Our coverage

As award winning experts in social media marketing we are often asked to comment on topical industry discussions in the press and at a range of social media events. Here is a selection of our latest media coverage.

 

FT 1000. EUROPE’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES   |  MARCH 2019

agency:2, The Fastest Growing Social Media Ad Specialist. We’re thrilled to announce the Financial Times has ranked us in the prestigious FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2019

www.ft.com/content/238174d2-3139-11e9-8744-e7016697f225

HARNESSING THE INFLUENCER ECOSYSTEM   |   FEBRUARY 2019

This article is part of a series on influencer marketing for ADMAP & WARC. www.warc.com/content/article/Harnessing_the_influencer_ecosystem/124853

Joel Davis, co-founder of agency:2, shares insights into how AI is changing influencer marketing in dramatic ways. In addition, Joel shares best practice tips for influencer marketing and social media professionals.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA AWARD WINNERS | 6TH NOVEMBER 2018

We’d like to announce the exciting news that our Head of Paid Social, Alina Nistor, won Social Media Marketer of the Year at the first ever Social Media Marketing Awards 2018. Congratulations to Alina, this is a well-deserved win from a talented team member!

The Social Media Marketing Awards ceremony brought together the industry’s brightest talent and took place at Club Tropicana in London’s Covent Garden. It was a fab event that we loved being a part of.

In addition, one of our clients, Christopher McKay from Hillarys won Best In house Social Media Marketer of the year. We are delighted for him and his well deserved win.

It is a great accomplishment for both Alina and Chris to have received these social media industry accolades and we’d like to congratulate them as well as all of the finalists and winners.

 

Social Media Marketer of the Year | 18TH SEPTEMBER 2018

 

We’re delighted to announce that two of our team members, Sarah Fritz and Ines Aparicio, are finalists for the Social Media Marketing Awards 2018. This brand new award celebrates talent and innovation in the fast-paced social media industry. Good luck to our finalists!

 

AI and the brand social ecosystem   |  2nd JULY 2018

In his article for Marketing Tech, agency:2 co-founder Joel Davis reflects on how drastically the social media landscape has evolved.  As he points out we have gone from ‘innovative and cool new thing’ to the very building blocks of current marketing strategies.

Davis remarks that smart machine learning is now poised to further shift  the way we can more accurately process data, and, as a consequence, influencer marketing is fast emerging as a reliable and impactful ally in marketers’ toolkits.

According to Davis there is a high-affinity to influencer marketing which is on track to supersede generalised brand content. Getting closer to the hearts of the influencers, and the eyes and ears of their followers and supporters heralds a new era of more authentic communication between brands and consumers.

Read more here  – https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2018/jul/02/delving-brands-social-ecosystem-ai-and-refinement-data

WINNER AT PERFORMANCE MARKETING AWARDS

24th APRIL 2018

We are delighted to announce that Mighty Social, our social ad team, are WINNERS for Best Paid Social Campaign at the prestigious Performance Marketing Awards!

Our AI powered campaign for Showcase Cinemas delivered impressive ROI using our unique audience insight technology. Through our commitment and agility in managing the campaign, we were able to sell out four different films exclusively on Facebook. Not only did we exceed ROI targets by 70% but we drove over 51,000 link clicks to booking sites.

Shortlisted for Best use of Facebook | 11th September 2017

 

Today we have been shortlisted for best use of Facebook at the Drums Dadi UK  Awards 2017.   We have been shortlisted for our paid social lead generation programme we run for Hillarys.

 

We won the Best Use of Facebook at the 2017 international Shorty Awards | 25th April 2017

The ceremony was held at the glamourous PlayStation Theatre in New York and was hosted by celebrities, including the actor Tony Hale and attended by many social media influencers. We delivered a performance driven Facebook ad campaign for our client Showcase Cinemas, which was fuelled by our unique audience insights technology.

We are a finalist for the Best Use of Facebook at the 2017 Shorty Awards in NYC | 17th March 2017

It’s the 4th  award in 4 months for our social media company adding to our CIM, Drum & Deloitte accolades! The Shorty Awards continues to recognize the most innovative, creative, and culturally relevant brands, organizations, agencies and influencers on social media.

We are a finalist for the ‘Best Use of Social Media’ CIM Excellence Awards | 6th Feb 2017

cim best use of social media 2017 awards finalist

The awards ceremony will take place on 27 April 2017 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane London. We will be joining 700 of the UK’s best marketers to mark the occasion.

 

Our popular infographic ‘Social media ad targeting capabilities revealed’ was recently published on the prestigious DMA website | 6th Jan 2017

This infographic compares the reach and targeting capabilities of three social channels: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. As digital marketers are challenged to find the optimal channel strategy for their social media marketing campaigns, we have provided the most popular targeting criteria to make each channel’s capabilities visually clear (applicable to both B2B and B2C brands).

Our expert team then rated each channel’s ability to target and deliver brand messages to the desired audience. https://dma.org.uk/article/social-media-ad-targeting-capabilities-revealed-infographic

 

Out of 45,000 tech start-ups, we have been ranked 22nd at the 2016 Deloitte UK technology 50 Award | 18th Nov 2016

non-deloitte-fast50-winner-sec-rgb-72ppi

 

agency:2 is thrilled to be ranked 22nd  of fast growing tech companies in the UK. We would like to thank our clients and team for helping us to achieve this amazing result.

The Deloitte UK Fast 50 is one of the UK’s foremost technology awards programmes. Now in its nineteenth successful year, it is a prestigious acknowledgement of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK. The ranking is based on revenue growth over the last four years.   fast50.co.uk/2016-winners/2016-winners.aspx

 

The Drum’s Social Buzz Awards nominations revealed – see who’s made it on to the shortlist for 2016 | 28th Sept 2016

drum-finalist

agency:2 is thrilled to be a finalist for The Drum Buzz Awards 2016 – Best use of Facebook

The nominations for The Drum’s Social Buzz Awards 2016 have been announced, shining a light on the best social media campaigns from the past 12 months.

Now in their sixth year, the awards celebrate the crème de la crème of social media communications by rewarding effective initiatives and strategies from brands, individuals and agencies across the UK.

http://www.thedrum.com/

DMA Social Media Showcase  | 22nd Sept 2016

Social Media Showcase

What makes social media sizzle? Join the DMA’s Social Media Council for a look at the most successful campaigns out there – with plenty to learn and take away to boost your own social media strategies.

Hear and learn from Joel Davis, CEO at ground-breaking social media experts, agency:2, on using Facebook, targeted video and ad placements to drive business.

http://dma.org.uk/event/social-media-showcase

Retail and Social Media featured in Retail Week  | 1st July 2016

 

Social Media campaign, Retail Week

Joel Davis, founder of social media agency Agency 2, applauds the efforts of Iceland – both the grocer and the football team. “It’s hit the sweetest spot. Content is great when it it’s about something people are passionate about or the timing is right, or when it fits with the DNA of a brand. Iceland has hit all three of these.”..

Iceland could have also included more of a call to action in its content to try to drive sales, says Davis. “It could have promoted comfort food when England went crashing out for example. It’s important that the content is not just building sentiment but increasing sales,” he says.”

Read the full article here http://www.retail-week.com/topics/marketing/win-how-icelands-twitter-campaign-won-the-social-media-euros/7008888.article

 

Our Innovative Social Insight Engine featured in DBM Today  | 24th March 2016

The Social Insight Engine uncovers consumer triggers to brand favourability and sales, enabling marketers to predict customer needs – and thereby supercharge their social advertising. Our proprietary technology is now at the forefront of the social ad industry.

Special thanks to The Workroom, a leading brand agency, who brilliantly designed our Social Insight Engine’s design & user interface. http://www.dbm.today/agency2-and-the-workroom-launch-audience-insight-tool/

 

Our 2016 social media trends were published on Social Media Today | 11th January 2016

We were pleased to see our latest article published on the popular Social Media Today publication, entitled ‘How Facebook will evolve in 2016’.

Following our trending thought piece, we received a fantastic response, including over 2,400 shares

Read the full article here and find out what Facebook has to offer in 2016.

We always enjoy reading comments from our engaged community; we hope you will join in the conversation #smartersocial.

For more information contact our press office on 0203 567 1380.

Shortlisted as Top 10 London Tech Company | 12th November 2015

This week, we saw our CEO Joel Davis visit NYC as part of a select group that represents the leading UK tech companies. Joel presented the Social Insight Engine, a leading social ad technology platform.

We have been short-listed within the top 10 UK Tech companies and Joel invited to present the power of social insights and social advertising by showcasing our best of class, audience, insights and social advertising tool.

This event is being held in association with: UK Trade and Investment, Thomson Reuters, NYTECH, Chinwag & The London Mayor Office. For more information contact our press office on 0203 567 1380

social ads

Top tech social ad company

 Next Gen social insights & strategies | 11th September 2015

Social media week, September 14-18, is coming up and we are thrilled to be a part of it. Joel Davis will be talking about new technologies and advancements in social insight tools which can transform social media marketing from traditional to extraordinary.

This event is now sold out. Follow us on @agency2 and take part in the conversation about #smartersocial. Thursday 17 September, 9:45 – 10:35 am.

 

 

What Facebook means for marketers | Marketing Week 27th August 2015

From delivering flowers to booking travel, Facebook is taking on Apple’s Siri by introducing its very own personal assistant feature on Facebook Messenger. But how could brands benefit? Find out insights from agency2, the social media specialists.

What could Facebook’s personal assistant ‘M’ mean for marketers?

 

 

Content or community, What’s more powerful today? | July 2015

The DMA (Direct Marketing Association)  published an interesting thought piece about the power of content marketing and its place within social media communities.

http://www.dma.org.uk/article/content-or-community-what-s-more-powerful-today

The meaning behind social insight data: ADMAP| May 2015

Article overview:

Using social media profiles to understand audiences and gain insights into their lifestyle and emotive drivers will guide more predictive, accurate targeting that engages with the audience’s passions.

warc.com/admap May Issue

Social media strategy: Connecting the dots | March 2015

Our director Joel Davis, will chair a social media strategy breakfast at the DMA.

What is the DMA? The biggest marketing body in Europe, the DMA aims “to connect, enable and inspire our members to drive business growth” primarily through digital communications. Their objective includes facilitating a marketing evolution of growth at both a business and industry level.

The presentation is called Social Media: Connecting the dots and will touch on various aspects of social including successful strategy, integrating social media with other channels, current technology and case study based insights.

Joel says “It is a great opportunity to share industry secrets towards building optimal social strategies.”

How to comply and thrive on social media | October 2014

A great morning sharing agency:2’s unique  social media planning process with an active group of financial service professionals, hosted by the DMA. http://dma.org.uk/event/who-s-afraid-of-the-fca-how-to-comply-and-thrive-on-social-media

 

New investment partners to boost innovation in social media | March 2014

 

We are excited to welcome on-board our new investors Jenson Funding Partners and the Foresight Group, who have given our social media company investment that will be used to boost our industry leading offering.

http://www.angelnews.co.uk/article.jsf?articleId=15549

RR Donnelly future of communications session | January 2014

We presented B2B and B2C case studies that illustrated the ROI on social data driven social media programmes.

 

The Future Laboratory | November 2013

Joel Davis spoke about the future of social media and social data at The Future Laboratory

Cross media 2013 | October 2013

agency2 hosted and chaired a session on : Personalised video delivery across digital channels

ADMAP Magazine | August 2013

SOCIAL MEDIA ROI

Joel Davis, agency:2 Admap, July / August 2013, pp. 24-25

This article argues that brands need a robust social media strategy to have any hope of achieving real business value and profitable online relationships with users.

Joel Davis from agency:2 speaking at:

AOP MEDIA & MARKETING CONFERENCE | March 2013

Talking on topical issues in social media including:

> What are the applications of big data  for social

> How to resource for the ever complex world of social

> Key steps in developing a  powerful social media strategy

 

agency:2 Spreading the power of social media

HOTEL INDUSTRY MAGAZINE 

Winning Social Media Strategy | February 2013

Hotel Industry Mag: How have you approached social media?

Joel Davis: Evidently, strategy will vary from hotel to hotel, depending on what is trying to be achieved. Are you talking about recruitment, launching a new product, increasing hotel bookings, or is this campaign more about internal communications? At the end of the day, a good social media strategy comes down to the specific objectives of the campaign.

Hotel Industry Mag: Which social media channels should hoteliers invest in?

Joel Davis: It really depends on the campaign. When we look at channels, we examine the factors surrounding the customer’s decision making process and how the hotel wants to position their brand. A brand aimed at the family market would make different channel decisions to a brand aimed at business travellers.

I think the key thing is not to separate your objectives from the channel and the content … these things are all bound together.

 

For the full article, go to hotel-industry.co.uk/2013/02/social-climbing/

  • 2012 – Social Media and the Customer Experience, Workshop

    Social Media Best Practice Showcase hosted by Microsoft for British Quality Foundation

    Agency:2 shared how to optimise customer experience by implementing social media tools and ensure that brands reputations are enhanced rather than tarnished.   Looking at current case studies, it’s clear that social media enables brands to monitor, track and prioritise their customers, and analysis of the data provides insights that can impact on many layers of the business.

     

Social media conference
  • How Social Media is the Magic Ingredient for Search, Workshop

    Social Media Measurement Best Practice Showcase at SES London 2012

    Joel Davis presented his views on how to understand the ROI in social media marketing, how to calculate the value of an interaction on social platforms such as Facebook and explored practical steps at optimising activity based on trackable social KPIs.

Social Media Conference
Expo
  • Call Centre and Customer Management Expo, Event

    Integrating Social Media within a Multi-channel Service Solution.

    Joel Davis was asked to discuss how to integrate social media within a multi-channel service solution approach at the Call Centre and Customer Management Expo. As more communication between companies and their customer’s moves onto social networks, dealing with complaints and queries quickly and effectively becomes a necessity.

    Sales and marketing are typically equipped to push promotions but don’t have the structures in place to deal with those who speak back. Customer service teams provide the best channel for dealing with complaints and questions, but do they have the expertise in manage public brand communication?

    You can read more over at Call Centre.

  • UTalkMarketing.com

    How to create a successful social media strategy.

    For many companies it can be difficult to gain a clear view of the bigger strategic picture when it comes to social media. Businesses often make the mistake of trying to build their strategy around platforms instead of their own unique business objectives.

    Yet there are fundamental questions that need to be answered before engaging in any form of social media activity: how does social media investment relate to business value? Is an acquisition or retention model the best strategy for your business? How does your social media strategy align with your business and other marketing strategies? And what are the real costs?

    You can read more over at the agency:2 blog.

August
  • Some Comms Awards

    agency:2 have been nominated for Best Viral Campaign Award.

    For the second year running agency:2 have been nominated for a Somecomm award. This year we have been nominated for Best Viral Campaign award for the Brian Badonde’Art of Technology’ video seeding campaign.

    Don’t Panic launched the somecomms awards in 2010 to celebrate the best in UK social media communications and recognise the individuals, companies and organisations who are revolutionising the use of online to communicate in cool and innovative ways.

  • The Marketing Lounge

    How to monetise your facebook presence

    Social networks are becoming increasingly business minded. Facebook has always been a platform that has been aware of the commercial possibilities that it offers – and throughout the last year it has added features that show an understanding of the needs and interests of brands across industries.

    The emergence of Facebook Deals, Facebook Credits and Facebook Commerce are all evidence of the platform’s willingness to offer brands opportunities to monetise their presence on Facebook.

    You can read more over at The Marketing Lounge.

July
  • UTalkMarketing.com

    How to manage your reputation online

    The reputation of a brand takes years of careful and meticulous development and maintenance – but it can all be lost in mere minutes. That’s why having a proactive reputation management programme in place is vital, both offline and online.

    Online your company’s brand personality is communicated through many channels – your corporate website along with your social presence such as your Facebook Page, Twitter account, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube channels. Increasingly these are the first places that people will go to find information about your company, especially if a news story has just broken about your business.

    Brands must therefore take a highly flexible approach to proactively manage their online reputation. Planning is key – there must be a comprehensive reputation management strategy in place and brands have to be ready for challenges as they occur, it’s no use simply being reactive and constantly fire fighting issues.

    You can read more over at UTalkMarketing.com.

June
  • Socialmediatoday.com

    Social Media Today

    How to Proactively Manage Your Reputation Online Using Brand Ambassadors

    As you will be aware, the reputation of a brand takes years of careful and meticulous development and maintenance – but it can all be lost in mere minutes. That’s why having a proactive reputation management programme in place is vital, both offline and online.

    Online your company’s brand personality is communicated through many channels – your corporate website along with your social presence such as your Facebook Page, Twitter account, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube channels. Increasingly these are the first places that people will go to find information about your company, especially if a news story has just broken about your business.

    Brands must therefore take a highly flexible approach to proactively manage their online reputation. Planning is key – there must be a comprehensive reputation management strategy in place and brands have to be ready for challenges as they occur, it’s no use simply being reactive and constantly fire fighting issues.

    You can read more over at Social Media Today.

  • Reputation Online

    Key considerations when developing a global Facebook strategy

    Joel Davis explores the best way to create a global Facebook strategy. If you’re devising a global Facebook strategy, one of the most important decisions that needs to be made is whether to develop one centralised, global Page, or to create one for each of your local markets in order to increase relevancy and to speak directly to your different audiences.

    You can read more over at Reputation Online.

  • New Media Age

    Kelkoo appoints agency:2 to develop social media strategy in Europe

    agency:2 today announces that it has been appointed by Kelkoo, one of Europe’s largest shopping comparison websites, to develop and manage its Community Management Strategy on Facebook and Twitter in Denmark, Italy and the UK for the next three months.

    Kelkoo’s social media strategy is customer-centric and focused on the design and creation of localised Twitter and Facebook Pages, based on their customer’s passion points.

    The creation of localised content and community management will be in line with each market’s individual needs. agency:2 is providing project management, training and engagement support to Kelkoo’s European Marketing and Customer Service teams.

    Chris Simpson, Marketing Director of Kelkoo commented:

    “With the growing impact of social media on shopping habits, we believe it’s the right time to take the lead and maximise Kelkoo’s presence in social spaces. agency:2 impressed us with their experience, ideas and enthusiasm and were the natural choice to help us launch our social media activity. We believe our European audience will really benefit from the engagement that social media will enable us to provide, and we can’t wait to see the results.”

    Joel Davis, founder and Director of agency:2, commented:

    “This is a great fit for the agency:2 team and we are delighted to be working with such an innovative business. By using the power of social media in Kelkoo’s European markets, we will help confirm the brand’s position as the leading name in comparison shopping sites.”

    You can read more over at NMA.

May
  • The Marketing Lounge

    Gain the edge for your brand on Facebook

    Joel Davis explains Facebook EdgeRank and the factors that contribute to the EdgeRank score.

    You can read more over at The Marketing Lounge.

  • Social Media Week Blog

    Top 5 Tips for improving your Facebook EdgeRank

    Joel Davis provides his 5 top Facebook content optimisation tips. By explaining Facebook’s unique algorithm – EdgeRank. This complex algorithm controls post rankings within the ‘Top News’ stream.

    You can read more over at the Social Media Week.

  • New Media Age

    Blaine Pike hired as European Social Media Community Manager at agency:2

    Due to continued client growth and our focus on delivering exceptional social media campaigns with a measurable ROI agency:2 have hired Blaine to compliment our European Account Management team.

    You can read more over at the New Media Age.

  • Internet World 2011, Event

    How to seamlessly integrate social media

    As an active member of the DMA Social Media Council, Joel Davis was asked to speak about how businesses can seamlessly integrate social media whilst maintaining an ethical and legal approach to all social activity.

April
  • The Marketing Lounge

    Are you flying blind to changes in cookie laws

    Joel Davis follows up on his previous article on the new challenges to online Cookies. Joel presents 4 top tips to help UK businesses comply with the new changes in privacy laws.

    You can read more over at The Marketing Lounge.

  • The Marketing Lounge

    How new cookie laws affect your business

    Joel Davis focuses on whether your online business is ready for the May 25th privacy and cookie law changes and helps you get to grips with?

    You can read more over at The Marketing Lounge.

  • Social Media Week Blog

    Top 5 Tips for Social Commerce

    Joel Davis explores whether Facebook commerce will be a game changer in 2011? Many brands have already started to utilize Facebook as an e-commerce platform to deliver a truly social shopping experience.

    You can read more over at the Social Media Week.

March
  • Top 10 Social Media Agencies in the UK

    agency:2 are pleased to have been ranked within the top ten social media agencies in the UK by econsultancy.com

    You can read more over at the econsultancy.com.

  • Exploring key twitter strategies for brand building, PR and CRM, Event

    agency:2 were asked by the Social Media Forum to discuss how businesses can use Twitter.

    Joel Davis explores the most effective Twitter strategies to optimise brand reputation and community engagement – together with advice on best practice and future trends.

    You can read more over at the socialmediaworldforum Europe.

  • Top UK agencies ranked by social media influence

    The Wall Blog included agency:2 in their top UK agency list based on agencies that are the most influential in social media.

    The term ‘influence’ is always being heavily debated and is a very controversial topic within social media marketing, however you can use PeerIndex to understand your influence within one very poualr social media site: Twitter. Peer Index uses three scores (authority, activity and audience) that are normalised to give a score. The normalisation is non-linear, so to get a score of 90 you need to be in the top 0.001% of the community. Peer Index starts by looking at your Twitter profile and the tool also allows you to register to link up more of your online profiles and gain better analytics.

    You can read more over at the The Wall.

  • No one can afford to ignore the value of social media

    Joel Davis speaks to Nicola Culley from the FT Adviser about the value of social media

    This month Joel Davis was interviewed by Nicola Culley from the FT Adviser about the value of Facebook and Twitter and how brands can effectively use these platforms. Joel Davis for example said “An IFA can use Twitter to share his expertise and developments and also to position them among their competition”.

    You can read the full story over at the FT Adviser.

  • Brand relevance: making competitors irrelevant event

    agency:2’s event at the Southbank Centre, London on the 7th March 2011

    We were asked by the Marketing Industry Network to share our expertise and explore how brands can maximise the return on their social media marketing programmes and stand out amongst the competition.

    You can read the full story over at the Marketing Industry Network website.

February
  • MarketingDotCom Magazine

    Joel Davis’s interview with Marketingdotcom.com on social media marketing.

    Earlier this month Joel Davis of agency:2 and David Wilson were interviewed by Mike Filsaime of Marketingdotcom.com about social media marketing.

    You can read the full interview here.

January
  • Social Media Week 2011, Event

    agency:2’s event at Wahaca on the 09 February 2011

    As the UK’s first social media agency we’re thrilled to be involved with Social Media Week 2011. The event promises to demonstrate the importance of social media, the vast range of opportunities that it offers and the measurable success it can help achieve.

    Register for your place here.

2010
December
  • Shelter

    Happy Christmas from the agency:2 team

    agency:2’s charitable donation to Shelter

    This year agency:2 sent Shelter e-cards to all of our clients as we wanted to make a difference to the lives of homeless and badly housed people this Christmas.

    You can read the full story here.

  • Online Information 2010, Event

    ROI in Social Media Advertising

    We were asked by the Online Information show to share our expertise on ROI in Social Media Advertising.

    You can read the full story over at Online Information.

November
  • MediaPro 2010, Event

    ROI in Social Media Advertising

    We were asked by Media Pro 2010 to share our expertise on ROI in Social Media Advertising.

    You can read the full story over at MediaPro.

October
  • Some Comms Awards

    Nominated for Best Small Agency and Best Social Media Public Sector Awards

    Don’t Panic launched the some comms awards to celebrate the best in UK social media communications and recognise the individuals, companies and organisations who are revolutionising the use of online to communicate in cool and innovative ways. agency:2 have been nominated for Best Small Agency and Best Social Media Public Sector campaign for Hertfordshire Constabulary.

September
  • Ri5

    Making Social Media Work

    Hodes’ Social Media Breakfast – held at One Aldwych on Monday 27th September – sought to illustrate the kinds of success that employers can achieve by using social media through a series of practical case-studies.

    Welcoming invitees to the event, head of business development Cassie Sissons said its real aim was to demonstrate how to harness social media effectively within recruitment and employment strategies. Andy Hyatt, who heads up the agency’s digital team, began by noting that many ‘evangelists’ for social media tend to state “extreme” cases for its use while providing little in the way of real advice. But hard evidence that social media is already being widely used for recruitment purposes comes in the form of a recent Jobsite survey, indicating that that 28% of respondents have already hired successfully via Facebook and 14% via Twitter.

    Hodes’ Stacy Cotton and Herts Constabulary recruitment manager Claire Fordham co-presented the first case-study, which had the objective of boosting applications for the force’s (voluntary) special constable roles. A campaign developed in partnership with social media specialists agency:2 led to a variety of engaging posts being placed on relevant forums and community sites, along with a viral video, a carefully targeted pay-per-click campaign and some advertising on Facebook.

    Ri5

    Click here for further information on the Hertfordshire Constabulary Case Study.

  • Social Media Advertising London, Event

    New Forms of Measurement: ROI in Social Media Advertising

    Joel Davis was kindly asked to present New Forms of Measurement: ROI in Social Media Advertising at the Social Media Advertising event in London. Using case study examples such as Royal Caribbean and Hertfordshire Constabulary, Joel illustrated how social media marketing can influence the buying process and explained how to measure the ROI of different types of advertising, including paid, earned and free media. Within this session Joel discussed popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogger outreach programmes.

    Read more about the Social Media Advertising London Event.

June
  • Online Marketing Show 2010, Event

    Maximising ROI from Social Media

    The team at agency:2 shared our unique social media expertise by illustrating how social media marketing can influence the buying process and drive ROI.

  • New Media Age

    Promoted tweets

    It may be an unknown, but there’s certainly room for brands to experiment with Twitter’s latest initiative, and it seems most agencies are positive about encouraging this. Joel outlined this further in NMA:

    It’s the type of thing one should test, as long as the content is useful for users and relevant to the brand.

    Joel Davis

    You can read more at New Media Age.

March
  • EConsultancy.com

    Using hard metrics to calculate ROI

    We were recently asked by EConsultancy.com to offer our expert opinion on how to drive ROI from social media activities. Here is a short excerpt:

    Calculating ROI should be at the heart of any social media marketing planning process. Hard metrics such as sales, conversions and applications should always focus on defined measurements. An approach like this allows for campaigns to be optimised throughout any live programme and it allows marketers the insights to compare channels and their respective performances for future campaign planning. It’s worth noting that ROI should not be at the cost of brand reputation. Proper quality assurance should always be implemented throughout every campaign to ensure that both the brand and the results shine through.

    Joel Davis

    Read more at EConsultancy.com.

January
  • New Media Age

    Facebook’s Zuckerberg calls online openness the “social norm”

    Joel Davis was asked by NMA to comment on personal data being shared online:

    While anonymous information about users’ favourite movies or music was harmless, there was potential risk in more personal data being shared.

    People still don’t realise the difference between the public and private environment, Google’s increasing attempts to index what’s happening on Facebook mean it’s getting easier to pick up what people are saying. Leaders will always come and go and it’ll only take a few mistakes for it to all go wrong for Facebook.

2009
November
  • Innovation Awards 2009

    Innovation in social media 2009

    agency:2 were nominated for the Innovation Award 2009.

  • Marketing Week

    Using social media to target expat communities

    When HSBC International research found that expats are far more digitally connected than other people, it shared the findings online to build rapport and get the dispersed group to spread the word. Joel outlined that the strategy fits in well with the brand’s claim of being the “world’s local bank”.

    It makes sense for HSBC to start talking about how it knows about the local culture, and issues expats may face.

    Since expats use online forums to connect to like-minded people, penetrating these is a good strategy. It makes sense for the brand to be there to help out with issues, whether they are business or personal issues.

    Davis points to publisher Dow Jones as another brand that has been using forums online to convince expat communities to sign up for various publications. agency:2 helped out on these, which Davis claims were done in a “support capacity, not in a salesy way” and he reports that this has helped treble monthly subscription rates since the initiative began in February.

    Joel Davis and Marketing Week

    You can read the full story over at Marketing Week.

October
  • Digital Mission, LA and San Francisco Event

    Digital Mission 2009

    agency:2 were successfully selected to participate in Digital Mission which was organised by Chinwag and the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), enabling digital companies to expand into overseas markets and attract investment outside the UK.

    Read more at Chinwag.

September
  • UTalkingMarketing.com

    Why social media marketing gets the highest CTR rates

    Much has been said and written about social media, in particular about its inexorable rise and its pervasiveness in today’s digital media environment. Less practical commentary have been made about the trackability and proven effectiveness of social media, especially in the context of a direct comparison with other digital marketing methods such as e-mail marketing and banner advertising. There are a number of ways of making these comparisons but within this article the focus will be on click through rates for each channel and how they prove social media can engage with consumers and stand within the overcrowded digital media landscape.

    Consumers are undoubtedly looking for more personalised communications with their favourite brands and are increasingly dismissive of unsolicited messages. The emergent social media platforms provide an ideal way to do this.

    Joel Davis

    Read the full story at UTalkingMarketing.com.

May
  • Advertising Age

    U.K. Wireless Brand Turns Customer Service Over to Consumers

    One of the UK’s biggest cellphone operators is launching a new mobile network called Giffgaff whose customers will be able to earn free calls and texts by actively marketing the service to their friends and families. Advertising Age asked Joel on how Giffgaff can make this programme a success:

    They won’t be able to rely purely on goodwill. They’ll have to put money behind it in order to get the volume. If you look at the quality of their website, you can see that they have already put lots of thought and energy into it. This brings social media beyond marketing and into the business level, but I think they will struggle. It makes sense to bring something sexy into the dreary world of selling SIM cards and it’s perfect for young people, but it will be difficult to get momentum.

    Joel Davis

    Read more at Advertising Age

2008
November
  • 2nd Annual Mobile Multimedia Advertising and Marketing Forum

    Social Media and Mobile Trends

    agency:2 shared their opinion on social media and mobile trends in the UK. Mobile marketing has the potential to change the advertising and marketing space in the same way that the emergence of the Internet did a decade ago. The increasing availability of multimedia content is opening a large opportunity for sophisticated forms of mobile advertising. As content that already incorporates advertising – like live TV programming – makes its way to mobile handsets, brands and entertainment content providers are beginning to see the value of presenting full multimedia ads with programs.

October
  • Eye for Travel Social Media in Travel Conference, Munich

    Practical insights into how to monetise social media

    agency:2 discussed the impact of social media and user generated content on the travel industry.

    Travel businesses cannot afford to dismiss social media as a fad. It presents an opportunity to gain an edge over competitors, rise above industry-wide challenges and engage effectively with business partners and consumers. Joel Davis used travel and hotel case studies to highlight the customer buying cycle and how to measure the success of social media campaigns.

    You can read the full story over at Eye for Travel.

July
  • Contagious Magazine

    Measuring KUDOS within Communities

    For brands to be accepted within communities they need to add value to the debate or chat. For some brands this means being a thought leader and being useful by sharing knowledge. For others it might be more about facilitating leisure time. In either case, the more a brand is able to help its audience to spend their time or waste their time, the more social capital it can gain. Joel Davis highlighted the four ways to attribute KUDOS in communities:

    Knowledgeable and Useful

    If a brand’s activity is deemed useful, users will respond by positively ranking their comments and thanking them. If brands are not adding value they could be banned.

    Desirable

    The number of visitors from a forum, along with any feedback on the postings, are some of the clearest indications of whether the activity is thought ‘Desirable’.

    Open

    Ironically, ‘Open’ can be measured by looking at instances in forums where brands have been banned or where they get flamed and become the unhappy recipients of a disproportionate amount of negative comment.

    Shareable

    By understanding where traffic originates and its volume over time brands can get an idea of the reach that their contributions achieve as well as the speed with which they spread. There are a variety of tools to help track this, including internal data such as the site’s own web logs as well as third party solutions such as Hitwise and Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

    Read the full story over at Contagious Magazine.