Social Media – Page 6

Viral content – the holy grail of web curios – is a digital communicator’s dream. So, you can imagine the resounding Rule 5 glee when a puppy cake picture we shared on our client’s Facebook page hit the sharing sweet-spot this week.

With a collective 48,525 shares and a staggering 147,194 likes (and counting) – this innocent sleeping Dalmatian pup added an overwhelming 3,000+ fans to the Renshaw Baking Facebook page over the course of the May bank holiday.

As a part of the wider communications strategy for the brand, one of the key objectives of R5’s social media programme is to encourage the Renshaw social community to share with us their cake decorating projects and photos.

As you’d expect, the user generated content we typically share generates higher levels of engagement than straight, brand-owned content – ‘Dimples’ the Dalmatian however, set a new record for what gets our fans talking.

A quick peep at the brand’s Facebook insights shows that sharing the picture made a significant impact on the page with the total reach rocketing up over 11,000% on the previous week’s communications. Added to that was an increase of almost 60,000% in the number of people talking about the page and a 50% rise in the number of friends of fans the page now has links to.

Timed well to hit the mood of the nation ready to pack their desks up for the long weekend, the domino effect of this shareable pup (lemon flavoured and covered with Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing) also inundated cake-decorator Trish Clarke with orders for bespoke doggie cakes.

Proof is in the pudding (sorry!) that when it comes to the internet – animals and food really are the key ingredients to viral success.

Speak to anyone in the communications industry and they’ll tell you that the media landscape is changing.

The way in which we consume news has evolved; fact.

One of the most significant recent developments in the consumer magazine sector is the launch of this month’s new-look Elle magazine format.

In a move that sees the barriers between print and digital media banished, a philosophy we at Rule 5 champion; Elle Editor in Chief, Lorraine Candy, has introduced what she says is “the first editorial team trained to personally produce exclusive content for both the website, ELLEuk.com, and the glossy magazine.“

The aim? To be a part of readers’ lives on more than just a monthly basis.

In so many cases, the merging of online and offline editorial teams is about one thing – cutting costs. This, from an observer’s stance, doesn’t appear to be the case at Elle however. The bridging of the gap between digital and print content isn’t just taking place behind the scenes of the acclaimed title, it’s evident in the copy too.

From the demise of the traditional readers’ letter page to the introduction of a replacement ‘Tweet, email, reply’ feature; editorial headlines encouraging readers to ’see it, love it , shop it and share it’ and a noticeably increased and highlighted number of references to the publication’s digital and social media platforms throughout the magazine, the new-look format is certainly making all of the right moves to satisfy the demands of the modern day reader.

How many will, of course, down their weekly magazines in favour of an interim online ELLEuk.com fix remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting move from the style bible in its on-going fight against the weekly competition and in capturing the attention of the on-line media advocate.