Spring has finally sprung at Firefly HQ, with a few sunny days being enough to get our teams outside and enjoying all that our cities have to offer. We’re well into the first quarter of the year and the tech industry is continuing to thrive amidst the waves of geopolitical issues and legal challenges. Here’s everything you need to know from March.
Keeping up with regulatory change and legal protections can be tough in such an ever-evolving industry. We’ve seen multiple different approaches to prevent fraud, all the way from the heights of big tech cracking down on online scammers, to the day-to-day of dating app Tinder introducing criminal background checks on users. Giants Meta and Google were also in the firing line again, as governments in both the UK and the EU delving into their online advertising.
For those of us who want something a little lighter, social and streaming have, as usual, seen a number of adjustments in the last month. CNN has launched a new streaming platform – yay! At the same time, Netflix has increased its prices – boo! TikTok expanded even further to 10-minute videos, but I’m not convinced we have the attention span to avoid scrolling for that long. Discord had the proof for that, as when plagued by outages, it had to tell its users to go outside and focus on something else for a little while. Research even proves that we’re hooked on platforms, as nearly a fifth of young people are ready to take the leap to the metaverse.
We can’t ignore the more serious side of the news this month, with the tragic conflict in Ukraine resulting in a Russian tech brain drain, and the end to numerous financial tools and social media sites in the country. Innovation has also continued, with a new digital front line transpiring in Ukraine and facial recognition technology fighting misinformation.
On the brighter side of things, Wordle continues to dominate our daily routines, with a linguistics expert sharing her top tips. Maybe you can do Wordle while you’re waiting for a takeaway and split the bill with your friends, or one day even connect on the first ever gravity-powered infinity train.
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It’s been on the market a little while now and we’re sure you’ve heard of it (for the savvier amongst you, are already even using it). Still, we feel that BuzzSumo hasn’t quite got the credit it deserves –now tipped by some to be one of THE business tools for 2019, we thought we should help it get a little more recognition.
So then, what is BuzzSumo?
Well, BuzzSumo offers a number of different services, with the overall aim of ensuring that you can most effectively optimise that all-important new marketing strategy for 2019.
Who’s talking about your brand and sharing your content? What are visitors most interested in on your website? BuzzSumo is first and foremost a monitoring tool but there is a lot more it can do. Wish to find out the most talked-about trends and topics in your industry, what kind of content your target audience wants and which influencers you should be in contact and building relationships with? BuzzSumo provides you with a full overview and analysis. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, it also helps give real insight into what your competition is up to.
With this greater understanding, you should be much better equipped to create a great marketing strategy that you now know is guaranteed to perform.
If you’re not already, it may well be time to give it a go.
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There’s never a dull moment in the communications industry, and 2018 has certainly been no slouch. This year, we’ve seen the roll-out of GDPR, 1.9bn people tuning in to watch Harry and Meghan getting married, Apple achieving a market cap of $1tn, as well as the UK gradually limping towards Brexit.
And we’re sure that 2019 will be no different; in fact, here’s how we think it’ll shape up.
One Touch Wonder is a growing trend that any client or PR agency should jump on. It’s what all those time-starved people out there want – one touch and a problem is sorted, a question is answered, or a service is delivered.
How will One Touch Wonder influence your PR success?
The need for One Touch Wonder is encouraging innovation in businesses, and when done well is very PRable. In the UAE, you can push one button on your fridge door to get your favourite pizza delivered. In Paris, you can push one button on your fridge door to get bottled water delivered. In Ibiza, you can sign off for hotel extras with a finger print. Innovation like this sets a client apart from its competitors – it catches the imagination and spreads like wildfire, often propelled by social media with some behind the scenes encouragement and pushing, of course.
There’s a bit of One Touch Wonder here at Firefly too; via some clever apps which will help you to watch the success of our PR campaigns roll.
We view analytics reports and see the increase in views to our client’s website once a release or piece of content has gone out. We can see which sites are generating the most traffic, how long people stay on the page for, which pages they read and which organisation they are from.
Is One Touch Wonder making your life easier?
My kids get their school dinners by swiping their finger prints, if they spend over a certain amount it’s flagged to me by an email alert.
I just walk up to my car, get in it, push a button and drive away. No need to scramble for keys.
My public transport card auto loads payment as I swipe through barriers, I get an email alert just for the record. I never have to queue.
One Touch Wonder is built into Firefly’s business operations.
We make life for our clients as easy as possible.
Client satisfaction is critical for us. With a handy little SaaS tool, in one click we can see on a monthly basis whether our clients are happy or not. If they’re not happy, we know instantly and it prompts an email alert followed by a phone call to discuss what we need to do better.
With just one email address, our clients can reach their whole team. We make sure that between us we cover mail 24/7 and the right person will pick up the actions or deal with the instruction or issue. Our clients don’t have to think who to call, and don’t have to double check we’ve got the message.
For some clients, one point of contact is what they want. And in those situations they are given their own dedicated client handler: someone who is there to take on their strain, available pretty much 24/7 within reason, someone who really understands them completely and can anticipate and solve any problems or challenges coming down the line.
The problem is when we come to expect One Touch Wonder as the norm, what comes next? Probably mind reading? Now wouldn’t that be great!
We operate in London, Paris and Munich, and have a network of like-minded partners across the globe.
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