drove us to change the way we designed and delivered out marketing services.’

This catalyst is the main driver behind everything we do and inspired us to create the first agile marketing and communications agency in Leicester and the surrounding county!

Our growing team see the biggest challenge ahead as ‘going against the grain in terms of how we deliver services. Businesses are so used to buying marketing service piecemeal, it’s often hard to break the mould.’ However, the ever-changing economic climate means that businesses are always demanding more from suppliers in an increasingly competitive marketplace and any strategy to better service these needs will hopefully be welcomed.

Our whole team are motivated and passionate about agile marketing – our aim is to help take companies to the next level by injecting some big brand DNA and delivering the services clients' need, exactly when they need them. By working autonomously, with the same remit as an in-house marketing department, we can ensure your budget is always working as hard as possible!

By Ellis Moore

[herdl]

Changing the face of Men's Health

Herdl are proud to be taking part in Movember 2013 to help raise awareness of the health issues that men face. By growing a moustache or “mo”, we hope to raise money to support this worthwhile campaign.

We’re excited to be teaming up with our client, H Squared Ltd, this year and together change the face of Men’s health

Please donate to our campaign by following this link - MOTEAM.CO/H-SQUARED-GENTLEMENS-CLUB

To find out more about Movember please visit the Movember Website.

[herdl]

3 Useful Applications For The Agile Marketing Team

At Herdl, we advocate Agile marketing because it delivers the most effective results for our clients and means we’re always working in their best interests. Being Agile means going against more rigid, service focused models set out by traditional marketing agencies by becoming more fluid and responsive to what your client truly needs.

Below are some of our key Agile principles:

- Constantly analysing and refining campaigns based on first hand results - Accepting and planning for change - Loving data and using it effectively - Collaboration between teams and stakeholders

If you’d like to learn more about Agile Marketing then make sure you check out our previous post which covers Agile marketing in more detail.

Working within an Agile Marketing Agency environment is fast-paced, highly demanding and requires you to be both proactive and reactive to client needs. To aid us in our day to day management and implementation, we make use of a vast variety of tools and applications.

We literally have dozens of programs, software, systems and devices to help us work smarter and maximise our efforts. We’re constantly on the lookout for new-fangled tools to add to our arsenal! If you’re a budding agile marketer, or even a seasoned vet, our list below should give you a leap in building your own repertoire.

1. Google Drive Google Drive is the epicentre of our organisation. We use Drive to create, store and share all documents across our team. Not only does Drive facilitate “run of the mill” word processing, presentations and spreadsheets but also hosts many more feature rich programs through apps.

Using Drive, our team can work collaboratively in real time, editing documents simultaneously on the fly. This is great for idea generation, collective processing and working remotely. All our documents are stored in one central location and can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Using the Drive software application, we sync folders directly with our devices (Drive is supported with excellent mobile and tablet apps as well as desktop) so everything stays up to date, wherever or whatever we’re working from.

Documents can be hosted and shared outside the organisation which is extremely useful when working with clients and 3rd parties. Not only is Drive extremely flexible and empowering, but also secure, knowing that all files and folders instantly backed up with unlimited revisions if we ever need to retrieve anything!

Sounds amazing you might say, must be expensive you must be thinking. Actually no, it’s extremely cheap to pay for storage (you even get 5GB free with any Google Account). Native Google Docs and apps don’t even take up any of your storage space either, only your regular (non-Google) files.

If you’re not already using Drive we recommend giving it some serious thought.

2. Trello We use Trello as our project management system. Again, this online tool has fantastic iOS and Android applications enabling our team to access projects and information on the go. Push notifications to your mobile are extremely useful if you want to keep up to date with a project when you’re out of the office!

Within organisations on Trello, projects can be broken down using boards which contain lists, lists which contain cards and cards which contain checklists. This depth of information allows us to control all aspects of a campaign from within one system and easily organise tasks and project details.

Trello possesses a wealth of functionality. As well as being able to assign multiple users to boards and cards, you’re able to make comments, mention other users and subscribe to lists and cards to follow progress.

Being able to upload documents and images directly within each card, as well as sync with Google Drive documents, makes Trello a real hub of information. Card descriptions and labels can be used in many different ways to organise your tasks and projects. Due-dates and Google calendar integration ensures your projects stay on track, as well as being able to access a calendar view within Trello itself.

It would be impossible to list everything Trello has to offer within this post so make sure you check out this free (yes, free!) application for yourself. Trello also offers a “business class” option which includes even more features.

3. FreeAgent Any tool which helps keep on top of laborious, day to day admin tasks is a real winner in our book! We prefer to spend as much time as possible working on exciting projects with our clients rather than being swamped in stacks of paperwork. FreeAgent is a fantastic accounting system which allows us to do just that!

FreeAgent deals with the numbers. Incomings, outgoings, budgets and time tracking - this system keeps everything stored in one place within an easy to use, intuitive interface. Estimates evolve into projects at the touch of button which in turn can be used to record your time spent on a project and generate invoices.

By integrating with your bank, you can keep a close eye on finances as well as the in-built reporting which means you can see what’s coming in, generate profit/loss projections and analyse what you’ve committed the most time to.

Again, FreeAgent is available via an online dashboard but isn't supported by mobile applications. It also doesn't have free options available like the other tools in this list. However, the ton of features make it worth the £25 per month.

--

These are just three of the applications in our toolkit which we make use of on a daily basis. We definitely recommend checking each one out in more detail and giving them a try. Please let us know if you find any of these useful or if you have any alternative suggestions!

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

5 Mistakes Brands Are Making In Social Media

Social media provides brands with a unique opportunity to communicate with their audience. Anyone who works in social media is aware of the enormous array of benefits that can be gained from utilising social channels. However, managers and content creators must also remain vigilant to the numerous mistakes which can undermine a brand. Many brands are making the same errors when it comes to social media marketing - are you one of them? To help you avoid these pitfalls we’ve compiled this list of what we think are the 5 most common mistakes brands are making in social media:

1. Not Having a Plan

Social media, along with any marketing activity, needs to have a plan. Your social media plan needs to be aligned with your wider marketing strategy in order to create a fully integrated campaign. This aligns your brand communications, allowing you to measure the success and performance of each channel in regard to your overall objectives.

2. Inconsistency

Keeping up with the constant increase in social platforms whilst staying active in your existing profiles can be a time consuming and difficult task. But consistency across your social channels is key, from how regularly you Tweet to how you address your customers on Facebook. This is what solidifies your social presence, conveys your personality and communicates your core values to your audience. To this end, it’s important not to vary too much across the platforms you choose to engage in or be inactive in one whilst you post daily in another. This can lead to alienating a section of your audience and reducing your social influence.

3. Dishonesty

The idea of brands being transparent and authentic is not new or innovative. Social media doesn’t just make it easier for customers to see when brands are being dishonest - it gives them the power to say something back. If a customer isn’t satisfied or if your brand doesn’t meet their expectations, customers can complain and you are expected to respond. Unlike traditional channels, by using social media, both the complaint and response can spread one-to-one or one-to-many in an immediate and far reaching way. The immediacy and reach makes it the perfect channel to expose brands which are not being honest. This allows one dissatisfied customer to communicate with a network of potential customers, letting them know that you’re doing something wrong and you’re not doing anything to remedy it.

4. Broadcasting

Treating social media like any other media channel is a dangerous mistake to make. Rather than joining and engaging in direct and personal conversation, a huge number of brands use social media as a broadcasting tool in the same way that they use traditional media. Yes, social media is a conversation starter, but acting in this way denies the essential component of social media - feedback and dialogue. Using it in this way is effectively shouting at your audience rather than aiming to interact with them through relevant hashtags and seeking out conversations which are meaningful to them. Acting in this way can make your audience lose interest and prevents you from creating a meaningful and lasting relationship which ultimately enables you to gain priceless consumer insight into their behaviours and preferences.

5. Selling

The value of social media lies in relationship creation rather than product promotion. Your audience is aware that any brand entering into social media has an ulterior motive and they expect to be rewarded for entering into a dialogue with them. Competitions, giveaways and discounts have become the trend as a way of moving away from direct promotion whilst providing the audience with a benefit that involves the brand. However, this overt method is becoming too common and less appealing. To truly engage your audience you need to focus on interesting content, as people need to be engaging with you for a reason - because of the experience not just because you’re bombarding them with a sales message or because they want a 10% discount.

There are hundreds of examples of social media gone wrong, and whilst these mistakes aren’t necessarily large scale ‘fails’, they devalue your social presence and weaken your brand. What mistakes have you seen trending?

By Sam Day

[herdl]

Antisocial Networking?

The world of social media is something that has affected all of our lives in recent years. It seems that every few months there’s a new website to join or app to download for sharing parts of your life with friends and strangers alike. Even if you’re not online yourself, it’s hard to ignore the increase in the use of social networking in the media. It’s rare to find an advert at a bus stop without a Twitter handle at the bottom and fans can now keep up with their favourite bands via their Facebook pages. Despite all this, there has also been a rise in a new concept- antisocial media. Apps such as Snapchat and Nextdoor are taking us out of the public spotlight and allowing us to use networking apps and websites to connect with a very limited number of people.

One of the most recent anti-social media developments is Snapchat, a smartphone app which allows people to send photos and videos to their friends that disappear within 10 seconds of them being opened. The real-time picture chatting app connects users with friends via saved phone numbers or by searching exact usernames, making it very difficult to connect with total strangers. The app was created as ‘a connection between friends’ and it is often described as ‘the anti-Facebook’- a place for people to share all the photos that DO NOT belong online!

In the US, social networking site Nextdoor also provides users with an alternative to Facebook. Aimed to improve communication between neighbours and make streets safer, Nextdoor only allows users to connect with their neighbours and uses location data to limit people’s connections to their locality. Social networks like this are aimed at friends, rather than the public but still let people share messages and media with those who really want to see it. Perhaps these networks are not really ‘anti-social’, but are actually MORE sociable than some of the most popular websites. Surely connecting with people we know is of more value to us than sharing irrelevant details of our lives with total strangers?

However, one social experiment in New York has taken the idea of anti-social networking to the next level. ‘Hell is Other People’ is an online service that allows users to track where their ‘friends’ are through data shared by Foursquare, suggesting alternative ‘safe zones’ to go, where you are not likely to bump into anyone you know.

It appears that the privacy issues are at the heart of antisocial networking. It’s hard to ignore the increasing number of online privacy horror stories in the media and schools are now encouraging pupils to only connect with people they know. And let’s not ignore the fact that some people simply don’t want to share photos and information with others. But are we forgetting the true beauty of these technological developments? We now have the power to connect with people on the opposite side of the globe, something which was previously very difficult to do.

Maybe we can learn something from anti-social media. These apps still allow us to communicate with our friends, family and colleagues without being tempted to “overshare”. Perhaps using social media to cut off the rest of the world is pretty extreme, but more than a few people out there could do with thinking twice about sharing what they had for dinner with all 500 of their Facebook friends, because quite frankly, who cares?!

[herdl]

Google Hummingbird Update: What Do I Need To Know?

Towards the end of last week, on their 15th Birthday, Google revealed an algorithm update which they proclaim to be as revolutionary as the Caffeine update of 2010. This latest update, code name Hummingbird, has already been in effect for at least a month according to Google.

So what does this mean for SEO? Surely an update of this significance will require a radical rethink in how we market ourselves online?

Actually, no. The word from Google is to stay focused on high quality, original content and producing a great user experience.

Why?

Fundamentally, the algorithm focuses on how Google processes it’s data - rather than how it collects data or what it’s actually looking for (as it did in 2010). Simply, Google is still looking for the same criteria from websites but has changed the way it presents certain findings to a user’s search query.

The update itself includes “conversational search” enhancements which allow the search engine to better respond to how users define queries. This specifically relates to Google’s acknowledgement of mobile and voice searches.

What this means is that the search engine has become more intelligent and can essentialy understand more of a user’s search query in context and therefore provide more relevant and accurate results.

In addition, the update also included more features for Google’s Knowledge Graph (the results that provide information within the search listings - in our experience, most seen in the top right corner showing information pulled from Wikipedia). Knowledge Graph facts can now be displayed side-by-side as part of the new comparisons feature as well as being able to filter certain results.

We’re looking forward to seeing the new “touch optimised” design for mobile search as well as new iOS7 and cross-device features which were also announced.

Want to learn why Google continues to update it’s algorithm? Have a read of our article on How Google’s algorithm has evolved to protect it’s core business.

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

There's More To Branding Than Meets The Eye

A common misconception is that branding is how a company looks - their logo and style. It’s true that branding does include these important elements, however, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that we don’t see.

At Herdl, we think of branding like an iceberg. There’s a small peak above the water which everyone can see but below the surface is where you find the big chunk of ice! In the same way, everyone can see the visual identity of a company, so it’s easy to think that’s all branding is about. Yet just like an iceberg, there’s a lot more going on below the surface which isn’t readily visible.

Every brand has a story and this story feeds into that brand’s personilty. This story is derived from the brand’s core objectives, what it has set out to achieve. In line with this, brands behave in certain ways and communicate with consumers using a carefully crafted tone of voice. All these elements stem from understanding the companies overarching goal. It would be naive to think that big brands have naturally evolved to form the personalities we find today. Serious thought has gone into exactly how the brand should look, sound and feel to the consumer - what is the emotional response the brand is trying to evoke from their target market? Branding is less about how something looks and more about how it makes you feel.

We advocate the concept of brand archetypes. This idea combines the notion of brand stories and personalities with elements of consumer psychology. Big brands take form as one of twelve universal brand archetypes that we as humans subconsciously relate to and are instantly familiar with. These brand archetypes have been present throughout human history and can be found in ancient legends as well as on the high street!

For example, Nike takes the role of a “Hero” brand helping athletes become stronger, perform better and overcome obstacles. Another easy one to spot is LEGO which has adopted the “creator” archetype through encouraging value creation and developing a vision. ODEON cinemas are an “Explorer” brand enabling you to discover new experiences through film.

We are able to recognise these stories and can relate to them ourselves. It’s this familiarity which develops trust and produces the desired emotional response. It’s important to remember that branding is about extracting a companies essence and moulding this into something which makes the audience feel in a certain way - it’s this feeling that will affect their purchase decision and achieve the overall aim of the company.

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

5 Simple Ways To Grow Your Facebook Page

Facebook is one of the hardest social networks to grow a brand following due to the separation of normal users and pages. Facebook limits a brand’s ability to go out into the network and seek ‘Likes’ to avoid normal users being spammed to death with requests from brands and businesses. The onus is on the user to find and like the page before any interaction between brand and consumer can take place.

To help with this, we’ve put together a set of 5 simple ways to grow your Facebook page.

1. Make use of the cover image

In 2012, as part of their Timeline update, Facebook introduced the brand page cover image.

This image spans the top of the page and gives brands plenty of real estate to get themselves noticed. The cover image on a Facebook page is 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall providing lots of room for designers to utilise with recognisable branding. As humans, we’re naturally drawn to faces so consider including one in your image if possible.

More recently, in July 2013, Facebook ditched their ‘20 Percent Rule’ for cover images giving brands extra freedom to display the messages they want.

2. Use a Like Gate for quality content

This is a tried and tested method for growing your page. Applying a Like Gate forces users to Like a page before displaying tabbed content.

If you produce quality content that people really want to read they will be happy to like your page for the chance to see it. Try using teasers and excerpts to tempt potential visitors with the promise of more to follow.

Be careful not to disappoint as users will be quick to find the ‘unlike’ button if they don’t enjoy what’s behind the curtain.

3. Cross platform promotion

If you’ve already built a social following on another network then take advantage of this. Twitter is notoriously easier to grow a social presence so make sure you are tempting users to also Like your Facebook Page.

Easy ways to do this include posting direct links on other networks to your Facebook posts. Use what Facebook is good at to give users an extra benefit for visiting your Page - photo albums are good for this. You can also use this method in conjunction with a Like Gate

A ‘platform’ which is often overlooked is the offline world. Promoting your Facebook Page in-store can often be one of the best ways to generate likes. Give customers a reason to visit with Facebook only promotions or discounts.

4. Social Icons in a easy to find place on your website

One of the most frustrating things we see are social media icons hidden at the bottom of a page where no one is going to find them. We understand that having brightly coloured buttons may not match your website design so don’t be lazy and have some branded icons designed!

The best place to place your social media icons on your website is in the header, so they appear on every page in your site. However, if this isn’t possible, consider placing them on the contact page rather than just down in the footer.

5. Facebook Hashtags

In June 2013, Facebook released their hashtag feature. You’d think that hashtags boost the performance of posts by helping you reach a bigger audience, right? Apparently not says research by EdgeRank.

Nevertheless, even if hashtags don’t improve the exposure of your posts they can help you find people to start a conversation with. Search relevant hashtags and see who’s using them - you may be pleasantly surprised to find media-savvy, interested individuals for you to engage with.

There are obviously hundreds of ways to grow your Facebook brand page and we’ve only described a handful in this post. Social media, but especially Facebook, is built on communication so never forget the value of starting a conversation. Got any helpful tips for users who’ve just started a page?

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

The Benefits of Personal Branding

We’ve noticed an interesting rise in the number of clients who require personal branding. For those of you who are unfamiliar, personal branding refers to a person, rather than a company, becoming a recognisable brand. For Example:

Joe Bloggs works for Company X and Company X has its own branding and goals. Joe Bloggs as an individual wants to be known and recognised within his industry as a thought leader, he wants to be seen as an expert at what he does. The name Joe Bloggs is synonymous with Company X and both benefit from the association.

In this example, Joe Bloggs becomes a brand in it’s own right with different goals, visual identity and tone of voice to Company X. The relationship between Joe Bloggs and Company X is advantageous for both parties through increased exposure, perceived expertise as well as expanding the range and remit in which both can operate.

Personal branding can be an excellent  tool for any marketing agency but should only be applied when appropriate. Personal branding becomes relevant for brands who may benefit from having the voice of a well recognised and respected individual supporting their cause - adding the extra dimension of Sage or ‘expert’. That being said, this applies to most brands and companies who would not only benefit from the perceived expertise but added exposure through association as well.

Some great examples of personal branding include Jamie Oliver, who utilised his personal brand to generate great support for his on-going Food Revolution. Also, Mary Portas, who not only used her personal brand as a vehicle for her Save The High Street campaign, but also helped her retail agency who piggybacked off it with great success - her agency went on to rebrand from Yellowdoor to Portas in January 2013 (such was the overwhelming success of her personal brand).

In summary, personal branding can be a highly effective tool for marketing and communications agencies. Utilising a personal brand can not only add significant weight to a company or campaign through identification but also versatility through operating as two separate entities. Stepping out into spotlight under your own name can be a daunting task but comes with added benefits if you are truly an expert at what you do!

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

How Google's Algorithm Has Developed To Protect Its Core Business

It’s practically common knowledge that Google dominates the search market – we’d make a hefty wager you’ve used it to find this article! As a marketing and communications agency, it’s important for us to understand the mechanisms being used behind the scenes and consider the factors that generate each set of search results. By doing so, we can help your website become bet­ter in the eyes of Google through following the rules and guidelines they provide

In the world of search engine optimisation (SEO) there’s been three defining moments in Google’s history – game changers that have transformed the SEO landscape. However, to truly appreciate the core of Google’s search algorithm, we must look at the original factors that were present at its inception and how these have developed alongside their fundamental goals.

The core of Google search: PageRank

PageRank is the beating heart of Google’s search results. The concept relies on a set of on-page factors combined with value passed from other pages via links. Through this model, Google sees the lattice of links between web pages as a voting system. In the early days, quite simply the more ‘votes’ a page received, the more authority the page carried for it’s given subject matter. Today, things are little more complicated.

Google’s development: 67% market share

Google quickly developed a significant market share pushing out rivals such as AltaVista, Lycos and many others. Eventually, Google surpassed the number 1 rival of its infancy, Yahoo, who continues to trail the behemoth along with new entrant Bing. In 2013, comScore estimated that Google holds a 67% share of the U.S search market. This is in comparison to Yahoo! who retains 16.5% and Bing who has amassed 12.1%.

Google’s fundamental goal: relevant, accurate and valuable results

Google’s job is to recommend the best websites for a user’s search term – it wants to be the friend you turn to when you have a question, need some advice or want go exploring with. Google’s main revenue stream, its ad network, relies on the fact that Google has become our primary information source and we trust the information it provides because it gives us relevant, accurate and valuable results to our queries.

These relevant, accurate and valuable results can’t be taken for granted and Google must proactively protect this asset from spammers and websites that try and game its algorithm (using black hat SEO). Google regularly updates the technology in its search engine to find the very best results on the web – with teaks being made almost every day!

However, there have been significant updates during the search engine’s history which have redefined how Google generates results. These are the game changers we mentioned earlier and have been developed to safeguard their primary business by refining results and weeding out spam.

2003: Florida update

This was the most significant update made to Google’s algorithm up to that point in its history. This update spelled doom for sites that relied on keyword stuffing, invisible text and hidden links.

2011: Panda update

Panda changed the landscape for modern SEO with a shift in focus from links to content. The update sought out what Google describes as ‘thin content’ and slapped websites with a penalty if they were found to not be providing relevant, unique or valuable content for users.

2012: Penguin update

This most recent large-scale update targeted links, a cornerstone of Google’s original algorithm. Penguin rooted out ‘unnatural’ links created by spammers and penalised websites using these methods to game the algorithm. This had a very negative effect on older websites that had previously relied of lots of links to gain authority.

What’s on the horizon?

Google’s highly secretive and closely protected algorithm has developed significantly over time but remains true to its overarching goal; to provide users with the most relevant, accurate and valuable results for their search query. Google is looking for the best websites on the internet and through the information they provide, constant experimentation and experience, we can determine the ingredients Google believes makes a good website. These ingredients are what provide the best user experience – the websites that Google search users want to find.

This is the core of Google’s algorithm…

… and although there a lot of elements to the recipe, fundamentally, Google wants your website (and wider online presence) to concentrate on providing the best experience for users. 

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

Making Ourselves At Home

It's been a busy and exciting week at Herdl as we begin moving into our new offices in Ashby-De-La-Zouch, Leicestershire.

Slowly but surely, the place is starting to take shape but big plans mean we will certainly have our work cut out for us in the coming months.

Here's a sneak preview of what our reception/meeting room is looking like:

There's still lots left to do but we were happy enough to hold our first design meeting in the new space a few days ago. The meeting went really well and we even received some compliments on the decor!

We were staggeringly pleased with the broadband speed - 120mb/second!!

Exactly what you need at a marketing and communications agency...

We'll definitely be posting more updates and photos of our progress so stay tuned.

Got any creative office ideas?

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

What Do We Mean By, Agile Marketing Services?

Throughout our website, documentation and when you speak to us face to face, you’ll hear us mention “Agile Marketing Services” - but what does this mean?

The traditional model for marketing and communications agencies is dying (slowly and painfully - and most painfully for clients it would seem). The buzzword of yesteryear was “integration” - “integrated” marketing services or using an “integrated” marketing agency. Meanwhile, although it is still valid to adopt an integrated approach to marketing in essence, the way integrated marketing campaigns are currently implemented needs radical evaluation.

The popular phrase, “when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”, best describes the landscape for traditional or integrated marketing agencies. Services are mostly delivered in-house and often assume a “one-size-fits-all” approach. These services are difficult to scale and work in the interest of the agency, rather than the client. For example, if an agency has a team of social media managers, you can bet your bottom dollar that their proposal will include social media management - the point is that the solution is built around the services the agency can supply, not what the client truly needs.

So how do we fix this?

Agile marketing services flip this problem upside down. Agile marketing takes inspiration from agile development and agile project management where teams work more flexibly to improve the speed and effectiveness of campaigns. The key element of our interpretation of being “agile” is working towards client-centred goals. In this sense, we remain agile to achieve what is best for the client and adapt the services we offer to suit their own unique needs.

To this end, the new agency model must remain lean, nimble and most importantly, scalable. In-house services shift focus towards strategy, project management and core services, drawing upon trusted partners to deliver additional services only when needed. The agile marketing agency delivers strategic planning, expertise and on-going analysis to create organic, short-burst campaigns which are constantly changing and evolving. This iterative process ensures the continuous delivery of value.

Agile marketing agencies adhere to a set of overarching principles and importantly remain adaptive to the needs of the client. Teams are built dynamically and scale upwards and outwards as required.

Agile Marketing agencies...

Work towards client-centred goals and see client satisfaction as the highest priority

Align themselves with the client’s needs and objectives

Openly plan for and adapt to change throughout a campaign

Act autonomously in the interest of the client

Deliver iterative, short-burst campaigns

Utilise feedback loops to constantly improve

The key message for clients is that through agile marketing, agencies are able to create a blend of services which have been tailor-made to deliver their objectives. As this mentality continues to gain popularity within the marketing sector, clients will notice changes to company structures, increased collaboration and more in-depth analysis.

Are you, or do you work with, an agile marketing agency? Let us know your unique approach!

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

Website Launch!

We’re very happy to announce the launch of our new website!

For what seems like a very long time we have ‘made do’ with just a holding page while we have been concentrating on client work. As most communications agencies probably do, we have spent several weeks labouring over the finer details and content. However, we are extremely  pleased with the final outcome and very eager to share our creation.

The website matches up perfectly with our ethos and branding. We’ve adopted clean and simple styling which transitions from our written documentation seamlessly and the one-page design keeps the content clear, concise and completely waffle-free!

    You can find us at http://herdl.com

Thoughts or comments are always welcome!

By Gareth Morgans

[herdl]

The Search Is Over...

We've been scouring Leicestershire over the last few months seeking new offices and are pleased to announce we have finally found the perfect place to plant our roots.

Our new company address will be:

4 Pass Courtyard Ashby De-La-Zouch Leicestershire LE65 1AG

We can't wait to get in there and start making the place our own! The official move-in day will be 29/07/2013 but in the meantime we couldn't resist a cheeky trip to IKEA...

We'd like to extend a HUGE thank you to our designer/handyman/removal guy, James, who kindly helped us carry our new sofa upstairs...

There's plenty more work to be done but we're looking forward to settling in over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more!

If you have, or have seen, any creative office ideas or furniture please let us know by commenting below.

Thanks, The Herdl Team