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Koray Camgoz appointed Head of Comms and Marketing at PRCA

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The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) have appointed Koray Camgoz as Head of Comms and Marketing. Camgoz joins the PRCA from the CIPR where he led the communications function as Public Relations Manager. 

Camgoz began his career in comms in New York at the communications firm Tiberend Strategic Advisors and with a Masters degree in media and communications, a PR diploma and a Chartered PR Practioner, he will bring plenty of experience and knowledge to his new role.

Camgoz said: “I’m excited to start a new chapter with the PRCA. I’d like to thank the staff and volunteers at the CIPR for their support over the years. I believe passionately in the power of communication and the need for professionals to commit to industry standards. I look forward to supporting the PRCA’s continuing growth in the UK and overseas.”

Francis Ingham MPRCA, Director General, PRCA, said: “It’s my enormous pleasure to welcome Koray Camgoz to the PRCA team. I’ve been hugely impressed by his work at the CIPR in recent years, and I’m delighted he’ll now be deploying his expertise on behalf of PRCA members. His knowledge of our industry, combined with his international expertise make him the perfect person to head up the PRCA’s UK and international communications and marketing.”

Easy Cheesy vegetarian

Blogger Rebrand: Amuse Your Bouche becomes Easy Cheesy Vegetarian

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Leading food blogger Amuse Your Bouche rebranded earlier this year to become Easy Cheesy Vegetarian. Still a top 10 food blogger, author Becca Heyes spoke to us about the process of rebranding, the ethos of her blog and the way she works with brands and PRs.

Why have you rebranded?
I felt like I’d outgrown the name Amuse Your Bouche. Lots of people didn’t understand what it meant, and it didn’t actually give any information about what you’d find on the site. Easy Cheesy Vegetarian is a real ‘does what it says on the tin’ kind of name – if I saw that name, I’d immediately want to browse the site, as that sounds like just the sort of recipes I’d love to see.

How big a project is it rebranding a blog? Any major challenges?
It was quite a big project, but luckily I had a great developer who designed a fantastic user-friendly site for me, and set up all the redirects from the old site perfectly. I definitely wouldn’t have attempted that aspect of the rebrand on my own, as it’s so important to get the redirects right.

Changing social handles was actually easier than I thought it would be – most social networks allowed me to make the switch with no problems.

Becca Heyes

What’s the Easy Cheesy Vegetarian ethos?
My recipes all tend to fit three main criteria:

  1. They only use straightforward ingredients that you could easily find at your local supermarket. I find a lot of vegetarian recipes use ‘weird’ ingredients that can be hard to get hold of and seem pretty alien to a lot of people.
  2. They’re simple and easy to follow, with no unnecessary steps.
  3. They’re hearty and filling – I don’t do tiny portions of fussy food.

My recipes are (hopefully!) really accessible, and easy for everyone to enjoy, whether they’re a vegan, omnivore or anything in between.

What kind of people do you write your content for?
Just normal people like me! I could try to write for specific kinds of people, but really all I can do is to write content that I would enjoy, and hope there are enough people like me who will enjoy it too. So I suppose, if you’re a slightly busy (but also slightly lazy) person who just wants to enjoy some good, straightforward vegetarian food, Easy Cheesy Vegetarian is the place for you.

What’s the best cheese?
That’s the hardest question in the world! I suppose it depends what counts as ‘best’. Halloumi is definitely one of my favourites – the rich salty flavour is amazing, and you can’t beat it when it’s gooey in the middle and crispy on the outside. But I probably use a good old cheddar more than any other cheese, as it’s just so versatile. My fridge would feel empty without it.

Easy Cheesy VegetarianWhat’s your favourite recipe from your own repitoire?
Ooh, it’s so hard to pick. I’ve spent the last seven and a half years years coming up with new recipe after new recipe, and there are hundreds to choose from! I suppose my cheesy bean bake is one of my favourites because it’s hard to think of anything that could be better than a rich, hearty casserole topped with plenty of cheese! Or, the lentil and halloumi curry I shared recently was pretty incredible too. Halloumi in curry is a real revelation.

What’s the best vegetarian restaurant/option at a restaurant?
To be honest, I don’t go to vegetarian restaurants very often. I find it overwhelming when there’s too much choice, I’m so used to only having a few different things to choose from, not a full menu. I’m actually pretty predictable when it comes to eating out, I like to choose something I know I’ll enjoy, and that I rarely make for myself at home. I find it hard to resist a good veggie burger and chips.

Has the rebrand changed the way you work with brands/PRs at all?
Nope! Luckily, everyone seems to have realised that the site content is the same as before, my readers are the same as before, and I am the same as before, so very little has changed in that respect. I still love to work with brands to bring new and interesting products to my readers.

What advice would you give to brands looking to work with you?
Be good communicators! It’s frustrating when I’m talking to a brand about a new project, and they stop replying to emails for a few weeks. All it takes is a two-sentence email letting me know that I can expect to hear from them in a couple of weeks’ time, and everyone is happy.

Food & Drink is a supersector as identified in the UK Bloggers Survey – how do you feel it fits in with the rest of the blogosphere?
I think there will always be food and drink blogs because everyone needs to eat. So, it’s an important category that can reach all sorts of people from all walks of life, rather than more niche categories that may only be relevant to certain types of people.

Easy Cheesy vegetarian

Food & Drink can also command some of the highest prices for posts and collaborations, but it’s by no means consistent – do you feel there should be standardised pay?
I definitely think that everyone deserves to be paid equally for their time, nobody should be working for free. But it’s also important to remember that brands are not only paying for a blogger’s time, but also to reach their audience, which can obviously vary greatly in size. Therefore, I do think it’s fair for a blogger with a huge reach to be paid more than a blogger with a small reach. There are lots of factors involved.

What other blogs do you read?
I have very little time to read other blogs these days, with a toddler to look after alongside blogging, and another baby on the way! So, I wouldn’t say there are any blogs I read consistently at the moment. But, I do think it’s really important to know your industry, so I do try to keep up with general trends in blogging, and to keep an eye on how other people are doing things. I’d say I read a little bit from everyone, rather than reading any blogs in particular.

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Measurement

How metrics are helping us prove the value of PR

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This is a guest post by Sarah Evans, senior digital strategist at Bottle.

It’s no longer acceptable to say PR has a measurement problem. As an industry we’ve been (fairly) challenged to demonstrate what value our campaigns, our work, that piece of coverage had in real terms. How does that feed into business objectives?

At Bottle, we believe brands grow when their stories flow. To measure the effectiveness of that, we need a blend of short- and long-term metrics. A regular flow of stories being published – audience-first content and coverage, both on and offsite – builds a momentum that cumulatively shifts a larger dial over time that indicates brand growth.

Are your stories flowing?
We still need to keep sight of things like coverage itself, for example: how many pieces, the quality of the sites that are linking, how many unique referring domains link back to your site? These help us keep on top of the momentum and frequency that we’re building. In previous reports, we may have stopped there, however now we know we’re influencing behaviour beyond that initial burst of activity.

Next, we need to look at the immediate impact of that activity. Indicators that our coverage is valuable to its intended audience are things like social shares and comments. If there are any links in the piece, did anyone click on them (and if they did, were they ‘long clicks’ or did they bounce?). If coverage doesn’t have a link, and people like what they see, they’ll have to either Google you or come directly to your website to find out more. Google Analytics (or other website tracking software) can tell you all of this, and more.

How is your content performing? Are people reading and engaging with your content? You can look at this through pages per visit, bounce rate and time on page. Is your content doing the job it set out to do? And what do people do next on the site?

Is your brand growing?
As well as short-term metrics, we also need to balance that by zooming out and understanding how all that activity is laddering up into wider marketing objectives. We may not have sales-led objectives, however a common KPI we look at is site traffic (as a whole, or specifically from channels that we’re most likely to influence with ‘brand building’ activity, like organic search or direct).

These metrics by their nature can take consistent, sustained activity to shift (which is why we set the pace with the shorter-term metrics). Things like the number of people searching for the brand, direct traffic and positions for target keywords, topics and products are all key indicators that your brand is growing in visibility and authority.

Branded searches are a proxy for awareness, and even loyalty if someone already knows who they want to buy from. Direct traffic (although a bit of a messy, catch-all channel) indicates how many people have been to your site before, have you bookmarked, or type your URL in as their destination. A growth in search visibility (or how many times Google has served up your site as an answer to someone’s question) tells us that Google is confident that people will get what they need from your site, in turn driving more organic traffic.

Reporting is empowering
As the boundaries between PR, marketing and SEO activity are merging ever closer, there’s no excuse for PR to shy away from measurement any longer. It’s empowering to demonstrate the value of your work; it unlocks budget, helps us plan the next campaign and sometimes it even makes great case studies. We’ve been influencing these metrics all along, without taking any of the credit. We’re not a direct acquisition channel, but a valid and vital part of the journey. Understanding and articulating the role it plays, both long and short term, is the key to PR’s digital evolution.

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Dos and don’ts of networking

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For some people, the idea of attending an industry event fills them with dread. It’s the fear of what to say and who you might meet, or, most terrifying of all, what if no-one talks to you. Networking at events doesn’t need to be a chore, instead it should be seen as the enjoyable part of your job that helps you get ahead (plus these events often come with free food and drink!).

Vuelio hosts, sponsors and attends a large number of industry events throughout the year and along the way we’ve picked up top dos and don’ts of how to network. Whether you’re at an industry awards kitted out in black tie, casual post-work networking drinks or a three-day conference, these tips should give you the confidence to blossom into a networking pro.

Do

  • Research. Try to find out who else is going to be at the event so you can plan who you want to speak to. This will be easier for some types of events and with any awards ceremony the shortlist is your key to finding out who will be there on the night.
    • Top tip: find out the event hashtag and follow it on Twitter, it’s a great way to see who’s engaged and talking about the event and gives you the chance to have pre-event interaction
  • Be open. Keep a couple of open-ended questions up your sleeve; remember, if this is your first interaction keep it light and friendly but most of all make sure you listen to their answer.
    • Top tip: read the signs when it’s ready to bring the conversation to a close, are they looking elsewhere or checking their phone? Smile, say you enjoyed talking to them and that you’ll catch up with them soon.
  • Follow up. Not only is it good manners but it also makes sure you stay at the front of their mind. Whether you connect on LinkedIn or send a short email, thank them for their time and suggest getting in touch again soon.
    • Top tip: make it personal if you can, refer back to the event you met at or a topic of conversation you discussed. This shows that you listened and puts you in the best light.

Don’t

  • Speak to colleagues. Chances are you’ve gone to the event with a colleague and while the temptation may be to stick to the people you know this doesn’t help you meet new people or expand your network.
    • Top tip: look for other people on their own, it’s easier to have a conversation one-to-one than break into a group.
  • Be late. Allow yourself plenty of time to get to the venue, being late to events reflects badly on you and the company you represent. It also means you may miss vital networking opportunities.
    • Top tip: check the route before you leave for any potential travel issues.
  • Be unapproachable. Your instinct may be to go to your phone and check emails in an uncomfortable networking situation but this sends the message that you don’t want to engage with others. Grab a drink and keep the phone away!
    • Top tip: Stood on an exhibition stand? The temptation will be to fold your arms but this is a big no, keep your arms behind your back and you’re body language will go from unapproachable to open in seconds.

Expert Industry Advice

Andrea Sexton, director of Andrea Sexton PR had these three failsafe tips: ’Be in it for the long term! Networking works best when you build long term relationships then you can refer with confidence and with professionalism. Follow up straight away. I block out time in my diary after each networking event in order to have the opportunity to follow up with people properly. Stick with it and take it seriously – it will be worth it.’

Holly Pither, MD and founder of Tribe PR shared this networking don’t: ’I once saw a guy pull out his iPad at an industry event and start showing his sales creds to a poor chap. I can’t tell you how awkward it was. In sales, the aim isn’t about what you have to offer, it’s about listening to the other person and understanding what they need, and this is exactly what you must do when networking. So, leave the sales pitch to the follow up meetings and instead use this time to really genuinely understand the person you are talking to and connect with them.’

Debby Penton, managing director at technology PR consultancy Wildfire shared her top networking advice gleaned from over 20 years’ experience: ‘The key to good networking is reciprocity. Don’t go for the hard sell and look only for opportunities for yourself. Ask questions and listen. Find out what people’s challenges are and think who you can connect them with in your network. Then follow up, make those connections and keep in touch. Do this persistently and in time contacts will start to repay the favour.’

Happy networking!

All external comment was sourced from our network and via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

PRPays 2019

‘PR and communication is more important than it’s ever been’

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Businesses are not reacting fast enough to the changing demands of society, according to Professor Andrew Burke, Dean of Trinity College Business School.

In the latest interview for the CIPR’s #PRPays series, Professor Burke urged businesses to proactively shape the values of their consumers to create a more positive environment for all stakeholders. He stressed that PR professionals have a vital role to play in communicating those values to stakeholders.

Professor Burke, who is also Chair of Business Studies at Trinity College, revealed a step change in the skills and characteristics demanded of leaders by modern businesses. He said: ‘In the past, businesses looked for the brightest students by IQ and build up their analytical.

‘Now they want a broad-based individual with emotional intelligence, they want someone with values and a conscience’.

He also emphasised how authenticity is vital to any communications, and business should be embodying the messages they’re delivering.

The interview is the fourth instalment of the CIPR’s #PRPays series, which aims to demonstrate the value of PR to the business commmunity.

Along Dusty Roads 2019

Travel Spotlight: Andrew and Emily, Along Dusty Roads

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Along Dusty Roads was created by Andrew and Emily back in 2014. Now a top 10 travel blog, Along Dusty Roads covers slow travel; living, breathing and falling in love with every destination they visit. We caught up with the travel couple to find out about their lives as bloggers, use of social, the best places in the world and how they work with brands and PRs.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
With great difficulty.

We wear many hats in this job, literally and metaphorically. There’s a bunch of creative stuff (writing, photography, design), lots of admin, lots of logistics and planning, lots of website and tech things, areas that are akin to marketing and advertising, and then all the day-to-day jobs that come with running our own digital business.

It’s the travelling that’s the easy part, but most people perhaps don’t realise everything else we have to do to keep Along Dusty Roads ticking over.

However, the golden thread running through absolutely everything we do, and motivating everything we do, is trying to help people to travel more, and travel better.

That can take many forms, but primarily it’s about writing personal guides and tales based only on our own experiences and adventures so that others can read reliable, realistic, and relatable writing to inspire or plan their next trip. And taking pretty pictures along the way while trying to raise awareness of a travel style that’s more responsible, considerate and curious!

How do different social channels work with your blog?
We try to maintain a consistent voice across them, but it’s difficult as each social media channel lends itself to a different type of content and a different type of attention. Simply cross-posting the same things or pushing out old blog posts each day isn’t what our social media is there for – instead it’s somewhere to show our personality a little more, build a community outside the more static medium of the blog and share different stories of our travels or a destination.

There’s no doubt that Instagram takes up more of our time and attention than we’d like, but it’s also the social media that most clients care most about. We were slow starters to Stories, but absolutely love it as a creative space and way to interact better with our followers. We struggle with Twitter as a forum for travel, but recently have found our audience actually really enjoy images, which we previously thought weren’t a good fit for the medium. Facebook is comfortable and we have a lot of people there who have been with us since the beginning, but sometimes being a bit more personal or longform on that platform doesn’t feel right.

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
We certainly hope so.

The dream is to grow Along Dusty Roads while always keeping it true to our core principles and travel philosophy. There are various projects, improvements and innovations we’d like to do based around the blog, but the trouble is finding the time to develop these.

Where’s the best place for street food in the world?
Based on our own experience of the world (there are so many places we haven’t visited), we’d go for Mexico.

Which country has the friendliest locals?
Every country has friendly locals who go out of their way to make you feel welcome, but every country also has people who may not. Thankfully, we’ve experienced more of the former rather than the latter on our own travels.

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
Due to our travels across Latin America, we’ve probably spent about two months in the last five years solely travelling on buses (which usually had a Fast and Furious movie on, or anything else from The Rock’s back catalogue).

When it isn’t packed or ridiculously expensive though, there’s a gentle romanticism to train travel – and as a traveller it is the sort of environment where conversations different to the ordinary with a new person are possible. It’s also less stressful and more sustainable than many other modes of transport.

Do you accept press releases?
We write everything on Along Dusty Roads, and we only write about places that we have personally visited and experienced. We think that’s something core to what distinguishes a travel blog from any other travel-oriented website out there – and readers value that. This means that we don’t accept or publish press releases.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
We’re very selective on collaborations.

That travellers trust us, and respect our opinions, which means the absolute world to us, and we take that responsibility incredibly seriously. We would never jeopardise it or take it for granted. This means that any collaboration has to be a great fit for our audience and our travel style, and something or somewhere that we can genuinely and wholeheartedly support or recommend.

Thankfully, this focus on suitability and quality means that the campaigns and collaborations we do work on are pretty great. For example, we’re Wanderers for G Adventures, a small-group adventure company that does great things to lead the conversation on responsible and sustainable travel.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
The main advice is to start conversations about working together as early as possible. We have to plan out our travels months in advance, and having things sorted earlier rather than last-minute helps massively.

Also, taking the time to look into who we are and what we do at Along Dusty Roads before getting in touch makes a world of difference. Generic queries waste everyone’s time, but we love discussing how we can work together when it’s clear that somebody has taken the time to actually think about whether we’re a good fit for them (and vice versa) and contacts us with a clear idea about what they want to do together.

We only really work on bespoke campaigns now, so the final thing would be  to trust our experience as travellers and bloggers so that we can create a campaign together that doesn’t simply visit the same places mentioned in every single other article about a destination, and understanding that free time on an itinerary is a good thing, not a bad thing, when it comes to travel writing.

What other blogs do you read?
We like to get our travel inspiration and travel journalism from a really diverse set of traditional and modern media, rather than only reading blogs, but we are big fans of The Common Wanderer, This Battered Suitcase, Jungles in Paris, Budget Traveller and Flora the Explorer (to name just a few).

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Celebrating research and insight at the Think Tank Awards 2019

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We were proud to be the headline sponsor at Prospect’s Think Tank Awards 2019 which took place within the House of Commons last night and celebrates the role think tanks play globally in providing research and insight into complex political issues.  

Hosted in The Churchill Room, the awards began with a welcome from Baroness Neville-Jones, the room sponsor, who thanked all attending for their hard work over the past year. Our CEO, Joanna Arnold then spoke on the important role think tanks play in helping make sense of constant political change, from Brexit to climate change.

After an introduction from Tom Clarke, editor of Prospect magazine and host, it was onto the main event. Winners from across the world including the Peterson Institute for International Economics, last year’s winners of the One to Watch; Instituto Igarapé, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Bruegel; the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Centre for Business and Policy Studies.

From the UK, winners included the IPPR taking the award for Science, Health, Environment and Energy; the Institute for Fiscal Studies who were award winners for Economics and Financial Affairs; The UK in a Changing Europe in the Foreign Affairs category; and the Centre for Social Justice in UK Social Policy.

The Think Tank who won the most awards on the night was the International Institute for Sustainable Development. They took away awards including the top prize for World Science, Health, Environment and Energy and Foreign Affairs as well as being the ‘Think Tank to Watch’.

The final prize was the most important, ‘Think Tank of the Year’, and went to the Institute for Government. While they had been shortlisted for four awards and narrowly missed out, they were recognised for the excellence of their output through the year.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to Prospect for organising the event which gives think tanks the recognition they deserve for their work to improve global politics and policy making. We are delighted to be able to support.

Two Monkeys Travel

Travel blogger spotlight: Kach and Jonathan, Two Monkeys Travel

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Two Monkeys Travel has been one of the leading travel blogs since its launch in 2014. Written by Kach and Jonathan Howe, the blog contains extensive travel advice for countries across the world. We caught up with the pair to find out how their blog has evolved to mirror their lifestyle changes, the best places in the world and the greatest PR collaboration they’ve ever worked on. 

How do you describe what you do to other people?
It all depends on how much we feel like explaining! ‘Travel blogging’ always invites a list of questions about how it’s possible to make money doing it. We don’t mind that at all but sometimes we’re just giving our brains a break from work talk for a few hours. On the other hand, it’s usually simpler to say, ‘online marketing and social media management!’

How do different social channels work with your blog?
Facebook and Instagram work the best for us, with Twitter and Pinterest close behind. Facebook and Instagram have the highest engagement for us, most likely because they allow the best balance of photos and descriptive text to explain where we have been and what we have been doing. We have always had the best connection with our readers through our personal stories and experiences.

Kach and Jonathan 2019 3

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
It’s hard to say exactly what it will become in the future, but we know that it has to be able to evolve with us as our lifestyle changes. We tend to change our lifestyle around on a regular basis anyway, having been expats, backpackers, English teachers, live-aboard sailors and now back to being expats in Europe. We do seem to be edging further towards ‘settling down’ year-by-year, so we’ll just have to see what happens there!

Where’s the best place for street food in the world?
We’d have to say Vietnam, although we’re clearly biased having lived there! We love the fact that no matter which street you walk down, there is always something interesting to eat and it rarely costs more than several pounds!

Which country has the friendliest locals?
It’s just not possible to pick one, because every place we go we meet amazing people and they seem to be happier and friendlier than the last!

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
We have two favourites, sailing and motorbike. We just sold our own sailboat after living aboard for two years so we are now on the lookout for a new motorbike. Since we’re now based in Montenegro, we’re in the perfect place to explore Europe at a slower pace and then maybe some more adventurous bike trips to countries in Central Asia.

Kach and Jonathan 2019 2

Do you accept press releases?
We don’t have a fixed rule as such. If something is relevant, useful and interesting for our readers, then we’ll consider sharing it with them.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
There have been so many great ones but of course, our favourite project is still our expedition cruise to Antarctica with Hurtigruten! In general, though, we love working with brands and PRs who match our own travel style and of course the type of travel our readers are looking for. This tends to be a blend of luxury and adventure travel, with the luxury being in the accommodation and the adventure being in the activities. We still love to be outside hiking, horseback riding, cycling and motorbiking, but we also love to collapse into a fancy hotel at the end of the day!

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
After an initial email, we love to talk directly on the phone or even in person if it’s possible. We find that it really helps to get to know each other and what everyone needs and expectations are on all sides. Once we have that kind of relationship then everything else falls into place very easily.

We also really like working with the same brands more than once, because once we’ve built a rapport with a company on one successful campaign, there is always so much more we can do together, and this demonstrates a greater level of brand trust to our readers.

What other blogs do you read?
It’s a shame to admit that we really don’t have time to follow any other blogs out there on a regular basis! Of course, if we need to know something then we search online like everyone else and we most likely end up finding what we need in a blog of some kind.

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Chris Stokel-Walker

What’s next for YouTube and influencer culture?

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VidCon, the annual video conference to celebrate YouTube and its stars, hit its tenth anniversary last week. Much has changed since the early days of the event – the big personalities of a decade ago have moved on to other careers, making way for younger YouTubers – but a major difference this year was the attitude attendees and panel members showed towards the platform they’d gathered to discuss.

A new sombreness was reported during panels focusing on the reality of life with YouTube, its negative impacts on the news cycle, its audience, and its vloggers. But is it time to abandon the platform for the other mediums and the creators competing for market share, user numbers, and influence?

Chris Stokel-WalkerYouTube, Facebook, Twitch and TikTok are subjects freelance journalist and author Chris Stokel-Walker [pictured] has been steeped in since the age of 17. Now 30, Chris is an expert on digital video media having written about it for outlets including BBC News, Wired UK and The Economist, and now reporting on the online video space as editor of FFWD. His book YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars tracks the rise of the platform, its celebrities and the controversies that have sprung up in recent years.

‘I saw the shifts in society caused by the rise of YouTube – its pervasiveness attracted me – and it wasn’t being covered in a literate enough way,’ Chris said of his work on the subject. For a platform that’s intrinsic to so many facets of the media – brands, bloggers, vloggers, influencers, multimedia journalists, marketing and PR firms – the lack of reporting on YouTube and its workings in mainstream media is curious.

That this is an area particularly important to PRs and the clients they work with makes Chris’s book vital reading for those in the industry who need a crash course in its benefits. A study from Nielsen and Carat Global, cited in the book, found that in comparison to traditional celebrity endorsements, YouTuber collaborations led to four times as many viewers becoming familiar with a brand.

If you’re a PR who works regularly with YouTube influencers, impressive stats on their effectiveness for campaigns won’t be a surprise to you. What might be is the way influencers view working with PR companies and brands. Chapters of the book highlight the hesitancy some YouTubers (stars featured in the book include Jake Paul, Grace Helbig and Dodie Clark) can have signing up with PR firms after projects have gone bad.

How can PRs avoid giving a useful collaborator a bad experience? For Chris, the right kind of support is key: ‘Marketers and PR people tend to treat influencers as if they’re traditional celebrities, when they’re not. Their stock in trade is their authenticity, and any bad decision an influencer makes to support or endorse a product will be picked up on very quickly. It’s important that PR people fully appreciate who they’re representing, their personality and what is a good or bad endorsement for them. Influencers need smart guidance.’

While the rise of influencer culture has had some high-profile stumbles – opinions on Zoella and Alfie Deyes’ efficacy as brand spokespeople may vary these days, and Jaclyn Hill might struggle to secure future lipstick collabs – Chris believes it has a good future. He said: ‘I still think the positives of influencers outweigh the negatives, in large part because of the way in which influencers present themselves. There’s a difference between a mainstream traditional celebrity and a digital celebrity. Parasocial relationships – that feeling of closeness and authenticity – mean that smaller influencers can take the time to interact with their entire fanbase in a way that people will millions of followers just can’t.’

And YouTube’s dominance in the digital video sphere? ‘When I started writing the book, it looked like Facebook could stand a chance at taking over video supremacy, but now we’re seeing that TikTok, which has more than 1.2 billion users already, and Twitch (which has the financial backing of Amazon) could threaten YouTube.’

Whichever platform reigns supreme, online video creators will continue to be a good opportunity for PRs to work with, and for journalists to write about. For Chris, it’s brought democratisation along with the fresh opportunities – ‘I see the rise of YouTube and influencers as a net positive: we are seeing the flattening of the media industry and benefitting from everything that provides. Of course, there are some big issues in the minority that need to be tackled with that, but there’s lots of good from having more people accessing the industry. You can get jaded towards some content creators, but ultimately YouTube is such a massive space that you can find anything you want.’

More about YouTube and its creators can be found in Chris’s book ‘YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars’ as well as his just-launched Medium outlet FFWD. Chris tweets @Stokel.

Find top influencers, vloggers, and bloggers on the Vuelio Media Database.

Link building

Using PR for B2B Link Building

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PR is essential for building brand awareness, but it’s also an excellent tool for building backlinks. In this guest post, Sarah Ross, PR Account Manager at Anicca Digital, shares some tips on using PR for B2B link building.

By integrating PR and SEO strategies, you can increase quality backlinks to a website through great content and online coverage.

Recent research from Backlinko discovered that 93% of B2B content receives zero external links and only 3% receives links from multiple websites. In the sample of 912 million blog posts, only 6% had at least one external link.

So how do you ensure your content is part of the 3%? The following tips will help you develop a B2B campaign with linkable assets.

How does link building differ between B2B and B2C?

Quality links are one of the most important Google ranking factors. It favours authoritative websites that are updated with new content regularly, which is why news websites have a high domain authority – the search engine ranking score that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages.

It makes these websites an excellent target for link building.

B2C campaigns are often product focused – gift guides, home and garden shopping features, beauty ‘tried and tested’ articles – giving journalists a reason to include a backlink to your website.

However, building links to B2B websites can be more challenging and as some links are easier to earn than others, success depends on your approach.

Generating ideas

  • Great PR ideas don’t always translate into great links – you need to create a reason for coverage to include a backlink to your website
  • Look at topics that journalists in your industry have covered previously and think about what is absent. Can you offer any unique insights or original data?
  • Target media outlets that are relevant to your topic and likely to drive traffic to your website
  • Review competitor campaigns for inspiration

Creating content

Keeping in mind that you need to create quality content, the following ideas can be developed into linkable assets:

Surveys are useful for creating unique data on a topic and can be completed using a survey specialist or using your own email database. Host the full results on your website so journalists can link to the original source of the material.

Research can be used to produce a whitepaper sharing industry data or insight. Again, the full piece of content can be hosted on your website, while key findings or opinion pieces can be used for PR activity.

Events like seminars, conferences and networking meet-ups can encourage links by asking attendees to reserve their place via your website.

Infographics offer a more visual take on industry insights and can be published on other websites easily, earning you a backlink as the original source of the material.

Guides from industry thought leaders can provide useful advice for step-by-step features or ‘top tips’ articles.

Earning links

Once you’ve created your content, choose key snippets to create an angle for your press release. Being selective with the data will help to encourage backlinks to the full source of the information.

Be aware that you won’t get a link from every piece of coverage, but these tactics can help to boost the number of links you’re achieving for B2B brands and make your content part of the 3%.

Grey Fox 2019

Men’s Fashion Spotlight: David Evans, Grey Fox

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David Evans is the man behind Grey Fox, the top 10 men’s fashion blog, which was created as a space for men over 40. With posts about luxury British items, handmade accessories and the finest tailoring, Grey Fox is well-known for covering the finer side of fashion. We caught up with David to find out more about older men and the fashion industry, waste in fashion and building relationships with PRs.

How do you describe what you do?
I blog about men’s style and lifestyle. My target audience is the man over forty, but on Instagram my largest group of followers is in the 25 to 35 age group! Some people would call me an influencer, but I feel slightly uncomfortable with that description as it’s often hard for us to know how much influence we actually have until we receive helpful feedback from brands and followers.

How do different social channels work with your blog?
I sometimes wonder if I would even have a blog of I’d started what I’m doing in the last two or three years. Most of my effort goes into Instagram, but I love writing so the blog continues. I use Twitter and Facebook to a very limited extent simply to support my efforts on the blog and Instagram.

David Evans Grey Fox 2019 2What’s the biggest issue in men’s fashion at the moment?
For me, it’s the industry’s blind spot when it comes to older men. Nearly half of consumer spending is by those over fifty, yet menswear marketing is all about young men. Adverts rarely contain older men – the men who might be able to afford luxury clothing. There are increasing numbers of older men on social media and I’m hoping that this will bring about change. London Fashion Week Men’s has almost entirely turned its focus to the young market and classic tailoring and menswear brands have abandoned ship in the last few years. While youth and creativity is essential, it’s a bad call to ignore those who have the money to spend.

How significant is waste and sustainability in the fashion world?
It’s well known that the fashion industry is a huge polluter and waste, caused by brands encouraging consumers to buy piles of cheap clothing, is an almost intractable problem. This issue will not go away while brands, whose sole aim is to be profitable, are under few legal obligations to do something about these environmental and ethical problems.

Who is the best fashion designer we haven’t heard of yet?
Araminta Campbell who designs tweeds in Edinburgh.

What’s your favourite item of clothing?
A thirty-year-old English-made shirt that I wore at the birth of my daughter and then recently when my first grand daughter was born.

David Evans Grey Fox 2019What are the best campaigns/collaborations you’ve worked on?
I’ve had so many, from working with Specsavers to a campaign with English sparkling wine brand, Nyetimber. In the menswear world, things are not so easy due to the obsession with youth; but I have a great relationship with New & Lingwood and many small accessories brands.

How important are press events for you, compared with releases or being sent product?
Events are essential as they are a chance to build relationships. I tend to ignore releases unless they’re from brands willing to work with me in a constructive way (which does not mean that I want payment!) – but I’m not there just to regurgitate press releases. Being sent product is fine but I rarely accept product in payment for anything (who needs yet more shirts, ties etc?)

What advice would you give PRs looking to work with you?
Let’s build a relationship. As I say above, neither I nor my audience are interested in repeating press releases. I want to try products for myself and pass on authentic reports on these to my followers. As brands tend to use very young models to show their clothes, I want to wear those clothes myself to show my older audience that those products aren’t just made for twenty-year-olds!

What other blogs do you read?
I’m afraid I just don’t have time. I follow many on Instagram – too many to list – and these vary for  young to old in age and cover everything from men’s style to lifestyle including cars, holidays, watches, food and drink.

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Plastic Free July

8 sustainability policies for #PlasticFreeJuly

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This is a guest post from Katie Chodosh, content consultant at TopLine Comms. 

Sustainability is an ongoing business issue, but #PlasticFreeJuly gives us all a good excuse to think about it a little more. And PR agencies and departments are in a particularly good position to lead the charge: it’s our job to make companies look good (and responsible) and giveaways tend to come under our remit too. That’s why we wanted to get a better understanding of how people view sustainability when they’re choosing a job and what we can do as an agency to be a little greener.

First, TopLine Film surveyed 1,000 office workers on workplace sustainability. Nearly a quarter (24%) said they would refuse a job at an organisation with a poor sustainability record, and three quarters (73%) would like to see their workplace improve its sustainability record.

Then, we surveyed the TopLine Comms team to get an idea of their position on sustainability, and to see what ideas they had for us. The majority (94%) are committed to protecting the environment and agree that we should have a sustainability policy in place.

Here are some of our tips for becoming a more sustainable PR agency, which you can easily implement for #PlasticFreeJuly and beyond.

1. Ban single use plastics
Banning single use plastics is probably the quickest and easiest policy to implement. TopLine is officially a plastic-free zone. We’ve given all staff reusable cups and plan to get some reusable straws in, too. If other businesses can’t afford to do this, then team members could be encouraged to bring a reusable cup from home.

2. Think twice about your giveaways
Consumers’ interests in PR stunts are being outweighed by their commitment to sustainability. Times are changing, and the old PR and marketing stunts need to evolve. Most people are much more conscious about unnecessary plastic and waste, so bear this in mind before giving away any unnecessary plastic items.

3. Ask ‘is it sustainable?’ before launching a campaign
Before launching a PR campaign, make sure you’ve double checked that every element is as sustainable as possible. It’s easy to get carried away – for example, you might want to have balloons at your event or serve drinks at your stand in plastic cups. But these are the exact types of activities that create a lot of unnecessary waste. Add the question ‘is it sustainable’ to any checklists or brainstorms that you have before launching campaigns and you should catch them in time.

4. Implement a switch-off policy and stick to it
We’ve also introduced a policy for everyone to turn off their computers and other devices at the end of every day. We know it’s easy to forget, but it makes a big difference for energy consumption, so we’ve put up visible reminders and have vowed to hold everyone accountable.

5. Make time for volunteering
Another policy we’ve implemented at TopLine is to volunteer time to environmental and sustainable activities. We’re looking at eco-friendly initiatives like picking up litter or helping plant trees locally and will take time out of the working day to do it.

6. Reduce, reuse, recycle
All agencies should have a robust recycling system in place. It really couldn’t be easier to get separate bins and as long as they’re signposted clearly, all staff should be capable of putting the right item in the right bin.

7. Print less
Printing less in the office should be easy enough, but you should also consider printing less materials for trade shows. Press packs are increasingly outdated and flyers are often put straight in the bin. If you have to print, at least make sure the paper you’re using is recycled, recyclable and printed on both sides.

8. Ask your suppliers about their sustainability policies
If you work with a lot of suppliers, it’s important to remember that you’re just one part of the chain – so it’s worth asking other suppliers what their position is on sustainability. This will highlight your company’s commitment and challenges them to start thinking about greener practices. They might even give you some ideas for your own sustainability policy.

We’ve really enjoyed the process of creating a more sustainable work environment and we’d like to challenge other PR teams to do the same. Start by talking to your team about what they’re passionate about and they’ll be more inclined to stick to them. Creating effective sustainability policies relies on your staff to stick to them, so make sure you get them involved in the process.

AI in PR introduction

An introduction to AI in PR

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The CIPR’s #AIinPR Panel has published An introduction to AI in PR as the first in a series of skills guides.

The guide, written by Jean Valin, covers the threats and opportunities for public relations and includes as a glossary of common terms that are used around artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Valin also highlights incredible statistics to show how recent years have seen an explosion of data:

  • More data has been created in the past two years than in the entire previous history of the human race
  • Data is growing faster than ever before and by the year 2020, about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every human being on the planet

The seven-page guide is the first resource from the CIPR’s new #AIinPR Primer series – a collection of guides designed to equip practitioners with a fundamental understanding of the implications of AI for PR.

Stephen Waddington, CIPR Artificial Intelligence Panel Chair, said: ‘It’s too early to identify best practice for AI communication. Practitioners need to step up and take personal responsibility for their own learning and development. The skills guides from the #AIinPR panel are a good start. My thanks to the panel members for their work.’

The Panel will publish further skills guides this month on AI and data ethics and AI and data ethics – consequences for PR, both by Ben Verinder. Skills guides on internal communications, media and workflow will be published later this year.

Craig Landale 2019

The No. 1 Men’s Fashion Blog: MenswearStyle

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MenswearStyle has once again been named the number one blog in the top 10 Men’s Fashion Blogs. The creation of editor Craig Landale, MenswearStyle is multi-award-winning, including two Vuelio Blog Awards and Best UK Blog. We spoke to Craig about the biggest issues in men’s fashion, his love of New Balance, how he works with PRs and the blogs he loves to read.

How do you describe what you do?
The simplest way to describe what I do is probably what I tell my parents; I write blog posts about menswear and men’s grooming, but in reality it’s much more than that.

How do different social channels work with your blog?
Pinterest and Twitter drive the most traffic to my blog posts, whereas Instagram is more of a branding medium that shows our fans a little more going on behind the scenes day-to-day. Facebook is quite useless unless you’re willing to spend money.

What’s the biggest issue in men’s fashion at the moment?
Men have come a long way in educating themselves on men’s fashion rules, dress codes and trends. However, I still see guys in suits going into the city on the London Underground wearing horrendous shoes such as loafers, which should have been thrown in the bin a few years ago.

Craig Landale 2019

How significant is waste and sustainability in the fashion world?
It’s so important right now and it has been a real eye opener. Britain alone is expected to send 235m items of clothing to landfill this year, the majority of which could have been re-worn, reused or recycled. I blame the large companies making throwaway fashion more than the people though. This is where true rapid change can happen.

Who is the best fashion designer we haven’t heard of yet?
Have you heard of Oliver Spencer? I’m sure some of you will have but he’s British and he’s pivoting his brand towards the sustainable route this year. He started out selling second hand clothes on London’s Portobello Road. Today he sells his own brand of clothing made up of high quality relaxed and modern style basics and classics.

What’s your favourite item of clothing?
I love my New Balance sneakers. I’ll wear them with almost everything, even a suit.

What are the best campaigns/collaborations you’ve worked on?
A recent standout collaboration I’ve worked on is with a new Northampton-made goodyear welt shoe company called Artisan Revolution. I showcased their four styles of shoes in a photoshoot and video shoot located around King’s Cross.

How important are press events for you, compared with releases or being sent product?
I find press trips have a big impact on the way I feel about a brand. I often come back from a few days away with a brand as a true advocate with a full understanding of a brand’s ambition.

What advice would you give PRs looking to work with you?
Just get in touch via email and we can discuss some ideas. I do like it when a project is already set with clear tasks and I’m invited to take part but I can also be flexible too.

What other blogs do you read?
I ready Glossy, Lean Luxe, Courier Magazine and Business of Fashion.

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Pete Bassett Quite Good

A Quite Great PR Spotlight with Pete Bassett

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Pete Bassett set up music-focused agency Quite Great in 1996 to provide a more understanding and upfront PR service. Support for the unique challenges his clients face in a music and media landscape increasingly driven by ‘likes’ is something Pete continues to champion, most lately with the launch of Quite Great’s Mental Health Awareness Services.

Working with artists including Meatloaf, Van Morrison, and Chris Rea – and experience from heading-up PR for agencies including Geffen, Polydor, and MCA – has brought Pete into contact with a huge range of recording artists and their issues as well as the difficulties of day-to-day PR.

Pete shared pictures of the some of the big stars he’s worked with and told us about the importance of longevity in the music industry and the damaging effects of a world obsessed with likes.

What were your original aims when you launched Quite Great – what did you want to do that other music PR agencies didn’t?
Twenty-three years ago – just prior to setting up Quite Great – I was working for a big corporate PR agency having worked for major labels. Suddenly I was in a totally alien culture, trying to balance spinning plates and pretty much dreading getting into work. With a young family, mortgage etc, it was clear that there was a cliff heading straight towards me and as one of my best journalist friends had explained: ‘The cavalry are not coming over the hill’.

I realised once I had made a few calls to old industry friends that there was a demand for my own style of agency and hence the road ahead was clear. I wished to set up a ‘friendly’ and ‘understanding’ agency – yes, all a bit woolly, I know – based on my history of impactful, creative thinking, but one that aimed at supporting the staff around me with a structure that meant they enjoyed coming into work and were passionate about our services.

Kobe Bryant

Support for staff, and mental health awareness, is a growing concern in the PR industry as well as in the music industry. Can you tell us about Quite Great’s Mental Health Awareness Services and the change you’re hoping to spearhead?
Every day with our hugely busy music industry service, we are in contact with artists of all levels, those starting out and those who have already achieved success. Following in-depth discussions, we ask them to outline all issues that link directly to media subjects – we call these our ‘pebbles’, as in pebbles on a beach – so the more we have the more media we should be able to attain, which then allows the PR team a straight line insight into all aspects of the artist and the media that should be interested. In the past five years we have noticed, irrespective of what part of the world the musicians come from, that there has been a distinct increase in matters that relate in some way to mental health issues.

I guess this is quite obvious, but the creative process for a songwriter is always directly linked to life experiences and their emotions; these are the things outside of pure talent that make an act resonate with the public. The difference is that over 40% of our artists were making reference to depression, stage fright and anxiety. So we set up an ad hoc service linking in with therapists independent of Quite Great with whom an artist can interact and hopefully help reduce the issues that cause them concerns.

Meat LoafSocial media is a potential source of stress for your clients, yet it’s a vital way for them to cut through and achieve success in today’s media landscape. How can it be used as a tool without it becoming a strain for clients and the companies working with them?
We feel that the mental health issues of acts are directly linked to their desire to be ‘liked’. Social networking platforms like Instagram that are promising to do away with the ‘like’ will be key to reducing the pressure on an artist. The huge industry in fake likes, fake followers and even Spotify playlists – and the service industries that frequent this darker side of PR – need to be exposed. It should be clear to an act that there are, on occasion, unseen payments and it is not necessarily a positive judgement on an artist’s music. Clearly, the more famous an artist becomes in ‘real’ media terms, the more playlists will wish to feature them anyway.

The balancing process is to focus on ‘real’ media interaction – whether that be features, interviews, airplay – and then let the public judge if it translates to social networking uplift. Only artist development and long-term planning will really turn into growing a fan base.

As vinyl/cassette/CD have given way to downloads and streaming, so have the traditional ways of promoting a performer shifted – a recent example being Lil Nas X getting mainstream attention via TikTok memes. How can a PR team work to keep him in the public eye, while protecting him from the fickleness of viral fame?
I don’t mean to cop out here but I would never dream of giving any advice to another legitimate PR agency – they are clearly on top of what they are doing and if everything is real then there will be longevity, which is what the artist really craves. If TikTok memes can then focus the ‘fan base’ on the talent that Lil Nas X clearly has, then real original music that the public can embrace will mean longevity is guaranteed. It’s the same way the ephemeral impact enjoyed by the now-legendary Alex Mann at Glastonbury 2019 has to be translated by any opportunist record label in discovering real talent and writing skills that the public can enjoy over time.

How important is location for PR in a connected world – are big fancy city offices still important? Can a UK-based firm be truly international in reach?
Well, for the past 23 years we have operated as both a national and international agency while working within Cambridge. Given the simple transportation links across the country, plus state-of-the-art technology within our working environment, we have always placed a great deal of emphasis on work/life balance. This encouraged us five years ago to move to a purpose built eco-centric wooden barn with solar energy and green appeal at the forefront of our work space. We even aim to reduce our carbon footprint by encouraging our clients to interact fully via Skype, WhatsApp, and GoToMeeting instead of car journeys. The majority are happy to do that without question.

Kelly Brooke

What do you see as the main challenges for PR companies in the upcoming years? And what challenges do you see for your clients?
PR comes in all shapes and sizes, with so many companies offering – especially to musicians – a world of success being just ‘a touch of the button away’. More and more what clients of all types – whether music or startup entrepreneurs – desire is clarity, realism, passion and integrity. The increase in a belief that fame or success can be easily attained within weeks is perhaps the greatest challenge, explaining that real success comes over time and by working with a team who understand the spirit and emotion of the client.

The real challenge is to ‘dare to be different’ – to give those searching on the internet a real vision of why your agency is different, highlighting the imagery and the beliefs that you stand for. They can then can judge if they wish to contact you. There is a trend online of everyone looking the same, there can be a hesitancy to stand out. We have always seen ourselves as an agency that offers the variety of a high street department store, with many services on different floors, which means we have broad experience. While it makes working life exciting for our staff, it’s sometimes a little confusing for those looking into our world – one minute we are being approached by a charity, the next by a tech company, and the next by a world music star.

Cambridge Rock Festival

Can you share what you’ve learned during your time in the industry and any advice you’d give to others?
Sadly, outside of the need to keep focused and always put the client first, my life lesson in terms of running an agency stems from around two years ago when we had to handle the emotional trauma of staff who stole contact details, set up a business and left one of their ‘directors’ in place almost like a spy movie ‘sleeper cell’ for a few months and waiting until the time was right to join them in their new venture… It impacted on recruiting new staff, as we had to get a real feel for ‘trust’ again. It has made us much stronger. Inadvertently, I have become an expert on data theft and the legal process, so if anyone wants advice, let us know…

In terms of advice, it is important from a client perspective when looking at who to work with – do scratch the surface, look at who you are really dealing with. And most of all, watch out for five-star reviews on Google, Facebook, etc. Yes, I am a little cynical.

And finally, as someone who’s spent a lot of time around musicians, what’s your favourite song lyric of all time? 
More a song title than a lyric – it would have to be ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith.

Find Pete and Quite Great on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and connect with top music influencers and journalists on the Vuelio Media Database.

Influencing the Agenda with Vuelio Political Services

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Brexit, elections and the biggest political turmoil in a generation – how are you keeping up with who is leading the agenda on domestic policy areas important to your organisation?

Join us for a live demo to see how you can use Vuelio to identify, understand and engage key political stakeholders at a local, regional and national level.

We’ll show you how to find political contacts and understand who is leading the agenda in the policy areas you’re looking to influence with comprehensive political monitoring.

 

Influencing political agenda

 

Breaking news

5 tips for replying to journalist requests

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Replying to journalists in the right way can be the difference between front page news and being passed over for a competitor. The ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, which is part of Vuelio, connects journalists in need of support or expertise and the right PRs who are looking to secure coverage.  

With over 35,000 enquiries sent through the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service every year, we’ve picked up a few tips along the way to help you get great results from responding to journalists every single time:

1. Read the request 
Take the time to understand what is being asked and craft your response accordingly. Remember, as well as a great coverage opportunity, this is also a chance to build relationships with new contacts and unlock future success.

2. Be relevant and specific 
Stick to answering with material specific to what was asked for and avoid going off-topic – the more relevant your response, the better chance you have of getting coverage as a result. Completely off-topic replies are likely to get ignored, so it’s best not to spend your time on these.

3. Leave out the jargon 
Don’t respond with buzzwords or acronyms and avoid technical jargon unless you can explain it succinctly. Lead with the most relevant information first, then add details or supporting points.

4. Be prepared 
Make sure you’ve got any extra information on hand and that any spokespeople you’ve offered for expert comment are available.

5. Get in quick 
For the best results, get your well-crafted response sent in plenty of time to beat the deadline – this not only gives you a good chance of a result but also helps the journalist out by not leaving it until the last second. Every enquiry sent through ResponseSource comes with a deadline, which is when the unique reply-to email address also expires.

Are you using the PR industry’s best kept secret? Take a free trial of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

Hand Luggage Only 2019

No. 1 Travel Blog spotlight: Hand Luggage Only

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Hand Luggage Only has once again been named the number one blog in the top 10 UK travel blogs. Written by Yaya Onalaja-Aliu and Lloyd Griffiths, Hand Luggage Only is known for its detailed destination write ups and beautiful imagery. Multi-award winners at the Vuelio Blog Awards, Hand Luggage have also recently contributed to the Vuelio white paper: Instagram Blackout.

Here, the guys told us about the dream of travel blogging, their favourite transport and the best collaborations they’ve worked on.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
This is a funny thing. It depends on who we’re speaking to. If we’re speaking with friends and peers, we will describe our job as travel bloggers. Most people understand what we do but less people understand the mechanics of how it is our full-time career.

Typically, we find it easiest to describe it as: in a similar way to magazines, we travel the world, experience places and write about it.

Hand Luggage Only 2019 2How do different social channel work with your blog?
Each social media channel is completely different, each with their differing audiences. No social media channel is the same, so we always treat them very differently but essentially, if we had to describe two main things we use our channels for, I guess one would be more prioritised towards real-time updates (eg. Instagram) and the other would be more towards expanding the reach of new articles or videos we have just created for the blog (e.g. Pinterest).

For us, we always see social media as an extension of our blog where we can give immediate updates on what we’re up to, what we’ve seen and experienced. Plus, it gives us ample opportunity to chat with fellow travel enthusiasts on places and to connect with a community of people who love to travel (like us).

Do you think travel blogging will be your job forever?
This is a really interesting question. For us, Hand Luggage Only is our dream – we love what we do so much and we feel so passionate about what we do.

That said, the online world is constantly changing and it’s hard to know exactly where things will be in a year, let alone a decade. We’d like to think we will be still blogging or at least running Hand Luggage Only (in whatever capacity it continues in). We’re so excited about the future and what our blog could become.

Where’s the best place for street food in the world?
Oh, this is a tough one, there are so many places! For us, it’s probably somewhere like Thailand or possibly Vietnam. Singapore is also really amazing too – the influx of different culture there makes the food scene in Singapore pretty exciting.

Which country has the friendliest locals?
Another hard one! I want to say everywhere. To be honest, we’ve never met a group of people that are unfriendly. I think a large part of that really is paying attention to the local culture and being respectful. That’s not saying there are not a few bad eggs but generally, human beings are social animals and we’ve found that to be fairly consistent across the globe.

What’s your favourite mode of transport?
Can we include a private boat with 10 bedrooms and a swimming pool? Ha!

I think it’s got to be a plane for Lloyd. Lloyd wanted to be a pilot growing up, so he loves it!

For Yaya, it’s probably just walking. There’s just something about slowly getting to see a place on foot (we also realise this is rather impractical for cross country travel…).

hand luggage only 2019 3Do you accept press releases?
We don’t accept press releases. In our experience, it’s generally unsolicited, generic information and we’re yet to receive one that has made us think, ‘Oh, I want to act on this!’.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
We love working with Visit England, Atout France, Germany Tourism and KLM who always understand what we do and the best ways to work together. A bit further afield, Visit Florida is also great to work with. I guess the thing they all have in common is that they let you just be yourself and have experiences that are natural to you, which is just amazing to find in a collaboration partner.

What advice would you give to PRs/brands reaching out to you?
For us, it would be to always have conversations with bloggers about what they think would be best for their audience and readers. The project needs to be collaborative, not instructive. Fully formed ideas without any blogger input typically don’t account for the nuances of different audiences and generally just seem unnatural. It’s always best for this to be a two-way discussion and for the blogger to be able to have a say in what they’re creating.

What other blogs do you read?
We read lots… it’s really hard to pinpoint just a few. For us, we love a good read of food bloggers, a fair few fashion bloggers and of course travel bloggers. It also depends on the time of year as well, I guess (like winter time we’re all about food and summer is all about travel).

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Social media tips guest post

5 steps to more creative and effective social media campaigns

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This is a guest post by Ellen Morris from Billion Dollar Boy. 

Effective social media campaigns are all about innovation and creativity, and the more effective your campaigns are, the more successful your business is. Here are five useful steps to create social media campaigns that achieve your business goals.

1. Listen to your social audiences
Listening to your social audiences can give you solutions to numerous problems. Most importantly, it will give you the most accurate insight into what they really want.

Social media campaigns aren’t about pushing as much content as you possibly can for the sake of measuring the effects. They are all about building the right content that will grab the attention of your consumers. This will help you build more engaging content that produces sentiment and real responses.

2. Don’t run away from experts
Consulting experts about how to improve your social media campaign is one of the most efficient ways to make the most out of your efforts. Social media marketers know everything about how this online environment works but, most importantly, how social media users behave.

They can provide extremely valuable insights into specific data that can help you understand how each particular campaign affects not only your business but your existing consumers as well as potential prospects. Take your time to read what they have to say or even talk to them and ask specific questions about how to engage with your audience even more or how to reach a wider audience with the same effort.

Following the experts in your business niche is essential to forming decisions that will help you get ahead of the competition curve and engage with your audience in the right way. This is about seeing a bigger picture and where your company stands on a broader level.

3. Work on your customer experience
A customer’s experience is everything in an online customer-centric environment. Talking to your customers and listening to them is the best way to engage with them. Run a survey and ask for their feedback. Find out what they want from your brand.

The feedback you get is valuable information that will help you determine the next best course of action. This will also help you understand how your target audience feels about your industry in general. When you know their opinion, it will be easier to shape your future social media campaigns based on that data.

4. Take creative steps and think outside the box
Social media is not anything new anymore, and users are fed up with boring, standard social media updates. When creating your campaign, you should think outside the box. Here are a few creative social media tactics that guarantee a certain level of engagement:

  • Create a quiz, test your audience’s knowledge about your brand or a specific product you are pushing, and offer rewards for the best participants
  • Create a ‘tag a friend’ contest and offer giveaways
  • Post ‘behind the scenes’ images and videos to further humanise your brand
  • Take advantage of Facebook’s reactions – for instance, you can start a poll and each reaction represents a different choice

5. Follow the right trends to reinforce your brand message
Showing the right content at the right time is a tricky business as there are many factors that determine which campaigns will excel in different moments in time.

What is popular today may not be popular tomorrow and one mistake could endanger your brand reputation. When putting together an effective social media campaign, think about how your audience responds to different content. Shift your focus to the emotional connection with your audience by presenting the right topics that resonate with their current interests.

Queer Little Family 2019

LGBT Spotlight: Bread, Queer Little Family

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Queer Little Family has once again been ranked in the top 10 LGBT+ blogs. Written by Bread, the blog shares a personal journey about being queer and raising their child, Snappy. Known for being honest and direct, Bread told us about society getting worse for the LGBTQIA+ community, brands working with the community and their favourite blogs.

How do you describe what you do?
I write. I write about being a queer parent, I write about mental health, I write about being queer. I write because I love writing. It’s the only way to describe what I do, why I blog, accurately. It started and continues as a writing project more than anything else.

Snappy Queer Little FamilyHow do you use different social media channels with your blog?
I don’t use Twitter much for my blog, I think I need to have a bit of clean up, but I do use Facebook to post articles I find interesting or are relevant, as well as memes. I can’t resist a good meme. I use Instagram a lot too with pictures of my kid and stuff we’re doing. I was a late comer to Instagram and dead against it, and I’m still not a big fan of filters but I love it now!

Is society getting better or worse for the LGBTQIA+ community?
Worse. If you asked me six months ago I wouldn’t be saying that – but homophobic and transphobic attacks are on the increase, by 90% in some areas. People are protesting outside of schools, and disrupting the lives of kids over the fact LGBTQIA+ people exist and a book that depicts two male penguins raising a chick together, and transphobic ‘feminists’ are taking over the media with lies and scaremongering that is definitely affecting the entire community. I am pretty isolated here on the edge of nowhere, but I’ve never felt this unsafe, never felt this anxious about leaving my safe haven.

Have you ever experienced online trolling?
I dislike the word trolling, because I think it minimises what these people are doing and the effects they have on people like me. It doesn’t matter what their intention is, they are harassing people online, spreading hate and bullying people. And yes, I have been subject to that, but I’m pretty tough and don’t let it stand. I fight back. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequence.

Why are Pride events important?
For the reasons above. The increase of hate crimes on the LGBTQIA+ community, the online bullies, the media lies about transgender people. Pride is a protest and more important than ever. It’s important to stand united against hate, to show the next generation that they can be themselves, and be happy and healthy and loved.

What’s the best ways for brands to get involved without them just woke-washing?
Include LGBTQIA+ people in campaigns outside of June. Involve them in campaigns outside of one marketed to LGBTQIA+. I find not drawing attention to it, just LGBTQIA+ people just existing in campaigns without it being Pride month, or having anything to do with being queer makes all the difference. Include us on lists of blogs that aren’t just LGBTQIA+ blogs, include us in campaigns with cishet people.

Queer Little Family What are the best campaigns/collaborations you’ve worked on?
I don’t really have anything this year. I stepped back from blogging for a little while and am only just getting back into it over the last six months.

What advice would you give PRs looking to work with you?
Actually read the blog. Actually know who you’re talking to. Know what the blog is about before trying to sell your business that is so far removed from any of the topics on my blog. Stop sending me emails that are gendered. Hell, at least change your template to reflect who you’re emailing – I can’t tell you how many lazy PRs have done that recently. I will call you out and block your emails.

And be very aware that I do charge. I don’t work for free but I do donate half of everything to different LGBTQIA+ charities and Domestic Abuse charities.

Do you accept press releases?
Yes, but usually you have to tell me what you want me to do with them. Do you want me to tweet about it? Link to it somewhere? I get too many emails that tell me about something I may or may not be interested in without asking me what they want. I find it much easier if people specifically send me tweets or Facebook posts to repost/retweet.

What other blogs do you read?
LesBeMums, Papa, Eden and Me, The Milky Gay and TwoDads.U.K..

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