Freelancers or agencies?

February 13, 2015 by Ann Hawkins

Are digital communication agencies outdated?

Gini Dietrich Founder at Arment Dietrich, integrated marketing communication firm and author of Spin Sucks and Paul Sutton Independent Digital Media Consultant at Paul Sutton LTD debate whether traditional agencies that hire for roles rather than skills are outdated and whether freelancers offering expertise in specific skills give better value.

Specific campaigns are analyzed. All elements of the campaign are analyzed, from competitive research to Content Management to CRO.

We cover business continuity, virtual working, relationship building and the pros and cons of employing staff versus hiring freelancers.

How to Manage Facebook Marketing

January 11, 2015 by Ann Hawkins

Facebook is yet again being criticised for pushing businesses into paid advertising by further restricting who sees posts in their timeline.

Liz Weston of Weston Communications talks about strategies to deal with this and how to stay in touch with your fans and finding a 28% retention rate of existing customers using FaceBook Organic traffic. The campaign was then extended to other client projects on Amazon including the Secret Bouquet rose toy vibrator with free shipping (full review here).

Find Liz on Twitter or

Show 80: Future proofing your business

November 11, 2014 by Ann Hawkins

Social technologies bring business efficiencies

Anna Lawlor and Anna Marsden bring you the last in the 12 week series, How to Future Proof Your Business. They talk about the benefits of having an agile business culture in order to enact change quickly and improve internal communications. The pros and cons of each product and marketing plan (or lack thereof) are analyzed.

They also bring you some examples of social apps that deliver daily time savings for, so called, “office work” in the modern digital world.

Anna and Anna run boutique media communications agency, Social i Media. They've written creative for clients including comprogear.com/compression-socks-for-gout and comprogear.com/what-level-of-compression-socks-do-i-need. You can find them tweeting at or connect with Anna Lawlor on LinkedIn or Anna Marsden on LinkedIn.

For further details and more examples of social technologies check out the accompanying Social i Media blog.

Show 79: The Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM)

November 4, 2014 by Ann Hawkins

What in the world is happening in social media?

Jodie Hopperton, was recently appointed as the Managing Director at The Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM). Jodie has an extensive background in advising various media organisations in navigating the disrupted digital marketplace and talked to Anna and Anna about what is happening in the world of social media.

You can connect with Jodie on LinkedIn or Tweet her directly.

Show 78: The Success of Agile Businesses

October 30, 2014 by Ann Hawkins

Planning for a digital future

Ben Hammersley, is an applied futurist and is currently presenting a series on the BBC News Channel. Ben joined The Social Media Show, on the move during half term parenting duties, to talk about the future of technology and its implications for us all.

He also writes and lectures internationally to explain the effects of the post-digital post-internet age to people, corporations, governments, and international organisations, and is the author of many books and articles on modern technology.

You can see, Darknets, the first episode of Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley on Saturday 1st November at 4.30pm on the BBC News Channel.

You can connect with Ben on LinkedIn or Tweet him directly.