Bing adds ‘social search’ feature to compete with Google

The Microsoft owned search engine Bing steps up its challenge to Google with an update that brings in results from a users’ Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn data. The feature is considered to be the most exciting update since Bing’s launch three years ago. Read more…

Pepsi Max crowd-surfing football game launches on Xbox Live

Pepsi has partnered with Microsoft Xbox to create a football game based on it’s recent ‘crowd surfing’ football advert, the game will appear on Xbox Live Arcade and is the first of it’s kind for the gaming & entertainment service. Read more…

UK Internet users say online ads are worth it to get free content.

According to a report from IAB & ValueClick, half of the UK Internet users are happy to see online advertising because it supports online content at little or no cost. Read more…

Facebook announce Apple style App store

The Facebook ‘App Centre’ will showcase the best apps across the web, mobile platforms and on the Social Network itself. The ‘App Centre’ is predicted to be rolled out in the next couple of weeks and display some of the best Ios, Android, mobile & web apps available. Read more… 

YouTube continues its drive as a premium content provider

Google is rolling out an integrated digital & outdoor campaign next week as it’s set to drive up YouTube’s positioning as a premium content provider. The campaign will feature the likes of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ & ‘Made in Chelsea’. Read more…

Iraq utilises Facebook & Reality TV to inspire a Generation of Peacemakers

Educational reality TV shows & Social media conversations is being used to unite Iraqi youths & inspire a generation that respects peaceful resolutions & equality. Read more…

Live Tweeted Brain Surgery reached 14.5 million people

In last weeks Tuesday Tune Up we mentioned that an American Hospital would harness the power of Social Media and Live Tweet brain surgery. According to figures the stunt reached an online audience of more than 14million people. Read more…

New ‘Facebook Terms and Policies Hub’ Answers Your Policy Questions

Facebook has finally aggregated all its terms and policies under the same roof. In the past Facebook have confused users with it’s ever changing policies, now you can find all the information you need here.

Clothes Hangers Show Real-Time Facebook Likes

Is this the future of fashion retail? A store in Brazil directly links its online activities to its high street store by clocking the amount of Facebook likes it achieves on digital hangers. Check out this video from Mashable.com

Well that’s all your questions answered on this weeks marketing news, but as always if you have any more questions for us feel free to get in touch on our Facebook page.

This week we have Twitter changing the way brain surgery is performed, The National Trust bringing Wallace & Gromit to our Screens, Facebook saving lives (again) and some cheekiness from Paddy Power.

Sainsbury’s to compete in music download market

Sainsbury’s aims to improve its online entertainment offering by launching into the increasingly competitive online music download market. Read more…

The National Trust turns adopt Facebook campaign for Great British Day Out

The National Trust will target a ‘younger audience’ by launching a campaign that encourages Facebook users to design a ‘Great British Day Out’. Read more…

Facebook Privacy Concerns on the rise?

According to a report by the annual state of net study the amount of people growing concerned of their privacy whilst on Facebook is growing. Read more…

Facebook miracle! Organ transplant donors up 700% in a few hours

We announced last week that Facebook was going to announce a lifesaving new feature shared the news on our Facebook page within minutes of the announcement.  The power of Facebook proves itself again as organ transplant donors were up 700% within only a few hours of the launch! Read more…

Wallace and Gromit star in Jubilee tea party film

It seems the National Trust were busy last week as news spread that ‘Wallace and Gromit’ will be celebrating The Queens Diamond jubilee in a special film created by Aardman Animations especially for the company that protects much of our country side and monuments. Read more…

Wagon Wheels attempt Bing treasure hunt

The nostalgic chocolate snack Wagon Wheels, owned by Burton Foods snack, is set to launch a new digital initiative using Bing maps in a treasure map style online game in a bid to resonate the classic brand to younger teenagers. Read more…

Hospital to live Tweet brain surgery and post image on Pinterest.

Social media is certainly changing the way people do business but one thing for sure is we didn’t expect it to be changing the way surgeons operate. Houston’s Memorial Hermann hospital in America is taking to Twitter to live tweet a brain operation and post pictures to Pinterest. Read more…

Paddy Power spoofs goal-line technology

Paddy Power creates a spoof for “goal line technology” ready for this year’s UEFA European Championship with this YouTube campaign.

*Warning this contains adult humour – and is NOT really safe for work.

I’m sure you will all agree this week’s TTU is a cracker; perhaps our favourite one to date (The team laughed their footy socks off when they watched the Paddy Power video. Ed* Actually the BOYS laughed their socks off, the girls rolled their eyes…), as always feel free to discuss any of this weeks news on our Facebook page, we’d love to hear what you have to say.

Google launch cloud service to rival Dropbox

Google roll out a cloud storage service called ‘Google Drive’ to rival Dropbox, Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Apple’s iCloud. Read more…

Ben Fogle the first face of Lego.

Lego appoints adventurer Ben Fogle as the new face of it’s Toy ranges in the UK. Read more…

Marks & Spencer launch ‘Shwopping’

‘Shwopping’ in case you don’t already know is a clever campaign, fronted by Joannna Lumley, where cutomers can trade in old clothes to be resold or reused or recycled by Oxfam in a bid to cut waste. Find out more…

Cancer research UK supports the removal of tobacco branding

Cancer research have released this hard hitting campaign highlighting the effects on tobacco branding on young children and teenagers, calling for all branding to be removed from packs. Read more…

Samsung overtakes Nokia – and maybe iPhone.

Samsung has overtaken Nokia to become the worlds largest handset seller. Nokia have owned 14year domination at the top spot according to research from Strategy Analytics. Read more…

Strongbow set to send an aspirational message

Strongbow aim to target men who ‘get the job done’, is aiming to become a more aspirational brand with the launch of a multimillion-pound ad campaign. Read more…

How can businesses take advantage of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?

Take a look at this fantastic guest article from the Drum about how businesses take advantage of the Queens diamond jubilee? Read more…

Facebook to introduce ‘Lifesaving’ feature tomorrow.

According to mashable.com, Mark Zuckerberg is set to announce a new feature that “saves lives” tomorrow. What could this be? We don’t know yet…but keep an eye on our Facebook page tomorrow for news alerts.

Well that is it for another week. If you are as excited as us (sad I know) to find out what the new Facebook feature is going to be, remember it’s going to “save lives”, come and chat to us on our Facebook page!

Here’s a guide on how to measure your negative feedback rating and why you need to regularly look and learn from this….

How to view your Negative Feedback data

Hiding within a couple of clicks in the insights area of your Facebook page is your engagement per post. It’s a little tricky so here is a step by step guide…

1. Click on your Facebook page.
2. Make sure the admin panel is available. This should be at the top of the page. If it is hidden just click ‘Admin Panel’ at the right hand side of the page.
3. Can you see the Insights graph like this? Click ‘See all.’
4. You should now be able to see all of the insights data. Scroll down the page and you will see a list of all the posts you have recently sent.
5. Along the top of the posts you will see a section called ‘engaged users’. Click on one of the numbers in this column.
6. This will give you a small pie chart offering you information about the way people have engaged with this post. You will also see that of the number of people engaged ‘X’ amount of this engagement was ‘negative feedback’.

‘Negative feedback’ is not measured like any other metric and actually not enough information is given to us on this subject. However think about what you do when you see something on your feed that you don’t want to read, you usually ignore it, but ‘negative feedback’ is measured by people who…

• Hide that post from their news feed
• Hide all posts from your page from appearing in their news feed
• Un-liked your page
• Reported your post as spam

Generally, if people act in this sort of way, they really dislike it. In short if you are often seeing ‘negative feedback’ figures then consider re-analyzing the content you are posting.

As painful as it is to find out that people are not enjoying your content, I’d personally rather know what content is hurting my page than not knowing at all. At least this way you can understand and learn about what content works and what doesn’t.

This Weeks Tuesday Tune Up celebrates the Countdown to the Olympics, a Range Rover Designed by Victoria Beckham, Coca-Cola to be the new name in Music and Mums (You will see why!).

Range Rover unveils Victoria Beckham car

Victoria Beckham has designed a new ‘Posher’ Evoque Range rover. The move aims to boost Car brands luxury credentials.What do you reckon?  Read more…

Coca-Cola to measure social value of its marketing

Just a week after being criticised by the Medical body for it’s sponsoring of the Olympics. Coca-Cola is to measure the social impact its London 2012 Olympic Games Sponsorship activity is having on communities around the world. Read more…

Tumblr to start selling ads

Blogging site Tumblr is to start selling advertising on the 2^nd of May as it looks to create revenue for future growth. It’s an interesting move! Read more…

Coke Partner up with Spotify to become an established music brand.

Coca-Cola has signed a deal with Spotify who will develop a range of apps for the soft drink maker as it looks to become “an established music brand”. Read more…

Airlines ramp up social media efforts

Emirates have boosted their social media activity in a bid to create better engagement with UK holidayers and gain deeper insight of holiday trends. Read more…

Can the public name the Olympic sponsors?

There is now less than 100 days to the Olympics. Every week we give you a new piece of news about the Olympic Sponsors. But could you name the brands that are at the forefront of the event? Watch the Video here…

Google improves reporting for video campaigns in AdWords

Google is improving its video ad campaign reporting with the launch of AdWords for video for all advertisers. Read more…

Proctor & Gamble marks 100 days to Olympics

P & G are rolling out its first global corporate campaign to mark 100 days until the London 2012 Olympic games and forms as part of the “Proud sponsor of mums” campaign. Read more…

Thank you Mum. x

Did that video give you goose bumps? Or anything else in this week’s Tuesday Tune Up for that matter. As always we love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to contact us via email, phone or our Facebook page.

Since Facebook had its facelift it was only a matter of time before Google+ was going to announce a whole new redesign. They promised more customisation, a whole new layout and better hangouts.

Here is a snap shot as to what’s new on Google+…

The design elements now look like the Facebook Timeline, for example you will notice that there is a cover photo that’s sprawls along the top of the page/ profile. However, DO NOT just upload your Facebook cover photo, as there is a fundamental difference in size. The Google+ cover photo is 940 x 180 pixels, quite a bit thinner that the Facebook Cover photo.

The profile image on the other hand is almost double the Facebook profile image at 260 x 260 pixels.

However unlike Facebook, Google+ gives you the option of using old style thumbnail images instead of the long cover photo. The size for each individual thumbnail is 112 x112 pixels and you can have 5 small images alongside your profile image as suggested here…

In addition, Google has developed some of their pre-existing features. The new hangouts page for example shows Hangout invitations and makes it easier to find up and coming hangouts. (never thought I’d get the word ‘hangout’ into one sentence so many times!)

One advantage that Twitter has over any of its competitive platforms is the ability for users to see what content is trending all over the world. The new ‘Explore feature’ allows Google+ users to achieve this too.

The reactions of the re-design have been largely positive and it is fair to say that the changes have made Google+ easier to search, as well as looking better.  Google’s Senior Vice President suggests the changes make Google+ prettier and easier to navigate.

“It accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google” Google Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra

But can it give them an edge over Facebook? Were not too sure. What do you think?

Feel free to let your thoughts known on our Google+ or Facebook page; we’d be interested to hear them.

The Football theme continues in this weeks Tuesday Tune Up with a fantastic new advert from Mars that sees England win the Euro’s, whilst John Lewis are dedicated to London 2012 by opening official merchandise stores and McDonalds are going to include Wenlock (the Olympic sponsor)  as the next ‘Happy Meal’ toy. However, in more serious marketing news Medical Bodies ask for Coca-cola and McDonalds to be banned from sponsoring the Olympic Games and the debate continues about whether tobacco should be branded! 

Mars kicks off its Euro 2012 ad campaign

Mars launched its Euro 2012 TV advert yesterday. The advert features a Mars bar-eating steward replacing an injured Joe Hart and producing heroic saves to defy a Robin van Persie penalty. Read more…

Schweppes summer campaign celebrates British heritage

Coca-Cola owned soft-drinks brand Schwepps teams up with Diageo, owner of Pimms and Gordon’s Gin, to launch a summer campaign to promote its British heritage. Read more…

John Lewis to open dedicated Olympic shops

John Lewis is set to roll out 29 dedicated Olympic shops inside its department stores which will stock official London 2012 merchandise. Read more…

Budweiser beer mats link fans to FA Cup

The official sponsor of the FA cup has launched an app that allows consumers to pose with a virtual replica of the trophy by pointing their smartphone at a Budweiser beer mat. Read more…

Tobacco branding to be banned

Fancy packaging is considered by some to be part of making smoking seem “cool” so the government is set to strip branding on packets in an attempt to curb smoking. Read more…

McDonald’s to introduce Olympic happy meal promotion

The McDonald’s Happy Meal is going to give away London 2012 Games mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville as official sponsors of the games. Read more…

Medical body calls for Olympic ban on Coke and McDonald’s 

The ‘Happy Meal news’ will infuriate Doctors all over the country as McDonalds and Coca-Cola have been slated for sponsoring major sporting events such as the Olympics as Medical Bodies demand harsher actions to combat obesity. Read more…

As we always like to end our Tuesday Tune Up’s on a high take a look at this genius bit of Guerrilla marketing in from TNTDrama…

…and remember if you have any questions about this week’s marketing news feel free to contact us via email, phone or our Facebook page.

In other news, the Marketing world has boomed this week with the UK’s largest ever Marketing campaign, Facebook splashes out on Instagram, James Bond no longer likes his drinks “Shaken, not stirred” and Google unveils it’s ideas for augmented reality glasses. Take a look at this weeks mash up of marketing headlines…

Adidas invites Brits to ‘take the stage’ in biggest-ever UK campaign

Adidas, the official sponsor of London 2012, rolls out the UK’s largest campaign to date with the aim of showcasing British talent and encouraging UK consumers to ‘Take The Stage’ in 2012. Read more…

Facebook splashes out £623 million on Instagram acquisition

Facebook has purchased Instagram, the photo-sharing app, for £623 million in cash and shares. But the acquisition has sparked a major backlash. Read more…

James Bond to swig a Heineken in latest film

The ‘Double O’ agent British Spy created by Ian Fleming is to ditch the ‘Martini’ by adding Heineken to his drinking repertoire in the latest film franchise, ‘Skyfall’. Read more…

Virgin Media sponsors the Red Devils

Virgin Media are set to sponsor the Red Devils, the British Army free-fall team, for the next 12 months. Read more…

M&S’s reunite stars in ‘2012 summer’ ad

Marks & Spencer have unveiled their summer campaign this week using celebrities to subtly associate the brand with the biggest events of 2012, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics. Read more…

Smirnoff launches Madonna MDNA Nightlife UK campaign

As part of its ongoing Nightlife Exchange Project, Smirnoff roll out the next stage in their partnership with Madonna with a limited edition on-pack promotion and marketing campaign. Find out more here…

Unilever to crowdsource sustainability

Unilever, the Multinational consumer goods company, turn to crowdsourcing to develop sustainability initiatives to change consumer behaviour through marketing. Read more…

Google unveils augmented reality glasses

Google unveil a ‘Star Trek’ inspired a concept that has been rumoured for quite a time now called “Project Glass”. This new technology functions like a smartphone, only in the form of a wearable device that looks like a pair of sun glasses. Read more…

There you have it, make sure you tune in for next weeks Tuesday Tune Up and as always feel free to contact us via email, phone or our Facebook page if you have any questions.

Whilst all that has been going on, the marketing world continues to revolve, in this weeks Tuesday Tune Up, we share some of the best April Fools jokes, lots of Google news, in fact; bumper Google news, UK police will soon be able to read your email! 

Facebook Testing New Self-Service Ad Features, Revamping Check-in Numbers

Facebook is running small tests to see the improvement to their self-service ad marketplace ad network. New features include further flexible targeting options and goal driven ad automation, we’re not sure how soon this will take place in the UK but it’s an interesting turn. In addition Facebook are making improvements to their check-in features, giving more accurate numbers finally. Read more…

Google spin a number of April Fools jokes! Amongst others…

Google topped the most talked about April Fools jokes this year with their ‘Really really advanced search” allowing you to search by ‘Rhyming slang’ for starters, as well as adding ’8-bit maps for the Nintendo NES’ (Very funny). Power rangers also launched a suite of fragrances with the tag line “Smell Strong” – but if you want to see a selection of others, Read more…

A few (well 63 to be exact!) FREE ways to market your business

FREE is a little extreme, free in the sense of you don’t have to pay cash but you do have to pay in your time and effort! So it depends how expensive your time is! Anyway, here’s a selection, I’m sure one or two might be helpful! Read more…

UK may introduce law to allow police to read your emails!

Ministers in the United Kingdom are planning to introduce new laws allowing police to step up their monitoring of our email and social media accounts. Pretty scary, so when we say only write what you wouldn’t mind your mum seeing – it’s even more true. Remember, the internet is written in ink, not pencil… once written, never wipeable! Read more…

Kopparberg unveils its ‘biggest ever’ launch

Kopparberg is replacing its Apple Cider variant with Naked Apple Cider in what the brewer describes as its biggest npd investment to date as it looks to capitalise on the continuing growth of the UK cider category. Read more…

The Duracell bunny gets a voice! 

The Duracell bunny has been given a voice for the first time 39 years after it was first introduced in the brand’s marketing. The character, known as Bunny, will take control of Duracell’s Facebook page from today (3 April). He will regularly interact and engage with the brand’s fans through Q&As, tips and competitions. It is the first time that owner Procter & Gamble has sought to present the bunny character’s personality beyond his endurance and longer lasting power. Read more…

Google Account Activity Offers Monthly Reports of Your Google Usage

Google is to make it easier for users to track their use of its services by providing a monthly activity dashboard. Users who sign up to Account Activity will get monthly analytics reports on the number of searches they conduct, the most frequent queries they have submitted, and even the number of emails sent and received to their Gmail accounts. Read more…

Have your search engine rankings taken a dive recently?

Much of the search marketing industry is up in arms over notifications from Google Webmaster Tools warning users that they’ve fallen from Google’s graces and should be on the lookout for “artificial or unnatural links… that could be used to manipulate PageRank”. What began as a ripple back in February has become a tidal wave of discontent and alarm as more report receiving the notices. Read more…

Well that’s it for another week! I wonder what joys this Easter week will hold…. have a great Easter everyone!

When you convert to the Facebook Timeline, one of the first new features you will see is the ability to add a “cover image”. You may have already resorted to this on your personal profile or seen other pages who have already made the switch.

Here we talk about the Facebook Page Timeline “Cover Photo” and some of the rules that businesses need to follow when designing this image. We will also show you some of our favourite “cover photo” designs to inspire you.

What is a cover photo?

The Cover Photo is the large rectangular image at the top of the brand’s page that acts as the first point of visualisation for your Facebook fans. Therefore this is the place where you can get creative to produce a unique first impression and tell your fans about your company’s story.

What size should the cover image be?

The ideal size for your cover photo image is 850px wide by 315px high. The cover photo’s tend to get pixilated so upload an image as high-res as possible.

What are the Cover Photo Rules?

You are not allowed to do this!

If you are reading this and are thinking that you want to fill the cover photo space with some salesy-type graphics (like the above image) and a call to action then you may want to reconsider as this is not within the Facebook regulations.

The cover photo regulations state that the cover photo should not include…

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section.
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

The objective of the Facebook “Timeline” is to tell your story and we suggest that your “Cover photo” should be another way of expressing that story.

Here are some of our favourite ‘Cover Photo’s' of which you can gather inspiration from….

PG Tips

*Voted the most engaging UK page on Facebook, the PG tips cover photo really promotes that “fresh” feeling. Love Monkey’s profile picture too!

Disney

*A Fantastic ‘Cover Image’ that really emphasises some of Disney’s greatest moments. Disney also has one of the best Timeline’s on Facebook dating back to 1923.

Starbucks

*Using a staff image such as this by Starbucks is a great way of humanising your brand.

Converse

*Expressing you company’s heritage is an extremely powerful way using the new Facebook timeline. This Converse All Star cover image captures this exceptionally.

Marmite

*The ‘Love it or hate it’ brand really expresses their core message in this cover photo. They even include a ‘fan of the month’. I for one ‘Love’ this.

Lucozade

  *This is another powerful cover photo that pulls in images from some of their past advertising campaigns.

Nivea UK

 *This is a personal favorite of mine, using the ‘Timeline” to promote how the beauty care product’s packaging has evolved over time. This take’s our favorite buzzword ‘relevance’ to a whole new level.

… And finally how could we forget to include some of the ‘Cover photo’s’ we’ve designed for our clients and also our own.

Nordic Walking UK

UK Swim Store

Tooway Direct

Fusing Creativity

So, now you know Facebook’s rules regarding the Facebook Timeline ‘Cover Photo’ and some fabulous examples to inspire you to create your own. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on these ‘Cover Photo’s’, or any other fabulous examples you have seen, on our Facebook page.