SocialMinds - A Social Media Marketing Podcast

Many would argue the standard of advertising and creativity is now the best it's been for ages. But how much better could it be if the industry opened its doors to the millions that are held back from creative careers by their class or background? In episode 69 of Social Minds, Craig Oldham, who chairs D&AD North, gives a frank take on the lack of representation in top creative roles. We also disc...

Facebook is a hostile environment for pages right now. Organic reach continues to decline, Facebook is pushing three-minute videos and capping the reach of memes, despite their popularity. In episode 068 of Social Minds, we're joined by Social Chain co-founder and director of social and creative at Social Chain Media. In this, she reveals what Facebook is asking of publishers and brands, what chan...

Creative professionals come with an ego attached. That's usually their downfall. In episode 067 of Social Minds, we're joined by Joe Glover, founder of The Marketing Meetup. In this episode, he explains why empathy is the trait to be proud of and a skill that everyone can develop. Joe says empathy doesn't just mean being nice. Empathy is the ability to become the person you're trying to reach. To...

As the UK prepares for another General Election, we spoke to PhD researcher Tristan Hotham, who has spent the last four years collecting over a decade's worth of data on political parties' use of social advertising. His findings prove that irreversible damage has been done. Now, as Twitter bans all political advertising and Facebook is under immense pressure to do the same, a new problem presents...

Who here is guilty of overthinking a creative idea? A stroke of inspiration can easily be diluted by meeting after meeting, chef after chef. One man who has made a business out of avoiding that trap is Nick Entwistle, founder of One Minute Briefs - an online community with over 20K followers. Like its name, One Minute Briefs asks its fans to draft adverts in one minute, with prizes for the best ea...

Facebook's end goal has always been to eliminate its competition, whether that's through acquisition or a 'clone and destroy' strategy. Except it's not working. In fact, recently other tech firms have been showing Facebook how's it's done. In our first LIVE episode of Social Minds, Theo and Eve discuss social's latest headlines and get candid about the state of Facebook. While Facebook says it can...

In June 2006 Yahoo tried to buy Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg ignored advice to reject the offer. That September, Facebook launched News Feed, once again against strong advice. Now, Zuckerberg has been conditioned to believe he knows best. In episode 063 of Social Minds, The Guardian's UK tech editor, Alex Hern, joins us to discuss Facebook's growing power and the repercussions of that. Alex says that...

America is a market so large that its 50 states may as well be 50 countries. So what can UK businesses do to ensure they make a transatlantic impact? In this episode of Social Minds we catch up with managing director of Social Chain USA, Oliver Yonchev, who is currently growing our office in New York. We discuss the hurdles that UK companies need to overcome when tackling the US, what to consider...

New parents are often warned against posting pictures of their children online, due to the dark web hosting a network of child abusers. But while that is a very real concern, it is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reasons why parents should think twice before hitting Post. In episode 61 of Social Minds, we welcome back Kat Callow who has recently returned from a consulting role in Silicon V...

eBay, Mastercard, VISA and Paypal are four of the world's most powerful companies. Along with Stripe, a Californian financial software company, they are also the first early backers to leave Facebook's Libra project. But is Facebook's plan to launch a cryptocurrency doomed or will it push through regulation to help create the world's biggest bank? In episode 060 of Social Minds, we're joined by So...

Vast changes have been made to the social landscape over the last month. In this week's episode of Social Minds: Breaking Social, Theo and Eve dissect the latest updates you need to know about, including Stories ads' new chatbot function, Instagram Shopping's new Product Launch tags, Snapchat's extended three-minute ad spots and LinkedIn's new targeting mechanism. We also take a first look at Face...

When brands are free to control their own online narrative through social media, is the traditional press release still relevant or has it become an obsolete relic of the past? In episode 058 of Social Minds, we're joined by PR publicist, producer and co-founder of The Influential Women podcast, Nicki Bannerman, to debate the role that public relations plays in 2019. We discuss how PR has moved fr...

Getting people's attention is one thing. Actually converting them is another. In episode 057 of Social Minds, Teresa Heath-Wareing, TEDx speaker and one of the UK's leading experts on social media marketing, puts an end to the use of 'value exchange' as a buzzword. Instead, she reveals how marketers can put it into practice. We discuss UK marketers' confidence issues, the meaning of lead magnets a...

What do you think of when you hear the word data? Big data, little data, data scandal, personal data, market data, opinion data… Forget what you've read in the headlines; Social Chain's own head of data and insights, McVal Osborne, joins us on episode 056 of Social Minds to iron out the facts. In this episode we discuss when our concerns are justified - and when they aren't - what the different ty...

1.3 billion people in the world live with disability. Just 0.6% of adverts represent them. In episode 055 of Social Minds, we're joined by Marianne Waite. Marianne is director at Omnicom's The Valuable 500 - the global movement putting disability on the business leadership agenda, whose Diversish campaign took home a Cannes Lions award earlier this year. Disability is seen as a charity or governme...

Would you pay £330 for Snap's latest Spectacles? We're debating Snapchat's parent company and its bold push into augmented reality and much more from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in our latest edition of Breaking Social, where Theo and Eve walk you through the last month of online activity. This month, that includes several key platform updates and brands' best and worst campaigns - a crash cou...

You know times have changed when a high-end heritage brand like Gucci starts posting memes. Fashion and social media have always been a perfect match, but fashion brands' innovative uses of social media are setting a precedent for the rest. Our guest for episode 053 of Social Minds is Amy Miller, senior account manager in fashion at Social Chain. In this episode, we find out how ethical conversati...

90% of people are watchers and 9% are engagers, which leaves 1% of content creators who can demonstrate influence over audiences, social media platforms and brands. So why does it feel like the bubble could burst at any moment? Neal Schaffer is a Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer and business consultant with a tremendous amount of influence. And while he doesn't fit into the traditional...

Understanding the inner workings of social media is crucial to creating a successful strategy. Few are better placed to inform marketers about this than our guest for this episode of Social Minds. At the end of last year, Social Chain strategy director Mike Blake-Crawford came on the podcast to predict what 2019 would have in store for social. Now, half way through the year, we check back in with...

Students are a key demographic for all B2C brands. But this generation of freshers is different from their predecessors; the internet was up and running before they learned how to speak. That means their formative years were spent on Facebook, and they've spent the last decade being targeted by Instagram ads. In episode 050 of Social Minds, we're joined by Social Chain social media director Roxann...

In 2019 brands expect agencies to produce more content, faster for less money. It's an unavoidable side-effect of our fast-paced, tech-driven world that gives marketers just three seconds to be remembered. But it's one that our guest for episode 049 of Social Minds, Nicholas Young, thinks is stifling creativity in advertising. Nick doesn't blame social media, though. He puts it down to an epidemic...

In episode 048 of Social Minds we return for another Breaking Social segment, in which Theo and Eve translate the biggest social media stories to break over the last month—and July 2019 was not short of material. The last 31 days have seen Snapchat take its naysayers by surprise with impressive second-quarter results; the platform gained 13 million new users. Also new at Snap Inc. was Snapchat's f...

People respond to people. That's not a new lesson, far from it, but it has forced brands to change how they talk to their consumers on social. Andréa Jones, a strategist and founder of her own social media consultancy firm, Onlinedrea, regularly tells businesses to show off their personality or risk going unnoticed. She joins us via Skype for episode 047 of Social Minds, which discusses the opport...

Food and drink should be an easy sell; it's a necessity for every age and demographic. So why is the industry still falling behind in its comms and marketing? In episode 046 of Social Minds, we're joined by Mark McCulloch, brand and marketing executive at Supersonic Inc and host of the Supersonic Food Marketing Podcast. In this, Mark reveals why food and drink marketing needs to move beyond knee-j...

2019 is the year of the podcast; high value and low competition means the opportunity for first-mover advantage is hot right now. But how does one avoid being just another voice with nothing to say? In episode 045 of Social Minds, we're joined by Social Chain audio executive Charlie Perry. Charlie played a crucial role in getting PrettyLittleThing's podcast, PLT: Behind Closed Doors, to number one...