Getting Social Media To Impact On The Bottom Line in 2013

Habib Amir, head of digital, Clarion Communications 

Five Ways Brands Will Drive Revenue From Social Media Over The Next 12 Months

Most brands have learnt how to reach consumers and build advocacy through social media, but to drive sales they need to set up the right online purchase routes relevant to their specific business. And digitally intelligent brands have realised that Likes, Followers, and +1s shouldn’t be the primary KPI for measuring social media campaign success.  Measurement is set to become more sophisticated in 2013, and the industry benchmark for measurement will shift from community growth to revenue and profit through social media.  Here, Habib Amir of influenceD predicts five purchase routes brands will increasingly be looking to set up this year to drive sales.

13 bad marketing habits to ditch in 2013

Nicola Kemp, head of features, Marketing

After the excesses of Christmas, the traditional January purge kicks off in earnest. Nicola Kemp picks 13 common bad habits that marketers should forgo this year.

The Digital Launch That Fell To Earth

Howard Bowden, head of content, Clarion Communications

Twenty-four and a bit hours later and I still can’t work out what’s more astonishing: that David Bowie is back, or the way in which he did it.  Lets look at the facts: 1. With the exception of a four-piece guitar band from up north, Bowie is THE most important figure in British Popular Music over the past half a century (source: me).  2. With no live performances in a decade, no new music since 2006 and well documented health issues, the word was that we’d never hear from him again (as ‘confirmed’ to me by a national newspaper news editor the other week).  3. The last time I checked, the internet was a pretty big place, yet NO-ONE knew any of this was coming; no blurry cameraphone shots of him leaving a recording studio, no MP3s of demos leaked onto filesharing sites, and no slip-up by someone involved in its making on Twitter, as the excellent Alexis Petridis wrote in The Guardian.  This really isn’t how you’re supposed to do things these days, you know.