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“If having the kind of culture where everyone feels valued and has a voice is important in your organization, then pulling back on initiatives that might in the short-term reduce spend is a false economy,” says Wendy Christie, chief people officer, The Social Element.

 

The ethos of the social media agency, which is celebrating its 20th year in business, is to help brands have a “genuine human connection with their consumers” and her podcast, where she gets under the skin of industry figures, is called Genuine Humans. Littleton, who is open, warm and unshowy, seems to qualify as a genuinely decent type.

The extracurricular activity of this self-confessed “social media geek” and Campaign 40 Over 40 winner, backs up the impression.

As a gay woman, Littleton says: “I like to ‘out’ myself in articles and awards because I think it’s important to have senior people in our industry being out and proud.”

 

 

This clearer understanding caused a significant shift — namely, a drastic change in the way we interact online. People became invested in connecting with like-minded individuals over niche interests. And so the rise of micro-communities came to the fore.

These online groups can be found across the internet. TikTok, Discord and, to some extent, Facebook private groups — the list is constantly growing. And the success of these spaces that nurture these communities over the past two years have been incredible — Discord reached 150m active users in 2022, compared to 56m in 2019.

 

The once excitable are now sober. Ashley Cooksley, then North American managing director (now North American CEO) of social media ad agency The Social Element, said to The Media Leader in March: “We haven’t even begun to experience the full potential of NFTs yet. We’re eagerly watching the space as it applies to social media specifically. Because of the nature of what an NFT is and where it lives – in the virtual realm – the integrations into the social media space are quite exciting.” She spoke of NFTs as vehicles for brand engagement that, while potentially risky, were worth exploring.

 

 

The Social Element, the woman-owned global social-media agency has a new CEO, North America: Ashley Cooksley.

Kendall DiBella, the company’s head of accounts, takes over Cooksley’s managing director’s role. Together, they will expand the brand client reach in the U.S. and Canada.

Tamara Littleton, global CEO and founder at The Social Element, said Cooksley will “continue to focus on global commercial and client strategy … while continuing to maximize the incredible potential we’ve seen over the past few years.”

The Social Element has named Virgin Red marketing director Linn Frost as its first managing director for the UK and Europe, in a bid to grow across the region.

Frost joins the social media specialist today (9 May), reporting to chief executive and founder Tamara Littleton. Her remit is to grow and strengthen the agency’s European operations, with a focus at the agency that will include strategic and creative execution, new business development and client relations.

 

 

For me, the magic of podcasts lies in the intimacy they create. In my experience hosting The Genuine Humans podcast alongside my chief people officer Wendy Christie, it’s been a fantastic way to understand the people behind the brands. Not only has it been an opportunity to discuss leadership and company culture, but we also get to provide a candid space for marketing leaders to share their stories, show vulnerability and show that great brands are built by genuine humans.

It seems that brands old, young, big and small are working out how they can grab a slice of the digital pie. In fact, even LimeWire (yes, you read correctly) has been revived as an NFT marketplace. The nostalgic music sharing platform is set to make a comeback in May as it swaps MP3s for NFTs to become a platform where users can buy and sell music collectables and other digital assets.

This got me thinking. MP3s were once the poster child of early Web 2.0, with millions of us downloading and sharing our favourite Avril Lavigne songs from sites like LimeWire. But, with the dawn of platforms like Spotify and the growing accessibility of digital assets versus physical ones, the value of MP3s quickly plummeted. After all, it’s a lot harder for MP3s to have any resale value when there is an unlimited supply with limited demand.

 

 

“After a long period of restrictions and uncertainty, there is optimism on the horizon for the travel industry.

Recent reports find that travel bookings will return to about 75% of pre-pandemic levels this summer.

Combined with the news that the UK government is easing COVID-19 testing for travellers – the landscape for travel brands seems to be returning to a much more familiar, and stable, shape – finally.

But the long term impacts of the COVID era will continue to influence consumer decision making for a while yet.”

“Imagine discovering a virtual store has become a key meeting spot for a fascist group. Also people already crucify brands that make them cringe, or worse, on social media. It’ll be worse when the space is so inherently up close and personal.”

 

“Yes, Meta may have come a long way since its dorm room origins as it bets on the long-term gains of the future, using its new bells and whistles as a distraction from these issues, but it needs to get the fundamentals right if it’s going to take over the virtual world too.”

“Imagine discovering a virtual store has become a key meeting spot for a fascist group. Also people already crucify brands that make them cringe, or worse, on social media. It’ll be worse when the space is so inherently up close and personal.”

 

The Social Element managing director, North America Ashley Cooksley telling Adweek, “It’s presumably more about distancing the parent company from the Facebook product, so that any toxicity in Facebook stays within that one product rather than ‘infecting’ other brands under the parent banner.”

“Reddit is certainly not the go-to social media platform brands consider when launching a new product, but with its rising user growth, new audio features, and super-engaged communities—not to mention its crack down on abusive content in recent years—many marketers are sensing an opportunity to engage with Reddit communities. These are, after all, passionate, extremely knowledgeable, potential consumers obsessed with everything from K-pop to indie video games. Why not your brand?”

 

#Tiktokmademebuyit is one of the more widely circulated hashtags on TikTok, and one I can relate to personally. The product that the crazy-accurate For You Page (FYP) algorithm recently thought I needed was a Little Green rug and upholstery cleaning device. Folks with pets swear by them, but at the time I didn’t even have a pet (I do now, and yes, it is quite handy). But the numerous videos on my page convinced me, dog or no dog, that this was something I had to buy.

“Reddit is certainly not the go-to social media platform brands consider when launching a new product, but with its rising user growth, new audio features, and super-engaged communities—not to mention its crack down on abusive content in recent years—many marketers are sensing an opportunity to engage with Reddit communities. These are, after all, passionate, extremely knowledgeable, potential consumers obsessed with everything from K-pop to indie video games. Why not your brand?”

 

It may be hard to believe it’s a thing, but World Emoji Day was “celebrated” (is that the right word for it?) on July 17. Still, for anyone over the age of 40 or so, the fact that this rudimentary, sometimes confounding, symbol language — started in Japan in 1999 — has its own day is enough to trigger a flurry of eye-roll emojis.

But emojis are serious business in 2021, and marketers need to be aware of what these seemingly innocent images hiding inside our phone’s keyboard actually mean — and how context fits into that understanding.

“What makes the creator space so interesting is how much access people across the world have to cameras and the internet. … While [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg is thinking long term about the metaverse, until there is true access to the technology, it will be a metaverse of elite creators only.”

 

Facing abuse for posting about love and inclusivity should never happen. When it’s towards your brand ambassador, it absolutely falls under the brand’s duty of care.

Brands working with influencers on ‘cause’ messaging should be giving them access to their social media teams for help, advice on handling trolls and resources for coping with stress. Brands should also be vocally supportive on their own social media channels, showing that the brand is standing with the influencer.

Pride is about supporting LGBT+ people and their allies – I hope that every business is generous with who they apply that to.

Wendy Christie, chief people officer, says you have to strike the right balance between giving people enough information and giving them too much.

“I think being onboarded into a remote working job is much more intense and overwhelming than in-person,” she says. “It’s giving people time and space to digest everything that we’re sending to them. We do most of it live on a call or a video call, rather than just sending them a bunch of stuff that they have to learn and set up.”

She says then it is about constantly checking in and bearing in mind that it could take someone six to nine months to feel fully onboarded and embedded within the company culture.

If they haven’t worked from home before, it’s important to share those now-familiar tips: make sure you create a separate workspace in the home; incorporate a “commute” – ie, a walk – before knuckling down in the morning.

 

Facing abuse for posting about love and inclusivity should never happen. When it’s towards your brand ambassador, it absolutely falls under the brand’s duty of care.

Brands working with influencers on ‘cause’ messaging should be giving them access to their social media teams for help, advice on handling trolls and resources for coping with stress. Brands should also be vocally supportive on their own social media channels, showing that the brand is standing with the influencer.

Pride is about supporting LGBT+ people and their allies – I hope that every business is generous with who they apply that to.

“I’m old school,” she says. “I started in 2002, before Facebook, YouTube or Twitter existed. I have a psychology background, and social’s something that’s always fascinated me, because, ultimately, it is people being people. It changes a bit but it hasn’t really changed very much in all the years.”

The Social Element is all about engagement. “It could be community management, or content creation, and a lot is driven by social listening. Over the past 12 months, through the pandemic, there has been a massive shift to social media. A lot of brands have had to step up and change their tone of voice, and do more talking back, connecting and listening to what people are saying and using that to adapt their strategy.

 

From a marketer’s perspective though, what I think is most interesting is that these platforms present brands the opportunity to do market research in a different way. You get to listen to conversations in ways that you can’t on other social channels.

Brands can use audio features to learn about their audience’s true interests and feelings in ways that performative platforms, such as Instagram where people share the best version of themselves, can’t.

This form of brand interaction isn’t new. For as long as brands have been on social media they have had a role in shaping and leading these cultural moments. As social platforms have grown, and the communities on them have grown too, brands have used trending conversations as fodder to share moments of humour with their fans and engage in genuine human conversations. It can exist in those planned interactions between brands, and it can also evolve organically from opportunities like Weetabix’s campaign, where smart and prepared brands can jump in on the fun. But it can also be a key tool in the moments that catch brands off guard.

 

Tamara Littleton’s father thought she invented social media, and she never had the heart to tell him otherwise. She founded eModeration, which helped clients build online communities, in March 2002 — two years before Facebook began.

After a slow start, the London-based company gathered momentum as a specialist social media agency and has since worked with big brands such as American Express, Diageo and Peloton. It was rebranded as The Social Element in 2017 and last year sales hit £9.2 million.

Brands need to work at building the credibility needed to tackle social issues. Brand crises tend to have one common denominator: consumers expecting brands to be better citizens. The solution is not controlling who engages with content in the face of a blowback, it’s about taking action outside of campaigns and proving day in and day out that there is human empathy behind the brand. Brands need to stand up on the issues that matter to them because consumers demand consistency and integrity. With or without comment control, it will find new ways to make their anger known if their expectations aren’t matched.

 

Bud Light, Smirnoff and Jack Daniels are king of their respective sectors, and it is not particularly close and there are no generational differences. Brands in this category must be mindful of their broad audience, which could, with generalized engagement, create a sense of non-personalization.

Consumers want personalization, with 30% even stating they would promote a brand online if there is relevance to their own interest.

“As its user figures grow as a result of its role during the recent events in the US, so too does the spread of misinformation and highly politicised negative content, bringing its position as a brand-safe environment into question for the advertisers who fund the site yet again,” said Tamara Littleton, chief executive of marketing agency The Social Element.

First, before you do anything, take a breath, step back and look at the landscape. Are you where you want to be with your brand’s social media? Ask yourself: What are my business objectives and how are they linked to my social media strategy? What are the barriers you have in achieving your goals?

With stores closed, digital acceleration moving full-speed ahead and consumer needs changing, the last few months have not been easy for brands.

But, as we start to emerge on the other side of this health crisis, it’s clear that whilst Covid-19 has brought restrictions, there is much we can learn from how brands and consumers have responded.

Is Instagram’s TikTok rival Reels the next big thing for brands?

TikTok is facing acquisition by Microsoft in the US or even a total ban, with President Trump having just signed an executive order banning US businesses from working with the platform. Still though, all eyes are on Instagram’s latest bid to reclaim the audience share it’s at risk of losing to TikTok: Reels.

There’s an iconic scene in the popular 90s sitcom Friends, where Ross, Chandler and Rachel are attempting to carry a huge couch up their apartment stairs. Ross continues to yell the word “pivot,” even though it’s painfully obvious the couch will not budge.

Funny thing is, this scene is not all that different from the current pandemic-induced environment companies have been forced to adapt to. With the couch already halfway up the flight of stairs, or in this case COVID-19 having enveloped the globe, there is no turning back. Just like Ross and his friends, companies are struggling to pivot within unknown circumstances. Eventually, the “friends” manage to get the couch upstairs, and similarly many companies have emerged and pivoted within this unique state of play. The quick-service restaurant industry has been no exception to the new normal that is the year 2020.

“Facebook might still be a winner as far as much of its audience is concerned, but the world is changing and businesses are being scrutinized for their behavior ever more,” said Tamara Littleton, analyst and the CEO of social strategy firm the Social Element. “It may not be this year or even next, but in the long term unless Facebook can prove to advertisers and governments that it is able to act in a responsible and ethical manner, it may yet prove that there’s no such thing as ‘too big to fail’.”

The economic and societal impact of COVID-19 means brands and businesses around the world are having to adapt hard and fast to a ‘New Normal’. This raises tough questions for agencies and marketing service firms about how they future proof their own businesses, while also supporting their clients and their people.

To help marketing services companies steer a course through the crisis, Julianna Richter of leading growth and corporate advisory firm Waypoint Partners teamed up with Tamara Littleton of social media firm The Social Element, Stephen Maher of independent digital agency MBA, Drew Benvie of communications agency Battenhall, Chris Donnelly of Verb Brands and Kate Fenton of marketing communications agency Multiply. Here are their six survival strategies for agencies emerging into the Post Covid-19 economic landscape.

Banks are no strangers to disruption, having weathered the ongoing competition from digital start-ups that have disrupted the finance sector and how consumers interact with it. However, we have been navigating uncharted waters since COVID-19’s arrival in our daily lives and the financial services sector is not immune to the crisis that is building in its wake.

Right now, we are seeing more and more businesses pivot their marketing strategies and adapt ways of thinking as this crisis unfolds, particularly on social media. This is because these platforms have become more important and active than ever as customers are increasingly turning to social sites for connection, information and reassurance.

Social media as a channel has grown organically and so has its importance as a customer care channel. During times of crisis, it is usual that the first port of call for customers to vent frustrations is their financial suppliers.

We launched the NextGen Awards at the tail end of last year, before coronavirus first emerged in China and before terms such as “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” entered the lexicon. Our mission was to shine a spotlight on the next generation of ground-breaking, high-growth businesses.

Since then, coronavirus has spread to more than 190 countries around the world, with more than 1.5 million cases confirmed globally and over 88,000 deaths.

Four bosses who caught coronavirus share their tips.

One of the many lessons of this awful pandemic is that you can’t tell a leader from the letters in their email signature. You can tell a leader because they’re the one we all turn to when we’re scared and confused.

But when the leader themselves falls victim to the coronavirus, such fear and confusion multiplies. When you hear the news that Boris Johnson has been taken to intensive care with COVID-19, you want to know rather urgently who has their hands on the wheel.

Tamara Littleton, CEO of the Social Element charts the latest must-have social media platform’s rise and asks, how can brands avoid being the dad on the dancefloor?

Social media has always moved fast. Think of the meteoric rise of TikTok last year, or the speed of Twitter take-downs if a celebrity makes a gaff. But social isolation has made that movement exponentially quicker again, and in no case is this better illustrated than in the fortunes of the latest must-have social media, Houseparty.

Created long before we were all locked indoors, the app has jumped towards the top of app download lists across Android and iOS and become a verb in households across the globe: ‘let’s Houseparty later’. As people find themselves longing for increased social contact, its game add-ons and casual functionality that allows friends to join calls and hop on and off with different groups of people have made it hugely popular as a way to easily hang out with friends. Its presence as a joyful isolation relief is compounded by its integration with activities and an element of surprise around who will join any ‘room’ inherent to the platform.

A ferret dancing with a small Pikachu. A strange banana cesarean. Kombucha girl. The top viewed videos of TikTok in 2019 give a small taste of the range of content available on the platform – and an insight into the quirky humor that has encouraged over 1.5 billion downloads and attracted over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide.

This impressive user base is complemented by even more impressive results for the Chinese brand. Q4 of 2019 saw the short-video application’s in-app purchase revenue soar by 310% YoY – bringing its in-app revenue streams to over $50 million for the quarter. Some estimates have even put this figure as high as $87 million. With these numbers, it’s no wonder that the platform is, and will continue, forcing the tech industry to sit up and pay attention.

Tamara Littleton taught herself to code and started her successful social media agency long before the days of Facebook. Now she supports and inspires other women.

Tamara Littleton was, she admits, a bit naughty when she was at convent school. The entrepreneur who grew up to found The Social Element social media agency was fascinated by computing, and even driven to subterfuge when it did not feature on her timetable. “I took a key, used it to break into the computer room and I taught myself to code,” she remembers. “At home I had a Sinclair ZX81 and I used to get magazines from WHSmith and code games.”

Only when you are able to feel the trust of others, can you allow yourself to think differently and create new solutions, services, and approaches

How would you describe the overall culture at your agency / company?

As a woman-owned and women-led agency, we have an inclusive culture that allows for flexibility in working. This means we are able to find the best talent, and offer a work/life balance that’s often not seen at other agencies. For example, parents who need to be able to have a flexible schedule for childcare. Culture has been a key priority for the agency since we started 18 years ago.

While social platforms started out with the intention to connect people, over time their main goal has become to increase the amount of time you spend on their platforms, which is monetized through advertisers. Much research has been done on how social platforms hook people, using persuasive design and algorithms to build the perfect addiction.

What consumers are only beginning to realize is that creators of algorithms, intentionally or unintentionally, inject values and biases, often with great consequence. Algorithms are commonly thought to be objective tools, when they are not that at all. They are built to fulfill the creator’s intent.

Today’s hyper fluidity of travel, connectivity and social media sharing make living the millennial dream of international and exotic travel experiences an easy reality. Unfortunately, a deeply troubling facet has emerged from that world that I can no longer be silent about – called Insta-tourism. And yes, I can legitimately complain about this, because I myself am a millennial.

Twitter has reported quarterly revenue figures north of $1 billion for the first time, with 152 million ‘monetisable daily active users’ (mDAUs) representing a 20% hike year over year.

Total revenues for 2019 were at $3.46 billion, an increase of 14% year on year. Of the quarterly figure, 88% of revenues were derived from advertising, with data licensing and other revenues contributing the rest. US revenue comprised just under three-fifths (59%) of total revenues.

She founded the company in 2002 before the explosion of social media with the ambition of challenging the conventional agency model; pioneering and building her global business (now 300+ strong) predominantly through a remote working model that to this day is truly innovative in the agency market.

In 2013, Tamara also co-founded Polpeo, a crisis simulation platform for brands and their agencies so they could prepare for how a crisis would affect them online.

Facebook’s stocks stumbled on Wednesday afternoon after it posted fourth-quarter earnings, suggesting continuing scandals and regulatory roadblocks may finally be catching up with the social media giant.

Shares fell 7% in after hours trading despite a reported $21bn in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019, higher than the $20.89bn forecast. The average revenue per user reported by Facebook was $8.52, higher than the $8.38 forecast.

The IPA’s Bellwether reports are always a good barometer of the state of the marketing business, so with the Q4 2019 report released this morning, we’ve gathered the reactions of some of the companies and executives on the digital marketing coalface…

Ben Walmsley, commercial director of publishing, News UK
“Whilst the outcome is divisive, clarity over Britain leaving the EU is what the media industry has been waiting for. The modest anticipated growth in main media advertising is a reflection that while many spending decisions were on hold for both businesses and consumers last year, a measure of confidence is now returning. The current relative political stability means we will start to see a renewed focus on growth, rather than retrenchment.

Greater authenticity, more ethical experiences, China as a social media superpower: just a few of our global predictions for the year ahead.

“Big tech behaving badly” could well be the way commentators choose to dub the turbulent decade which is coming to an end. The iPad launched in January 2010 and Instagram arrived the same year. The Apple Watch set a new standard for wearable technology and Amazon introduced the world to its virtual assistant, Alexa.

Brands who are successful at digital overall will start to address the bigger consumer experience and how they can extend digital success to the offline world in the coming year.

A lot happened in social media in 2019 – from the continued influence of President Trump’s Twitter feed to Miller Lite’s “Unfollow” campaign to the increased power of social media to drive action and public perception in political, economic and world theaters. However, now that the holidays are firmly behind us, I wanted to highlight five big themes in the social media world that we’re already starting to see emerge, which are certainly worth a look.

Tamara Littleton is founder and CEO of The Social Element, a consultancy-led social media agency advising some of the world’s biggest brands on how to use social to solve business challenges. In 2013, Tamara also co-founded Polpeo, a crisis simulation platform for brands and their agencies.

A digital pioneer, Tamara is a champion of the diversity, LGBTQ and female entrepreneurial agenda.

Tamara Littleton has made fighting against discrimination and advocating for marginalized groups an important part of both social-media-centric organizations that she runs.

Tamara Littleton founded The Social Element, a global social media agency based in Marylebone. She also co-founded Polpeo, a crisis simulation company, and now shares what goes on during a week in her working life.

The Social Element (formerly Emoderation) is an award-winning social media management agency with a global reach, remote team and fascinating culture. Its founder, Tamara Littleton, saw the explosion in social media before it happened and founded the company in 2002 to help brands develop a genuine connection with their people. The company has experienced explosive growth, at one point, the company increased from 150 to 300 people in a six-month period. I sat down with Tamara to talk about how she has managed to build and scale a robust distributed company culture that has stood the test of time.

Every week, we ask industry insiders across all job levels and titles to share personal stories about equality, diversity and inclusion in adland. We know we’re not there yet, but we want to document the highs and lows as the industry slowly transforms for the better.

We caught up with Tamara to find out more about her day-to-day life as a successful entrepreneur and the advice she gives to those thinking about building their business and working with a millennial workforce.

To say that Tamara Littleton, chief executive officer of The Social Element, was ahead of her time would be an understatement. Founding her global agency 16 years ago, social media was but a blip on the radar, not even close to the marketing and societal force it is today.

“My dad thinks that I invented social media,” she said. “I genuinely haven’t told him that’s not the case.”

Independent agency The Social Element may be based in London, but the world—and the internet—is its office. Founder and CEO Tamara Littleton worked on online communities with the BBC before starting the company in her London garage 16 years ago with a 10,000-pound loan from her parents. “We used to talk to each other on Internet Relay Chat,” said Littleton of the early days. “We were complete geeks.”

With the US still a major figure in the global automotive industry in both production and consumption, auto makers are among brands specifically targeting the Hispanic market. And with good reason – in the US, this group accounts for 20% of new vehicle sales.

Here, I turn the spotlight on Ford and Toyota – companies which both recognise the importance of connecting with the Hispanic market, although with slightly different approaches.