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Trending March

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:24:10 GMT

From nostalgic throwbacks to confidence-fuelled “main character” moments, TikTok continues to shape the way trends emerge and spread across the internet.

https://www.tiktok.com/@courteneycoxofficial/video/7616849235190762783

Mum what were you like in the 90’s?

This trend focuses directly on 90’s nostalgia, with primarily celebrities partaking, showing their old 90’s paparazzi pictures. The trend begins with a small clip of the creator showing themselves now, with the caption ‘Mom, what were you like in the 90’s’, usually showing a clip of them not looking their best, to make the difference more dramatic. The video then switches to images or clips of the celebrity or creator in the 90’s, looking glamorous and idyllic. Is it has-beens trying to remind us of when they were relevant? The funnier take on it later in the month included normal people with a passing resemblance to celebrity, using the same mechnic but cutting to images of the celebrity, not them.

https://www.tiktok.com/@brookemonk_/video/7615719435550100767

Dracula (JENNIE Remix)” by JENNIE & Tame Impala Trend

The Dracula trend focuses on self confidence, effortless persona and ‘main character’ energy. Creators use the lyrics to effortlessly show their confidence, by strutting towards the camera as the lyrics ‘shut up Jennie, just get in the car’ play. It is a change to the usual dance trends that stem from trending sounds on TikTok.

https://www.tiktok.com/@mynameisntmanny/video/7612410281020362015

Fun Dance Trend

In contrast with the previous trend, this is a trend where creators have taken a trending audio and created a fun dance to the beat. Which blew up to its fun and quirky nature. It is usually couples that have part taken in this trend, pretending to smack each other’s bums as they dance, however friends are jumping on this trend as well.

https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliireynoldss/video/7615426833458236685?q=why%20you%20so%20obsessed%20with%20me&t=1774272047945

Why you so obsessed with me

This trend focuses on making creators feel as though they’re famous, and have the level of attention celebrities do. The videos begins with someone shouting in the street or a public place to get everyone around them to turn and look at them. They then take a screenshot of the moment that everyone is looking at them and place the song Obsessed by Mariah Carey over the top, to create an image that exudes celebrity-level obsession.

https://www.tiktok.com/@meesdd/photo/7616094951209766176

Bucket List Trend

The bucket list trend is produced in a slideshow format, with the first slide showing a small bucket list that the creator would like to complete. Followed by an image of the creators girlfriend, animal or family member asking for something such as ‘I want a Jellycat’. The TikTok then ends with a slide showing an updated bucket list, with the request from the creators loved one, at the number 1 spot.

https://www.tiktok.com/@angryginge13/video/7617884876624235798

Into the Groove

This trend was boosted by a viral moment from the Influencer ‘Gymskin’, creating a signature dance move when the song ‘Into the Groove’ began to play. In the viral clip Gymskin suddenly bursts into dance as soon as the song begins to play, this has sparked other creators to jump on the trend. They start off with a quiet clip, followed by the song ‘Into the Groove’ beginning in which they then breakout into Gymskins signature move.

Trending February

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:42:37 GMT

February saw a mix of nostalgia, humour and heartfelt storytelling take over TikTok, with trends that balance comedy sketches, emotional connections and early-2000’s throwbacks.

https://www.tiktok.com/@agnickell/video/7601264858939624759

Shut up mom, silence from you

This trend stems from a comedy sketch show Key & Peele, from the ‘Sibling Rivalry’ sketch. In which Jordan Peele’s character Clive yells at his mother: ‘Shut up, Mom! Silence from you! You’re cut off!’. With this, creators have created a viral trend, lip syncing to the audio, whilst adding a scenario often reasonable, but the child is overreacting. For example – ‘POV: your trying to get extra sleep on a school morning but your mum keeps shouting for me to get up’. Although some of them are more extreme.

https://www.tiktok.com/@lianajadee/video/7601861232710126870

When it’s cold outside

The ‘When it’s cool outside’ trend focuses on the people around the creator that makes them happy, and have a close bond to – whether that’s family, friends, a partner or even a pet.

The creators lay their heads on top of one another, as the music plays, creating a heart warming image, of the creator surrounded by their loved ones, usually with the end image being as the song plays ‘it’s always warm right here’.

https://www.tiktok.com/@aesponi/video/7602562262305475858

Bebot Makeup

The 90’s and early 2000’s are still massively inspiring fashion and makeup trends in today’s climate. Which is why there is no surprise of this makeup look and song began trending again. The term ‘Bebot’ came from the Filipino slang for ‘babe’ or ‘hot girl’ being popularized by the 2000’s song ‘Bebot’ by the Black Eyed Peas.

Using this song creators are ‘transforming’ by re-creating the iconic 90’s-early 2000’s makeup. With thin eyebrows, light blue eyeshadow and dark eyeliner. Which seems extreme in comparison to today’s ‘clean girl’ make-up trends and aesthetics. But also brings nostalgia to those that remember living through those times.

https://www.tiktok.com/@tylerscott1997/video/7609852669049507086?is_from_webapp=1&web_id=7591921097340274198

Singing in the shower

The ‘singing in the shower’ trend on TikTok uses the 2014 pop hit ‘Shower’ (Becky G) to encourage people to be playful, and comical with the lyrics. It often starts off with one person being seen ‘singing in the mirror’ as the lyrics state, panning to the creator or a friend of the creators being stood fully clothed in the shower, with the water running. With the song stating, ‘dancing in the shower’. It then cuts back and forth from the person in the mirror to the one in the shower, as they get more and more drenched being stood underneath the running shower. Although, even though the creator is fully clothes drenched, they seem to be getting more and more into it, which is why the trend continued, and took off so rapidly.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jillsta/video/7611224645655694623?is_from_webapp=1&web_id=7591921097340274198

Stateside – Ice Skating

After the world had watched the Winter Olympics, many people picked up on things they say and began talking about it, including Alysa Liu. Alysa Liu won Gold for the American Ice Skating team, and at the Olympic’s gala she performed a routine to Zara Larsons ‘Stateside’. Mixing the world famous song, with an Olympic gold medalist made TikTok crazy, with creators recreating the beginning of her routine, therefore creating the Stateside dance trend.

This trend would not have been possible without Alysa Lui, becoming an inspiration to many people as a result of her story, and her return to the winter Olympics.

https://www.tiktok.com/@kahanhq/photo/7611228846255394079?is_from_webapp=1&web_id=7591921097340274198

This is who you’re asking to….

This is a heart-warming trend, focusing on companies highlighting their team members, by showing them as children. Showing users that there is a real person behind their job title or social media presence.

Some influencers and celebrities have also used this trend by stating things they have to do as part of their job, for example a musician having to play a stadium. Adding a more comedic element to this trend.

Mum Social Research 2026

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:38:54 GMT

Each year in January we carry out a Survey Monkey research poll with our mum community. The same 10 questions, since 2018.

We embarked on this journey because, in 2016 the EU referendum was largely played out in discussions held between friends and family on social media. The general election in 2017 fuelled the debates that continued online and in 2018, the impact of these two events were still reverberating on social channels. Little could we have predicted what was ahead in 2020, and the role that social media would play in keeping us connected.

We keep an annual analysis so we can track and compare results, and we are careful to keep our pool of parents within the baby to primary school peer group.

As digital media has evolved and our recent mums more native to it, we have seen the emotional relationship we have with our platforms change. So, this year, while two thirds of mums think they spend too much time on social media, they no longer see it as a lifeline, nor something that negatively impacts upon them. They are far less likely to feel lonely because of it, and they get more enjoyment from sharing their life, experiences and thoughts with their followers (60%). They use it for relaxation and entertainment (55%) and are not too bothered about discovering new platforms (15%). For example, only one respondent was using Threads.

Where are our mums?

Snapchat is emerging as the new kid, rising from 13% using it in 2025, to 21% in 2026. TikTok remains healthy with 42% of users. And, while it won’t surprise anyone that we’ve watched the users of X dwindle since its 47% peak in 2022, not one of our respondents admitted to using the platform this year.

FB and IG are all pervasive with 89% of our respondents using both platforms.

And what are they doing on social media?

A very healthy rise in browsing celebrity news, up to 60% of responses from 36% last year, while visiting parent forums such as Mumsnet has dropped from 31% to 15%. Perhaps this is no surprise, given that the power of influencers (how we phrase it in the research is, ‘people you follow on social media who you don’t know personally’) shows absolutely no sign of abating, and our mums are following them mostly for inspiration for their personal interests - 70%.

Why else do mums follow influencers?

They are relatable, 60% and inspiring 40%. And, where previously it was always friends and family who introduced mums to new products, influencers now hold the power position, with 75% of our mums being introduced to new products via influencers. And, we see the reverse with friends and family dropping from 80% to 50%. Good news for brands too, a healthy 35% of our mum respondents have discovered new products from the brands own social media accounts.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves about our lives online taking over… friends and family are still the most likely source for influencing a purchase at 95%. However, influencers have elevated in this regard too from 22% to 50%.

And closing the deal?

A whopping 85% of the respondents this year have purchased due to an influencer recommendation, with 5% saying they are tempted to do so in future.

Are brand social platforms getting a look in?

In terms of brands engaging directly with mums on social media, Instagram is still the platform of choice, with over half of our mums using it, while Facebook has also become more prominent this year. TikTok remains the third most popular platform for brand engagement. Over half of our mums say they enjoy interacting with well known brands on social media and have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence. 40% say they are more likely to buy from a brand that interacts with followers, a third like brands to be entertaining and a quarter of the mums are more likely to buy from a brand with an informative newsfeed.

We always throw in a question about sustainability.

Over half of the mums admit they became more conscious of the future, once they became a parent, and a fairly stable fifth or our respondents always say that cost is a barrier for buying more sustainably.

Trending January 2026

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 19:05:34 GMT

Each month of 2026 we’re going to look back at our stand-out social media trends. Unpicking viral audios, dances and unexpected concepts that got the internet buzzing. Here’s our take on January.

2026 is the new 2016

This trend continues from 2025, people throwing back to the aesthetic that dominated 2016. On TikTok, creators recreated the era by using filters that captured the 2016 look, pairing the video with music popularized in the year. With some creators revisiting sites that defined the year.

On Instagram, however, 2026 is the new 2016 is more reflective, with users digging up old photos and videos from 2016, and comparing them with who they are now, cringing and poking fun at their 2016 self. As well as the trends of 2016, with questionable fashion choices, pastel overload and the excessive use of Snapchat filters, users are laughing at how much has changed in the past 10 years.

Summer isn’t over yet

The ‘summer isn’t over yet’ trend stems from Zara Larsson’s song Midnight Sun and started when she stated ‘summer isn’t over yet’ in a TikTok video she posted. Creators then created a trend from this video, using the ‘summer isn’t over yet’ caption on videos and photos that show the opposite of summer, people in snow filled fields, pouring rain... while pretending it's summer.

Apologizing back-track trend

This trend hones in on the different personalities that exist within a friendship group, highlighting how each person interacts and communicates with the people around them. The videos usually play into relatable stereotypes, showing one friend as over apologetic, while the other two are more confrontational and outspoken. It’s quite a light hearted trend poking fun at how different people are, especially those in one friendship group.

You look just like your dad

The ‘you look just like your dad’ trend is a light-hearted family focused trend, that’s been taking over TikTok, usually featuring a father and daughter, sometimes a brother and sister. The videos typically begin with the daughter filming herself in the mirror, dressed in traditionally girly outfits, looking explicitly like themselves. Halfway through, the video switches to the brother or father being in the mirror, in the clothes the girl was in, showing the family resemblance, or sometimes the lack of resemblance.

Allow me to re-introduce yourself

As 2026 started, creators wanted to ‘re-introduce’ themselves online, using a trending song and editing template. Creators put together aesthetic videos, acting as a snapshot of who they are. These videos are made up of short clips of their favourite things, moments with friends and family, hobbies they love, small clips that make them feel like themselves. The clips come together to create a mini trailer, presenting the creator as the main character of their life.

365 buttons for 365 days

Ahead of the new year, people on social media started sharing how they plan to track the year, and what they’re using in place of a physical calendar. That’s when one user commented on a post, mentioning that she will be using buttons to keep track of how many days have passed in the year. The internet went crazy, with some creators doing it alongside her, carrying the trend into January, with people documenting their progress of collecting the buttons for the days passed. Turning the idea of 365 buttons into an unexpectedly viral trend.

You have to believe me

Jumping on the release of Stranger Things season 5, came a wave of new trending audios. One of the most popular featured Holly Wheeler dramatically saying ‘you have to believe me’. Creators instantly ran with the sound, pairing it with humorous captions relating to situations they have previously experienced. Most of the videos exaggerate minor problems or dramatic thoughts, creating a funny contrast between the sound and captions.

2025 achievement cake

As one year came to an end and a new one began, people naturally started reflecting on what they’d accomplished through out the year, and this trend was born. Creators took the popular ‘hear me out’ cake trend and reworked it into an achievement cake, decorating it with sticks detailing their achievements over the past year. Whilst most of the videos stuck to genuine achievements they had made, some creators chose to make it humorous, using the trend sarcastically to list things that did not go as planned.

What year were you born

Mostly filmed in office settings, this trend pokes fun at the age differences between work colleagues, differentiating them by whether they were born before or after the year 2000. Once someone has stated they were born before 2000, the video cuts to an image on them placed into a overexaggerated scene from hundreds of years ago – like the stone age or alongside dinosaurs. When the trend is then flipped, those born after 2000 are placed against an image of a baby, or something synonymous with young children, with the visuals making the age gap feel extreme and over-the-top.

Social Media Trends and 2026 forecasting

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:18:20 GMT

In 2025, once again we saw emerging technologies reshaping the ever-evolving PR landscape. As digital platforms develop at pace, our industry continues to adapt to this expansive educational journey to stay relevant, and to keep our clients ahead of the game.

Here’s a snapshot of the trends and insights we adopted in 2025, that we forecast will continue to influence cultural behaviour in 2026.

AI-Driven Content Creation and Distribution

Artificial intelligence is continuing to transform the way content is created and distributed within all industries. AI-powered tools can create real-time content, generate press releases, optimise outreach, and enable businesses to operate with greater speed and precision.

This technology gives teams opportunities to improve efficiency by completing administrative tasks, freeing up professionals to focus on strategy and creativity.

While AI is on the increase on social media, there is still a requirement to maintain the foundational roots of transparency, and authenticity across platforms to protect account integrity, engagement and trust with audiences.

The Ever-Growing Power of Influencers

Influencers continue to dominate the digital landscape, with an ever-growing impact on persuasion.

However, we began to see a noticeable shift in how audiences respond to influencer-led content, with consumers increasingly gravitating towards authentic content and calling out conflicting advertising collaborations, over-use of filters or apparent use of AI.

As a result, influencers have become more selective about the brands they chose to work with, favouring long-term partnerships over short, transactional collaboration. This leads to a more authentic relationship, creating more credible and trustworthy recommendations.

The Rise of Social Media Shopping

Social media shopping has become a staple of the online retail landscape, with platforms such as TikTok Shop, Instagram Shop, and Facebook Shop transforming the way consumers discover and purchase products, begging the question: is social commerce replacing traditional online shopping?

The integration of in-app shopping features has undeniably reshaped consumer behaviour, enabling seamless product discovery and instant purchasing without users leaving the platform.

The Growing Influence of Video and Audio Content

In 2025, video and audio formats took centre stage as essential tools for audience engagement within PR strategies. Formats such as podcasts, livestreams, and short-form video have enabled brands to move beyond static messaging and create open in-depth conversations with consumers.

Livestreaming, creating new opportunities for brands to connect directly with the consumer through sponsored streams and interactive formats such as TikTok Live, allows consumers to engage with products in an immediate and more tangible way.

At the same time, podcasts have continued to thrive as a powerful platform for expert-led discussions and the creation of meaningful brand narratives.

Gender Differences in Social Media Usage

Trend platforms alongside our annual Vista social media usage survey have identified noticeable differences between genders across platforms. Men have a higher overall usage rate on platforms such as X and Linkedin, gravitating towards content that reflects their current hobbies, interests and professional pursuits.

Women are more likely to use social media as a source of lifestyle inspiration, engaging with influencers and content that reflect their goals, or aesthetics they aspire to achieve.

Influencer Lydia Millen has touched on this, openly discussing how she carefully curates her social media feeds across platforms to align with her personal goals and find sources of inspiration – highlighting how intentional her content consumption has become.

These behaviours reflect the importance of tailored content and strategic branding, to create authentic connections with audiences.

Trust is still the overwhelming metric for success. Brands that will win in 2026, are those that combine creativity, insight, and authenticity to turn audiences into lasting connections.

Notes:

Statista

Gen Z: What Pet Brands Need to Know

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 14:40:53 GMT

Gen Z aren't just reshaping pet ownership, they're reshaping how pet brands need to show up, communicate and build relevance.

Pet ownership across the UK is already strong, with 57% of households owning at least one pet, that’s around 38 million pets and a 9% rise in just one year*. But it’s Gen Z who are accelerating this momentum.

Younger adults (18–34) are one of the fastest-growing groups of new pet owners, and cats in particular are having a moment. An impressive 41% of Gen Z now live with at least one cat, driving a notable rise in cat ownership across the UK in recent years*.

What’s even more telling is how much this generation is willing to spend. Gen Z aren’t just buying pets - they’re investing in them. Those aged 18–24 spend around £145 per month on pet care, approximately 30% more than the average spend for UK pet owners*.

A 2025 Mintel report also highlights that 78% of Gen Z own a pet, the highest of any generation*, with a clear preference for personalised care, pet-first products, and lifestyle-led choices. Pet product categories experiencing strong growth and being driven by the Gen Z passion to treat their pet like family, are pet-friendly cleaning products, grooming products, anxiety support products, nutrition supplements, niche and natural pet food, toothpaste (searches for ‘cat toothpaste’ have risen by 71% over the last five years) and bath-time solutions.

For pet brands, this isn’t just interesting data. It’s a clear signal that expectations are shifting.

Pets, Platforms, and the Gen Z Digital Life

Brands need to reach Gen Z where they already exist.

TikTok has become home turf, with many Gen Z users treating it as a primary content source and returning multiple times a day*. Instagram remains a daily staple*, while YouTube continues to perform strongly for longer-form content. Snapchat also maintains high daily usage, particularly among younger audiences.

Zooming out, the picture becomes even clearer.

94% of Gen Z who use social media, log in to at least one social platform every day, with 83% logging into TikTok every day. Instagram, YouTube, and emerging platforms like Threads and Discord all play a role, but TikTok and Instagram continue to lead on both reach and relevance*.

For pet brands, digital content isn’t optional, it’s mission critical. Gen Z discover new products socially, integrate pets into their online identities, and engage most with brands that understand how they communicate.

Crucially, this audience doesn’t respond to overt advertising. They respond to content that feels natural, entertaining, and socially endorsed, which is where PR-led storytelling and social-first campaigns make the difference.

What This Means for Pet Brands

Gen Z aren’t just buying different products, they’re behaving differently:

Pets are lifestyle companions
Social content heavily influences purchasing decisions
Brands are expected to show personality, transparency, and creativity
Personalisation, fun, and pet-first thinking drive engagement

From influencer partnerships to social-first launches and story-led campaigns, Gen Z gravitate towards brands that get them. When that connection is made, loyalty follows, and it plays out publicly, online.

How Vista PR Can Help

We work with Gen Z audiences every day through the pet, family, and lifestyle brands we represent. We see first-hand how deeply this generation connects with their pets, not as possessions, but as part of their identity.

Because we’re embedded in this space, we don’t just track trends, we spot them early and know how to activate them. We understand how Gen Z discover brands, what stops their scroll, and what motivates them to share, advocate, and engage.

As more traditional and emerging brands look to connect with younger pet owners, we help them translate insight into visibility, shaping campaigns that feel authentic, culturally relevant, and built for social traction.

If you’re looking to:

reach younger pet owners in a way that genuinely resonates
build scroll-stopping social content that earns attention
tap into fast-moving category trends
refresh your brand story for a new generation
launch campaigns designed to travel organically

Vista PR is ready to help you make it happen.

SOURCES:

1. World Animal Foundation - Oct 2025 https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/pet-ownership-statistics-uk/

2. LBC - May 2025 https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/cats-now-britains-favourite-pet-as-taylor-swift-drives-surge-in-popularity-among-6cWJZ_2

3. Go Compare - Dec 2024 https://press.gocompare.com/news/gen-z-spend-nearly-a-third-more-on-their-pets

4. Mintel - 2025 https://store.mintel.com/report/uk-household-care-habits-of-pet-owners-market-report

5. Mericool - Jun 2025 https://metricool.com/uk-social-media-statistics/

6. Sprout Social - Oct 2025 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-demographics-uk/

7. SQ Magazine - Oct 2025 https://sqmagazine.co.uk/gen-z-social-media-statistics/

TikTok: The Powerhouse Platform

Thu, 15 May 2025 14:22:50 GMT

TikTok isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic channel that aligns perfectly with today’s consumption habits. Here’s why brands need to get on board.

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, TikTok has emerged as a dynamic platform fuelling business growth, providing unparalleled opportunities to engage with audiences, drive sales, and enhance brand visibility. From authentic content creation to innovative e-commerce features, TikTok is reshaping the way brands connect with consumers.

�� Why Your Business Should Be on TikTok

Audience Behaviour is Shifting : With over 1 billion active users globally, TikTok is where consumer attention is—particularly among Gen Z and Millennials.
Brand Personality Shines : TikTok gives brands the freedom to show personality and values, allowing them to stand out in a crowded market through humour, creativity, and storytelling.
PR Amplification : Viral content, influencer collaborations, and user-generated content all amplify brand visibility and can result in significant earned media coverage.
First-Mover Advantage : While many big names are on TikTok, there's still room for smaller or emerging brands to carve out unique spaces - especially in niche industries or local markets.
Data & Insights : TikTok’s analytics tools offer valuable insights into audience behaviour and content performance, which can guide broader PR and marketing strategy.

More on how businesses can leverage TikTok to boost engagement and profits:

�� Authentic Content: Building Genuine Connections

TikTok thrives on raw, unfiltered content that resonates with audiences seeking authenticity. This environment allows brands to showcase their products in real-life scenarios, offering relatable demonstrations and highlighting unique features. Unlike traditional polished advertisements, TikTok's format encourages creativity and spontaneity, fostering a deeper connection with viewers.

Brands that embrace this authentic approach can build stronger relationships with consumers, as authenticity often leads to increased trust and loyalty.

�� E-commerce & Sales: Turning Engagement into Revenue

TikTok's e-commerce capabilities, particularly through TikTok Shop, enable brands to convert engagement into direct sales. This feature allows users to purchase products seamlessly during videos and live broadcasts, streamlining the shopping experience. The platform's integration of shopping features has led to significant growth, with over 200,000 businesses, including major brands like L'Oréal and Nivea, utilising TikTok Shop to reach consumers .( The Times )

The success of TikTok Shop is evident, as it has become the UK's fastest-growing online marketplace, especially popular in sectors like beauty and personal care. ( The Sun )

�� TikTok as a Search Engine: Influencing Discovery

TikTok is rapidly becoming a preferred search engine, particularly among younger audiences. A 2024 survey revealed that 64% of Gen Z respondents in the United States have used TikTok as an online search engine, with many favouring it over traditional platforms like Google for specific searches such as product reviews and tutorials. ( Rise at Seven )

This shift in search behaviour underscores the importance for brands to optimise their presence on TikTok, ensuring their content is discoverable and aligns with user interests.

�� Reach & Engagement: Connecting with Diverse Audiences

TikTok's algorithm and format allow brands to reach a broad and diverse audience, including niche communities. The platform's emphasis on short-form, engaging content facilitates higher engagement rates, as users are more likely to interact with content that captures their attention quickly.

This expansive reach provides businesses with the opportunity to connect with potential customers globally, enhancing brand visibility and fostering community engagement.

******

Being active on TikTok is no longer optional—it’s an essential part of any forward-thinking communications and marketing strategy.

TikTok offers businesses a multifaced platform to engage with audiences authentically, drive sales through integrated e-commerce features, and enhance brand visibility via its evolving search capabilities. By embracing TikTok's unique features and understanding its audience dynamics, brands can harness the platform's potential to achieve sustained growth and success.

How to Measure Media Coverage Impact

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 20:25:22 GMT

Most PR agencies promise to devise media campaigns and evaluate delivery against ‘business KPIs’. But many fall into the trap of evaluating outputs and outcomes not impact. Here we explain the pitfalls of this.

Press coverage is the bread and butter of any PR agency, and many agencies evaluate the success of editorial coverage using monthly ‘Reach’ figures. Some will also attribute media coverage to an AVE (the price you might have paid had you bought the editorial coverage as advertising), 15 years after the PR industry publicly shamed AVEs and attempted to remove it as a professionally acceptable metric.

If you would like to learn more about AVEs, or clear-up any nagging thoughts about your agency using it as a metric, then read this blog: The Dark Side of PR Evaluation . My recommendation is don’t work with agencies who use it, and always refuse an FD / MD who asks you to use them.

Is Reach a valuable metric?

Awareness is a widely acknowledged PR objective, and the metric used to quantify awareness is Reach. This is usually achieved by taking the average monthly readership based on print circulation or the traffic of unique monthly users the website receives. Reach only reports the potential amount of people who might have seen the coverage, so it is not a wholly satisfactory evaluation of PR delivery. And, I would argue if awareness is an important objective, then advertising is a more guaranteed route to success.

It's easy to fall into a trap of measuring potential reach, as it’s a vanity metric. If you get coverage in the Independent, agencies can attribute the reach as 45 million, because that’s the number of people who access the Independent on a monthly basis. Specific page views is a more valid metric, but this is tough to glean from a national media.

It’s a complex challenge that no-one in the PR or reporting industry has managed to crack. Agencies overlay Reach figures by allocating media titles into priority tiers, and key message penetration is important, as is the tone of a piece. Putting in these additional measures while still reporting potential Reach still doesn’t measure impact, or satisfactorily justify to an FD an improved awareness, or return on PR investment.

Where the value lies in PR.

PR is the business of provoking a reaction. I call it, making someone’s face move, and while awareness can be an expensive metric to prove, engagement isn’t.

It’s highly unlikely that provoking a thought or feeling doesn’t elicit a reaction - an engagement. The reaction should be a positive step made towards an improved opinion of a business. An improved opinion that will lead to a sale, or an endorsement. This is true PR impact, this is what you should be measuring, and it is possible to measure it.

While print coverage can really only ever be evaluated for reach and awareness (unless you embed a QR code on the page, but that's for a different blog), in today’s fast paced world of digital media penetrating every aspect of life, a click, a dwell, a share, a comment are all valid ways to demonstrate that a piece of PR has moved someone’s face.

At Vista we report the actions taken as a result of online coverage to prove our success and we think these metrics absolutely must be part of PR evaluation.

Media coverage that contains product reviews with positive outcomes, for example inclusion in ‘best of’ lists are Google gold, great for SEO, great avenues to purchase. Quality media coverage that contains thought leadership from a brand in a relevant position is also Google gold, because that will help to rank the business as an expert. However, to demonstrate an impact on the humans who have read the piece, push to include a UTM or Bitly link to monitor click throughs, check for likes, shares, page views and dwell time. Was the article shared on social media and if so, what was the engagement around it? Without knowing if inclusion in an article provoked a reaction, all you are reporting is if Google was stimulated. And Google is getting wise to cheap SEO tricks.

We recently placed an exclusive with Mail Online that also ran in print. The editorial team took their time to load the story. By 3pm the journalist rang me to ask me to ‘keep the faith’ and not pitch it out to anyone else. He said Mail online has a 250m global reach. At 6pm they posted. I’m quite confident that 250m people globally have not read the article and we have not reported this number to our client. However, I am confident that 79 people shared the article and 137 people commented on it and nearly every comment related to the core subject matter and the product our client makes. We adjusted the reach figure to 7m and reported the engagement.

Today I have been reviewing a report from paid media activity. The same publication ran a ‘solus’ newsletter of content specifically written for the client, an MPU and a promo banner at the top of another newsletter with no written content for the client. Sent to the same recipients on different dates, the promo banner achieved 11 clicks, the solus, 96. With a similar number of impressions to the number of people on the email database, the MPUs achieved 23 clicks. The bespoke email achieved four times more clicks than the ads. Put another way, the solus email drove 96 people through the shop door – that is a quantifiable number. Analysing a trade publication email banner reaching 77,000 recipients, it drove 860 customers to the client site. This is a solid return on the investment.

Digging into the engagement patterns like this informs our paid strategy and improves performance, provides benchmarks and targets. Looking at reach figures in silo, we’re shooting in the dark.

The Monetisation of Influencer Marketing

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 10:19:54 GMT

Influencer Marketing in 2025: What Businesses Need to Know

Influencer marketing has become an indispensable tool for businesses to connect authentically with their consumer and drive a higher propensity to purchase. An influencer has the capability to drive hundreds of people through an e-comm store door within hours of a post, so quite rightly, the tide is turning on this power and influencers are requiring payment to provide such an important sales function.

As we step into 2025, understanding the changing landscape of influencer marketing is crucial. Here we dive into the latest insights, benefits and costs of influencer marketing today.

Benefits of Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Collaborating with influencers offers numerous advantages:

Enhanced Credibility and Trust : Shopify reports that 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations over information direct from a brand.
Improved Return on Investment (ROI) : Dash reports that brands earn on average $4.12 for every $1 spent on influencer campaigns.
Engagement delivers a higher propensity to purchase than reach and awareness. Nano influencers (1,000–10,000 followers) and Micro-Influencers (10,000–50,000 followers) often have highly engaged audiences. According to The Social Shepherd, Nano-influencers, boast an engagement rate of 2.19%, far higher than those with a larger following.
Consumer Trust : Statista reports that 84% of UK based Generation Z follow influencers, and in Vista’s bespoke 2025 social media research, 32% of mums admitted to be more likely to buy a product after seeing it in an influencers post. 60% of Vista’s respondents admit to having purchased directly following an influencer recommendation and this percentage rose to 68% with the slightly younger mums of pre-schoolers.

Expected Costs of Influencer Partnerships

The cost of influencer collaborations varies based on several factors, including the influencer's follower count, platform, and engagement rate. According to fiverr.com, while there is nuance in terms of industry, niche, engagement and posting requirements, the average remuneration to factor when opening-up negotiations:

Instagram :
Nano-influencers (1,000–10,000 followers): £20–£100 per post
Micro-influencers (10,000–50,000 followers): £100–£500 per post
Mid-tier influencers (50,000–100,000 followers): £500–£5,000 per post
Macro-influencers (100,000–500,000 followers): £5,000–£10,000 per post
Mega-influencers (500,000+ followers): £10,000+ per post
YouTube :
Nano-influencers (1,000–10,000 followers: £60–£850 per video
Micro-influencers (10,000–50,000 followers): £180–£3,000 per video
Mid-tier influencers (50,000–100,000 followers: £400–£6,000 per video
Macro-influencers (100,000–500,000 followers): £1,100–£20,000 per video
Mega-influencers (500,000+ followers): £2,500+ per video

Gifted vs. Paid Collaborations

Gifted Collaborations : Providing free products in exchange for content can be cost-effective but can compromise the overall result, from the content produced, the time investment that an influencer is willing to make and the commitment to delivering brand key messages.
Paid Collaborations : Offers the brand more control over content, delivering higher-quality delivery and a commercially structured professional partnership. Paying the influencer demonstrates that the brand respects the process and the power that the influencer holds in driving awareness, credibility and sales.

Linking a Collaboration to Commercial Objectives

At Vista, we meticulously analyse the important metrics to assess the commercial success of influencer collaborations. Key performance indicators include:

Watch Time: With filmed content, the cumulative amount of time viewers spend watching the film, helps us to understand content appeal and retention. A higher average watch time indicates strong audience interest, intent and content effectiveness. We work with industry acknowledged timeframes, to set watch-time benchmarks to demonstrate successful engagement rates.
Views : The total number of times a piece of content has been watched, indicating its reach.
Engagement Rate: Encompassing likes, comments, shares, and saves, reflecting audience interaction and interest.
Click-through : The number of people who click onto the business e-comm from the influencer content. Different platforms vary in the journey from influencer to e-comm and we ensure this as seamless as possible For added reassurance on the metrics, all URLs embedded with either a UTM (assessed via Google Analytics), or a Bitly link (managed via Vista’s account).
Drop-off Rate: The percentage of viewers who stop watching before the Reel concludes, highlighting areas where audience interest waned, to learn and apply to future briefings.

These stringent review processes, set-up with each influencer at the outset of a collaboration provides a comprehensive understanding of its performance, enabling us to refine strategies and optimise future collaborations.

The Power of Reels

Sprout Social reports that Reels are the most engaging post type on Instagram, with an average engagement rate of 1.23%.

In conclusion

Influencer marketing in 2025 presents a dynamic and effective avenue for businesses to engage with their target audiences. By understanding the benefits, costs, and industry-specific advantages, companies can craft strategies that resonate and drive meaningful commercial results.

Why Work With Vista Public Relations Influencer Team?

At Vista Public Relations, we specialise in results-driven influencer marketing partnerships. We help clients improve the commercial impact of their influencer strategy.

We take a tailored approach to each campaign, ensuring that influencer collaborations align seamlessly with the brand values, target audience, and business objectives. Our extensive network and deep industry knowledge allow us to facilitate partnerships that drive engagement, build trust, and convert audiences into loyal customers.

If you’re looking to amplify your brand’s presence through influencer marketing, Vista Public Relations has the expertise and connections to make it happen. Let’s create impactful collaborations that truly resonate with your audience in 2025.

Note: The information provided is based on data available as of January 2025 and is subject to change as the influencer marketing landscape evolves.

What do we mean by brand building PR?

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:53:09 GMT

What do we mean by brand building PR? Here we explain using an example of a campaign we delivered in 2024.

Back in 2019 we set about shaping a brand appeal for the nursery products manufacturer, Graco that would speak to parents with an authentic tone of voice. We coined it as sharing the ‘lows and lols’ of parenting.

In 2022 we embarked on a journey to take this concept to a deeper level and to build a firmer reputation for Graco being a champion for real parenting.

Graco is a value-led brand in the UK. Good, dependable products at fantastic prices. This provided us with an excellent foundation to build a brand that stands with parents, not selling dreams, but shining a light on the messy reality of life with little ones. Collaborating with experts to tackle some of the more challenging issues of parenting we provided some much-needed solace and support. We established the microsite, The Graco Village, which became the destination platform to house all the new content.

Parenting media supported each campaign to enable us to discover exclusive insights about our audience to create campaigns that would resonate. Our initial campaigns looked at pre and postnatal depression, the pressures on new fathers, and the challenges of traveling with young children. These were followed by a focus on establishing a healthy sleep routine and educating on the R129 legislation.

In 2024 we developed the concept Family Matters. While news reports focussed on the cost-of-living crisis, we investigated the impact that swelling living costs were having on young families. The insights we revealed were more hard hitting than we could have imagined. 63% of the mums revealed that finances are affecting their mental health, and just under half (46%) admitted it is affecting the relationship with their partner.

Parents were making life changing decisions based on financial worries. 17% of the mothers have returned to work from maternity leave earlier than planned, almost two thirds (61%) have reduced their food bill, 8% have applied for social housing, 6% have sold their car and 4% have had to move house. In life-changing consequences, almost two in 10 (17%) have cancelled plans to extend their family and many more attributed problems in their relationship to money concerns. It was hard reading.

Extending our partnership with PANDAs the pre and post-natal mental health charity, we worked with money influencers and tax specialists with profiles selected to resonate with parents living in financial crisis. Parent influencers shared their personal experiences and parenting media spread the word wider.

We secured 37 pieces of highly targeted coverage, which delivered 189 brand mentions, 79 clicks to the Graco Village website, and a potential reach of just under three million parents.

We are so incredibly proud of this campaign and how we have grown from the fledgling idea of a brand that shone a light on parenting and the ‘lows and lols’ of real life, into a brand making a much deeper connection with its audience, delivering important support when they need it the most.

Working in close partnership with our client and supporting their retail partnerships, we have witnessed the brand revenue grow 200% in 6 years. Luisa Rollins-Svensson, Graco Trade & Consumer Marketing Manager comments on our partnership: ‘We are under no illusion the role vista plays in our growth and ongoing success.‘

The indispensable value of blogs in PR

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 16:47:10 GMT

With rumours swirling in the digital sphere, you might wonder if blogging has become obsolete amidst the rush of social media. Think again!

At Vista PR, we wield the enduring power of blogs to strengthen PR strategies in a landscape that's constantly evolving. Using blogs not just to communicate, but to build trust with savvy consumers increasingly being turned off by adverts. Take, for instance, a pet brand we're supporting. We bypassed conventional media for high-reach blogs that are now major players, offering unique, compelling content that truly connects with the audience. Identifying bloggers who are plugged in to a key audience can help amplify key messages, advocating trust and authority within the niche they are established in.

In this blog post we explore how blogs continue to thrive, and how they remain a powerful asset in PR, shaping your brand's image and trustworthiness like no other.

Blogs: Thriving, Not Just Surviving!

In the teeming online marketplace where over 60% of internet users are engaged with blog content, blogs aren't merely surviving; they’re thriving. This percentage soars to 77% among regular readers*. With billions accessing information via blogs globally, it’s evident they address a wide array of needs and interests.

What draws people to blogs? Consider them the coffee shops along the internet’s bustling high street. Easy to drop into, full of interesting stories, and you can exit feeling a little wiser or even just entertained. Unlike videos that ask for your undivided attention, blogs let you stroll at your own pace, picking out what interests you.

The Secret Sauce: SEO and Blogs

Let’s talk about Google—the gatekeeper to the vast internet universe. With Google processing over 3.5 billion searches daily, positioning your blogs prominently in search results is akin to hitting the digital jackpot. Blogs have an intrinsic ability to synergise with SEO, propelling websites up the SERP ladder (SERP means search engine results page) and enhancing visibility. This increased visibility is crucial in converting curious clickers into loyal customers.

But here’s the kicker: blogs offer the flexibility to leverage a variety of search terms, key words, and links. This strategy casts a broader net, attracting new visitors and potential customers who didn't even know they were looking for you until a strategically placed blog post enlightens them - it's fate with a strategic twist.

Blogs as Your Brand’s Best Friend

Imagine a world where your brand is seen as the go-to authority in your field, or the must-have product. Blogs facilitate just that. Disseminating insights, advice, and valuable snippets through strategically crafted posts establishes a reliable connection between your brand and its audience. In the digital realm, trust equates to currency, and blogs are your goldmine, enhancing value and solidifying your authoritative stance.

Blogs are more than information channels; they're the hub of communities. They provoke discussions, inspire shares, and can even ignite new ideas and innovations. They invite engagement, making your audience feel part of something larger—while also offering invaluable insights into their preferences and feedback.

Top Tips for Elevating Your Blogging Strategy

Blogs should not stand solitary but play a pivotal role in your branding ensemble. However, incorporating blogging into your strategy is a powerful way to connect with your audience, build brand awareness, and improve your SEO efforts. If you want to know how to seamlessly integrate blogs into your overarching PR and marketing strategies we've got some clever hints and tips to help.

Understand Your Audience: Like the perfect host, tailor your blog content to cater to your audience's interests, their pain points, and resolve their challenges. Use surveys, social media engagement, and market research to gather insights. This knowledge will shape content that resonates and engages.
Quality Over Quantity: Resist the urge to mass-produce content. Instead, invest time in creating meaningful articles that chime and resonate with your audience.
Define Your Unique Voice: In a sea of content, your blog’s voice and tone can help you stand out. Whether it’s professional, conversational, or entertaining, ensure it aligns with your brand identity and appeals to your target audience. A consistent voice builds familiarity and trust.
Leverage a Content Calendar: Planning is key. Use a content calendar to schedule your posts effectively. This helps maintain a consistent posting frequency, which is vital for keeping your audience engaged and driving regular traffic to your site.
SEO Love: Enhance your blogs with SEO strategies. Beyond just incorporating keywords, understand other SEO elements such as meta descriptions, alt tags for images, and internal linking. This not only helps in ranking higher on search engines but also enhances the user experience
Promote Widely: Don’t rely solely on organic search to drive traffic to your blogs. Amplify your blog's reach through social media, email newsletters, and other platforms where your audience congregates. Cross-promotion increases visibility and attracts a wider audience.
Incorporate Multimedia: Breaking up texts with relevant images, infographics, or videos can make your blogs more appealing and digestible. Multimedia elements can also aid in explaining complex information more effectively.
Engage with Your Readers: Encourage comments and feedback on your blog and take the time to respond. Engagement builds community and loyalty, plus it can provide insights into what content your audience values most.
Analyse and Adapt: Where possible use data and analytics tools to track a blog's performance. Look at metrics such as page views, bounce rate, and time on page to understand what works and what doesn’t. Be prepared to adapt your strategy based on these insights.

The key is consistency, quality, and engagement—focus on these, and your blog strategy can become one of your brand's most valuable assets.

Embrace the Blogging Journey

Let's definitively clear any lingering doubts: blogs are far from antiquated relics of the internet. They are dynamic, impactful, and integral to any brand striving to get ahead of the competition. Blogs offer a unique mix of visibility, credibility, and engagement, making them indispensable in your marketing arsenal.

So, as you contemplate the relevance of blogs, think of them as the timeless classics amidst fleeting trends. They provide narratives, guidance, and a human touch to the digital realm, proving themselves not just relevant but vital.

If you want support with your Digital PR, don't hesitate to get in touch .

Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/blogging-statistics/

The winner takes it all

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 15:55:45 GMT

What is the Strategic Value of Awards in Today's Consumer PR Landscape?

It’s the eve of the Mother & Baby Awards (26 ^th November), and as the awards season unfolds, we are in the heart of it all, championing the brands we represent with pride. Our engagement spans from sponsoring the Dog Friendly Awards at the Kennel Club to celebrating at the Progressive Pre-School Awards and attending the Mother & Baby Awards tomorrow night alongside our nominated clients and more. This period of celebratory recognition is not just glitz and glam, but about the accolades and plaudits our brands deserve. More importantly, it underscores our fervent commitment to leveraging awards for brand amplification.

These honours are more than mere victories; they serve as a testament to the strategic importance of awards in distinguishing the brands we represent, in the bustling UK marketplace. The strategy of entering, and sponsoring awards not only enhances brand visibility and credibility but also solidifies reputation as industry leaders. Read on to find out why awards aren’t just about an enviable trophy cabinet but a strategic part of a PR mission.

Forging Trust in a Sceptical World

In a digital age saturated with options, standing out in the marketplace, both online and offline, is more challenging than ever. The digital landscape has turned us into sceptics, questioning every claim with a wary eye. So, how do you penetrate this Great Wall of Scepticism to reach and engage your audience effectively? Spoiler alert: the answer lies in leveraging the power of awards.

Awards serve as a beacon of credibility and visibility in a crowded market, addressing consumer scepticism head-on. They act as a mark of excellence and reliability, signalling to consumers that your brand is worthy of their trust and attention. This isn’t mere conjecture but is supported by solid research. For instance, the team at Parent Tested Parent Approved (PTPA) has found through their work that awards significantly lift consumer confidence—a crucial element in building a successful brand strategy, as vital in the UK as it is around the globe.

If you're looking to boost your bottom line and haven't considered awards yet, here are five reasons why the winner takes it all:

5 Reasons for Making the Case for Awards in Your Strategy:

1. Boosting Brand Authority

Winning awards propels your brand to the forefront, signalling to both customers and competitors that your offerings are unparalleled. Awards elevate your brand’s stature significantly.

2. Building Customer Trust and Loyalty

Awards act as a seal of approval, reassuring customers about their purchase decisions. This reassurance fosters trust, driving loyalty and influencing buying habits.

3. Expanding Business Networks

Awards can open avenues for new B2B connections, fostering opportunities for partnerships and industry growth.

4. Unlocking Promotional Benefits

The recognition that comes with an award is priceless, especially in an era of skyrocketing advertising expenses. More on that later...

5. Attracting Talent

An “award-winning” title provides a competitive edge in attracting and retaining the industry's best talents.

The Statistical Power of Awards

The influence of awards is profound, with PTPA's studies revealing that a whopping 82% of consumers are more inclined to buy a product that has received an award endorsement. Moreover, companies have reported up to a 33.5% surge in sales post-award, underscoring the tangible effects of these recognitions on a business's profitability.

Selecting the Right Awards for Your Brand

While the benefits are undeniable, success lies in selectivity! It's paramount to engage in awards that resonate with your brand values and have a meaningful impact on your target audience. It's important to identify which awards will have the most impact on your customer base and align these with the innovations you offer.

Striding into the Spotlight

So, are you convinced of the power of awards? Before you rush off to enter every award under the sun, remember, not all that glitters is gold. Choose awards that resonate with your brand values and your target audience. Think of it this way: It's not just about winning; it's about winning the right way.

In closing, entering and sponsoring awards in this era is not just wise; it's strategic. It's the difference between making noise and making an impact. Awards are a powerful testament to your brand's dedication, quality, and success. So go on, step into that spotlight, and let the world see your brand shine.

Remember, in the consumer PR market, it's not just about having the best product; it's about being seen as the best. And my friends, there's no better way to do that than with a shiny trophy in your hands.

Will TikTok Shop take on Amazon for online shopping?

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 17:50:55 GMT

Meg's perspective on what every brand should know about Tik Tok.

Since launching in 2021, TikTok shop has grown to host a network of 15 million sellers around the world, with six million of those joining the platform in the second half of 2023 alone. According to Sprout Social, in 2023, 71.2% of TikTok shop users had bought something after seeing it in their feed.

Its commission-based structure is a win-win for both content creators and retailers, which is undoubtedly helping to propel the popularity of shopping on the platform. To give you a sense of the commercial power of TikTok Shop, online fashion retailer, Rebellious Fashion has seen a 400% increase in sales since joining with a 45% revenue hike and 80% share of affiliate sales. Benefit Cosmetics had an increase in organic followers and engagement within just 3 days of launch, 62,500 live audience views and 280,000 total live likes.

There is no doubt TikTok Shop is a profit-delivering enterprise, if done correctly. As a big fan of the platform, which is so perfectly designed for my generation of shoppers, I’ve taken a keen interest in its development.

Here’s my perspective on what every brand should know about Tik Tok, particularly if they are keen to target the power consumer, Gen Z shopper.

1. It’s designed for impulse purchases

Many TikTok Shop users make multiple ‘impulsive’ purchases whilst using the app as a source of research. Whether you’re looking for a new outfit for holiday, or trying to find the best weaning set for your child, TikTok Shop hosts a huge variety of different products suitable for all ages and genders. The TikTok algorithm personalises results based on your watched history and engagement so will make suggestions based on that.

2. TikTok taps into the Gen Z shopper mindset

TikTok is more informative and personal compared to Instagram which is more aesthetically pleasing to ‘fit in’ with the theme of the page. Put simply, I have purchased multiple items on TikTok shop, ranging from clothing, beauty products to home interior, yet, I have never purchased through Instagram.

There are a few brands that I follow on TikTok that go live on the app at least twice a week. They will go live for a couple of hours in the evening simply showing the team packing customer orders whilst offering discounts such as free shipping or a gift with any purchase.
Gen Z’s, including myself, are more attracted to personal and ‘real life’ videos such as vlogs and a ‘day in the life’. Going ‘Live’, provides this more personal view of the brand which Gen Zs are fascinated in. ‘Live’ also gives customers a chance to message in the live chat with any questions they may have, and the business can answer straight away during the live, instead of having to wait a few days for answer an email.

3. It has linked to affordable shopping platforms

Gen Z is influenced by affordable ways of paying such as Klarna and Clearpay who have garnered nearly 17 million users. These are now a feature on TikTok Shop, making it easier for customers to make ‘impulsive’ purchases. TikTok Shop also offer a lot of ‘dupes’ through the shopping platform, such as the latest viral handbag or trainers, making it more accessible for many young adults who like to keep up with trends.

4. ‘Recommended for you’ and ‘Today’s Deals’ are a real draw

I’m a sucker for a ‘recommended for you’ page, showcasing a variety of products that I have shown an interest in, whether that be fashion, a beauty product, protein powder or even some new bedding. This feature entices me to have a look and see what deals I can find. Along with the ‘Today’s Deals’ page, I am usually purchasing at least one product a month from this platform.

5. It’s incredibly easy to use and driven by consumer recommendation

The app gives you the peace of mind of being able to track all of your orders in one space along with storing your details so you don’t have to fill out a form each time. It makes the whole shopping process more efficient and probably ‘too easy!’ I also enjoy the fact that customers can leave a review, just like you can online, leaving some pictures and a rating makes the retailer and product feel genuine and customers are more likely to purchase a product after reading reviews.

TikTok is a seriously competitive enterprise.

Capitalising on the resale market, in April 2024, TikTok UK announced partnerships with reputable players like Luxe Collective, Sellier, Sign of the Times, HardlyEverWornIt and Break Archive. This enables discovery-based shopping for these brands, while also building user trust in TikTok Shop and helping TikTok gain authenticity and sustainability credentials through association. This builds on other recently launched categories in the marketplace, including fresh flowers and live plants, allowing an increasing number of retailers in different sectors to use the platform.

Tik Tok also takes safety and security seriously. It claims to have spent more than £319 million in 2023 investing in tools, technology and people to keep its marketplace safe for consumers and businesses. There have also been reports of TikTok removing 133,000 individual products after they were listed on the site, deactivating the accounts of more than one million sellers and removing their products because of policy violations. Jan Wilk, head of operations for TikTok Shop UK, said ‘As we enable thousands of businesses to sell millions of products, the TikTok Shop Safety Report demonstrates our continued investment in creating safer and trustworthy shopping experiences for our community.

As a seller on TikTok Shop, you can collaborate with thousands of creators through its affiliate program, offering an enticing commission that will encourage creators to promote your products. This has worked well for many well-known brands such as L’Oréal Paris, featuring across many different influencer's pages, showcasing their new products offering unique discounts through the app.

With the huge growth in TikTok shop users since the beginning of this year, it will be no surprise if TikTok Shop overtakes Instagram in sales over the next couple of months. Some analysts have also suggested it might begin to compete with the likes of eBay and Amazon, I guess time will tell.

Influencer culture, is it affecting our children?

Fri, 17 May 2024 16:00:26 GMT

New research with children identifies the risks and gains from influencer culture and provides guidance to 'key actors' in young girls' lives on how to navigate the landscape.

I understand the impact of social influence for commercial gain, and I witness social influence at home every day. I have, for a while joked that the future is lost to Gen Z, such is the heavy reliance on social media for learning, socialising and ‘curating their aesthetic’. Before sharing any ‘news’ from Tik Tok, my Gen Z children are required to challenge the claim with at least two alternative, reliable sources.

All eyes on Gen Alpha, I have been saying. They are digital natives, they have been taught to use social media with a measured gaze, they completely understand sustainability and the jeopardy we are in. When my Gen Alpha 10 year old approached me in Boots with a £9 toothpaste she had seen on Tik Tok and ‘needed’, I reviewed my position.

I listened to a radio feature this morning warning about children’s exposure to porn and vaping via smart phones and there is a growing trend of parent influencers, fuelled by academics who, after years of sharing every intimate detail of their personal lives, are declaring they will not let their children have a smart phone or social media till they are 16.

My opinion is that all digital and social media is theirs, not ours. My generation is fearful and learning fast and have a volatile, cautious relationship with the platforms. Our children have to learn faster, they have to learn how to control it, see danger and use it to all of our advantage. Removing it, in my opinion only delays their learning and alienates them from social conversation. Influence and influencer culture has been a significant part of our lives, long before smart phones and social media.

In 2015 we pioneered research for Start-Rite Shoes to understand the impact of parental use of mobile technology in the home on the children. While children were constantly attacked for their use of mobile phones and academics theorised on the harmful effect of screen time, we flipped the lens. The results of our research were so eye-watering that the story reached across the globe. It was a career highlight when Good Morning America used our campaign film in a broadcast. Ever since, I have approached academic theories around children and tech with caution.

My theory is, what if we shift the lens of social media inwards and look at how we can enable children to embrace it in a different way?

So, I was keen to read the report: Influencer Culture in the Digital Age, Resources for and by Girls and Young Women. A report written by Robyn Muir and Emily Setty at the University of Surrey, championed by UKRI eNurture Network*. The report and guidance has been designed to address the opportunities and challenges for girls and young women arising from ‘influencer culture’ online. It is based on primary research conducted with girls and young women.

The aim of the guide is stated as: To support key actors – teachers, other children’s workforce professionals, parents and carers, and girls and young women themselves – to support girls’ and young women’s positive social and emotional development and wellbeing in the digital age, as they navigate the often-times complex and contradictory messages and depictions they encounter and engage with online from influencers.’

The report starts with key findings from qualitative group sessions with the 9-11, 11-13 and 13-15 age groups. It summarises each section, interprets the discussions into identifying the barriers to supporting girls and young women and lays down the principles and recommendations for adults intervening with girls and young women around influencer culture, with concise ‘Instead of this’, ‘Do this’ guidance. It moves onto ideas and suggestions for addressing influencer culture with girls and young women and tackles topics such as ‘making active choices and exercising self-governance online’; ‘monitoring and restricting devices’ and ‘building self-esteem and self-worth’. There is guidance on how adults can encourage children to reach out for help and how to deal with disclosures, with guidance on active listening and learning. With a glossary of terms and plenty more resources to discover, it’s a stimulating and supportive read.

What did the children say?

In the 9-11 age group, I was interested to see that at this young age, they are clearly aware of the influence people online have. They are aware this is a ‘perfect’ image being portrayed, they can spot filters and there is a deeply held view that mostly attractive people are successful on social media. There is no doubt that consuming these images can have a negative effect on a child who is still building her self-worth and an opinion on how they should portray themselves in public to be accepted and liked.

In the 11-13 age group, the focus shifted. Less about how good influencers looked, and more to how their friends and peers behave towards each other. Their social media is there to learn, enjoy and share. It is a personal journey and not something they want to enjoy with their parents. There is caution as to the dynamic of how influencer culture impacts the way girls in this age group treat each other.

Girls aged 13-15 are a step on in terms of managing their enjoyment of social media. They engage more for entertainment, with a more mature approach to self-monitoring and a developed awareness of the commercial imperative of the influencer. However, the threat of how you should look and behave takes a step up too, where peer-to-peer judgement is a threat. Parents and teachers are not deemed as suitable support to navigating this minefield, and it is clear that parents who are restrictive over the platforms are far less likely to have an honest dialogue with their children.

Overwhelmingly, our children want agency over their social media use and the research encourages adults to be part of collaborative discussion, to keep dialogue in the home, open and honest.

"It was clear that girls and young women want to be supported to exercise agency and self-governance and do not want things always done to or for them by adults."

There are many important learnings from the guide, such as advising parents to avoid nostalgia about their own childhood when tackling the issues around navigating childhood today. It is well worth your time to read it. The key take outs for me, as a parent to teenage girls included:

1. Try to legitimise and validate girls and young women and focus on empowering and uplifting girls not trivialising their perspectives and experiences.

2. Talk collaboratively with the girl about a problem and what she would like to do next and co-identify a solution that would help to keep her safe and well without disconnecting her entirely from her device.

3. Acknowledge that we continue to live in a mediated and online world, and the girl will need to build not only mediated and online skills for her future, but also for her resilience. Rather than banning her from having a phone or other device, co-identify healthy boundaries you are both happy with to build her confidence and resilience.

*Source :

Muir, R. and Setty, E. (2023) Influencer Culture in the Digital Age: Resources for and by Girls and Young Women Available at: https://influencercultures.wixsite.com/influencerculture

The Power of Creator Partnerships

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 16:29:14 GMT

A recent study by CORQ, the digital trend forecasters, has highlighted the significant impact of creator partnerships on audience engagement, providing valuable insights for brands and PR professionals. At Vista Public Relations, we are dedicated to staying ahead of industry trends and insights to better serve our clients, so here we dive into the key findings of the study and their implications for the evolving landscape of brand communications and consumer engagement.

First up, Creator Partnerships: Driving Unprecedented Audience Engagement

The CORQ data study revealed that creator partnerships by technology and media brands were instrumental in driving the highest audience engagement rates in January 2024. Brands such as Sky, Dyson, and Kia emerged as frontrunners, leveraging creator partnerships to capture consumer interest and drive meaningful engagement.

The analysis of the top 50 most engaging adverts on Instagram unveiled that creator partnerships featuring talents such as Emma Walsh, Harry Pinero, and Tomi Adebayo resulted in an average engagement rate of 12.2%. Notably, all of these creators have a sustained and increasing presence in mainstream media, with Pinero producing two of the top ten adverts.

Diverse Representation and Emerging Creators

The study highlighted the success of emerging creators, with 41% of the most engaging adverts being produced by those with audiences under 100K followers. Furthermore, the data underscored the pivotal role of diversity, indicating that ‘people of colour’ POC creators were behind 27.4% of the most engaging content in January, with 50% of the top ten best performing posts. Additionally, the majority of high-performing commercial posts were by female creators, aged 25- to 34-years-old.

Industry-Specific Engagement Rates

In addition to the above findings, the study also revealed that interiors campaigns achieved an average engagement rate of 7%, while fashion saw an average of 6.4%. These industry-specific engagement rates provide valuable insights for brands looking to understand and improve their performance in these sectors.

Addressing Industry Challenges

While celebrating the power of creator partnerships, the study also brought attention to industry challenges. It revealed that 51% of adverts posted were inaccurately tagged as ‘PR’, ‘gifted’, or ‘affiliate’ instead of ‘ad’, highlighting the need for improved commercial signposting. Additionally, the study emphasised the imperative of promoting a more diverse and inclusive landscape within the industry.

Implications for Brand Communications and PR Strategies

It is evident that creator partnerships are a driving force behind audience engagement. At Vista Public Relations, we recognise the significance of embracing emerging creators and championing diversity in our collaborations. Additionally, we are committed to ensuring transparent and accurate commercial signposting.

The CORQ data study serves as a compelling testament to the transformative potential of creator partnerships in shaping brand communications and consumer engagement.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates as we continue to lead the way in connecting brands to families and driving meaningful connections in the ever-evolving landscape of brand communications.

If you need further information or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us.

Use Pinterest to access Gen Z females

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 17:16:36 GMT

The Power of Pinterest: A Comprehensive Overview of Its Impact on Businesses

In today's digital age, social media platforms serve as powerful tools for businesses to connect with their target audience and drive sales. Among these platforms, Pinterest stands out with its unique approach to visual discovery and inspiration. Let's delve into the statistics and insights provided by Social Shepherd and Hootsuite to understand why Pinterest should be a cornerstone of your brand's marketing strategy.

With LinkedIn reporting 498 million monthly active users, which is a 16 million increase from the previous quarter, and 1.5 billion pins saved every week, Pinterest boasts an engaged user base actively seeking inspiration and ideas. An impressive stat of 61% of pinners consider Pinterest their go to platform to kickstart new projects, highlighting its pivotal role in the creative process.

Additionally, Pinterest fosters a positive online environment, with 8 out of 10 users viewing it as a welcoming space. This positivity translates into action, by the fact that 61% of weekly pinners have made a purchase directly from a pin, and 46% have discovered new brands or products on the platform.

Geographically, Pinterest's reach is global, with the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, and Colombia emerging as key markets.

Its largest audience is women, comprising 76.2% of global users. In the UK and the US, Pinterest enjoys significant popularity among women, with a combined 58.9 million female users.

At the Pinterest Investor Day 2023, it was revealed that a significant 42% of the platform's monthly active users now belong to Gen Z. This shift highlights the platform's increasing appeal to younger audiences, reflecting a dynamic evolution in its user base. For Gen Z, Pinterest serves as more than just a digital platform—it's a positive space where they can explore their aspirations, envision their future, and ignite their creativity. Millennials, also embrace Pinterest, with 80% of Millennial women and 40% of Millennial men actively using it for inspiration.

Pinterest's effectiveness as a search engine is undeniable, with two out of three users turning to it for content discovery. Surprisingly, 97% of searches on Pinterest are not brand-related, emphasising the importance of incorporating relevant keywords into pin titles and descriptions.

For businesses, Pinterest offers a lucrative avenue for driving sales, especially when targeting the luxury audience. A staggering 90% of users are in a shopping mindset, leading to higher expenditure and larger basket sizes compared to other platforms. Shoppable pins enable seamless transactions, with 85% of users purchasing products they discover on Pinterest. What's particularly noteworthy is that 70% of Pinterest’s luxury audience is under 35 years old, indicating a prime opportunity for brands to connect with a younger, affluent demographic eager to engage and make purchases on the platform.

What sets Pinterest apart is the longevity of its content. Unlike other social media platforms, where posts have a short lifespan, pins can remain relevant for six to twelve months, amplifying their reach and impact.

Advertising on Pinterest is equally compelling, with the platform estimated in generating $3.27 billion in advertising revenue in 2023. Notably, running ads on Pinterest is 2.3 times cheaper per conversion compared to other social media platforms, making it a cost-effective choice for businesses.

In conclusion, the statistics provided by Hootsuite and Social Shepherd underscore the immense potential of Pinterest as a marketing powerhouse. By leveraging its visual discovery platform, businesses can connect with their audience, drive sales, and elevate their brand presence in the digital landscape. Embrace the power of Pinterest today and unlock new opportunities across multiple generations, for growth and success.

New research: Mums and social media

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 13:57:59 GMT

Vista bespoke research: Mums' use of social media is maturing and present an exciting opportunity for brands.

Every year, we run a survey with mums to understand their relationship with social media. Early in January, we ask the exact same 10 questions to a random selection of 100 mums. This commitment to the process enables us to study nuance and identify trends in their relationship with the platforms that have become so integral to their lives.

We started the process in January 2018. 18 months after the Brexit vote, 12 months after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45 ^th President of the United States and six months after a general election in the UK. On each occasion we had witnessed social media playing a significant role in the process. Strong negative human emotions such as division, discomfort, mistrust and anger were rippling through society as an effect of behaviours on social media channels and the world was quickly identifying new terms of reference such as ‘trolls’ and ‘keyboard warriors’, to make sense of it.

One of the driving forces for Vista focussing on the family market was because mums were early adopters of this new media landscape, with a power £850bn purse. These platforms were irrevocably changing the communications industry and how brands could interact and engage with mums. We were particularly interested to see if the close relationship that mums had built with their social media profiles had been rocked by the turbulent political landscape.

Then, in January 2021, social media had once again evolved and had become a lifeline to many.

After what has been a period of stabilisation, the results in 2024 paint a positive progress for brands, presenting exciting marketing opportunities across social media channels.

In 2024 the results feel fresh and they feel exciting for the communications industry. We can see green shoots of mums’ relationship with their channels maturing and becoming less about personal expression and more about exploration. Mums are sharing personal information within the boundaries of what is acceptable to them, they are less likely to be upset by others and far more likely to interact with brands, and people they don’t know. They are open to being influenced by social media in a commercial way.

What do mums use social media for in 2024? 77% use social media to follow people they don’t know personally for inspiration and entertainment (a 32% increase on 2023) and 72% claim to use social media to follow brands and businesses (a huge 40% increase on 2023). 50% use it to follow celebrities and 47% for news, sports and current affairs.

Why do mums follow people they don’t know? In the most part, 67% can relate to the influencers and 62% of mums follow influencers who share their hobbies and interests. 60% follow for inspiration and 50% for entertainment. Only 2% of the mum respondents said they do not follow people who they don’t know personally.

When asked if mums are more likely to have bought something because they saw an influencer recommend it, 65% of mums said yes. A significant increase of 24% since January 2023.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Instagram is now the platform of choice for mums to interact with brands, twitter has fallen off a cliff, Tik Tok has entered the room with 7% of mums using it to interact with brands and Pinterest is showing healthy growth for brand interaction at 10%. Overall use of Pinterest is in a steady increase, growing 20% this year to 32% of the mums who responded using the platform.

In 2024, asking mums how they discover new brands, Friends and Family recommendations is still the leading response (70%), but, until this year, Google has always been the second. However, in 2024,’Watching people who inspire me on my social media accounts’ was the second response with 67% of mums admitting they have discovered new brands this way. Google received 60% of the votes and social ads, 42%.

With regards to shopping sustainably, 62% of mums are more aware of environmental issues now and any increased cost to buy more sustainably is showing as less of an issue with a 10% drop to less than a third of mums (32%) saying price is prohibitive to buying more sustainably.

This survey took place over three weeks in January 2024. We use Survey Monkey and social media to invite responses from mums within and outside of our network and each response is completely anonymous. The sample size means that the results can only be used anecdotally, but when correlated to previous years, using the exact same questions and exact same recruitment methods, it enables us to draw interesting comparisons and conclusions to mums’ relationship with her social media channels. What's clear is that in 2024, social media is becoming a more lucrative opportunity for brands to engage with mums and influence purchase.

Press Office Best Practice

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 21:04:48 GMT

In this blog we focus on our Media team set-up and how they run an exceptional press office that delivers.

Vista’s expertise is divided into three specialist teams, Media, Content and Strategy.

Account Directors with a minimum 15 years experience oversee the strategy, partnerships and creative to integrate and deliver multi-channel campaigns, reaching consumers at various touchpoints with the same, cohesive messaging. This set-up was mapped from the advertising agency model after witnessing the issues with the traditional PR agency hierarchical model.

Vista’s unique set-up enables the specialist Media and Content teams to focus and deliver excellence. Each client account has weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual targets to keep the teams empowered and driven to deliver.

Here we focus on our Media team set-up and how they run an exceptional press office.

Media relations is the bedrock to any successful PR agency and Vista’s team sustains media coverage month after month, delivering backlinks, awareness and improving SEO.

Here, Stan presents Vista’s guiding principles to running a successful press office – the key is to drive efficiency at every opportunity.

Tapped in

We continually monitor the media agenda, breaking stories, trends, opinion and are tapped in to media requests specific to our client sectors so we can react quickly for clients and maximise opportunities for coverage. The media team works hard to develop strong relationships with its Tier 1 media that are mutually beneficial and pride themselves on being highly responsive to all opportunities that present themselves. Vista delivers finely targeted, rich placements where the client/brand role is acutely relevant and apparent.

Contacts

The foundation of any efficient press office is based on a mature contact list consisting of a breadth of maintained, mutually beneficial relationships. The maturity of the contact list is achieved by keeping a very close eye on initial engagements with new media titles and contacts. Those that are quick to correspond, clear in what they can offer and what they require from you are then chalked on to a master list of contacts that can be plucked from month after month to ensure a consistent stream of quality coverage. Being scrupulous over details such as reach, engagement and coverage quality vs. time/product cost of the collaboration is essential also and should be monitored on a consistent basis.

More specifically, those in the agency that are managing the press office are familiar with the list to a point where, when called upon to provide ‘quick’, ‘high-reaching’, ‘product-focused’ or ‘specific to X demographic’, a portion of the contacts can be put up for proposal without the need for trawling.

Alerts

Having an organised alerts system in place is vital for autonomizing what can otherwise be some of the most laborious aspects of compiling monthly reports. Utilising software that picks up use of keywords and/or the brand name is essential for picking up coverage, especially from titles we work on features with but who may not report back that their article has gone live. Press clipping services are not always as thorough as you need them to be. Mail alerts for services that allow media to promote feature callouts are another great way of ensuring that the ‘meat’ of your press office is guaranteed for your clients. Use of this third-party assistance alongside manual checking via search engines means that reports are compiled to give a highly accurate account of the press office performance.

Media Space

Whilst alerts have your press office covered with regards to detection of opportunities and results, a compartmentalised media space is essential to deliver on all types of requests in an efficient and time-effective manner. This can be conceptualised as any database or file system that is readily available to the agency that stores approved copy, images, client quotes and campaign materials. Further still, creating and maintaining a live resource that both client and agency can access to approve and access materials from one another is useful for cutting down on time lost through long-winded email correspondence.

Live shared activity reports

Much like having a live resource to make assets readily available, Vista keeps a live activity report for each client updated with day-on-day progress made, as well as where the effort is being focused without the need for emailing. A religious attitude should be taken to keep track of all conversations and opportunities being pursued for the account as it ensures that all parties involved understand the actions which are taking priority in order to deliver on monthly targets. It also acts as a very useful time report. When some delivery takes longer than expected, live reports can easily draw a client’s attention to an issue. They act as a transparent and honest account of the hard work behind the results.

Ongoing Research

The press team assures that when all arrears are in place, there is still time left in the week to allocate towards proactive research into new or growing titles and content covered, to bolster our contact lists. Constantly striving to expand the pool of contacts future-proofs new campaign focuses and new clients with a prepared set of contacts that can immediately be contacted, rather than relying on expensive bought in press lists that are frequently unreliable (surely the biggest pressure point of any journalist / PR relationship) reactive pitching and research to procure results.

Reporting

We use Ace Media to report media coverage to our clients. The platform is tuned to support the AMEC principles and encapsulates the month’s coverage in both a user-friendly dashboard and an index of all the pieces with the ability to ‘click-through’ to the live coverage. Ace Media tracks for keyword delivery, audience reach, brand mentions, engagement, tone, product focus, follow and no follow links. It also facilitates the PESO model of reporting. The Ace Media dashboard provides a user-friendly overview of the monthly delivery and reports can be merged to take quarterly and annual view on delivery. Whatsmore, Ace Media is a live platform so clients can access coverage as it accrues day to day.

Case in point: Back-to-school with Start-Rite Shoes

Following this press office model contributes massively to the agency delivering a successful back-to-school campaign for Start-Rite. Over a 6-week summer period, there is an intense focus on Start-Rite shoes. Year on year, Start-Rite is featured in between 100-150 pieces of coverage during this period. It is the busiest time of year for the agency. In spite of this, we are able to simultaneously deliver for all our client accounts without a hitch, or without feeling any strain, and this is due to our professional commitment to running an efficient press office process.

Social Media 2024: Trends to know about

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 21:25:19 GMT

As we grow into 2024, the social media landscape continues to evolve, presenting new opportunities and challenges for businesses and marketers. All eyes on Gen Z, the uber users of the emerging platforms, profile chameleons and content natives. To help you navigate this dynamic environment, we've compiled the latest trends for Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, offering insights into what to expect and how to adapt your social media strategies accordingly.

Instagram Trends for 2024

Instagram, a platform known for its visual storytelling and engagement, is expected to undergo several changes in 2024. According to Later, leaders in this space, the following trends are anticipated to shape the Instagram experience:

1. Long-form Content Returns: The resurgence of long-form content is expected to provide new opportunities for in-depth storytelling and audience engagement.

2. Influencer Product Placement maturing: Product placements will increase in Influencer content, and with this increase will come a more professional approach to seamless and authentic brand partnerships.

3. Instagram Doubles Down on Gen Z: Targeting Gen Z users as key to growth and stability, and to ensure a competitive position against Tik Tok, Instagram is expected to introduce features and content that cater to the preferences and behaviours of this demographic.

TikTok Trends for 2024

TikTok, the rapidly growing short-form video platform, is set to enter its "FaceTime" era, signalling a new phase of growth and innovation. The platform's trends for 2024, as outlined by Later and SociaI Insider, include:

1. More AI Integrations: TikTok is expected to integrate more AI features, enhancing content creation and user experiences.

2. Nostalgia Core: The rise of nostalgia core content is anticipated to resonate with audiences, offering a fresh approach to storytelling and creativity.

3. Keyword Search & SEO Take Centre Stage: TikTok's emphasis on search tools and SEO is set to make content discovery and information sharing more robust and accessible.

Facebook Trends for 2024

Facebook, a leading social media platform, is projected to continue its commitment to redefining authenticity through AI integrations. While specific trends for 2024 are still emerging, the platform's ongoing investment in the metaverse and user experiences is expected to influence its development.

In conclusion, the social media landscape of 2024 is characterised by a series of transformative trends that are set to redefine user experiences and engagement on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. By staying informed about these trends, businesses and marketers can capitalise on emerging opportunities and ensure that their strategies remain aligned with the evolving needs and preferences of their target audiences.

2024 Consumer Predictions

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 17:13:03 GMT

Navigating the Changing Landscape of Shopping and Behaviour

We maintain a watching brief on consumer behaviour and have consolidated the latest findings from the Klaviyo Consumer Survey Report and the Mintel 2024 Global Consumer Trends report, in the following blog. We've encapsulated the trends that brands should be aware of, in order to stay ahead of the game.

According to Klaviyo, (a US based research company, with findings based on 3k+ US consumers) consumers are torn between in-store and online shopping. While they are 2.25 times more likely to prefer shopping online, they still split their shopping between the two. When consumers do head in-store, it's often to touch the product and take advantage of immediate availability. Important for marketeers is that Klaviyo found that nearly half of consumers prefer receiving marketing information through email.

Worth also noting that in 2023, Vista undertook research with 346 parents via Mother & Baby for nursery products brand, Graco. We found that when it comes to buying baby products and important safety products such as car seats, 50% research online and 53% of parents seek reassurance from purchasing from an expert in store. We also found 61% have taken advice instore and then purchased online for the best deal.

Insights like this pose a problem to marketers who rely on last click attribution models to justify spend because, according to ChatGPT only 20% of consumers type in a specific URL, with 80% opting to navigate via a search engine. So, we can assume that while the retailers sealed the deal, Google will have claimed to have driven 80% of those purchases. Overall it indicates that all brands must have a multi-platform marketing strategy.

In terms of the economy and spending, Klaviyo found that overall consumer opinion of the economy is cautious. While younger generations tend to have a more optimistic view, consumers of all ages are cautious when it comes to discretionary spending. Expect consumers to allocate most of their budgets to conventional goods into the near future. However, conversely as younger consumers have a more positive economic outlook, brands should also expect them to make non-essential purchases.

Mintel focuses on the importance of human skills and connections in a technology-driven world. Brands and consumers are increasingly seeking out uniquely human elements to strike a balance between progress and preservation. In particular, the focus on human connections and experiences is expected to drive brand strategies and improve customer relationships.

The report also emphasises the importance of sustainability in everyday life. As consumers become more conscious of environmental issues, brands that prioritise sustainability will likely resonate more. In a world where consumer priorities are constantly being reassessed, brands must also adapt and collaborate. This means finding new ways to partner with consumers and work together towards common goals.

Overall, brands that pay attention to these trends and behaviours will be better equipped to meet the needs of their consumers. Whether it's finding new ways to connect with customers on a human level or prioritising sustainability, brands that stay ahead of the curve are more likely to succeed in the long run.

Diving into the key findings in each report:

Klaviyo:

Economic Perceptions: Overall, opinion of the current US economy is cautious, with 59% of consumers feeling negatively about the economy. However, 42% feel neutral or positive, and 46% believe it’s holding steady or improving. Younger generations, such as Gen Z and millennials, tend to have a more optimistic view of the economy.
In-store vs. Online Shopping: Consumers are 2.25x more likely to prefer shopping online, but they are currently shopping equally online and in-store. Those who prefer in-store shopping do so to touch the product and have immediate availability, while those who prefer online shopping do so for convenience. Interestingly, nearly half of consumers prefer receiving marketing information through email.
Current vs. Future Spending: Consumers continue to allocate most of their budgets to conventional goods. They expect to continue doing so in the future and maybe more cautious with discretionary spending. However, younger consumers, due to their more positive economic outlook, are more likely to engage in non-essential spending.

Mintel:

Focuses on the importance of human skills and connections in a technology-driven world, the need to prioritise sustainability, the collaboration between brands and consumers, and the reassessment of consumer priorities.
Emphasises that in a world dominated by algorithms and technology, human skills, emotions, and connections are crucial. It suggests that brands and consumers will increasingly seek out uniquely human elements to strike a balance between progress and preservation.
Predicts a focus on human connections and experiences to drive brand strategies and improve customer relationships.
Acknowledges the importance of sustainability and the need to incorporate it into everyday life. Consumers and brands will have to prioritise survival within a new climate context.
The five key trends for brands to pay attention to are:

1. Being Human – consumers want technology to forge connections and will seek empathy and service that only a human can provide

2. More Than Money – consumers define ‘quality’ in new ways, reassessing their perception of what ‘value’ means to them

3. Relationship Renaissance – seeking new forms of intimacy away from screens for their physical and mental health, a broader sense of community is developing, beyond the nuclear family

4. New Green Reality – survival within a new climate context must be a priority and with many consumers are sceptical of brand claims, brands must demonstrate meaningful and measurable progress. Trust and reassurance is key

5. Positive Perspectives – consumers look to brands for answers and ways to deal with uncertainty and support with building resilience to withstand. And co-exist alongside potential adversities

Unveiling Social Trends for 2024

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 14:33:59 GMT

The social media landscape is evolving rapidly, and 2024 is set to be a pivotal year for social trends.

We have absorbed Hootsuite's Social Trends 2024 Report and below encapsulate several key trends that are expected to shape the social media landscape in the coming year.

These trends include the increasing use of generative AI, a renewed focus on platform performance, and the growing importance of return on investment (ROI) in social media marketing.

Generative AI: Redefining Authenticity

Generative AI, which broke into the mainstream in 2022, is expected to play a significant role in 2024. Social marketers are increasingly turning to AI to streamline their processes and reduce staff workload. The use of AI for activities such as revising text, editing images, and providing customer service is expected to increase significantly in the coming year. However, while AI offers efficiency, there are concerns about audience trust. According to the Hootsuite Social Trends 2024 Consumer Survey, 62% of consumers are less likely to engage with and trust content if they know it was created by an AI application.

Platform Performance: Prioritising ROI

Organisations are expected to prioritise their top-performing social media platforms and strategies in 2024. The focus will be on maximising ROI by investing in platforms that deliver results. This shift is driven by the recognition that there is no value in maintaining a presence on platforms that do not contribute to the bottom line. Social media users are increasingly active across multiple platforms, and organisations are responding by concentrating their efforts on platforms that yield the best results.

Return on Investment: A Central Focus

In 2024, ROI will take centre stage in social media marketing. Smart organisations are expected to close in on their top-performing tactics, from identifying hero platforms to enhancing their content mix and team capabilities with AI. The emphasis will be on precision and efficiency, with a reduced tolerance for efforts that do not yield results.

In conclusion, the social media landscape is set to undergo significant changes in 2024, with a focus on leveraging AI, prioritising platform performance, and maximising ROI. These trends are based on extensive research and are expected to have a profound impact on social media marketing strategies in the coming year.

Coming next in our series of blogs dedicated to the business end of social media is: ‘ The Social Media Landscape of 2024: Instagram, TikTok and Facebook Trends’ .

Source : The Hootsuite Social Trends 2024 Report is based on a commercial survey of 4,281 marketers and a consumer survey of 4,508 consumers, as well as primary interviews with social marketing practitioners, leaders, observers, and partners. The report also includes a news analysis of 15,557 articles from major social media reporting organisations and a content analysis of 1 million anonymised social posts from accounts connected to Hootsuite.

Influencers: a client perspective

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:46:22 GMT

Five minutes with Stacey Wright, Marketing and Social Media Executive at Start-Rite Shoes

We have worked with Stacey for many years arranging influencer collaborations and trusting each other implicitly, especially during the endurance test of back-to-school when influencer selection and engaging content is absolutely critical. A seasoned interiors influencer herself, here we spent a few minutes with her asking her perspective on influencer marketing.

How has influencer marketing impacted your brand's visibility and reach within your target audience?

Over the recent years we’ve seen the power has shifted from brands to influencers who are leading the way with reviews and promotions. Consumers trust what influencers have to say more than what a brand has to say about themselves and they act on these recommendations, so it’s vital they’re part of any social strategy. We work closely with influencers to build a credible relationship with them and their followers on both campaigns and giveaways, which has helped our social channels grow in both engagement and followers.

It’s worth noting that consumers want everything instant these days and influencers are helping brands with this. Fast news and quick ways to purchase products. Facebook and Instagram are our key social channels for engagement and sales, with the back to school period our busiest time. School shoes reviews, creative video content and giveaways all help drive sales and engagement for us.

What key benefits have you observed from influencer marketing campaigns in terms of building brand credibility and trust among consumers?

For us, it’s not just about selling products, it’s also about creating interactive customer experiences, giving advice, building a loyal community and becoming available across multi-devices and sharing more user generated content, which influencers help us with. It helps to build trust with our audience and we’ve certainly been doing more of that on our channels.

How has Vista PR assisted your brand in identifying and connecting with relevant influencers for successful collaborations?

We’ve worked with Vista for over 11 years now and they are very much part of the Start-Rite family. They are always bringing us new ideas and inspiring influencers who can help us to continue building our loyal community. They are first class in providing valuable guidance and insights, always with an eye on new trends, helping us to stay ahead when it comes to working with the right people and creating the right content. We’d be lost without them!

The Power of Influencer Collaborations

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 20:19:06 GMT

Unlocking Success: The power of Influencer Collaborations in Modern Marketing

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, the key to successful marketing lies in staying ahead of the curve. Traditional advertising methods are being overshadowed by innovative approaches that resonate more with consumers. One such approach that has taken the marketing world by storm is influencer collaborations. At Vista Talent Agency, we've been orchestrating these collaborations for over six years, and here's why they matter.

The Trust Factor: Influencers vs. Brands

Influence is the name of the game in the digital age. Consumers have grown weary of conventional advertising tactics and are increasingly turning to voices they trust. Here are some compelling statistics that underscore the significance of influencer marketing:

1. 61% of consumers trust influencers' product recommendations, compared to just 38% trusting branded content. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

2. Among millennials, who form a substantial part of the consumer base, 50% trust influencer product recommendations, surpassing the trust in celebrities at 38%. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

3. Influencers come in all forms, but 84% of Instagram influencers worldwide are women, highlighting their dominance in the industry. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

4. When it comes to action, 87% of users take a step forward after seeing a product on Instagram. Influencer content can lead to real results. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

5. If you're concerned about ROI, consider this: businesses make $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, on average. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

The Power of Micro and Nano Influencers

Size doesn't always matter in the world of influencer marketing. In fact, smaller influencers often yield more significant results:

1. Nano-influencers (1,000-5,000 followers) boast a 5% engagement rate, outperforming mega influencers. Their authenticity resonates with their tight-knit communities. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

2. When it comes to engagement, micro-influencers outshine macro-influencers, driving a remarkable 60% more engagement. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

The Influence of User-Generated Content (UGC)

Influencer marketing isn't the only trend reshaping the marketing landscape. User-generated content (UGC) is another powerful tool:

1. UGC results in up to 29% higher conversion rates than campaigns or websites that don't incorporate it. (Source: Search Logistics)

2. A staggering 92% of consumers turn to people they know for referrals about products or services they trust, making UGC a goldmine for credibility. (Source: Stackla)

3. For a vast majority (79%) of consumers, UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions, cementing its role as a game-changer in the world of marketing. (Source: Nielsen)

4. Notably, 70% of consumers rely on user-generated reviews or ratings before making purchase decisions, emphasizing the importance of authentic consumer voices. (Source: Expert Voice)

5. Millennials, in particular, exhibit a 50% higher trust in user-generated content compared to content created by brands, further highlighting its value. (Source: Business 2 Community)

6. It's not just about written content; 93% of brands have successfully acquired a significant number of new customers due to video content on various social media channels. (Source: Animoto)

7. Lastly, 48% of all customers claim that user-generated content is an effective way for them to discover new products. (Source: Forrester)

In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing, influencer collaborations and user-generated content have risen to prominence, reshaping how businesses engage with their audience. At Vista Talent Agency, we recognise the immense potential of these strategies and offer meticulously crafted collaboration packages to help your brand thrive in the digital age.

Remember, your brand is unique, and so are your goals. While we offer standard packages to get you started, our team is ready to discuss your specific requirements and tailor the perfect package to meet your specific goals. Unlock the power of influencers and UGC, and watch your brand soar to new heights.

A Guide to Effective Brand Partnerships

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 10:53:45 GMT

Everyone in marketing is in the brand collaborations game. How do you assess if a collaboration will be successful? Here's our top tips.

We run a lot of brand partnerships and carefully assess the merits of every approach. We also see a lot of vague and generic call-outs. ‘My client is a parenting brand, we’re looking to collab with parenting brands.’ ‘My client is a parenting brand launching something, we’re looking for other parenting brands to include in the goody bag.’

While it’s absolutely ok to get involved for awareness purposes, it’s important to assess the strategic goal for your brand in the partnership and equally the return on investment for your effort. How will the activity add value to the brand equity and drive more meaning to your existing and potential customers?

Here are our top tips for assessing if a collaboration will be valuable:

1. Does the collaboration leverage unifying qualities that will enhance your brand heritage?

Working for years with Peg Perego, Italy’s leading heritage nursery brand was a gift. We arranged various collaborations with other premium Italian brands established in the UK parenting market such as Piccolo Foods, The Chiappas Sisters and Divertimenti, each execution driving meaning into the Peg Perego brand as a leading Italian manufacturer to be trusted.

2. Do the brands share a vision and mission that will deliver a deeper connection to your target consumer?

It’s no secret we have worked with Start-Rite Shoes and Micro Scooters, so connecting the two brands appears to be a lazy no brainer. When you consider that both brands stand for adventure, movement, healthy development, innovation and quality, and they are both intrinsically linked to the school gate you can see how their collaboration is a perfect match that drives a deeper connection to an audience who also align with these qualities.

3. Do the brands have complementary, non-conflicting offerings?

Graco is an established brand with an extensive range in the nursery industry, however it does not sell change bags - a necessary accompaniment to any family taking a day out with a baby. The Myavo stroller launched in 2023, it was a step change for Graco in the UK: a cool looking one hand box fold, with an even cooler price tag. Enter, Babymel. A premium, cool change bag brand with an audience who might not have considered Graco in the past, but who the Myavo stroller would have significant appeal. The resulting social collab was one of our most successful to date.

4. Can the collaboration leverage brand expertise or products USPs?

It was our privilege to raise awareness of Hopes Relief, Australia’s number one natural Eczema cream and support many children and families in the UK living with this difficult condition. To leverage National Eczema Week, we worked with baby swimming specialists, Turtle Tots to support parents who wanted to take their child swimming but were concerned about irritating their dry skin. The collaboration created a platform for Hope’s Relief to demonstrate their expertise and put the product range in front of an audience of parents where it served an immediate need.

5. Will the collaboration add value to your existing customer?

Last year we devised The Graco Village. An online platform to support parents on a range of issues, signposting them to experts who can help. The success of the platform hinges on the experts that we engage because the added value and association drives meaning that Graco is also an expert in its category.

Working with experts in baby sleep, post-natal depression, road safety groups and baby development, we have engaged key media partners and influencers to drive awareness of the platform and deliver a valuable service to parents who need support.

One of the latest partnerships is with Brytespark, biomechanists and experts in human movement. Their content explains to parents why health visitors insist children are moved frequently from their car seats. Parents know they should move their children, but they don’t really know why. This partnership adds significant value to the conversation around car seat safety and child protection and raises Graco’s credibility as a manufacturer by not just selling the product to parents, but caring about the families who purchase it.

The Squared Ball

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:11:50 GMT

Pic caption: My youngest daughter, picking out my older two and me in a packed Amex stadium watching England demolish Norway in a 8-0 victory, Euros July 2022.

On the eve of England women’s first World Cup match against Haiti in Brisbane, there is change afoot.

I’m a football fan, the daughter of a football fan, the wife of a football fan, the mother of football fans. We support a variety of clubs. In my home with three daughters, football is never far away from us. I have visited many grounds in the UK, both to watch my team and to watch others. I got engaged shortly before heading to an Italian club match at the Stadio Plimpico in Rome. I travelled to South Africa to watch the England men play in the World Cup and I have watched England women play in the European championships in France and the UK. I support both men and women playing the beautiful game, and I enjoy the nuance in how differently they play it. The game itself flexes around the gender differences and neither is no more or less enjoyable, until we lose.

While following the man’s game, I have been caught on a train platform between a large group of rival male fans facing up to each other, then spent hours sitting next to bleeding faces. I have been intimidated by drunk men hurling abuse at the pitch and I have received a chant of ‘get your tits out for the lads’ as I took my seat alongside my dad when I was 16. I have endured these moments, to enjoy the sport. It is for many men, their game within a deep-seated cultural framework and should woman wish to participate, it should be with boundaries. And this perspective is not only reserved for the matches.

Over the last few days, I have seen men using Linked In to put forward the case for why women should not receive increased earnings that are proportionately fair. Their flawed arguments are clearly driven by gender bias. The men who take this perspective to a business platform like Linked In, think they are demonstrating their commercial acumen. What I see is people unable to think inclusively or strategically. Someone who is unlikely to see potential, be able to 'think outside the box' or grow a market. Only seeing the status quo and belligerently attempting to maintain within it.

The innate sense of male righteousness over this sport is palpable in these comments. Would you want to work with, or employ a man exhibiting those views? Can you imagine the potential, if half the men who refuse to accept women in football, took a different view? And that's not just a gain for women. Let's also imagine for a moment, if half the women who follow men's football stopped. Stopped buying the tickets, stopped buying the merch, stopped encouraging their children, played no part in it.

Inclusivity and equality does not mean less inclusive or inequal to others. Women playing football does not diminish the men’s game. It allows more people like me who are football fans, to enjoy the game with a new lens. How many times have you heard a man say judgementally ‘it’s not the same when women play’. Of course it’s not the same! Women are built differently, move differently, have different strengths, different skills. In business we negotiate differently, we solve problems differently, we run businesses, differently. All of this applies to how we play sport. Of course you are welcome not to enjoy it. But. in my opinion, men who say ‘it’s not the same’, loudly and disparagingly, are only exposing themselves as a man’s fan. Not a football fan. And what a limiting world view that is.

On the eve of England women’s first World Cup match against Haiti in Brisbane, there is change afoot of course. Big business is supporting change with sponsorship money and provocative creative. This year I’m enjoying Allianz The Squared Ball campaign.

In the club where I received the ‘tits’ chant over 20 years ago, the women’s loos now offer free sanitary products, I share flasks of coffee with my dad and his pals, no one gawps at me and no one would dare chant.

The women’s games are inclusive, the atmosphere is energised positively, the crowd cheer has a higher pitch of course, but is no less passionate, just notably less antagonistic. I encourage any man who is critical, to become curious, and try to watch the beautiful game through a new lens, because they are really missing out.

Next time you find yourself in the wrap-up ‘any more questions’ part of a job interview, how about asking their view on women’s football. Their answer will reveal a lot you need to know about the person's ability to work in an ambitious, contemporary environment.

A Question of Trust

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 09:09:14 GMT

Our industry recently descended on Cannes Lions. The creative festival, the awards, the networking opportunities. I have never been, so of course I am tinged with jealousy.

Vista doesn’t tend to enter industry awards. It’s a messy story of creating an absolutely stunning campaign and being pipped to the post for Gold by the woman who had been handing out the other awards all night. Never let it be said I’m not a belligerent sore loser, but our campaign was better.

Vista is an agency delivering award winning work and doing precisely what the agencies at Cannes claim we must all start doing:- Delivering communications that positively impact business objectives.

Unfortunately, our industry tends to award projects or campaigns with a start and a finish, that create ‘buzz’, leverage cultural trends and grab headlines. With a defined timeline, most of the business results can only really be viewed in silo. So, judges revert to rewarding reach figures, creativity, engagement and sales spikes. We don't dish out awards for teams who work tirelessly with the same client over years, trusting and respecting each other, sharing a vision, building brands together, building awareness and delivering proven growth in market share. In my opinion, this is the business end, where the magic

lies.

Our Graco client has provided us with this comment about their experience working with Vista, and this feels like a Gold award to me:

“We work as an integrated team with Vista, closely aligning on strategy, with an open and honest approach, daily interaction and absolute trust that we are all pulling towards the same goals. We are under no illusion of the part Vista has played in our success over the last five years”

Luisa Rollins-Svenson, Consumer and Trade Marketing Manager, Graco UK

Not for an award, but because I am immensely proud, here is an abridged story of journey together.

*****

In 2011, I used Graco as the placeholder in my ‘client acquisition business plan’ as a target retained client in our first year of operation. It took 8 years and a change of ownership for them to get the brief over to us.

It was the right size of business for Vista: a global operation; roughly £30m turnover; a recognised portfolio of trusted products that I had purchased for my own children. It was a brand I knew, and one I knew I could help do better.

In the interim period between the lofty Vista business target and receiving the brief, Graco had a serious decline in the UK. Once a real contender, it was now selling volume through mass market online retail and was in the new ownership of an ambitious business.

Hardly manifestation, but a smiled when I received the call, and who doesn’t love championing the underdog. I hadn’t courted them, but our hard work in raising our profile in the industry and with the support and endorsement from another client within the same sector, the brief landed at our door.

We felt the budget and the brief didn’t do this once big player justice. Not that the team was wrong, more that they had been handed a small opportunity to market a portfolio where the emphasis was to compete at lower prices. We felt the brand deserved investment and a more competitive direction in the UK. So, we didn’t answer the brief per se. Instead, we showed them what they needed us to do.

This honesty opened a door with a team who were as ambitious as we were. Although we didn’t know this, we hadn’t met them. No chemistry meeting, until after the proposal. We matched their energy and bold attitude so when we met, we hit it off instantly. It was incredibly rewarding to hear our proposal had been a ‘page turner’.

We ignited new social media channels and advocates, we gave the brand direction, an ownable voice and have always pursued every opportunity for partnerships and media coverage. We have created lasting connections and campaigns that have driven meaning back into the heart of the brand and brought families towards it.

Where they met their match in ambition, our client has rewarded us with financial growth, complete trust, honesty and a willingness to try new things. We track our monthly and year on year results with precision and the client keeps a very close eye on our performance. The challenge of this scrutiny is motivating, as we continually learn and reapply.

Five years in and we have grown together. For years we have joked that the industry had better watch out, and this year we have been rewarded with stand-out growth in market share. The industry can hardly not have noticed. And collectively, we feel like we’ve only just got started.

100 days in PR

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:37:17 GMT

I should probably start this by saying this is an opinion piece, and not necessarily a Vista promo! All the same, here’s my account for my first 100 hundred days in PR at Vista Public Relations as a ‘Media Executive’.

My initial overriding sentiment was how fundamentally different the pace at which the workplace functions can differ from previous jobs I’ve had in retail. In retail, you can (to an extent) go through the motions without mentally checking in and as soon as you leave work, you certainly mentally check out. This would, of course, be different in a managerial position within retail, but as a young adult I never found myself in that position. Conversely, from day one onwards at Vista, the work you are doing, whether it be grounded in admin or creative work, seems to stick with you a little more out of hours. This isn’t to say it is intrusive, but I found myself often thinking “I must reply to that email” or “That’s first on my list tomorrow”, and that phenomenon was quite novel to me.

As I got more ingrained into my work practices, I found that this is because I almost instantly held a position of value in the company, my work was helpful, meaningful, and contributed to the targets and aspirations the agency has for servicing our clients. In retrospect, I’m very lucky to have not taken on the type-cast role of ‘tea boy’ and this has really helped in my development as an autonomous and active member within the team. This potentially shows the strength of taking on an entry-level role (with relevant higher accreditations) at a smaller PR agency. Much less of a pawn in the system and much more likely to have a tangible utility in day-to-day activity!

Beyond how things ‘work’, there are three important lessons I’ve learnt to be better and make life easier in PR! The first is to never take a quiet day as a reason to slow things down or coast a little because it is an opportunity to work proactively and take pragmatic action towards achieving long-term goals. When coverage gets a little quiet, that’s your opportunity for media outreach and proactive pitching! Using that period of relative respite to set your clients up with coverage going forward future-proofs your targets and gives you the best chance of satisfying the client. For the seasoned professionals I work alongside, this sort of behaviour is standard practice and comes to them naturally but is something I am training myself to do on impulse rather than needing the nudge!

Akin to the first lesson, I have realised that if all reports are up to date and coverage has been filed, they probably still aren’t fully up to date and some coverage will still be out there! Double check social accounts, check your flagged emails, don’t forget about print media… scrupulous attention to every single interaction you have had and are expecting to have is so important to ensuring the value of your work is shown and nothing is missed. A boost in business sales, notoriety, or anything of a similar ilk, is difficult to directly attribute to the work a PR agency does, so it is essential that we give those metrics we do use every bit of credit that they are entitled to. Oh, and having a physical notebook actually really helps (I’ve always wanted to use one).

Lastly… how to write a good email! Straddling the line of too salesy vs. too emotive, too detailed and busy vs. non-descript, too wordy (yes, wordy) vs. lacking in buzzwords. The list goes on. This is a skill I have by no means mastered yet, but I now feel a lot more receptive to the audience as well as far more time-efficient and confident in the emails thanks to my first one hundred days (and counting).

Corporate-speak aside, I have bloody enjoyed my time so far, and I really feel as if this is where I should be at this point in my life.

What is Brand PR

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 21:41:55 GMT

Brand PR develops brand stories and messages that drive a connection.

Today’s marketing landscape is fragmented and intertwined. It’s difficult to extrapolate impact each discipline has on sales to establish a bullet-proof marketing strategy. Within this marketing mix, Public Relations has a defined role, as the tool that helps the public form a positive perception of a business. Perception is multi-layered, built via a raft of rational and emotional factors. It is what a customer believes a brand stands for, not what a brand says it stands for.

Good PR will pull an audience towards a business and pique their interest. Where advertising should create desire, PR should drive meaning and encourage a customer to engage and want to learn more. Today’s digital landscape is the perfect environment for the PR discipline.

In many cases, PR is built from ‘third parties’ - trusted influencers, for example media, celebrities, other businesses referring their reader, fans, customers to the business.

Back in 1996 when I started my career in PR, we used to explain the discipline with this very ‘PR’ adage:

A woman walks into a bar. A man approaches her and tells her how good he is and why she needs him. That’s advertising. Another man keeps interrupting this conversation buying drinks, being distracting, that’s direct marketing. Another woman walks over. She points to a man sitting alone at the bar and says – you need him. That’s the PR guy.

So what is Brand PR?

Brand PR is the strategic communications framework that will differentiate a brand within its market. What use is the value of media coverage if the ‘story’ is built just to pique media interest and makes no meaningful connection for the brand and its target audience? What use is a high-profile influencer endorsing a product if most of their followers are not actively in the right market to buy?

Brand PR makes strategic connections. It gives a brand a story and voice that will resonate with the target consumer to drive a sale. The value in Brand PR is that each communication at every touch point is building towards a differentiated equity and stronger brand value.

Does your brand differentiate in your market? When a consumer is faced with your product, does it speak to them in a different way to all the many other brands they could choose from?

Recent research from Sprout Social tells us:

· 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them

· 57% will increase their spending with a brand when they feel connected to it

· When 76% feel a connection to a brand, they will buy it over a competitor

We recently explained people build a bond with a brand and purchase using emotion – quoting Deloitte who found 62% of long-term customers feel they have a relationship with the brand.

What has your brand done to build a relationship with its customers? What emotional value has your brand delivered that is more than the product you have sold to them?

Vista’s mission is to build value into a brand as an independent asset to its portfolio of products.

Our Three-step strategic process includes:

1. Take a deep dive into the market, competitor claims, product differentiators, price point, target audience and size of market potential.

2. Listen to its story and plans for growth. What can this brand ‘own’ to set it apart and make it memorable and attractive to consumers?

3. Develop a creative lens and brand message house by which all our communications can filter.

Our Three-step Brand PR delivery process includes:

1. Devising creative content campaigns that will elevate the brand messages to relate culturally and be highly relevant to the target consumer.

Why do brands need this?

These content campaigns create the glue for consistent messaging across all owned and earned platforms. The consistency builds a stronger, cohesive brand that keeps reminding the consumer each time they interact and is memorable next time they are ready to purchase.

2. Identify ‘influencers’ in media, business and culture that will appropriately amplify the creative content.

Why do brands need this?

Endorsement and trusted word of mouth recommendation continue to be the most powerful delivery of sales. And Google agrees. It refers to the ‘messy middle’ of search, where brands must stand out to divert attention towards them. Google recommends endorsement from trusted experts as, ‘Authority bias.’ The Search engine also sees positive reviews from trusted sources as incredibly persuasive as they ‘Social proof’ a product, making it appear to be a popular choice.

3. Place the creative content through digital platforms to:

Create noise around the brand that will be noticed by Google by feeding Google's EAT algorithm 'Expertise; Authority; Trustworthiness'. Think blogs that position you as an expert using relevant key word searches; active website; engaging social media channels; content that drives traffic towards a website
Add value by providing meaningful ways for consumers to interact and respond to the brand. Interact and encourage conversation, this will deliver a solid grounding for a meaningful and long lasting relationship
Drive sales using performance marketing digital techniques - combine PPC with top of funnel strategies for brand awareness and bottom of funnel strategies to drive sales - we wrote more about Meta's 60:40 strategy here

Vista injects energy into brand communications. We identify the emotional need that a brand satisfies and we frame the brand with meaning.

Vista in the News

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:27:41 GMT

Vista's new bespoke offers featured in Industry news

Earlier this week, Jane spoke to Katie, editor of Preschool News, about our two new bespoke offers, The Vista Talent Agency and The Brand Barometer providing a flexible, bespoke strategic service to brands. Read more here P reschoolnews.net

The Vista Brand Barometer

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 09:50:22 GMT

Grow your brand value by leveraging its perception

It's consumers who build brands, not companies. It’s customers, not companies, that own brand perception.

Brand perception is built via a raft of rational and emotional factors. When customers buy a product or service, read an online review, see an influencer recommendation, compare experiences with family and friends, talk to employees who work there. It's built both online and off, through factors such as packaging, use, experience and reputation. It is what a customer believes a brand stands for, not what a brand says it stands for.

Ironic then, that according to Professor Ravi Dhar of the Yale School of Management , marketing managers spend 70 hours a week thinking about the product they are marketing, but a consumer forms an opinion on it, within seven seconds.

When expectations are met or exceeded, a repeat purchase is likely and brand loyalty is established which inevitably has a positive impact on sales and ultimately profits.

A brand then, is one of the most important assets a business owns. It sets a business apart from its competitors; helps win new and retain existing customers; and helps business goals to be met and business growth to be gained.

Introducing the Vista Brand Barometer

For a business to understand its current state and help shape its future, it is imperative to have a robust understanding of brand perception among consumers. This can be determined by looking at three key factors, each posing a unique set of questions.

1. Awareness

· Are your target customers aware of your brand?

· Does your target audience know and value your brand?

· Are you present in consumers’ minds? Are you front of mind?

2. Delivery

· Does your brand deliver on its promises in terms of value, service, features and benefits?

· Do you deliver a good experience and meet expectations, or leave customers confused by your proposition?

· Is your customer experience in line with your brand values?

3. Positioning

· In a crowded market, where consumers are spoilt for choice, do you successfully differentiate your brand from competitors?

· Why would customers choose you over others and what added value do you offer?

· How are you perceived and performing relative to your competitors?

· Have your brand messages landed and do consumers have a positive perception of your brand?

Can you confidently respond to these questions?

Vista’s Brand Barometer combines a range of research and data gathering activities to monitor and track the health and performance of your brand. It will help you to find out how your brand is perceived by existing and potential customers; how it is performing (both independently as well as relative to your competitors); help bridge any gaps between your desired brand qualities and how your customer feels; and establish improvements that can be made to help shape your future brand strategies and business success.

Our Brand Barometer considers every aspect of your brand and gathers insights from all key stakeholders including media, influencers and consumers, to arm you with the latest thinking on your brand. Coupled with Vista's expert understanding of your media landscape, it provides an in-depth look at your brand to help you consider future innovations and improvements you can make to improve brand perception.

Our Brand Barometer is an entirely bespoke service, developed with and for you and tailored specific to your brand so that the end results provide you with meaningful data, as well as actionable strategies for future campaigns and communications.

The Vista Brand Barometer service includes four distinct activities:

1. Robust consumer survey

Working with a trusted media partner with a database of over 22,000 parents, our consumer surveys go straight to the heart of your business. They look at how familiar consumers are with your brand, if they understand your proposition and how awareness of your brand compares to that of your competitors.

We tailor and segment your audience and work with you to shape a survey of exacting questions that promise to find out more about how consumers see your brand, what they think and how they feel about it.

2. Targeted consumer focus groups

We facilitate small and targeted consumer focus groups, to more deeply explore how your target parents are connecting with your brand. Strategically selected from your target market, we create a relaxed setting where we guide a discussion about your industry, brand and competitors so attendees can share what’s on their mind, unprompted and in their own words.

3. Media and influencer audit

Your most critical stakeholders driving sales, we reach out to our network of highly influential media, for their perspectives on your brand and your competitors.

4. Media planning strategies

We use our forensic knowledge of your media landscape to improve reach to your target and potential customers, coupled with social media strategies to improve engagement and e-comm sales.

The Vista Brand Barometer concludes with a full and detailed report of the findings, with a communications strategy framework of brand building PR concepts to help take your brand to the next level.

The Vista Talent Agency and 2023 Trends

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 22:54:15 GMT

Since 2016 influencer marketing has expanded by 800% and 2023 is predicted to continue this trend.

With the ever-expanding number of social influencers who can impact a sale, businesses are in a position to pinpoint content creators who are hyper-relevant to their target audience.

As social media users access multiple platforms for different purposes, brands must now consider cross-channel influencer marketing campaigns to maximise their audience reach.

Engagement is a key indicator for success and this is leading brands towards micro-influencers who have between 1,000 - 100,000 followers. The fewer the followers, the more engaged the audience and this means the more the influencer can affect a sale via their recommendation. Influencers commercialise their content with growth, so micro-influencers fall in the sweet spot of higher engagement, higher relatability and cost efficiency to squeezed marketing budgets where every penny of investment must be evaluated.

Introducing the Vista Talent Agency – a hub for hundreds of micro-influencers influencing the family market.

We have arranged influencer collaborations for a number of years and have now consolidated the offering to benefit both the brands and the content creators.

Hundreds of talented micro-influencer content creators influencing the family market are now established on our central database, approved and ready to work with strategically aligned brands.

We work closely with micro-influencers across multiple platforms to deliver ‘coverage’ to our clients on their pages, while delivering approved bespoke content for the brand to use on theirs. UGC content is proven to get more engagement and this content is perceived to be more relatable than brand owned content, with only 15% of consumers saying they want to see brand owned images. So these additional shots add a huge amount of value to the relationship.

Influencer marketing is a valuable resource, so should be treated as such. Our collaborations are designed to meet business requirements, be that to drive sales, or improve awareness, reach new audiences or amplify business messages. The objectives are agreed with the client up front and used as a bespoke framework of filters to identify the right influencer fit. Suitable influencers are identified and approved prior to moving forwards and every collaborations follows a strict evaluation process to ensure we prove ROI.

We operate professional briefings and contracted agreements so each party feels comfortable with the process. We agree measures for success at the outset. Our arrangements can be on a paid or a gifted-only basis, but with every interaction at Vista, each party is treated with the utmost respect.

Another trend to watch in 2023

Livestream shopping is set to take off as it enables a direct route to purchase, with users checking out within the platform. As the algorithm is delivering content it anticipates a user will resonate with, brands are no longer marketing to their followers, but to anyone in the app who is likely to be interested in the content. Social media is becoming the perfect personalised shopping experience.

2022 saw social platforms create in-stream shopping and livestream commerce, with TikTok leading this market, eyes on Pinterest and YouTube working on offerings in this commerce trend for 2023.

Douyin, China’s equivalent to TikTok is reported to be generating the majority of its revenue from in-app purchases. The US and UK are expected to follow.

Let Vista propel your relationships with micro-influencers in 2023.

Brand building with social advertising

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 21:46:47 GMT

According to the Influencer Marketing Hub Benchmark Report , as many as 69% of marketers use social media to create brand awareness. And 52% use it to increase web traffic.

So, while everyone pretty much agrees social advertising is a wise investment, what’s the best strategy when marketing budgets are squeezed?

The short answer is to continue to invest in a combination of brand awareness ads and conversion (sales / leads) ads.

Following Meta’s ISO14 update, it’s more difficult to accurately evaluate the success of conversion ads to driving sales or leads, or feel confident that the ads are effectively targeting the right audience.

Brand building ads can feed into the conversion ads, making the bottom of funnel activity more finely targeted. This lowers the overall cost and increases the ROI.

Many brands are opting to allocate as much as 70% of their advertising budget to brand building due to the lower cost of these ads (brand ads are approx. 57% cheaper per 1,000 impressions, and 37% cheaper per ad click, compared to conversions ads).

According to Sprout Social, 34% of social media users use it to learn about or discover new products, services or brands. With Meta planning to recommend more posts based on AI, users will see less posts from friends and family and more posts based on their interests. This is now an essential way to build your brand.

How can Vista help to build your brand through social platforms and social advertising?

- We offer strategies to lead customers through the purchase funnel. We create posts and stories to introduce followers to your business.

- We leverage formats that showcase your brand to customers who are more likely to be interested and use metrics to measure and improve performance while running bottom of funnel conversion ads.

- Our campaigns are designed to deliver an improved ROI for your conversion ads.

Meta’s new Brand Lift and Conversion Lift Tests poll an independent audience to understand the perception of your brand, as well as the impact of your brand marketing. It’s a robust tool that enables brands to define the most successful framework and investment for their business.

If you are an ecomm business, then you have to sell through social media and while other businesses pull investment, the cost of running ads will reduce for those staying in the game.

While it’s considered that digital adoption has not yet reached 50% of its potential, brands that have a clear digital strategy now will be ahead of the game when the economy recovers.

10 Commercial Reasons for Brand PR

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:49:32 GMT

When money is tight, why invest in brand awareness when performance marketing delivers more direct, attributable returns on the investment …is the question most Finance Directors will be asking Marketing Directors right now, as costs spiral and proving value and return on investment is paramount.

Many e-comm brands and digital start-ups focus on sales to prove a market demand and the quickest route to a sale is investing in bottom of funnel social advertising, targeting consumers who are primed and ready to buy.

This is a sustainable strategy, so long as you only have a short-term vision for the business and so long as your competitors do not compete on price, invest more in advertising and have a brand that means more to the customer.

If you have longer term plans for your brand and business, here are ten commercial reasons to invest in brand marketing:

1. Reach more customers ready to buy now

When your customer's purse is being squeezed, they will be looking for brands they can trust to deliver value. Value is found in customer service, product performance and by answering an emotional need.

Vista will find ways to tell your brand story so that consumers feel connected emotionally to it.

2. Future-proof your business

If you focus only on immediate sales, your brand will suffer in the long term. Tell your story widely, so when tomorrow’s customer comes into your market your brand will already mean something to them and its identity and purpose will pop off the shelf.

Vista makes cultural connections and gives your future customers a reason to care about your brand before they purchase.

3. Deliver more bang to your bottom of funnel investment

If you invest in social media advertising, then running brand awareness ads alongside conversion ads lowers the overall cost and increases the ROI. Brand awareness ads are cheaper to buy (approx. 57% cheaper per 1,000 impressions, and 37% cheaper per ad click) but with the right set of objectives will leverage the bottom of funnel conversion ads.

Meta attributes 60% of the long-term value of its advertising to ‘Brand effect’. This means that if a business puts too much emphasis and investment in ‘Performance’ advertising at the bottom of the funnel, then it is missing out on a significant potential impact of social ads to drive brand awareness and longer-term growth and value.

Vista will handle your social paid delivery and combine it with traditional paid media strategies to deliver a joined-up programme with demonstrable results.

4. Build an asset with a commercial value outside of your product base or service

Brand value is a financial gauge of your brand’s worth and is a separate value to the product or service you sell. It is the monetary worth of your brand if you were to sell it. We are now so immersed in a culture of consumerism where brand identity and meaning plays a significant part in a purchase decision, today’s brands are valuable commodities. Ask yourself, at a minimum what is the cost to maintain your brand value?

Brand equity relates to your customer’s positive perception. It is a factor that influences your brand's value. Brand equity is hard to measure as it relates to consumer perception and motivation around purchasing, but this perception contributes to building a higher value for your brand.

Vista defines brand purpose and drives an understanding about your brand, how it relates culturally and is relevant to your consumer. In doing so Vista will amplify your brand equity and improve your brand value.

Vista will audit your brand perception and trial your brand assets to ensure they reflect your intended positioning and provide you with a competitive edge. We will provide you with a strategic communications framework and propose media, influencers and ambassadors who will enhance your brand values.

5. Standing for more than your product gives you a competitive edge

Your market is growing and competition is intense. When brands price match, then the one that can leverage a more emotional connection with the consumer, will be the one that is purchased.

Vista will identify the emotional need that your products and brand satisfies. We will develop brand stories and key messages that will drive a connection.

6. Give customers a reason to care and trust because…
People build a bond with a brand and repeat purchase using emotion.

Harvard Professor Gerald Zatlman said: “Humans are driven by feelings. If you want the consumer to remember your product or brand, they must be engaged and impassioned by the interaction with your company... Emotion is what really drives the purchasing behaviours…”

Deloitte has found that 60% of long-term customers use emotional language to describe their connection to favourite brands and 62% of consumers feel they have a relationship with a brand and repeat purchase.

Vista will link your brand to cultural and relevant emotional needs to drive loyalty and repeat purchase.

7. Trust drives repeat purchase

Invest in your hard-won customers. Prove to them they made the right choice.

In a Deloitte 2020 study consumers cited several emotional factors of their favourite brands:

83% trustworthiness

79% integrity

77% honesty

Vista will help you make relevant connections and find an authentic voice so that your customers can make a quick connection to your brand and products.

8. Repeat customers cost less to acquire than new customers

Persuasion is costly. Provide a good service and a great product and your competitors will need to invest more in your customers to win them back. Give your customer little reason to leave you.

Vista will ensure you maintain a consistent brand message alongside persuasive and relatable ambassadors so your customers can be confident of their continued loyalty to you.

9. Recommendations will increase and that’s the most compelling sales tool
Friend and family recommendation is still the single most compelling sales driver.

87% of consumers who say they have been loyal to their favourite brand for three or more years, lavish these brands with powerful emotional language, using words like love and adore to talk about the brands. And this connection is a powerful sales tool.

Social media is the most personal and direct channel for any brand to connect with its customers. Vista will develop a social media presence that encourages peer-to-peer recommendation.

10. Distinguishable brands will weather the economic downturn

Trust in product performance, customer service and integrity are longer term sustainable values that will stand a brand in better stead than slash-and-burn price wars.

Recessions are an opportunity for any ambitious brand. Stay beside your customer and make them feel protected while they weather the storm. If you depart when the going gets tough they will forgot about you.

Vista's channel and brand strategy will keep your business front of mind, through the good times and the bad.

The dark side to extreme consumerism

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:09:34 GMT

To Buy or Not to Buy on Black Friday – That is the Question

Appropriately named, if you ask me. Black Friday. It’s a dark day. Yes, an opportunity for brands to drive traffic and spike sales and for consumers to bag a bargain. But yes, also an opportunity to stress supply chains, squeeze smaller businesses and cause environmental harm, all at the same time.

In the past few years, Black Friday has surged in popularity, with online sales increasing year on year. Lots love it, I know. And some do benefit from slashed prices, flash (read fake) sales, allowing them to finally get their hands on the item they’ve been waiting to buy all year. Those who love to hunt a bargain are in their absolute element. And I’m sure (or hope) the adrenaline rush they get, when they purchase the item they want, is worth it. Many supporters claim it eases pressure by helping them to get their Christmas shopping done by the end of November.

But I can’t help feeling that the real winners are the brands that are shifting stock. There are so many that artificially inflate prices, and keep them high, only to announce a large Black Friday discount to entice us in. It’s also often a way for businesses to clear the decks of old stock before the Christmas decorations go up and newer merchandise lands. And how many of us are sucked in, buying things that we don’t need or wouldn’t have otherwise bought? Then of course there are those that are tempted into buying items they really can’t afford or don’t need. That was me in 2021, when I bought the natural daylight lamp that was recommended by Davina Mcall for a fraction of the full price; only to never work out how to use it. It makes an interesting ornament at least. Or worse still, those that unwittingly buy items at the higher price, not knowing they will soon be discounted in a Black Friday sale. Yep, I’ve been that mug too. What cost is this to a brand in terms of a customer’s lost loyalty and trust.

And don’t get me started on the smaller retailers who simply can’t afford to keep up with the bigger players. They don’t have the luxury to offer such large discounts and end up squeezed out when aggressive price wars take hold.

Is this progress? Or have we become more mere slaves to sales? Dredged along by a giant consumerist promotion machine that is well oiled and slick at sucking us in.

Meanwhile, stop a minute and think of the poor supply chain of shop assistants, warehouse employees, distribution companies that are stretched to their limits to cope with the demands being put upon them in an overly and falsely stimulated buying period.

There is, however, hope. All is not lost. I’m holding on to the fact that some businesses are bucking the trend – and their efforts reach from closing stores to charity endeavours. Take for example, Patagonia , designers of outdoor clothing for all the family, who are spearheading a movement against Black Friday and have taken to dissuading shoppers from mindlessly buying and has instead used this sales period to educate consumers about their repair services, in a bid to stimulate more eco-conscious behaviours. Their stores and site remain open during Black Friday but there are no special discounts and they have been known to donate a portion of their proceeds from this time, to grassroots groups that focus on climate change.

Then there’s Ikea , who launched Bring Back Friday, where instead of traditional Black Friday discounts, they offered customers up to 50 per cent off new items if a customer returned a piece of furniture to their local store, to give it a second life.

Big up to these brands, leading the way in bucking the Black Friday trend. We think the planet and our purses will thank them for it.

The rise (and rise) of Tik Tok

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:57:56 GMT

I watch the social media landscape continually evolve and how we adapt professionally and personally to a new world of media.

A world where Instagram, TikTok and Facebook have become entertainment - not just a place to share family updates.

Algorithms are dictating what we see in each of the apps we work and play with. Less and less do we see what our friends are up to, but more what entertains us. What this means is that it isn’t about the connections we make anymore, rather the way we connect with the content.

Research and insights on the social landscape show TikTok has surpassed Netflix as the second-most popular app for those under 35. You can’t ignore this incredible growth and I don’t doubt the predictions that it will be the most popular social media destination for videos in 2023.

Many brands are missing out on the incredible benefits of TikTok. How can you ignore an app that is making such an impact that the other social platforms are copying the style, format and offering. The platform, for me, isn’t just about social media but about entertainment. There is a lot of chatter amongst the film and TV audience about how TikTok could be the future for full length films and television launches.

Social media isn’t just about sharing aesthetically pleasing imagery anymore. We need to think ahead for content shoots and the power of video. TikTok has approached things differently. Consider their style similar to that of a media company distributing content that it knows you will watch. The recommendation tool is incredible. Suddenly I am being shown content that interests me. New content that engages me with people that resonate with me.

I am not convinced brands need to focus on working with influencers on the platform. For me it is creators that are driving me to engage with brands. And, TikTok is pushing this narrative for us as Social Media Managers. The Creator Marketplace allows us to explore creators who are authentic. However, the commercial side needs developing and I personally feel that 2023 will see developments closer to the YouTube model as a payment process for creators.

As we bring 2022 to a close I am expecting to see video content continue to thrive when it comes to brand awareness and engagement. TikTok has certainly shown us a new way of showcasing brands and products, but, with rumours that TikTok could face a ban in some countries it's important to experiment with the platform, but don’t put all your eggs in the TikTok basket for now.

Making kinder choices this Christmas

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:17:12 GMT

For families, Christmas can be a whirlwind of school events, visiting family, gift buying, prepping for the big day and endless to-do lists.

So, it’s no wonder that making more sustainable choices that are kinder on the planet throughout the festive season can feel like another thing on the list. But with 30% more waste generated over Christmas, there’s no better time to go greener. [1] To help, we’re sharing a few simple ways to reduce your impact on the environment.

Shop sustainably

One easy way to be kinder to the planet is to switch up your shopping choices. From more sustainable stocking fillers to innovative online retailers and brands, you can make a real difference. To kick-start your sustainable shopping pay a visit to sites including Peace with the Wild , The Green Turtle , Huski Home and Wearth . They have a selection of products, so you’re likely to find something for everyone.

If you’re looking for beauty products, look out for all-natural ingredients and plastic-free packaging where possible. KANKAN's body care is a great example, as you buy a starter set with a glass bottle and top ups come in recyclable cans. And Axiology is a great plastic-free lipstick choice.

Give the gift of memories

Don’t forget, a gift doesn’t have to be a physical one. You don’t have to add to the mountains of plastic gifted over the festive season. Instead, be the one to gift an experience that will create amazing memories that will live on way past the life of many gifts – as £42 million worth of unwanted Christmas gifts are thrown into landfill each year. [2] Depending on who you’re buying for vouchers for local attractions are great, as well as national options such as English Heritage and the National Trust and spa breaks.

Use plastic-free paper for wrapping

Startling fact, we throw away enough wrapping paper at Christmas each year to wrap around the earth more than eight times! [3] . A lot of wrap contains plastic and can’t be recycled. A simple test will help – if it scrunches and stays that way it can be recycled. Brown paper is great more environmentally friendly alternative and can be personalised with stamps or bows. But there are eco-friendly options available that look great. Check out Re-wrapped , which is made from 100% recycled unbleached materials.

If you have any top tips for being more ethical at Christmas or year-round, we’d love to hear them.

[1] https://www.businesswaste.co.uk/christmas-waste-facts-its-not-very-jolly/

[2] https://thegreenparent.co.uk/articles/read/steps-towards-a-waste-free-christmas#

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42426888

Social media updates. What you need to know.

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 15:59:56 GMT

We start December reflecting on a very busy November for social media updates and developments.

Without a doubt Twitter has been the subject of numerous headlines recently, but the other platforms have some exciting updates that you might not be aware of (or might have been distracted from).

TikTok has introduced auto captioning. Hooray for those of us who don’t excel at proof reading! This update means that you can now edit captions that you might have already uploaded, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief! Plus, the app has now released verification. Similar to Instagram you apply within the app.

We can’t get away from football at the moment and with that in mind a congrats to Ronaldo for being the first person to reach half a billion followers on Instagram. That blows my mind that someone has that many people watching his content. But, more exciting for me than that is the idea that we will soon be able to see the share count for reels. Another app is already doing this, so no surprise really. Check your app now as some already have this!

Facebook has some new developments incoming. Expect to be able to reply to stories just like you can on Instagram, and there has been talk that some of us are seeing full-screen scrolling. I am here for this one as I definitely think this will provide a better user experience.

Who knows where Twitter will be month on month, day by day and even hour by hour. You may have seen that Elon has backtracked again! Paid verification has given no end of issues, so now we expect to see a gold mark for brand and businesses whilst the blue tick will be for individuals and government officials. No surprises all of these are paid for.

If you haven’t already upped your LinkedIn game then now is the time to do this. We are already seeing a growth in engagement and users on LinkedIn following the Elon news. Plus, LinkedIn is introducing new developments that are really enhancing the user experience. Carousel posts, inbox management, and scheduling are all coming soon.

And to finish WhatsApp. Not a platform I normally discuss, but I am excited for this one. You can ‘note to self’. This means you can message yourself on WhatsApp. To my friends and family this means no more ‘ignore this link sending to me so I remember’.

Prematurity Awareness Month 2022

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:48:30 GMT

Connie was born at 34 weeks plus one day weighing 2lb 13oz (1,275g).

This fact enough is shocking. But it didn’t shock us. We’d known since the 20-week scan, that our baby was very small. While never under the ‘normal’ range for growth on the centile chart, it trailed along the very bottom line. Never under, never above.

At week 22 we were referred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, when after an intense appointment of scans, led by two senior Obstetricians, the doctor calmly explained the process to us. She explained the possible reasons why our baby was quite so small, IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) being the most likely cause, and warned us: “We have very little patience for keeping a IUGR baby inside after 34 weeks.”

Ahead of our bi-weekly scans, I would study the baby’s growth chart and set it targets, giving its father the target femur length we would be listening out for at the appointment. Small victories for our little one. I ate all the food I should and watched my blood sugars like a hawk. I read around my type of diabetes and the medication I was taking to try to find a study that indicated it could restrict a baby’s growth and I had interesting, challenging and informed discussions with a variety of obstetricians with and without an ‘interest’ in diabetes. I included my own diabetic specialist doctor in my results and picked her brain around studies that might have shown women with my type of diabetes having smaller than average babies. After all, at full term (38 weeks for diabetic mums) my first daughter weighed only 5lb 14.5oz. I searched for answers and solutions.

I was admitted at 32 weeks and enjoyed the hours I spent listening to my baby’s heartbeat on the doppler, feeling it hiccup and watching it on the ultrasound monitors. I obsessed over pictures of newborns adorning the walls of the maternity unit and tried to imagine the size of a 3lb baby, which we were hoping ours would be. At 34 weeks, the birth by c-section was uneventfully straight forward and my tiny bundle was pulled out, longer than I had imagined, cried which was a relief and peed all over me.

I found SCBU isolating because while I focussed on my own baby, I tried to keep a respectful distance from the other families around me with their own very personal challenges. The chat is not quite the same as on the traditional maternity wards. I was frustrated by being kept behind a closed door waiting for someone to answer the bell to let me in and having restricted hours for visiting my baby. But, I completely and utterly trusted the doctors. Remembering how the experts explained, after 34 weeks, they could look after my baby on the outside, better than I could look after her on the inside.

I’m sharing my story as we reach the close of Prematurity Awareness Month. Of course there are many other aspects of this journey I haven’t covered in this blog, many of which are more gritty. You are welcome to read more here in 36 days an inmate.

Prematurity Awareness Month has been created to help other parents going through the journey to know that they are not alone. It is also to raise awareness of the incredible charity Bliss and the work it does to support families with babies born prematurely or sick. Throughout the month I have read accounts from other parents with very similar journeys to mine. Many IUGR babies, some with and some without explanation.

We were incredibly lucky, our baby had no retina damage and a small hole in her heart healed over, only a few weeks after she was born. She has also just completed a nine-year research study that we signed her up to, led by researchers at the John Radcliffe hospital to monitor and record her progress to inform future generations of IUGR children. It’s hard to explain my emotion about the journey now, as it was just that – a journey that we had to take, listening to experts and taking advice at every stage. Her prematurity now is a distant memory. But during months like this, reading other family’s accounts, it brings back the questions and doubt I had of myself. Why could I not feed my baby sufficiently? Why was my baby so small? How did I fail her?

If I can play a small part in this process, it would be to put my arm around another mum going through it and reassure her that this is not her failing. That she might forever feel it is, but it is not. That the journey of parenthood is so much about the life you give your little one after birth. Tell your story and listen to others but try not to compare your experience, your delivery, your baby’s weight and development with another. It’s your journey and your own very precious and personal experience and that in itself is a miracle, just like all our miracle babies.

Brand PR through a downturn

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 20:35:20 GMT

Brand PR creates attractive brands, SEO drives traffic. Combine the two to create profit in a downturn.

How many people in marketing are creating content just for Google, right at this moment? How many approaches are you getting from SEO agencies promising cheap, quick fixes and masses of links? I’m getting so many! And as a professional brand marketer, with 26 years under my belt, it’s concerning because I know the way to see through a downturn is to have a brand that means something to humans. Businesses have seen the chance to capitalise on cajoling Google, 'tweaking nobs' to chase eyes, but are they building meaningful brands?

Vista is a brand building agency that improves SEO via proven, Google advised tactics.

The top 5 brand building SEO tactics that Google advises will build equity:

1. Positive reviews and recommendations on good DA (40+) ranking sites that link back to your site

2. Placement in ‘Best of’ lists in good DA ranking sites

3. Collaborating with experts and other trusted sources to reciprocate with link backs and recommendations in articles in strong DA ranking sites

4. Showing all the ‘value’ that your product delivers – not just the obvious ones

5. Creating meaningful connection with your target audience.

Not one of those tactics is to buy key words against products you don’t sell, or spam your website with blogs based on key search terms that are based only very loosely on your area of expertise. Unfortunately, a lot of this is happening in order to manipulate the algorithm, and as I understand it, people are turning away from Google search as a result.

When a human ends a search by clicking onto your site and it bears little relevance to their need, or the products that you are selling, they are unlikely to continue to search your site, or make a purchase. Worse still, they might bounce away quickly. And in this scenario, Google will perceive your expertise and website as poor. If you use spurious link systems to trick Google, your site will be penalised. And when none of your traffic leads to a sale, your FD will look pretty dimly on your performance.

Some SEO experts proclaim to think ‘outside of the box’ for backlinks. At some point within the creative industries, ‘thinking outside of the box’ became an exciting claim. Unless the ‘out of the box’ creative builds the brand expertise and equity within the box it operates, it’s not a good idea. A lot of this unnecessary content, is purely to make website’s look busy to Google and will have no effect on human perception or sales.

At a time when we are staring down the barrel of recession, with living costs rising fastest for 30 years, I guess it’s no wonder that businesses will look for cheap tricks.

I received an ad last night that offered SEO consultancy ‘from as little as £50 per month’. A few had commented ‘Interested’. Sadly no-one had liked the post using the laughing emoji. Unfortunately there are no cheap tricks to win in a downturn.

I also got an ad in my Facebook feed that promised: Automate your PR and get coverage without pitching to a single journalist. This is a business preying on vulnerable brands desperate for backlinks. If you are tempted by the offer of ‘10,000 pieces of coverage every month for brands’ first ask what quality sites they land coverage with. Unless these are good ranking DA sites (40+) Google won’t perceive them with particular merit and you won’t benefit. Also, there are only a few reputable newswires that decent news sites trust. And getting posted onto these, requires human interaction.

As Seth Godin would put it, this is the fastest race to the bottom.

It boils down to brand awareness verses brand understanding. Brands making noise and demanding attention verses brands building meaning and connection. In this coming downturn, the brand that shouts loudly without having made any meaningful connection is shouting into a void. When a family’s budget is tight, they will select a product they understand, and one they trust. And if they haven’t tried it before, they will try it because someone they trust is telling them to try it.

If you click on an interesting ad that leads you to a brand you know nothing about, the website is poorly conceived, loads slowly, doesn’t lead you to the product you saw in the ad, has a poor search function and no consumer recommendations, you don’t buy from them do you?

Vista's 3 top tips for brand building SEO in a downturn:

1. Sort the functionality of your website before you do anything. How is the user experience? The page loading performance? Navigation? Product pitch? Journey to purchase? Purchase options? Delivery and returns cost? If your experience is rubbish, you won’t get anywhere with a human or Google.

2. Words and links are the most important in the search category, accounting for 40% of the ranking factors. Work hard to get third party sites to write about your business positively – a link back is great, because Google will rank your site as a trusted resource, but a glowing endorsement is greater. It works for SEO and it works for humans!

3. Create content that is relevant to your product portfolio and builds on your brand equity to drive a deeper meaning with consumers and value to the products you sell.

We help to make memorable brands. One that we don’t work with, but I want to shout out as exceptional this week was – EE #NotHerProblem raising awareness of female football players receiving death threats from men. The campaign points out that a. this is a male issue to tackle and b. it’s not the woman’s issue. Honestly couldn’t care less if EE fibre broadband is so fast it can land a plane from a house in the suburbs. But notice this crime and call it out? I’m aligned and will most certainly consider you next time I change one of the (copious) mobile accounts we have in our family.

Vista in the news

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:12:01 GMT

This month Jane is featured in Pre-School News talking about the importance of employee wellbeing.

Jane Pavia-Davis, MD of Vista Public Relations, offers her view on why business success should be measured around human capital and professional development, and not just growth and profit.

The Covid-19 pandemic was unique in that it affected every single one of us . As restrictions lift across England for anyone testing positive, our economic, social, physical and mental recovery will be far from a linear process.

When, for so long the standard measure for business success has been profit and growth, the pandemic turned a sharp focus to human capital and the business resilience resting on the shoulders and commitment of employees working remotely.

Parent attitudes to social media 2022

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:06:23 GMT

Each January-February we ask 10 questions via Survey Monkey to our network of mums and dads across the UK. Here are the 2022 highlights.

To recap. We have asked the same 10 questions since 2018, only amending as and when new platforms are introduced. We started in 2018 following the Brexit vote and ahead of the general election because we saw a general shift in attitude towards social media after the platforms became the subject of many impassioned debates.

We could not have imagined the seismic changes to our social interactions over the following five years - and the role social media would take to keep us connected while our physical interactions were stretched to the limit. As we settle into a more ‘normal’ routine of socialising, where does it leave our perception of and relationship with social media?

Dads use of social media grows.

Over the last few years, dads’ relationship with social media has developed. We continue to see a healthy growth in following accounts of people you don’t know personally – in other words ‘influencers’. A reasonable 45% of our respondents following ‘Influencers’ and most because they share the same hobbies and we saw a significant 18% drop in negativity to influencer recommendation, with only a third saying a clear no, to being influenced by them. However, most dads still find new brands via friends and family, or Google at 66.7% a piece.

Consistently high, 72% of dads use social media to follow the news, current affairs and sports reports and 57% of dads reported they use social media for relaxation and entertainment.

Interestingly, we saw a significant uplift in Dads using Tik Tok – from 8.5% in 2021 to 53% in 2022. Just 12.5% of our mum respondents use the platform.

Brand influence on social media increases.

Parents are more likely to interact with brands on Facebook (50% mums; 33% dads), followed by Instagram (37.5% mums; 27% dads).

50% of mums say they enjoy following brands on social media, a healthy 16% growth since 2021 and 25% of these mums have discovered new products as a result. 62.5% of mums prefer brands to have a human voice, 52.5% are more likely to buy from a brand with lots of likes and positive comments and 47.5% have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence.

41% of dads follow brands and businesses on social media. 56% look for likes and positive comments, 40% have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence and 40% are interested in an informative news feed. Only a third, are drawn to a ‘human’ voice. 23% of dads who follow a brand’s social media account have learned about new products on the platform.

The grip of the influencer.

We saw a ten percent growth to 67.5% of mums follow influencers, with 57.5% claiming they follow because they are inspiring and entertaining. 47.5% of mums discover brands on social media via influencer posts and 57.5% of mums have bought something because of an influencer recommendation. Overall, 82.5% of mums showed a positive response to influencer persuasion.

Parent attitude to sustainability.

Finally, we are interested in changing attitudes to the environment and living more sustainably. This year, 70% of mums and 53% of dads claim to be more aware of environmental issues and 35% of mums and 40% of dads became more conscious when they became a parent.

NOTES:

In 2022, we received 170 responses. 140 mums and 30 dads. Due to the size of the sample, these insights are anecdotal, but we believe they also show us some interesting trends.

We're recruiting!

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 19:07:41 GMT

Fancy a career in PR? Are you a creative spirit with a passion for the media keen to kick start or build on your fledgling career in Public Relations?

We are looking for an Account Executive for our Media Hub, to work with the world's leading family brands and learn from the industry's brightest talent. We promise to focus on your learning and career progression, celebrate your successes and provide a nurturing, inclusive, fun and ambitious environment.

The Media Hub is the bedrock of Vista PR and this role is central to its daily delivery. You will support the Media Hub team to achieve coverage for our clients with media, bloggers and influencers on a daily basis.

Working under the guidance of our Media Hub Manager you will maintain our bespoke contact database, keep on top of daily journalist call-outs and draft media pitches designed to land coverage. You will maintain client monthly coverage reports and distribute coverage achieved as soon as it lands.

We are looking for someone who is inquisitive and enthusiastic in nature. Assimilation of popular culture is vital and we will help you to hone the ability to leverage trends and current affairs to our client’s advantage.

The role is full-time - 35 hrs per week (negotiable): Monday – Friday 9am-5pm. We are based in Banbury but work flexibly between office and our homes. As a full time position, proximity to our Oxfordshire / Warwickshire location is preferable.

Specific duties:

Media, bloggers, influencers:

· View all incoming journalist requests via our alerts platform and manage opportunities supporting the Media Hub Manager

· Research journalist, blogger and influencer contacts, maintain and update contact database

· Maintain Monthly Calendar progress across clients

· Update live Activity Reports with progress and coverage

· Maintain Awards opportunities

Client coverage:

· Source media and influencer coverage and update the wider team

· Maintain Coverage Book monthly reports

Research

· Identify and manage seasonal opportunities, national days, celebrations and trending topics

· Identify new media / blogger opportunities

· Distribute competitor or trending topics that might be relevant to clients

General business:

We ask that you take an interest in Vista's ongoing success, contribute constructively to internal company meetings, support our marketing campaigns. Above all we expect you to be supportive of the company vision.

About Vista:

Vista is a PR agency working solely with brands targeting families. From travel to toys, pushchairs to clothing we work with traditional media, social media and influencers to provide endorsement for our clients that engages with parents. A strategic PR agency, we devise brand building, content rich campaigns to change hearts and minds. Based in Banbury we operate flexible working conditions, encouraging colleagues to find a balance that suits them, between their home office and Vista’s trading office.

Strategic SEO PR

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 17:49:04 GMT

Our resident SEO PR expert George highlights the 5 killer questions you need to ask when putting together an SEO PR strategy.

SEO is now critical to business communications. If your target audience uses Google to search, then you need Google to trust your site and your content. You need an SEO strategy if you want Google to value your website more than your competitors.

We work in silo, and collaboratively with SEO Tech agencies to improve our clients' digital footprint and search rankings. Fire-up your strategy with 5 exploratory questions:

1. What keywords should we be using?

All Tech SEO agencies or web developers will have a list of keywords that need to be weaved into site content and these words must be reiterated in all brand content eg. press releases; blogs; campaign materials. Brand websites must answer the key questions that people are searching for. If you are not working with an SEO agency, use tools such as AnswerThePublic.com to root out highly used search terms. We also use Google's Keyword Planner .

2. What URLs should we be targeting?

The holy grail of SEO PR is getting a linkback to a client’s website, from another trusted source. Armed with target landing pages for your website, you can build a cohesive content strategy and interesting brand stories. Although harder to achieve with the rise of 'affiliate' programmes and e-commerce content, it’s certainly not unachievable – and we have the PR armoury to make it happen.

3. What brand digital content are you creating?

From blog posts, FAQs, and factsheets, to videos, testimonials, and infographics. Is the Tech SEO agency, or inhouse team planning unique digital content? If not, identify the assets that will bring your story to life and lead people to link to your site.

4. What is the current DA of the site?

Each website has a Domain Authority. Use Moz to identify the starting point DA of your site so that you can track progress. And also use it to identify the key sites you want to feature your business and provide a backlink. Gone are the days of spammy scatter gun releases looking for reach not value. Your SEO will improve, the more trusted and valued sites feature your business and even more valuable, linkback to it. Also consider relevance - not all the sites that are highly relevant to your business will have a strong DA (of over 50). In some scenarios it's important to focus on the people who will read the content and not just how Google will read it...

5. Where’s the low-hanging fruit?

Software programmes such as Ahref's Backlink Checker can advise where competitors have coverage and links, and where you have ‘lost links’. Mine the list with the aim to restore lost links, target and replicate competitor coverage.

Combining Tech SEO with SEO PR is a powerful combination to achieving a strong DA and capitalise on searches around your business specialism. Call us if you'd like some support.

Life After Baby Loss

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 08:39:14 GMT

''This is your baby's heart, there is no heartbeat' - ten years on I can still remember that moment like it was yesterday.

In September 2011, at 34 weeks pregnant, I was admitted to my local hospital where I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. As a first time mummy-to-be I had no idea of the seriousness of the condition, and just believed all would be ok. But sadly it wouldn't. Four days after being admitted I had a placenta abruption which caused my unborn child to pass away and my condition to drastically deteriorate. I was immediately transferred to the Silver Star unit for high risk pregnancies at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, where I was given the specialist care I needed to save my life and deliver William, our stillborn son.

Going through a stillbirth is a devastating experience. I felt so guilty (and still do) that my body let my son down, so sad that very few people got to see William, and even that I will never know the colour of his eyes. After five days in hospital I was desperate to leave, but I will never forget that moment in the car when I realised I was going home without my baby.

Throughout this horrible ordeal, the care and support I received from the Silver Start unit was second to none. One of the really important things for me was that my partner was able to stay with me the entire time, which was a huge comfort and something we both needed.

The work of the Silver Star Society, John Radcliffe, Oxford

In early 2012 my brother in law, Simon, contacted me to say he would like to complete a charity cycle ride from John O Groats to Land’s End in memory of William, and asked me to select a cause to fundraise for. After some research I came across the Silver Star Society (also based at the John Radcliffe hospital) and their campaign to help fund Professor Redman's research into decoding pre-eclampsia.

The society's work really struck a chord with me and my partner. There is still so little known about this condition, and I felt we owed it to William to share his story and do what we could to prevent other parents going through what we had. The kindness of those who work for the Silver Star helped us during our darkest days, and we wanted to give something back.

In addition to helping fund important research projects, the Silver Star Society works hard to 'make things better for Silver Star mothers and their families' and now also supports all areas of the Women’s Centre at the John Radcliffe . They do this in a number of ways: by appealing for 'tiny' knitwear so that mothers of premature babies have something to dress their newborn in, and by furnishing special 'suite rooms', where mothers can stay with their partner during difficult times. Having stayed in one of these rooms myself after William’s death, I know how important they are. The society also helps to provide the unit with specialist medical equipment to care for expectant mothers going through all types of high risk pregnancies – not just those with pre-eclampsia. The charity were called upon during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide specialist equipment for mothers to be to use in the safety of their own home too.

Fundraising for the Silver Star Society

Since Simon’s charity cycle ride, we have made fundraising for the society an annual priority. We’ve had AMAZING support and together with family and friends have organised or taken part in a 24 mile swim, 10K urban assault course, an abseil off the top of the John Radcliffe hospital, a quiz night, William’s summer fete, a pirates and princess children's party a prosecco & pamper evening, and more recently sponsored walks and scooter rides .To date, we have raised around £32,000 for the Silver Star Society, and fully intend to keep going! The pandemic has hit the small charity hard, with a number of their main fundraising events over the last 18 month, like the 2020 London marathon being cancelled or postponed. It’s now more than ever that the silver star society needs our help to continue the work they do!

Life after William

Following William, I have gone on to have two more beautiful children - Toby who is early nine, and Neve who is Six. Throughout both pregnancies I was cared for by the Silver Star unit.

The joy of pregnancy was lost to me and I found carrying for the second and third time very stressful, however the specialist care and attention I received helped immensely. Most importantly, I’m eternally grateful to the Silver Star for helping my partner and I go on to have two healthy children.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the silver star society and how you can support them, please take a look at their Facebook page.

How to Measure PR

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 21:24:35 GMT

PR principles before we start.

1. Public relations is a strategic marketing discipline that must be planned and measured against business goals.

2. PR is the discipline designed to change behaviour, perception, or both.

3. Procurement teams and CFOs look for evidence-based returns on investment in PR and the outcomes should inform how a team can adapt, optimise and improve knowledge and strategy.

4 . PR is not free of charge media coverage. It’s about making money. All businesses are focused on making money. If your PR consultant cannot measure and demonstrate the effect on the bottom line, they cannot advise on its continual growth and improvement.

5. Measurement parameters must be put in place at the outset of a campaign in order to prove the value of the work on completion.

6 . PR cannot be measured in activities and outputs. How PRs deliver the desired outcomes is our craft, but not what the business will focus on. What is the value of the time spent on writing a press release if it doesn’t return a response?

This last point is tricky for many PRs to get their heads around, given PR consultants and agencies work on a time-based revenue model. The activities (eg. a press release) and outputs, (eg. the views a piece of media coverage received or the number of attendees to an event) must be aligned to the desired business outcomes – the perception and behaviour change it seeks to make. It is the outcomes that should be the focus of the PR’s analysis.

How to Measure PR

AMEC – The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication is the global trade body and professional institute for agencies and practitioners who provide media measurement, evaluation and communication research - works tirelessly to educate the PR industry and professionalise measurement processes.

Vista is committed to exceptional professional practice and follows its framework.

7 steps to professional PR measurement

Planning:

1. Business goals clarify what the business needs, then align communications objectives to these goals

2. Inputs Identify what’s needed to deliver the objectives. Fact find and research into your stakeholders / target audience, data and resources available and required, you may need to undertake research at this point to ascertain existing perception, or prove a target audience will be receptive to your messaging. All these insights are key to delivering killer creative. Key message alignment. Plot activities to be undertaken, budget and measurement criteria.

During campaign:

We focus on ‘Perception and Behaviour’ change when measuring success. On the Perception side we scrutinise all the noise elements the advocacy from third parties (media / business partners / influencers) gave us. Within the AMEC framework this constitutes:

3. Activities the specific activities carried out to achieve the objectives

4. Outputs The more traditional side to PR measurement, we provide an ongoing analysis looking at the noise generated. This includes potential reach, specific coverage views, (not monthly reach as that is vanity and nonsense, when did anyone look at every page of a website, read every page of a Sunday newspaper?) key message penetration, tone of media coverage, the quality of the Domain Authority, the relevance of the media to the target audience, the backlinks provided in the media coverage.

If you stop here, which many agencies do, you have nothing to prove to senior management that investment in PR was valid. Unless of course the sole communications objective is to drive awareness. In which case, I would advise a business to consider advertising. PR is more meaningful and must be designed to create a change in the audience you aim to reach.

Post campaign - set up the structures by which you will capture these insights at the planning stage:

So to ‘Behaviour’ ie. did a person feel compelled to act in a positive way because of the PR activity we delivered. This is the more sophisticated end and where it gets interesting:

5. Out-takes Did the activity drive action? Engagement? Was your audience receptive, attentive, comment positively, did it uplift in website traffic or drive sales, did anyone click the link to buy, can you provide evidence that your activity drove the last click?

6. Outcomes The final stage and really the whole point. What was the effect of the programme on the audience attitude? Have you improved trust, preference, intention, advocacy? Have you effected what you set out to do? We carry out quant and qual research again if necessary at this stage.

7. Final step, close the loop back to the Business goal and the CFO you need to persuade to reinvest. What was the impact? Can you evidence an improvement on reputation? Did you establish relationships? Increase sales?

With so much emphasis from our industry bodies to improve PR measurement, it isn’t acceptable that a PR firm does not provide this level of scrutiny to their delivery. Please read this blog to understand the unethical way many PR agencies still report to their clients. If your PR is not attempting to prove their impact on the bottom line, and if they support their coverage report with AVE's then I urge you to reconsider your investment in them.

PR Measurement The Dark Side

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 20:30:00 GMT

AVEs. The shame on our industry.

If you are a PR consultant using ‘Advertising Value Equivalent’ as a method to evaluate media editorial this blog will offend you.

What is an AVE?

An AVE is a method of assigning a 'price' on editorial coverage based on what it would have cost to place an ad on the same space. But it's rarely the actual space, or the actual price, and of course, it's not an actual ad. To my mind, agencies that use AVEs are cowboys. Those who do it because their clients insist, are not consultants.

Here's an example of how two agencies might calculate an AVE for the same feature. The agency submits a client quote for a feature. The feature takes up a whole page but the quote takes four lines of text. The quote doesn't promote the core business per se, it contributes to the subject matter of the feature. One agency decides the quote 'space' equates to a quarter page ad. Another agency regards it as a full page, given no-one else was quoted on the page. Each takes the quarter page or single page ad cost, then multiplies it by three, because someone once said the placement of the quote within an editorial article is 'worth three times more than advertising'. Even though, the quote didn't actually promote the core business. It just contributed to the feature. One agency has placed lots of value on the space, the other less so. One agency looks more successful to their client than the other. Both are laughing.

Using AVEs is like investing your hard earned cash in a UK equity and receiving your profit back in Italian Lira because all those zeros make the CEO of the bank feel more successful. Would you invest your money in that bank?

In 1949 the IPR stated that AVE’s are: ‘ A grave mistake that’s done more to undermine PR than any other’ . Today, it states AVEs are ‘ Unethical and dishonest ’.*

If you use them, I’m looking at you.

I have three key issues with AVEs. (There are many more contained in this excellent article )

The first is that the metric equates the value of the PR execution to the space it takes up. Not the effect it has. The more we encourage clients to value PR by 'space', the more we undermine the professional skill of creating a story that shapes positive perception and having it placed by a trusted source. When you mark your 'value' on the space, you are distracting from the real work, which is being held accountable for the effect the placement has on your intended audience. Secondly, associating editorial coverage with an advertising cost fuels the perception that PR coverage is a form of advertising, and we continue on a perpetual path where businesses don't value the strategic role of PR. My third issue is that there is no professional guiding principle to how an agency must measure an AVE, so agencies are at liberty to make them up. They are the ultimate spin, and why the IPR now calls them dishonest.

This all started recently when I was asked by a client to start using AVEs because a PR agency representing a sister brand is and they would like to be able to compare the ‘Free of Charge’ coverage.

I was surprised and reasonably offended. I had no idea AVEs were still a thing. I have explained that I will never supply them, because we measure our work based on business goals and our clients can trust us to always be honest. Vista is 9 years old. In a previous agency, I educated all its clients why the AVE metric is nonsense, and I vowed I would never use AVE’s in this agency. I'm not being difficult, I just have integrity.

So, I investigated, and found leading media search agencies still supply them to the PR industry. I inquired with one provider. I was open and honest. I explained that supplying them ' legitimises a nonsense metric that does nothing but undermine our industry'. T hey were incredibly professional and called a Zoom meeting where they explained, ‘It's industry demand.’ Adding, ‘We’re as surprised as you that they’re still about, because they’re an absolute nonsense.’ When I asked how they are calculated, we were advised it's complex. But not to worry, we can edit the number if we're not happy with their calculation.

After 25 years in this industry I'm tired of this. AVEs trivialise our industry, mock journalism and devalue advertising. In my opinion, no PR using them can identify as a ‘Consultant’. If those consultants are a member of the CIPR industry body and are shown to be using them, they could face disciplinary action.

Heard this adage from back in the day?

A woman walks into a bar. A man approaches her and tells her how good he is and that she needs him. That’s advertising.

Another man keeps interrupting their conversation buying drinks, being entertaining and distracting, that’s direct marketing (or now social media).

Another woman sees the awkwardness of the situation and walks over. She points to a man sitting alone at the bar and says, "You want to talk to him". That's PR.

At its core, PR is persuasion, perception, behaviour change, brought about by third party endorsement. Its end game is that other people think, act and talk favourably about a person or organisation. Or how Google rates it. So tell me how...

1. proving value in media editorial by looking at the rate card to buy advertising on the space...

2. without reducing the price of the space, because no-one buys rate card

3. which isn’t the actual space the editorial mention took up...

4. or any reflection on how you buy ads on digital...

4. and doesn’t take into account whether the piece was positive about the business.....

5. or if it’s sitting alongside any competitor businesses with a more favourable report....

6. and THEN multiplying the rate card number by 3, or even sometimes 6, because maybe the media was really important and editorial endorsement is 'worth more' than advertising (which, as a final insult magnifies the point that you can't compare the two)

…. makes any sense to you? S adly, AVE's endure because they are the rohypnol of the PR world.

Evaluate PR delivery using the AMEC framework. If your only objective is media coverage, prove its value by looking at key message penetration, tone, strategic media placement, favourable audience response. Because that is the game we are in.

This blog explains how Vista measures its performance on a continual journey of learning and growth with our clients.

Please feel free to comment on this post justifying AVEs. I’d welcome the enlightenment and the lively conversation.

*Sourced facts from an enlightening presentation from Richard Bagnall, Chair of the AMEC social media measurement committee who sourced from AMEC.org

3 Trends for Family Brands

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 15:13:59 GMT

Inspiration and direction for family brands in a post-pandemic world.

Using Mintel: ‘7 Trend Drivers accelerated by the pandemic – subtle yet profound shifts in consumer thinking and responses’ and Google ‘Rethinking Readiness’, 5 retail rends every marketer should know for the year ahead, we bring you the most pertinent findings for brands targeting the family market following the Covid-19 pandemic.

1. PEOPLE WILL BE LOOKING FOR CONNECTION AND TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

We are coming together in like-minded communities in order to connect with and support each other. To belong, unite over a common purpose. Loneliness is now an acknowledged state and 41% of us feel more connected to our neighbours than ever.

Google found searches for ‘Near Me’ intensified throughout the year as consumers were driven towards convenience and to support hard hit businesses local to them.

Activism is on the rise, supporting causes and brands we believe in. We are using new technology and forming virtual communities to make our voices heard as we push for equity, agency and rights.

2. WELLBEING HAS TAKEN ON NEW MEANING

We are experiencing a new type of gratitude for what it means to have a healthy body.

Mintel predicts: ‘Wellbeing has traditionally focused on the ‘why’ factor or a tangible end goal. The end goal for working out once revolved solely around weight loss. Now, the desire for working out is multifaceted.

A return to a mindset where being active and talking mental breaks feels more like a curious adventure and playtime rather than hard work. For children, every new experience is unknowingly an education, and adults lose that mindset.’

The conversation around mental health is gradually changing. It’s predicted more people will turn back to nature for inspiration and relaxation as opposed to prescription products.

3. PEOPLE ARE RETURNING TO MORE MEANINGFUL AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Consumers are seeking a return to the essentials, with a shift towards finding value through affordability, convenience and protection. This results-driven lens hones in on durability, flexibility of use and efficacy.

Google has seen a rise in search interest for terms such as ‘best’ and ‘promo-code’ and in the later stage of the purchase journey ‘[retailer name] + discount’

The pandemic boosted our skills of self-sufficiency, resulting in a greater sense of pride while subtly but significantly shifting awareness of our relationship with the spaces in which we live.

Mintel predicts our ‘consciousness of sustainability will evolve beyond recycling and carbon emissions into a more holistic, longer-term view.’

Google found consumers are increasingly aware of who they are buying from with search interest increasing for terms such as ‘black owned business’ and ‘sustainability’.

A drive for ‘eco-friendly’ alternatives is being noted particularly in the baby market where parents are often aware of the environmental impact of bringing a child into the world. The Grocer recently reported on the growth of challenger brands with specific claims on sustainability and nutrition stealing incremental sales from the ‘big’ names.

SO WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR BRANDS AND BUSINESS?

Become partners with local communities rather than just selling to them. Create platforms to enable your customers to help each other.

Provide clarity in your brand values and guiding principles. Build trust through transparency. Be honest with mistakes and bring your customers along on the journey to create systems that prevent them from happening again.

Brands have the power to shift the wellbeing conversation away from aesthetics and body image. Determine where your brand fits into the wellbeing narrative. Mintel suggests brands offer support, connection, guidance and solutions to drive an emotional bond. They celebrate customers, their heritage, values and lifestyles and ‘ remind them of the value in their own internal curiosity and the power of trying something new.’

Google suggests brands should go beyond point-of-sale donations and rather give customers the option to donate reward programme points to local nonprofits.

Google reminds us that the search term “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap” and that “best,” can have a wide range of meanings, including value, quality, performance, or popularity, so it’s vital to keep reminding customers of your brand’s tangible benefits. While urging brands to consider the ‘power of free’ explaining: “As consumer expectations continue to be fluid, discounts won’t be the only consideration improved service, customer support, response time, and availability will be key across brands and product categories.” Adding the suggestion to ‘nudge’ customers over the line by offering extra value for loyalty.

Mintel reminds us that key products will be those that save time, offer protection and decrease stress.

Support communities towards incremental better habits that combine for greater effect. Mintel predicts a shift of support to brands offering both sustainable products and ethical processes and solving how to make places feel cleaner and safer, reminding us that consumers will be looking for brands that help us reconnect with and improve the spaces in which we live.

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What is undeniable is that brands must show up, be visible across multiple digital touch points as consumers more actively research purchases online, provide clear information on products, availability and offers, and ensure that core brand values run as a strong theme throughout.

Vista uses the latest consumer intelligence to inform creative thinking for your organisation. We aim to future-proof your business by aligning with the changing consumer landscape and understand the macro shifts in society following the Covid-19 pandemic.

How Covid-19 changed media

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:21:26 GMT

Within the first few months of lockdown March 2020, magazines in the parenting space took a bashing. All but two on our immediate radar ceased print production. Furloughed teams dwindled to ad execs running content on digital platforms and those without a clear social strategy floundered to stay relevant and active.

Combine this with news that the UK’s largest newspaper publisher, Reach plc which publishes more than 100 regional titles alongside the Mirror, Express and Star, is set to make widespread newsroom closures, Mail Online staff will return to the office for one week in three and the Guardian will keep staff working from home until at least September, the future of credible news media and PR editorial placement looks rather challenging.

For Reach, moving staff to a more flexible office/home–based combination, with an emphasis on working from home is something its staff reportedly approve of, appreciating the time freed up by no commuting and being more productive away from the distractions of an open plan office. Journalists are also capitalising on this WFH opportunity to avoid phone ‘pitching’ with over two thirds (66%) saying they do not like receiving calls from PRs with story ideas. The old–school PR approach to networking and knowing your key journalist ‘contacts’ has never been more pertinent.

Bloomsbery Media CEO, Justin B Smith, stated: ' Journalism media needs more ‘imagination, creativity and urgency’ to emerge from the Covid 19 crisis ' as he outlined his business strategy to tackle a crisis that he described as leading to low quality public discourse from misinformation and polarising content models. Smith plans to diversify revenue streams, open specialised sub-brands and move to subscription based models, while providing flexible environments for staff to work.

The Telegraph is accelerating its subscription model which has seen its subscriber base surpass 600k and in a multi-million pound investment is now creating 60 newsroom jobs and a newsroom innovation team to meet its commercial objectives. The publisher is also said to be considering a new payment model that would reward the journalists who attract and retain the most subscribers and planning to introduce new digital production processes, ending the common practice of journalists self-publishing online.

This shake up at the Telegraph can be viewed as good news for PRs feeding media that is hungry for stories on a platform capable of continual updates and driving views.

And as for the future of parenting media?

It isn’t news that parents are often early adopters, quickly accepting social media and leading the charge into mainstream for organic foods and recyclable products. Similarly with parenting media we have seen an emergence of entrepreneurial brands, socially savvy connectors with clearly defined and articulated values, each coming to market presenting keen commercial opportunities. The old revenue models still peddled by the established brands are fast becoming irrelevant or only attainable by large, lazy brands looking for large, lazy reach numbers to impress large, la…

Picking through these new opportunities and working with the creative, entrepreneurial minds behind them is a breath of fresh air and an exciting turning point as our new world emerges.

Under The Influence

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:42:38 GMT

51% say less than half of brands create content that resonates as authentic. 60% say UGC is the most authentic form of content claiming it's 35% more memorable.

Content creators, influencers, be that nano, micro, or macro - whatever their reach and 'differentiator' have one common proficiency: the ability to affect the opinions of social media users and persuade them to take action. This could be anything from a straight like of a brand page, to making a purchase.

Influencer marketing has taken the social media world by storm, and is predicted to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2022, according to Business Insider . Businesses and brands are recognising the value in this new way of communicating with potential customers, which can yield a strong ROI for very little cost when compared to other, more traditional forms of marketing.

The stats speak for themselves. According to a survey by Rakuten Marketing , a whopping 87% of consumers surveyed have been inspired to purchase based on what they saw from an influencer, and 65% said they find at least one new brand or product from an influencer weekly. This sheds new light on the power of their influence. Previously, some marketers felt that influencers were only good for building awareness or inspiration and did not necessarily help to convert customers. Yet 80% of respondents to Rakuten’s survey said they will click through on an influencer’s link or post and make a purchase if the product is right for them.

Authenticity and transparency are key to influencer marketing strategies with 46% of those surveyed by Rakuten believing “good taste or recommendations” and “passion about a topic” made an influencer authentic. Building trust and commitment is crucial. Later predict that “ influencers will become true brand partners in 2021, with brands investing in ongoing relationships over an extended period of time ”.

It’s interesting, then, that many marketers continue to focus their efforts on what they *think* consumers want to see. According to Stackla , 90% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support. 60% say UGC is the most authentic form of content claiming it's 35% more memorable. And starkly. while 92% of marketers claim most or all of their brand content resonates as authentic, 51% of consumers polled by Later said less than half of brands create content that resonates as authentic. As 41% of B2C marketers claim to spend over $500,000 per year on brand content, there’s a clear disconnect between what brands perceive to be great content and what the consumer wants to see.

Drill down even further and it’s UGC posted by genuine customers that has the most impact. 79% of those surveyed by Stackla claim that consumer created content highly impacts their purchasing decisions, with over half (56%) saying UGC photos and videos from real customers is the content they most want to see from brands.

So what does your social media marketing strategy say about your brand? Are you listening to your audience and responding, or persisting to invest in branded content that could be flopping on your channels?

At Vista, we keep a close eye on our clients’ audience through social listening and analytics to deliver content strategies that their customers want to see. As expert brand builders, we create meaningful and lasting relationships with customers, carefully curating content that weaves through every online touch point and drives a connection to our client’s business.

Older kids and young adults in lockdown

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 18:03:36 GMT

A different perspective from our Yas. We read a lot about lockdown babies and home-schooling parents with young children. But what about the older kids? The ones who were steaming through a brilliant education, screeching to a halt? The one's newly graduating after a 4-year hard slog, released into a closed world?

As a mum of 4 young adults - 2 girls, 2 boys, I am constantly amazed at how stoic the younger generation have been throughout the pandemic.

The youngest (girl, boy twins) are turning up every day for intense online teaching. They are both in the crucial Year 11. They missed significant in-school teaching in Year 10. With relief went back to school in September and carried on learning and catching up, whilst having friends, teachers and at one point themselves all off in an endless rotation of two weeks self-isolation.

Finally the announcement came exams are cancelled – it’s all teacher assessment. This was greeted in our home with mixed emotions.

Now in February, one school has announced they will be sitting mocks and small external exams to aid assessment. The other school has said nothing as yet.

I have no problem with either school, they are in an equally uncertain position with ever changing goal posts.

Move on to another child. In her second year at University. Sent home last March due to lockdown 1.0. Learning has been online ever since. Luckily, she had made good friends, had sorted accommodation for this academic year and is at University in a low case area so confidently went back to online learning with her mates. But this comes at both a significant financial and learning cost. Thousands spent for not one face-to-face lecture and no opportunity to widen her network, socialise and make more friends.

Finally, the oldest, graduated last year. No graduation ceremony, no celebrating 4 hard years with friends and family. No rite of passage. Who doesn’t remember the drunken antics in the last term of the last year at Uni? They celebrated with a pub crawl around their house. A different bar in each room!

He made the decision to defer a Masters in London, because what was the point of online learning, no face-to-face and no making new social contacts? Instead he is a supermarket keyworker gleefully saving far more than anticipated as he is stuck at home with his parents and can't go out - anywhere!

All four haven't once questioned locked down. Instead they worry for the homeless, or those without enough tech to carry on learning, or those of their friends without jobs.

They are happily protecting their parents, grandparents and society. They wear their masks, they sanitise and they get on with it. I am proud of them!

Transactions don’t make memorable brands

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 19:53:33 GMT

This post is for businesses wishing to use social media for commercial gain. Here we share the most pertinent findings of our fourth annual parent social media survey * alongside the very latest research from the world’s leading social media minds.

Social media provides discovery, connection, and fun – its purpose is fueled by our current state of existence. Human interactions matter. We listen to each other, we are motivated by each other and these digital channels enable us to connect, be entertained, be informed.

However, many brands still approach social media with a transactional mindset - as supplementary to the instore experience. Our fundamental buying behaviours haven’t changed but our shopping experience has. In the absence of the store, has your brand stepped up its social behaviour to replace these valuable, personalised experiences?

These are the highlights.

2020 winners:

Instagram added the greatest number of new users between July and September 2020, posting stronger growth figures than Facebook, Vista’s proprietary research shows dads preferring Instagram (74%) over Facebook (68%) and 80% of users follow at least one business on Instagram, more than 200 million people visit at least one business profile every day and 60% of Instagram users claim they’ve discovered at least one new product on the platform.

Tik Tok - March 2020 saw 115m global downloads. 745k from the UK

Pinterest is still a key platform to drive bottom-of-funnel conversations

Vista's five pieces of advice for your social media strategy in 2021:

1. Bring fun into the process.

Social is a part of a customer’s research process, it’s a touchpoint that takes them through the buying funnel.

Hootsuite reported that 32% of key demographics (Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers) say “finding funny or entertaining content” is their main reason for using social media yet 68% of people don’t think brands or companies share interesting content.

Vista found that 53% of mums and 36% of the dads have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence. The most compelling factors being if it engages and interacts with its followers and is entertaining.

21% of mums are put off buying from a brand that doesn’t have a social media presence.

2. Integrate creative to drive engagement at every level of the funnel

Move UGC from social into your email marketing, unite your search and social ad creatives. Use social media ads to keep driving sales while delivering innovative experiences that answer customer needs and improve consideration. For example: use Instagram stories to advise; Lives for Q&As and product demos; DM to book individual video consultations.

3. Capitalise on the power of human trust

stackla.com claims 90% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support, and 60% say UGC is the most authentic form of content claiming it's 35% more memorable. 56% of consumers say consumer-generated content is what they most want to see from brands. Only 15 percent said they wanted to see brand-created content.

Vista found people more readily trust the recommendation of a real person over what a brand says about itself. Friend recommendation is still the most powerful influence on a purchase with an average 85% response. 'People they don't know personally', is growing in relevance with our dads. 66% of dads and 58% of mums follow people they don’t know and mostly this is people who share their hobbies and interests or who they find entertaining. 72% of mums and 48% of dads have either bought, researched or plan to buy as a result of a recommendation from ‘people they don’t know personally’. A healthy 17% uplift of dads from last year.

4. Make sustainability visible now

We found families looking for more meaningful transactions: 40% of parents became more aware of environmental issues since becoming parents and 32% say if they could turn back the clock they would make different choices sooner.

5. Don’t neglect the older consumer

According to Social Films : The 65+ age group accounts for 9% of Facebook users – with 31% using it once a week or more. During Q3 of 2020 Hootsuite reported 70% of internet users aged 55-64 bought something online, and 37% are planning to continue to do so more frequently.

How Vista can help you commericalise your social platforms and digital footprint in 2021:

Influencer collaborations; Facebook advertising; Business Manager integration; Shopping; Social Media Management; SEO strategies

Our influencer collaborations team operates strategic negotiations to deliver a variety of creative endorsements. We build active brand communities and channel memorable content across your digital touchpoints.

Our Facebook advertising specialists finely target opportunities and deliver relevant content to the right people, advising on appropriate budget to meet your business objectives:

- Run ads at the top-of-funnel on hero products and new releases with PPE, Traffic and Conversion campaigns to learn about your audience, find people who are interested in your products and encourage more engagement on your social pages

- Run Dynamic Product Ads at bottom-of-funnel, to complete sales with people who are close to purchase

Shopping: Our Business Manager experts will set up and manage a shopping catalogue that links directly to your website, manage a robust posting strategy that tags and promotes products at appropriate intervals while integrating a sustained FB ads strategy. We’ll help you get ahead of the game prior to the wider integration of Facebook Pay.

Our Social Media Management service delivers platform strategies and content creation to give your brand a sense of purpose, analyse what interests your audience and delivers according to their preferences. Do you know what you want them to do or think of your brand? Do you know how to fit into your customer’s conversation instead of imposing on it? Do you know how to create and capitalise on the latest posting tools? We will set social media goals for your business, help you define your target audience, establish your critical KPIs and metrics and curate engaging content. We will time your social posting, analyse and improve.

SEO optimised social platforms and integrated SEO PR strategies drive clicks and purchase. Email marketing, optimised releases, blog posts, link clicks,. Our fully integrated team is expert in connecting your online brand to today's consumer with maximum cost efficiency.

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* In 2021, 100 mums and 35 dads answered. It’s important to stress, these insights should be deemed 'anecdotal' as the quantity would not be deemed a viable representative size, but the people who answer are from across the UK from varying backgrounds. We feel it provides us with an interesting barometer to behaviour and our changing attitudes towards social media.

Our Lockdown Baby

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 18:45:58 GMT

When I first fell pregnant in 2019 ‘Covid’ was unheard of. Virus was rarely mentioned, and masks were worn for surgery, DIY and spray painting.

The Coronavirus didn’t concern me. Not until March 2020 when I was instructed to isolate as pregnant women were considered high risk.

All of a sudden my pregnancy seemed tainted, a little scary and keeping my small family safe was more important to me than ever. Scans were instructed to be made alone. I felt sad that we wouldn't experience this together, as we had the first time. But more than for myself, I felt overwhelmingly sad for all the first-time mums doing this alone. The mums taking news on their own. No support. No cuddles. All whilst wearing a mask making everything so separated, impersonal.

Rules changed daily. Scans got cancelled. Scans got rescheduled. Appointments were conducted over the phone. Labour rules were put in place. I seemed to be treading this massive path for us, alone. It wasn't about 'our' choices, it felt like the baby’s father’s role had diminished – like he had been forgotten. The thought of him not being at the birth was something that plagued me at night. The pressure hung over me that my labour needed to be a certain way to ensure he could be there. Suddenly it wasn't just about giving birth anymore. It was so much more.

My first labour was 4 days. Yes, 4 days! It was expected this one wouldn't be quick, and that was reassuring. Contractions started during the night and for approximately 12 hours I stayed at home grunting cow noises and holding on to whatever I could. When we arrived at the hospital, I was instructed to go in. Contracting every 2 minutes, I walked into the maternity ward alone.

I was repeatedly sent away to dilate further, but after 14 hours of contractions they finally offered me a bed on the ward. By myself, I panted and contracted hunched over a ball. The midwives were amazing! And actually, I felt a growing sense of empowerment and closeness to other women who had experienced the same, doing this alone, finding the strength to protect their little one. I could do this, for my husband, for my little boy. I totally had this! Five hours past and I was told I could move up to the Midwife Led Unit and get into the pool. More importantly my husband was now allowed to be by my side. He had been sitting in the car park for five hours, unable to help me. I can't imagine how that must have felt.

Submerged in the water, our little girl arrived. My husband was asked to leave after three hours. He wouldn't be able to be with us again until I was discharged.

8 hours later and we were all reunited. When I look back on it. I feel so many emotions. I can be angry that this beautiful experience we should have shared together was taken away from us, and particularly from him. Something he deserved to be an intimate part of. But, as a parent I can’t dwell on it, because we know we are amazingly lucky to have our little girl and our complete family. We did it, and I did it. I think we’re all made of tougher stuff than we think sometimes.

Parent Social Media Survey Findings 2021

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 18:21:54 GMT

When we started this research in 2018, it was off the back of an intense period of scrutiny during the Brexit vote. Where arguments raged and battle lines were drawn on social media sites. Some of the questions we asked were in direct response to how people had felt during the campaign and subsequently following the result. Do you feel scared to voice your real opinion on social media? Is social media a lifeline for you?

Three years later and social media is once again thrust to the fore, where unimaginable 12 months ago, these platforms are currently the only accessible social interaction with friends and loved ones. Portals to the world where people are sharing intimate details of their illness, mental health, doubts and anger.

10 questions. The same 10 questions since 2018. We scrutinise the responses specifically for the year, and against previous years. We are incredibly grateful to our friends and families who support us by answering and sharing the survey to their networks and feel fortunate that we embarked on this exercise prior to such dramatic shifts in our social boundaries.

DISCLAIMER:

In 2021, 100 mums and 35 dads answered. It’s important to stress, these insights should be deemed 'anecdotal' as the quantity would not be deemed a viable representative size, but the people who answer are from across the UK from varying backgrounds. We feel it provides us with an interesting barometer to behaviour and our changing attitudes towards social media.

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2021 : we have seen a marked difference in Dad consumption and behaviour where Instagram is a leading channel for entertainment and following brands and people they do not know is a growing trend. With both mums and dads we saw significant changes in perception of purchasing more sustainable products.

Facebook is still the leading site for mums (97%) with Instagram its main challenger (74%), however the dads now match this figure, with more dads on Instagram (74%) than Facebook (68%). The dads are more active on YouTube (54%) than mums (42%) with comments indicating that dads use YouTube for instructions, to learn and to research new products.

What are we doing on social?

Many more of us are following people we don’t know personally, and our dads are leading the way with 66% following people they don’t know. That’s a huge 24% increase since 2020. 66% of these dads follow those who share their hobbies and interests and 60% who they find entertaining. Only 8% of our dad respondents this year said they don’t follow people they don’t know. This increase tallies with the uptake of Instagram and it’s propensity towards ‘Influencer’ content. The majority of dads use social media for entertainment and relaxation (68%) but are more cautious about showing their true opinions, from 12% in 2019 to 23% today. Over the last 3 years the dads have become less likely to enjoy sharing their life on social, dropping from 62% in 2019 to 46% in 2021 and a strong 40% say they follow brands and businesses on social. A significant growth in dads who find social media can be a lifeline, from 6.25% in 2020 to 20% today.

58% of mums follow people they don’t know, are most likely to follow people who share their hobbies (53%) and because they find them inspiring (57%). A few mums told us they now use social media for shopping. 70% of mums use social media for entertainment and relaxation and 44%, a significant 18% more than last year, now follow brands and businesses. Fewer mums worry about sharing their real opinion on social media, down from 38% in 2018 to 24% in 2021.

New product discovery via people you don’t know personally

Google search is still strong with an average 65% using it to discover new products but humans have the edge. Friends and family are king, with an average 71% of the vote and discovering new products via people you don’t know personally has shown the most growth, up to 39% of mums (which is on a par with seeing an ad pop up in their social newsfeed) and 17% of the dads. Reading blogs also showed some growth to 25% of mums using blogs for discovery and a more significant 37% of the dads – the third most influential medium for discovery.

Dads discovering via a brand’s social media accounts has also shown impressive 12% growth to 17%, nudging higher than magazines and newspapers which dropped from 23% to 14%.

People still motivate people to buy

Receiving a special offer in your newsfeed is the third most likely incentive to buy something at 37% for mums and 31% for dads, but friend recommendation is still very powerful with an average 85% response. And, on average 51% are swayed by a positive customer review on a third party shop eg Amazon.

For mums, 31% have been more likely to buy because of an 'influencer' recommendation, which is on a par with reading about it in a magazine (30%) and a positive customer review on a brand’s social media page (23%) is as powerful as reading one on its online shop (21%).

Again, 'people they don't know personally', are growing in relevance with our dads, showing 12% increase to 28%. A positive review on a brand’s social feed or online shop is still more compelling at 20%, than seeing ads – either on TV (8%) or online (14%) which are least likely to drive them to purchase.

Influencers continue to rise in persuasion

A total 72% of mums have either bought, researched or plan to buy as a result of a recommendation from someone they follow but don’t know personally, an impressive increase from 55% in 2018.

Dads also show more openness to these types of recommendations, growing from 31% in 2019 to 48% in 2021.

Brand owned social sites are becoming more acceptable

When it comes to interacting with brands on social media sites, 51% of mums use Instagram to connect, and 48% use Facebook. Very few mums follow businesses on Linked in (5%). We saw a significant drop in those who say they don’t follow businesses - from 40% in 2018 to 23% today.

Far less dads are following business on social media, with 48% claiming they don’t – albeit down from 62% in 2019. Over a third of the dads we spoke to (34%) follow brands on Instagram and even less (28%) follow on Facebook. Brand engagement on Twitter has seen a steep decline from 21% in 2020 to 8% in 2021. At 8%, marginally more dads than mums interact with businesses over LinkedIn. 17% of dads engage with brands on YouTube, verses 7% of mums.

Brands entertain you on social

53% of mums have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence and the most compelling factors are: if it has lots of positive engagement (49%), if it engages and interacts (48%) and if it has a human voice (47%). Least compelling are brands that run lots of competition (18%) and on that front, 28% have followed a brand to enter a competition and 13% have unfollowed subsequently. A fifth (21%) of mums are put off buying from a brand that doesn’t have a social media presence.

36% of the dads have been drawn to a brand because of its social presence, because it engages and interacts with followers, receives lots of likes and engagement from others and has a fun and entertaining newsfeed. Brands that have a human voice received 33% of their vote. Least compelling again are brands that run lots of competitions (15%) and 30% have followed a brand to enter a competition, with 15% unfollowing afterwards. Only 12% are put off if a brand doesn’t have a compelling social media presence.

Responsible buying is on the up

69% of mums told us they are more aware of environmental issues now, which represents 23% more than the respondents in 2018. 19% are more conscious of the future now they are parents and a significant 20% increase (from 8%-28%) say they would like to do more but find it expensive. And from a consistently low percentage over the years – from 1% in 2018 to 7% in 2020 we saw a huge increase to 33% saying if they could turn back the clock they would make different choices sooner.

Similar to mums, the dad responses saw some interesting increases across the board. A 24% increase in those more concerned for the future since becoming a parent, a fifth of the dads find environmental choices too expensive (20%) and 31% would make different choices if they could turn back the clock.

For Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 15:53:50 GMT

Today marks the start of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and never has it been more important to nurture and protect young minds.

The past year has been relentlessly subdued and for many, this sudden pause and ensuing isolation has been a stress trigger. Many children have been innocent victims of this.

We have worked with Start-Rite Shoes for 9 years and are incredibly proud that five years ago we embarked on a process of listening to children and for the brand in its privileged position, to become their mouthpiece. It all started with this film back in 2015, where young children revealed the impact on them, of mobile phones in the home.

During the summer of 2020, while our high streets, schools and parks were still eerily quiet, on behalf of Start-Rite, we carried out research into the effect of lockdown on primary aged children and we partnered with experts and advisors to bring timely resources, insights and advice to support them.

As we enter Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, we’ve pulled together a collection of the best tips and advice from the panel of esteemed experts we’ve worked with.

Keep Talking - Returning to school advice from leading child psychologist Dr. Julie Smith

Schools are currently set to return in March 2021 and understandably, many children will face the same concerns as they did, in September 2020. When we surveyed over 500 school-aged children to find out what concerned them most about returning, social distancing, catching-up on school work, no physical contact and getting used to new rules were all central themes. It was clear from the candid results that the ‘new’ school day would be daunting for many youngsters. Watch our film that encapsulated the research here .

We worked with Dr Julie Smith, a Clinical Psychologist and expert in mental health with 1 million social media followers across Tik Tok and Instagram, to offer her advice on how to ease the transition back to school for both children and parents.

Read Dr Julie's advice and follow her tips here .

Keep Writing - Creative writing tips from journalist, Heidi Scrimgeour

Experts claim that through writing children can observe and reflect, it enables better processing of feelings and helps children to navigate change. Exploring and identifying emotions is not only cathartic, but empowering and builds emotional growth - not to mention boosts literacy skills along the way.

In January 2021, we launched Start-Write – a writing initiative aimed at encouraging youngsters to write creatively about their personal lockdown experience. Working with a professional writer, writing tutor, journalist, and mum of three, Heidi Scrimgeour, shared with us her secrets for great writing. Giving tips and advice on how youngsters can use writing to record this extraordinary time in their lives and help make sense of the world.

Read Heidi's expertise here and check out Start-Rite’s social media channels to read the inspiring entries. You may want a box of tissues to hand…

Keep Moving - 5-4-5 with Martin Haines and #Find15 with The Daily Mile

In 2016 as the Government agenda turned to childhood obesity levels we turned to Martin Haines, Director of Brytespark and his team to develop the first HIIT routines for children. These routines which were devised to engage different age groups would enable children to get active, at home and if they only had five minutes to spare. Our routines 5-4-5 were adapted and shared once more here during Lockdown 1.0 to help children physically and mentally during the sudden enforced period of inactivity.

With children spending an unprecedented prolonged time at home, last year - in partnership with the Daily Mile – Start-Rite commissioned the Anglia Ruskin University to look at how active children are at home.

The results revealed less than 10% of primary aged children (5+ years) met the Government guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day. Furthermore, limited information to support parents around the required intensity or duration of exercise was cause for concern. We know that children who are physically active reap mental health benefits, have been shown to be fitter and carry the benefits of physical activity into later life. But for complex reasons it can be hard for children to do enough physical activity at home.

As a result we created #Find15 a campaign which put this research and guidance into simple context. Demonstrating the achievable and fun ways families can incorporate 15 minutes of self-paced physical activity into daily life.

Find out more about #Find15 and Start-Rite’s partnership with the Daily Mile here and follow Start-Rite on Facebook where each week there will be a #FitandFunFriday idea to inspire little ones through story-telling and games, to keep moving.

As an agency we are so proud to have been entrusted by this wonderful brand and to have had the opportunity to deliver many insights and expert partnerships that raise awareness of children’s mental health and wellbeing.

The Benefits of Facebook Business Manager

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 16:19:35 GMT

Facebook’s Business Manager may not be something you’ve heard of, and if you have, you might be mistaken for thinking you don’t need to invest your time and effort in it. After all, you’re able to set up Facebook business pages and even run paid advertising without it. While this is true, there are some huge benefits to using Business Manager. Don’t be phased if it seems a little complicated and overwhelming to begin with; there are plenty of ways Business Manager can really support your business efforts on social media.

If you plan to work with an agency

Planning to bring a social media/PR/advertising agency on board to support your social media efforts? Business Manager is the safest way to give them access to your pages and ad accounts. By requesting access to your business assets through their own Business Manager, you will maintain control and will be able to see what the agency is doing on your behalf.

If your company has multiple employees working on social media

Through Business Manager you can assign people in your company access to the right pages and ad accounts without them having to be added as an admin through their personal Facebook account. For example, you may have someone on your team who runs the paid advertising for you, but doesn’t have anything to do with the day to day posting. Rather than giving the individual full access to all of your pages and ad accounts, you can assign them to just the ad account they work on.

Within Business Manager you can also decide on the level of access your employees have to your Business Manager assets. If you grant Admin access, you are giving individuals the highest control possible, meaning they can edit settings, people, accounts and tools. Employee access means that individuals can only work on assigned pages and accounts.

If you run multiple pages and ad accounts

Business Manager is designed to help you manage all of your pages, ad accounts and assets in one place. So if you look after multiple business accounts, Business Manager can help you to streamline your workload.

If you want better support!

Problems with Facebook pages and Ad accounts are a lot more common than people realise. If you’re using Business Manager, you’ll find it easier to get the support you need from Facebook to rectify the issue. Facebook is notoriously difficult to get a hold of otherwise…

If you sell directly

With the emergence of Facebook Shops it’s now easier than ever to sell your products on Facebook and Instagram. But if you want to set this up, you’ll need Business Manager. Your page and catalogue of products must sit under your Business Manager and from here you can start to build your Shop.

2021 Social Media Predictions

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 18:24:24 GMT

As 2020 draws to a close, we reflect on a year that propelled home tech and online interacting to the fore. Businesses morphed, ‘pivoted’ and adapted to new ways of online working. Not an unpredictable growth, but certainly unprecedented.

Is it even worth predicting 2021? Well, yes, for business sake. Here we’ve collected the most important things to note, from the leaders in social strategy at Social Media Today, Hubspot, Social Media Examiner, Sprout Social and Influencer Marketing Hub.

Get in touch if you’d like our help to make your accounts more sophisticated in 2021.

eComm

1. eCommerce will be a major focus for Facebook next year. After expediting ‘Shops’ on Instagram and Facebook this year, there’s a suggestion that Facebook will be looking at expanding Facebook Pay, which has been rolled out in the US. Facebook Pay lets you ‘Add your preferred payment method once then use Facebook Pay where available to make payments and purchases on our apps (FB, Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram), instead of having to re-enter your payment information each time’.

2. Instagram will look to continue the development of its shopping tools in order to further encourage habitual shopping behaviour - expect Instagram to add advanced one-click purchasing, new AR try-on tools, building on its existing AR shopping options (and potentially linked into Facebook's AR glasses), and video tags for products, providing more ways for businesses and creators to facilitate direct buying.

3. Expect TikTok to add in a lot more eCommerce tools as it seeks more ways to maximize its revenue, and revenue-share.

User experience

4. Expect Instagram to try out a new approach to user home feeds in 2021, based on how individual users enjoy the platform, with some opening on Reels, others on Shops and others on Stories, with the option to switch back to the usual feed. This would mean that the main Instagram feed would lose focus.

5. In November 2020, Instagram announced it would become more search-friendly. Now, without the use of hashtags, if you search for a keyword in the search bar, relevant videos, profiles, and posts should populate. Enabling a more organic search, brands should plan captions carefully to include keywords.

6. Instagram has made a splash with Reels and these will grow to become more sophisticated. Stay ahead by including them in your content. Stick to 15 second videos so that viewers don’t need to click to keep watching.

7. As YouTube becomes more saturated with topical niches it’s also becoming more personality-centric. This means your most valuable differentiator is your unique personality—the way you speak, the way you explain concepts, etc. Leaning into what makes you different and injecting that into your channel from day one will make it easier to attract and build loyalty with a new audience.

8. As social media attention spans continue to shrink, viewers will be looking for more ‘snackable’ content – shorter form, easier to digest. Take a ‘less is more approach’ and only post content that will add value and is what you know, through testing and insights, what your audience wants to see.

9. This less is more approach will also ensure that you are delivering true value from your brand – which will certainly be appreciated as more and more brands saturate the platforms and users become more savvy with how they use them.

10. Navigating a social calendar during this year’s events has been a challenge. Now is the time to avoid burning hours on long-term planning when you know things can change at the drop of a hat. Plan in week-long bursts.

11. Look to work with a network of small, relevant, niche influencers. This kind of influencer gets much higher authentic engagement and returns a more relatable experience to your followers. While we know celebrity endorsement works to reach masses of people, time and again consumers tell us they are not influenced by celebrity endorsement.

12. Set goals and compare your performance against valuable metrics – not vanity metrics such as follower numbers. Social media marketing is maturing, and 2021 will likely see brands make more intelligent use of metrics.

Is paid social worth the investment?

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 18:45:16 GMT

If you run social channels for your business, you’ll likely have heard about social media advertising, and may have even dabbled in it a little. But is it worth investing in? Or can you just rely on organic posting to grow your business?

We sat down with our resident Facebook Advertising expert, Lisa, to find out.

Why should you include paid advertising into your social media strategy?

Long gone are the days when you could just rely on organic posts on your business page to yield any results. Facebook, which also owns Instagram and Whatsapp, now prioritises paid ads ahead of organic posts. In fact, the more followers you have the less reach you will get. So if you want your business to stand out and generate sales, then you will need to invest in social advertising.

How cost effective is Facebook advertising compared to other paid forms of marketing?

Advertising on Facebook is relatively low cost compared to other forms of marketing, and with such granular options for defining your audience, you can ensure that you get a much better return on investment. But, you need to know what you’re doing…

There are 1.62 billion users accessing Facebook each day, and Facebook has a great deal of knowledge about these users to impart on you. Whatsmore, its Pixel and Standard Events widgets that transfer knowledge between Facebook and your website really drill down into what your target customers want to see. If a user has Facebook open in the background of a device and then visits your website, the Pixel will track them. However, it will not track what they have been looking at on your site. This is where the Standard Event comes in. Both of these are an integral part of being able to create a successful sales funnel as part of your social advertising strategy.

It’s easy to waste money though, if you don’t know how to harness this information.

How can I make my advertising stand out on social?

Paying for your ads is a bidding process on Facebook. There are a lot of factors to take into account to ensure your budget works hard for you, such as your bidding strategy and the placements you choose. You also need to make sure that Facebook determines your ad to be relevant and that it meets their three separate relevance metrics: engagement ranking; quality ranking and conversion ranking. By testing and making adjustments where necessary, you can ensure that you are getting the most from your budget.

What’s the difference between boosting a post and creating an ad campaign? Why shouldn’t a business just use boosting?

Boosted posts are not created in Ads Manager, therefore you don’t have the ability to customise them as much as you can an advert. A boosted post tends to be optimised for page likes, comments and shares, whereas an ad is much better for generating website purchases, app downloads, newsletter sign ups, etc.

With an ad you can be a lot more creative, and include specific call to action buttons that will drive your audience to take that action. Your targeting capabilities are much more granular in Ads Manager as you can overlap audience types or create lookalike audiences. With a boost you just get to decide on location, interests, age etc.

With the ability to run A/B testing across you ads on variables such as audiences, placements and the creative, you can test and refine your adverts. This is not a feature available within boosting.

Essentially, you are unlikely to generate business from a boosted post but you will drive engagement and brand awareness. If you want to drive an action such as those mentioned above, the best way is to run an advert.

How do you know if your campaign is doing well?

First and foremost you must define your objectives for your ad so you can define what a successful ROI would be for your business. Consider what your ideal customer looks like, and we can show you then, how Facebook advertising can fit in with your current marketing strategy.

Vista we will design an ad campaign that will help you to achieve your objectives. Whether you want to set up a lead generation or ecommerce campaign, we can give you the guidance you need to run TOF (top of funnel), to BOF (bottom of funnel) campaigns, and advise on the budget that you’ll require to achieve your goals. We then use Ads Manager to assess the success and ensure that you’re getting the most from your ad spend, as well as a great ROI.

About Lisa:

Lisa has completed the Emma Van Heusen Facebook Adcelerator Group Training Programme as well as the Digital Mums Social Media Management course. Emma Van Heusen is recognised as one of the most experienced and respected Facebook Advertising experts in the industry. Lisa is now a member of the Digital Tribe of EVH graduates and Facebook Ads specialists, because sharing knowledge within social media marketing is integral due to the ever evolving nature of the platforms.

Social media: Using analytics to improve business performance

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:10:47 GMT

So you’ve set up your social channels and have been posting content. Now what?

One of the most valuable tools at your disposal on social media is analytics. Each platform has its own, and most social media management platforms, such as Hootsuite and Buffer, offer their own analytics as well. Knowing what you’re looking for is key, otherwise it’s easy to get lost in a sea of graphs and figures. Social media metrics are vast.

There are countless reasons why you should be monitoring and tracking your social media metrics. I’ve listed some of the most common (and important) reasons below:

To understand your audience:

If you want to know more about the people following you, then social analytics can provide you will all sorts of information. You can find out the gender split, age range and top locations of your followers. You can even find out when they are most active, broken down into days and hours. All of this can be used to help you plan your content strategy as well as inform your paid advertising efforts.

To track KPI’s:

Your KPI’s will be based on your social media goals, and your social media goals can depend on a variety of things, including how established you are already on social media. If you’re just starting out, your goal will likely be brand awareness, and so KPI’s will be impressions and reach, as well as follower number – all of which you can track in social analytics. While follower number is something of a vanity metric, you will obviously want to see this increasing month on month. If your goal is to build on and manage an engaged community, you’ll need to monitor engagement (likes, comments, retweets, pins, shares etc).

Things are a little more complex if your goal is to drive traffic from your organic content, as you will need Google Analytics on your website to really see how well social is performing for you. However, this is where paid Facebook advertising comes into its own. By placing a Facebook pixel on your website it’s possible to measure how many people visit your site from a Facebook Ad, and then by adding a standard event to work alongside the pixel you’ll be able to track what they do once they arrive. You’ll also be able to look at CPL or CPC (cost per lead or cost per conversion).

To refine your strategy:

Your social media strategy should be a constantly evolving beast and will play an integral part in your wider marketing strategy. Test out different types of content, track which your audience enjoys the most and refine your strategy to reflect this. You can even use social analytics to understand which platforms are worth continuing to invest in, or when to post to reach the optimum number of people.

At Vista, we use our social media expertise to help you decide which channels will deliver the best return on investment for your business. As expert brand builders, we create meaningful and lasting relationships with customers, carefully curating content that weaves through every online touch point and drives a connection to our client’s business. We provide fast and effective customer service to keep customers happy and loyal. Our expertise in content marketing - incorporating SEO into traditional PR methods, social media and paid social means we deliver integrated campaigns that build brands online, drive sales online and help our clients achieve their business goals.

Social media: The choice is yours

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 16:19:26 GMT

Establish and focus on your most influential platforms

Do you know your Facebook from your YouTube? Or your Tik Tok from your Snapchat? Both Pinterest and Instagram are visual platforms, but which is best if your target audience is female millennials? If you’re a tech company, should you be focusing your efforts on Twitter or LinkedIn, or both?

We all know about the various different social media channels – lots of us use them in our personal lives, to stay in touch with friends, find inspiration or to support us in our careers – but when it comes to business, the platforms you invest your time and effort on will be determined by who your customers are, the industry you’re in and what you sell.

Where are your customers?

You might be tempted to jump on every social network in the hope of maximising your reach, but by doing this you’ll likely spread yourself too thin and dilute your message. It’s much better to focus on a few key channels that you know are favoured by your target market and put your energy into building a loyal and engaged following on these. Social media isn’t confined to the usual 9-5, it’s 24/7, and you’ll need to be, too. Finding the time to manage your social presence is tough.

By sticking to just two or three channels, you’ll have more time to develop a much broader understanding of how they work. It’s not unusual for the likes of Instagram and LinkedIn to release regular updates that often come with new features to try. By using just a few key social outlets, you can keep abreast of these changes and apply them to your marketing strategy. Have a play around and work out what content your target audience likes to see.

But it’s not just about knowing what new features have been added, it’s also about knowing what has been taken away. For example, many social media channels use hashtags as a way for you to share and discover content, but in order to protect their communities, each platform has a list of banned hashtags. If you use these, you could be penalised. This could be anything from your content not showing up for that particular hashtag, through to your account being banned. There are some hashtags that are permanently blocked, while others are only blocked temporarily. While it’s obvious why some have been banned, others can appear quite innocent.

What do you sell?

Another way of determining which social media platforms you should use is to look at what and how you sell. If you sell directly to consumers, consider using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. These channels are making it easier than ever for customers to buy. With ‘product tags’ you can reveal product details like name and price, and drive traffic to your website to complete a purchase. In the US, Instagram users can now buy from select businesses using the ‘checkout’ function without even leaving the app. It’s likely that Facebook, which owns Instagram, will roll this function out worldwide in the coming months.

Which industry are you in?

If you are selling a service rather than a physical product, or if your business is B2B, the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn could work well for you. Here you can share news and insights from your industry and establish yourself as a thought leader. So consider the type of content you’ll share and this will also help you to determine the most suitable social channels.

What are your competitors doing?

Once you’ve made your choices, take a look to see if your competitors are using these channels for their own marketing. If they have active accounts that receive a lot of engagement, that’s a good sign you should be on the channel too.

36 days an inmate

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:34:35 GMT

For World Prematurity Day 2020

This blog was written by Jane in 2013, about her experience having a baby 6 weeks early, weighing 2lbs 13oz. The world has changed so much in the last 10 months and we can only imagine how challenging this whole experience would have been during a global pandemic. Our hearts go out to every parent going through it amid restrictions. This is Jane's story.

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I am typing this while holding my tiny baby. She’s five weeks old and still only 4lbs 8 oz. But this blog isn’t about her total amazingness, the reason for her size, the gory details of my delivery, or imparting wisdom on having a premature baby in special care. This blog is about my journey with the many amazing people at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and the Horton Hospital in Banbury, who stepped in to ensure the safe delivery of my tiny baby when things got tough.

Racking up thousands of pounds worth of care, I received weekly scans and one-to-one appointments with spectacularly clever obstetricians, whose no nonsense expertise balanced with sensitivity. Once I was admitted, 10 days before delivery, the day-to-night monitoring was transferred to the midwifery team who accelerated the emotional support. Explaining every test result, answering my copious questions patiently, making midnight toast deliveries and turning a blind eye to an early Sunday break-out for a fry up with my partner-in-crime in bed 2.

When the doctors told me the placenta might abrupt, it was the midwives who held my hand and told me they would save me and my baby should this happen, whatever time of day or night. ‘There is always a theatre and always an anaesthetist and you have no idea how fast we run if you hit the emergency bell’ were the words that comforted me that night.

I experienced many things that fuel our concerns about the NHS. A scan with a doctor who’d had only three hours sleep, avid cleaning and MRSA swabs, and truly bad food. But what I also witnessed were patients who behaved terribly to the staff, bucked the rules of the ward and complained in private about the care. At no point did I witness a doctor or a midwife treat any of these patients with the same contempt. It must be accepted as part of the job. But it isn’t acceptable.

Once my baby was in HDU, the care accelerated once again to specialist paediatric teams who carried out hourly observations and treated her with a love and commitment usually reserved for parents. When transferred from high dependency to the SCBU unit at our local Horton Hospital in Banbury, I was welcome to stay 24 hours a day and encouraged to lead the care of my baby with total support and encouragement from the nursing staff. Now at home, I’m receiving weekly visits from the community nurses and daily calls from the breastfeeding support team. Without these dedicated individuals, I certainly wouldn’t have had such a happy ending and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Social Media for Business

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 16:31:40 GMT

Did you know that over half the world’s population is on social media daily? When put like that it’s easy to see why social media should form part of every business’ marketing strategy. Need more convincing?

The average social media user spends two and a half hours a day scrolling through their feeds or sharing content,

with around 50% saying they use these platforms to research brands.

Interacting with your target market through their preferred mediums is key to your success, whether you’re a start-up looking to build awareness, or a global brand needing to convert sales in a competitive market.

According to new research conducted by Visa, one in four online purchases is now made as a result of interaction with a social media outlet. The platforms are making it easier for businesses to sell and consumers to buy, with app updates a seemingly daily occurrence. But keeping abreast of these developments and really understanding which ones are most pertinent to your business can be daunting. As with any area of marketing, social media requires a deep understanding of the intricacies of the platforms, how they integrate and complement one another, which platforms are used by your target market, and how to spend your time efficiently to achieve the best results.

One of the most recent changes that brands should be aware of comes from Instagram’s parent company (that’s Facebook) with the introduction of Business Suite – a central resource for businesses to access the tools they need to thrive across Facebook and Instagram. In Facebook’s words:

“Research tells us that business owners want to better operate across Facebook's apps, but are busy running their businesses. With Business Suite, you can manage all your activities in one place, giving you time back to focus on other aspects of your business.”

Within Business Suite you can see all of your alerts, messages and comments from across Facebook and Instagram, draft, schedule and publish organic content on both platforms, understand what is working for your audience through insights, and commit to paid social to expand your reach and share your content with defined and refined, custom audiences.

We keep up to date with the ever-changing social landscape, so that our clients don’t have to. As expert brand builders, we create meaningful and lasting relationships with customers, carefully curating content that weaves through every online touch point and drives a connection to our client’s business. We provide fast and effective customer service to keep customers happy and loyal. Our expertise in content marketing - incorporating SEO into traditional PR methods, social media and paid social means we deliver integrated campaigns that build brands online, drive sales online and help our clients achieve their business goals.

So What Next For Business

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 08:32:00 GMT

Our newsfeed is full of predictions for easing lockdown. The Daily Mail is furiously sharing posts suggesting that pubs might be able to reopen on July 1st. Clickbait, but right on the money to how the nation is feeling. I clicked.

One thing that is for sure, is that in such a short amount of time, business operations will never be the same. Vista has a flexible business model where trust has always been at the core. A fluid workplace, with a communal base for everyone in Banbury, but the chance to work in your own home, should you choose to.

When I started Vista in 2011, I imagined a compact, contemporary office with screens across one wall and the team dialling in to each screen to work together each day. I didn’t have the tech foresight to conceive Zoom, sharing all faces on one screen, but I knew one day someone would devise a system that would make my vision a reality. The idea for the screens was for human interactions, chats, brainstorming and company. Not so that I could check people were logged in and working their hours. Checking up on people is far too labour intensive and self-destructive. But many business ‘leaders’ don’t share this perspective. Flexible hours and clear targets enable people to fulfil work and home commitments as an integrated piece. Where adults can choose and create their own model. I am not a fan of ‘work / life balance’ mantras. Because balance is hard and fulfilment is complex and deeply personal, but it has to start with clear deliverables, trust and flexibility at work. People who fulfil all their obligations, feel fulfilled. It’s an energised virtuous circle of fulfilment.

Flexibility is a tricky path to navigate with clients, because the term somehow implies instability but eight years later and every business was forced very abruptly to embrace it. My inbox is full of advice on how to ‘lead in a crisis’. For me, it is a simple equation: Trust + reasonable targets. Start with trust. Don’t expect people to earn it. That implies hierarchy of commitment. Trust them first and they will be driven by your commitment to, and belief in them.

Anna Whitehouse @MotherPukka is a long-time advocate for flexible working. This is her view on how this crisis could positively impact the future: “A middle ground where people ebb and flow within work and home, with trust at the core of it, tech to facilitate it, and measuring what they’re doing and not where they’re sitting. That’s the utopia and actually, it’s not for the employee, that’s for the employer."

This has always been Vista’s utopia.

How will our world change? Vista’s top 5 predictions for the future

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 08:34:02 GMT

There isn’t anyone who hasn’t been impacted emotionally by lockdown. No-one. That isn’t a bold naïve statement. It’s an easy matter of fact. Every single one of us has re-evaluated and undergone an emotional de-clutter. Choosing what you want to do and learning what you love to do has risen to the fore.

This new model of self-awareness will lead to new trends. Tech that has won during lockdown are platforms that enabled us to stay close and discover from the safety of our homes. With no-one watching, no-one judging us.

My top 3 sanity-saving finds from lockdown:

1. DanceBox Instagram dance classes

2. DaisyMayCooper on Instagram

3. The satisfaction of buying from independents who thank you personally in email and deliver quickly in handwritten envelopes

These are our top 5 predictions on trends that will emerge in the post-lockdown-but-still-cautious world. Businesses will be wise to take note and respond.

1. Slow:

Happening prior to Covid, but accelerated into relevance - respecting and observing slow behaviours, absorbing moments, noticing, respecting personal space, listening, considering.

2. Streamlining:

Many millions of people have spent the time clearing, sorting, evaluating. This has created masses upon masses of ‘stuff’ that must be dealt with. Local tips will quickly become overwhelmed, while stacks will pile up outside charity shops (they already are). Recycling will see a boom, as will jumbles, car boots and eBay.

3. Control:

Control was taken from us. There has already been a protest against lockdown. Many thousands of people’s lives ruined and changed, fighting for the right to control their destiny. When we are handed back the reins on our lives, people will clamour to grab them and use them to make choices – steer their own path again. There will be louder demand for flexible working conditions, there may be a drop in demand for domestic roles, a clamour for learning in DIY and gardening. A desire for self-improvement in standing on your own two feet.

4. Shopping online for essentials:

Delivery services have improved, delivery service processes have improved. The Milkman saw unprecedented demand as people woke up to the magic of an early morning doorstep delivery of essentials. Facebook has expedited and launched Shops where you can shop and purchase without having to leave its owned applications: Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, Whats App. This was something we knew was ‘coming’. It’s no surprise it has happened at this moment in time.

5. Supporting your local high street:

Helpless as we watched the final demise of stalwarts Debenhams, Beales Oasis, Warehouse, and walked alone through dormant high streets. Not only was the air eery on bank holiday Monday but the dust now settling on boarded shopfronts is heart breaking. As the doors re-open we will flock to them. Observing the new rules of behaviour, we don’t believe that this ‘nation of shopkeepers’ will be able to stand back and allow our high streets to crumble.

What will you clamour back for, or choose to lose when lockdown is released?

Social Media and Influence survey, UK Dads

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 09:34:59 GMT

We have now completed our ‘dad’ research. We used Survey Monkey, we asked the same questions that we asked our mum network and we have plotted our findings against the exact same survey that we ran in 2019.

It presents some interesting anecdotal evidence that men and ‘dads’ use social media in a different way to their female counterparts, yet some of the changes and trends we are seeing are quite similar.

Before we start, we want to be very clear that this is purely anecdotal research because only 19 dads responded to our survey in 2020. A small increase from 16 in 2019. Perhaps an indicator for how engaged dads are in general with social media. But undeterred, we believe this still provides an interesting snapshot of usage and influence across the dad sphere, particularly when plotted against the previous year’s results, and against the mum responses we received.

So where are they?

Where mum’s use of social media platforms remains strong with growth in Instagram, dad’s usage appears to be waning across the board with only an increase seen in the use of What’s App (+19% to 94%). Twitter remains key for dads with 53% using the platform, verses 34% of mums. 68% of our dad respondents are using Facebook while 53% are using Instagram. 16% of our dads are using Snapchat and Pinterest, verses 15% and 44% of mums respectively. 53% of our respondents use Instagram, verses 73% of mums.

When asked what they use social media for, (other than to keep up with friends and family) watching vlogs, blogs and posts about their hobby has seen a notable hike of 23% to 42%. Following the news and current affairs remains the strongest reason for using social media with 74% of the vote. Conversely, 54% of mums use social media for news and current affairs. Sports, sports personalities and children’s sports hobbies was a recurring theme in the comments section for each question.

Who’s influencing them?

42% of our dad respondents follow influencers, which tallies with our mum responses. Although on the face of it they are less ‘influenced’ by them to purchase, with only a 42% positive response to purchasing as a result on an influencer post (mums showed a 68% positive response), this does represent an 11% improvement in perception since 2019. Why do dads follow influencers? Because they share their hobbies (47%) and are entertaining (42%).

However, when asked why they might be more likely to buy something, blog review and influencer posts received a combined 47% of the vote. Positive customer reviews saw a 26% hike in importance to 79% and notably reading about it in a magazine dropped 16% to only 10.5% of the vote.

When it comes to discovering new products, Google search and friends and family have equal weighting, both at 74% of the vote. Reading blogs plus following influencers is also level with reading newspapers and magazines at 37%.

Regarding brand owned social media sites and interacting, Instagram and Facebook are used equally, with 26%, followed by twitter at 21%. However over half of our respondents, 53% said they don’t use brand owned sites to interact, verses less than a third of mums (30%). Unsurprisingly 76% of dads are not put off buying from a brand if it doesn’t have an active social media presence. However a striking increase of 26% more dads (to 63%) are more likely to buy from a brand if it has lots of likes and positive comments on its social media sites, 63% if it has a fun and entertaining newsfeed and 74% if it has a human voice.

Finally, we saw a 10% increase in those who are more aware of environmental issues than in 2019 (47%) but a significant drop to only 21% admitting they have become more conscious because they are a parent.

In conclusion

Our results indicate dads are taking a more measured view on social media. They appear to be using it less, use it for more rational reasons, and are significantly less likely in 2020 (42%) than in 2019 (62.5%) to share their life, photos, experiences and thoughts on social media. Although, this is still the most significant factor for using the platforms. There is a clear indication that following influencers is on the rise and we have said it before – if a brand isn’t entertaining, interacting and human on social media, it is literally handing the competitive advantage over.

Social Media and Influence, UK Mums

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:35:33 GMT

Thank you to 111 mums, local and not, from many different walks of life who supported us this year, answering our poll on social media and influence. For those who have supported us over the years, you’ll be getting quite familiar with the questions. It’s the third year that we have asked identical questions.

By doing this, we have been able to gather real insight into movement and changes in behaviour that are not only incredibly valuable to our little business, but also interesting when set against global trends and predictions.

Our relationship is steadying

We know that social media has effected and is shaping our lives. But we can see small changes that indicate people taking a more measured view and feeling more in control of their platforms. We saw an 8% drop in the number of people who think they spend too much time on social media, a 10% drop in those who enjoy sharing personal experiences on social media a 6% drop in those who are left feeling a bit rubbish by other people’s lives and a 13% drop in people afraid to voice their own opinion. 6% fewer mums now see social media as a lifeline.

Rise of the Gram

Industry leaders predicted that Instagram will grow in favour. We have seen a 5% increase in adoption since 2018. So no headline news on that from us, other than to note in the same timeframe, Facebook has seen only a tiny 1% decline and all other platforms have seen a healthy increase in adoption, most notable Snapchat with 7% and Linked In with 13%.

Brand interaction

Most interesting for a PR agency who manages social media accounts on behalf of our clients, there is a notable 17% increase in people following brands on social, since 2018. 47% of our mum network are now using Instagram to research and interact with brands (a 15% increase since 2018) and only 2% more research and interact using Facebook (49%). 30% of mums say they do not use social media to interact. However, this answer shows a measurable 10% drop since 2018.

We saw a 10% increase in mums who are drawn to a brand simply because of its social presence and an 11% increase in those saying they are more likely to buy from a brand if it has a fun, entertaining or informative newsfeed. 82% of respondents are more likely to buy from a brand if it has lots of ‘likes’ and positive comments, 76% if it engages and interacts with followers and 75% if it has a human voice. 28% of mums are put off buying from a brand if it does not have an active social presence. Where, 68% say they are not put off purchasing if a brand isn’t active on social media, this is a 5% drop since 2018, demonstrating a shifting tide in judgement and a clear advantage if brands are on social and active.

Influence

Speculation abounds over the murky world of the ‘influencer’ with industry attention moving towards the ‘nano’ influencer: someone with around 1,000 followers on Instagram. Our poll shows a clear move towards accepting recommendations from other people on social media, who are not your friend. When asked why people follow influencers, the lead reply for 2020, with just under half (49%) of all respondents agreeing, ‘I can relate to them’. Across the board, ‘celebrity’ garnered limited responses.

When asked how mums discover new products, ‘friends and family’, the #1 influence, has seen a 5% increase. Reading magazines and newspapers has seen a 5% decline and is now pretty much level with ‘watching parent influencers’ at 25% and 23% respectively. Browsing Google (54%) and seeing an ad in my social newsfeed (52%) remain powerful, and most exciting for us, ‘watching a brand’s social media account’ has risen 13%, from 12% in 2018, 13% in 2019 to 25% in 2020. Putting a brand’s owned social media sites as influential in finding out about new products, on a par with reading magazines and newspapers.

When it comes to driving a sale, again friends are right up there with 91% of the vote, followed by positive customer reviews at 67%. Ads online and on TV have a low response, with only 11% influencing purchase, however ‘reading a blogger review’ lifted 4% to 24% and is now more influential than seeing a product in a magazine (21%). A quarter of respondents said they are influenced to buy after seeing an influencer post. We did not distinguish between a ‘blogger review’ and ‘influencer post’ in the question. Where we know most influencers will now provide a ‘review’ in their grid, we are committed to asking the questions in the same way year on year and the roles of ‘Instagram influencer’ and ‘website blogger’ were less blurred in 2018. Our caveat here would be that when reading the question, mums will have differentiated between the terminology ‘review’ and ‘post’.

We saw a 68% positive response to ‘influencer recommendation’ with a 13% increase since 2018 for those mums tempted by an influencer to do further research into a product.

Attitudes to sustainability

Finally we asked about sustainability and attempted to gain a measure on changes in attitude once people become parents. The answers over the last three years have remained reasonably consistent. 54% of respondents claim to have become more aware of issues after becoming a mum, an 8% increase since 2018. 7% are less influenced by a higher price point and 6% more admitted they would do things differently if they could turn back the clock.

In conclusion

We’re excited by these latest findings. Made quite stark when plotted into a graph. The tide is changing rapidly. Social media is now a highly influential channel to market for brands, especially for those brands not representing themselves at the point of sale. It is a channel where a purchase can be directly affected. Brands that are not on social, and are not engaging, entertaining, using a stand-out human voice, are quite simply handing an advantage to their competitors.

Get in touch with Jane on 01295 369 182 if you want to see the detail and graphs.

Vista in the media

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:44:15 GMT

We use humour and empathy to bring a whole new generation on board. Interview with Jane in Pre-School News this week where she examines the changing landscape of communications and Vista's expertise in brand building.

Specialists in business communication, Vista PR plays an important part in the preschool PR landscape. PreschoolNews.net spoke to managing director Jane Pavia-Davis to find out more.

Hi Jane. Tell us how has the nature of ‘traditional’ PR changed over the last few years, with influencers and social media taking centre stage online?

“I have been working in PR for 23 years, so change is very familiar to me. Old lines have shifted and ‘communications’ have changed immeasurably. Everyone working in this industry is on a continual journey of learning, adapting, honing and shaping new frameworks for success. New platforms simply serve up more opportunities to tell our stories and effect change. In many respects social media has made our lives easier.”

Read the rest of the article here: Preschoolnews.net

The Business End of Influence

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 07:52:49 GMT

In 2018, we saw a big increase in brands looking to work with influencers as part of their marketing strategy. It’s a smart move. Research shows that audiences are listening less to traditional forms of advertising and instead, are now looking for more meaningful and relatable interactions through the people they follow online.

According to a recent report by Global Web Index, social media is now the second-most prevalent channel for brand and product research, and a quarter of 16-24s and 25-34s say that seeing a brand/product has lots of likes would encourage them to buy something. 30% of people are willing to spend more on a product if it’s been endorsed by an online influencer as well.

Influencers, especially micro influencers (those who have a following of between 10,000 and 100,000) have established a relationship with their followers based on trust and authenticity, meaning influencers don’t just help to get your product seen, they actually make it desirable.

So whether you’re a brand looking to work with influencers, or an influencer keen to link up with your favourite brands, here are our tips:

How to approach influencers if you’re a brand:

Pick people who fit your brand. It’s worth considering who they have worked with before. Are these the types of brands you would align your brand to? Also look at the influencer’s tone of voice and content style. If you’re a wholesome brand with a classic outlook, do you want to work with an influencer known for their controversial views and a sweary mouth?
Make sure they haven’t worked with any of your competitors recently. If an influencer is seen to be endorsing similar products from different brands, their opinion becomes less valid.
Make your pitch email personal. We’ve seen examples of emails where the influencer’s name is omitted and instead just an ‘x’ appears. That’s one way to make it obvious you’re blanket emailing influencers! You should know the influencer you’re approaching well; their content style, interests etc. If, for example, you’re approaching a parenting influencer, you should know the names and ages of their children, and be able to reference them in your approach.
Don’t just look at influencers with the biggest following. Engagement is more important. It’s a sure sign that someone has bought followers if they have a big audience but very little engagement. Also look at who they follow, and who is following them. Are they followed by other influencers?
Consider micro influencers. They tend to have a more loyal following and a higher engagement rate.
Think about budget. Unless an influencer is already a huge fan of your brand, they may expect payment for endorsing you. This is especially true if your product is of low value. On average, an influencer with around 30-50k followers can ask for anything upwards of £200 for a sponsored post on Instagram. It tends to be less for stories given that they’re only live for 24 hours. This is of course a ballpark figure. Some will charge less, some will charge more. Pricing is different again for blogging and other SM platforms.
Treat your influencers well. They are helping you to achieve your marketing goals by allowing you to tap into their engaged and loyal audience, so don’t take advantage! In all likelihood they will have brands lining up to work with them and won’t want to work with you again if you don’t treat them well

How to approach a brand if you’re an influencer:

First and foremost, show an interest! Make sure you’re following the brand you would like to work with and make time to engage with them. Comment on their posts and perhaps even tag them in yours. We’ve seen quite a few influencers asking brands if they would like to work together, but have shown little interest in the brand until that point, often not even following them.

Explain why you feel you would be a good fit for the brand. Perhaps you already use their products and love them, or maybe your audience is their target market. This means you need to understand your followers and who they represent. Get looking at your audience insights. The best approach we’ve seen recently was by an influencer who had taken the time to look at the content a brand had been creating, highlighting one of their campaigns and explaining why she thought it worked.

Think about the bigger picture. Many brands work with PR agencies who will have other clients on their books. Build relationships with the agencies that represent the types of brands you’re interested in and take a flexible approach to work. If you’re contacted about a collaboration that can’t pay you what you normally charge, is it worth negotiating? An agency is more likely to put you forward to other clients if you think strategically about the opportunities presented to you.

Don’t agree to a collaboration, then not deliver! We’ve had the unfortunate experience of setting up brand/influencer collaborations in the past and ended up having to chase individuals to deliver what they’ve agreed. Essentially, treat a collaboration like a business transaction. If you hired a plumber to fix your toilet, you’d expect him (or her!) to turn up on time and complete the job you’re paying them for, wouldn’t you? You’ll quickly develop a reputation for being flaky and certainly won’t be considered for future work otherwise.

Create the best content you can. It’s likely you’ve been approached because of the type of content you produce, so make sure you maintain that standard, for you and the brand. We like to give influencers as much creative freedom as possible when working with brands, so that they can place products in their feeds in a way that feels natural to their normal posting style. Use this to be creative and showcase a brand and its products in a way that works for you and your audience.

Know your hashtags! Over the last year or so, there’s been a bit of a social media backlash to brand/influencer partnerships, and how these are disclosed. Audiences have been feeling duped by the people they follow if they haven’t made it obvious they are endorsing a product as part of a collaboration, so it’s important to be transparent. Otherwise you could risk your credibility. Aside from keeping your followers happy, the CAP Code, enforced by the ASA, applies to most forms of influencer marketing. Their guidelines set out exactly what constitutes an #ad and when something is #sponsored content. It’s the responsibility of both the brand and the influencer to make sure they are properly disclosing collaborations. Read the ASA’s influencer guidelines here.

What we offer at Vista:

We specialise in working with Micro Influencers – where we place product in a reciprocal relationship for coverage. We find influencers with c10-50k followers particularly have a highly engaged audience, are perceived to be genuine authentic by their followers – so they hold greater sway with them

Insta Stories are incredibly powerful for engagement and form a key part of our negotiated package. We maximise these relationships by publicly thanking the influencer when they post about our products and sharing their posts. We track clicks through to the client website and have seen more than 500 in one day.

Our position is that social media is for socialising and interaction and a human touch is vital. We have watched when high street brands cross the boundary to using influencers to become commercial brand ambassadors. In the worst cases the influencer loses authenticity and the brand looks desperate.

Message us on Facebook. Twitter or Instagram if you want to chat about this, or join our conversation #prgirlsinthecountry.

Katy, Vista’s Social Media Hub Manager and mum to Belle 6 and Wren 3

Mum guilt. Is it worse during the holidays?

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 09:11:01 GMT

“Mummy, you’re better at tidying the house, but Daddy is better at looking after us, because you try and work all the time”.

No sooner had the words left my five year old’s mouth a strange feeling started building in the pit of my stomach. A quick self-diagnosis on Google and I had identified the issue: mum guilt.

The next day, while chasing my one year old around the local adventure playground and trying to make sure the eldest didn’t tread in the dog poo some kind owner had left festering right in the middle of the play area, I spoke to my best mates. Through snatched conversations I realised I wasn’t the only mum with this condition. Apparently mum guilt comes in many forms: feeling guilty about letting your kids watch too much TV, or cooking them a frozen pizza instead of a wholesome meal using “just five ingredients” from Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook. For me the guilt came from trying to balance my workload with school holidays.

I tried explaining to my daughter that the reason Daddy can spend all day playing with her on the weekend is because he works all week, when I am at home looking after her and her sister. It didn’t wash. I put my phone down and resolved to do my work that evening when Daddy got home and we could switch roles.

I am lucky that I can do that. Working for Vista I have the flexibility to work from home and apart from Mondays when I pop into the office to catch up with the team, I’m pretty much able to fit my hours in around family life. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be able to check in every now and again and make sure I’m not missing anything important. To a five year old who’s in constant need of my attention though, these quick check-ins seem like an eternity.

It got me thinking about how other working mums survive the holidays. Those mums who have an office to go to every day, with set hours, deadlines and meetings. How do they juggle work life and family life? Because, more often than not, it does seem to fall to the mum to manage childcare over the school holidays. However, you’ve done it, give yourself a pat on the back (or a bloody big glass of gin), because it’s not easy. Especially with mum guilt rearing its ugly head.

Now the kids are back at school, I’m reflecting on the last six weeks and all that we’ve done. Along the way we’ve taken day trips to the beach, been on holiday in Italy, gorged on chocolate and popcorn during movie nights, joined friends for playdates and undertaken countless crafting activities. Something I was dreading has actually been, for the most part, good fun. The distinct lack of routine has been nice. No alarm clocks or school runs in the rain. No having to wake the youngest up from her nap in order to collect her big sister from school. But, I am looking forward to getting back to ‘normality’. For me this means knowing when I can get my work done without worrying I should be doing something else, like making fairy cakes, playing tag or making up dance routines to the latest chart music. OK, that last one’s not strictly true, I make up dance routines whether my daughters are around or not ;-)

Katy, mum to Belle (5) and Wren (16m)

There But for the Grace of God

Sat, 06 Jun 2015 08:26:13 GMT

On this day, four years ago, my two-and-a-half year old daughter was in the High Dependency Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

During the previous 48 hours she had become increasingly and very suddenly ill. Her temperature soared, her stomach was expanding and at the point they moved her to HDU she was semi-comatose on an intravenous drip of Clindamycin, usually reserved for MRSA patients. The doctor counselled us that they feared she had contracted necrotising fasciitis in her stomach lining, and advised us not to go home and Google it.

Doped on a mixture of 4 hours sleep in 48 hours, hospital coffee and panic, I cried. All the time. I cried at the kindness of the nurses, as the doctor approached her bed, and when my mum walked into the unit having flown home early from a holiday abroad. I stumbled over her date of birth four times before getting it right, as they wheeled her into theatre.

Then, the paediatric plastic surgeon arrived. The team had delayed surgery until he was available, due to the complexity of muscle which required his specific expertise. The room hushed and I felt a huge sense of relief as he approached her bed and listened intently to his team. He approached me, looked straight into my eyes and shook my hand. He didn’t blind me with science, Latin terms, relative success statistics or professional theories. He told me he was a father, that he would do his very best for my little girl and parted with the words, ‘There, but for the grace of God, go my children’*.

It was this encounter that enabled me to sign my name at the bottom of a contract permitting the surgeons to cut away and remove any part of her that had become infected. It was this encounter that enabled me to pass the next two hours without going out of my mind.

We were lucky. It was a straight forward streptococcus infection that had manifested in her stomach lining. Two weeks later she was home and today she has a small 4cm scar on her tummy. My husband jokes about how old she will be before she comes home with a tattoo around it.

But I was left with this enduring feeling about parenthood. Even though this man was a complete stranger, he connected to me over the complete devoted love we feel for our children. One week later I wrote the business plan for Vista. A communications company, helping businesses to communicate with parents in a compassionate, empathetic and authentic way. We run flexible working hours around our family’s needs and every member of the team has an extra day holiday each year, dedicated to doing something special with their family. For the parents in the team, if our children are ill, they come first. We all step in to support each other, knowing that every one of us is juggling and time challenged, but above all, highly driven to provide for these little people we have brought into the world.

Jane, mum to Bella 7, Jolie 6 and Connie, 1

* A proverb in recognition that others’ misfortune could be your own