Christmas Hampers Charity Competition

As many of you will be aware, fatBuzz is running an exclusive Social Media Training Day for charities tomorrow - and we are happy to reveal that our goodwill doesn't stop there.

To celebrate our Training Day and to reward charity workers' continuous hard work and dedication, we are giving away not one, but TWO of Mitchells Dairy's luxurious Christmas Hampers.

If you think a particularly deserving charity worker has gone above and beyond the call of duty this year, or if you simply want to show your appreciation, we want you to nominate them for this fantastic prize.

To do so, you can nominate him/her on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or you can comment directly on this blog post.

And that's not all! If the person you nominate wins the Christmas Hamper, we will also throw one in for you for taking the time and effort to nominate them!

The competition will close at 12pm on Monday 5th November, so remember (remember) to get your entries in before then!

If you don't win this competition, but still want to buy Mitchells' Christmas hampers for your friends, family or colleagues, you can visit Mitchells' online Hampers Store by clicking HERE. 

Starting from the £35 Afternoon Tea Hamper and ranging up to the £140 Taste of Scotland Hamper, there really is a hamper to suit every taste and budget.

If you want to get in touch with Mitchells and order a bespoke hamper, you can contact them on: 01467 621389 or info@mitchells-scotland.com

Good luck everyone, and we hope you have a wonderful, educational and beneficial day at our Social Media Training Day.

PS. We will also be making an exciting announcement about further charity support later in the week, so make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out the news.

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Social Media & Music - Creating a Song and Dance

Scottish band Biffy Clyro have been making waves in the social media world again this week, after inviting fans to reveal the artwork to their eagerly anticipated new album Opposites through Twitter.

Every time a fan tweeted #BiffyOpposites, a little more of the artwork was unveiled until the entire image, complete with subtle animated touches, was displayed.

After just 18 hours, the artwork was revealed; putting the final touches on a wholly successful social media campaign.

The campaign, and the subsequent buzz that was created surrounding it, got us thinking about other bands and artists that have embraced social media.

Obviously, there are particular artists that roll off the tongue when you think of social media; Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are just two prominent examples.

However, we decided to cherry-pick other artists and bands who have embraced social media and utilised it in the most innovative and creative ways.

Hue and Cry

If you grew up in the UK in the 80s, you will no doubt be familiar with brothers Pat and Greg Kane, otherwise known as pop group Hue And Cry, however you might not be so familiar with their social media activity. 

In an article in Wales Online, Pat Kane explained: "We have a very active relationship with the fans through social media, through our own website Hue & Cry Music Club and all the other channels."

As well as embracing social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, Hue and Cry also have their own Ning social network, Hue And Cry Music Club, which they regularly use to interact with their fans. Impressive.

Radiohead

Radiohead's online presence is long established, but it is impossible for us to ignore.

They regularly market their music in a way that no other mainstream band has attempted before; back in 2007, they recorded 'In Rainbows' on their own and released it on their website as a direct download with the asking price of “pay what you want.” 

Fast forward to 2011, where they fully utilised social media.

Ahead of the release of 'The Kings of Limbs' album, they posted a tweet on their official Twitter account: “Thank you for waiting…”, which was followed by a link to www.thekingoflimbs.com, a website designed for the release of their new album.

Four days later, on Friday the 18th, Radiohead tweeted again: “It’s Friday…It’s almost the weekend…You can download ‘The King of Limbs’ now if you so wish!”

Cue social media frenzy. Simple, but effective.

Ed Sheeran

British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is perhaps one of the best examples of how powerful social media can be in music.

Sheeran's producer, Jake Gosling discovered him on MySpace four years ago, and he has since built a loyal following of 'Sheeranator' fans through YouTube. 

Having worked with grime and underground artists, Gosling had come to know Jamal Edwards, founder of online music channel SBTV, and rather than the traditional music media, it SBTV that propelled his song You Need Me to go viral and gain millions of hits.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Conor Maynard

Conor Maynard, like a lot of aspiring young artists, used social media and sites like YouTube to share his videos and after the R&B artist Ne-Yo saw his cover of his song 'Beautiful Monster' on YouTube, the two started Skyping, which led to a recording contract with EMI.

Once again, Maynard is tapping into his social media-hungry fan base to help him decide where in the United States he should perform this winter. To determine the five cities in which the 19-year-old will give free concerts, his label has created MayniacMap, which lets his fans earn points for their respective cities.

Users rack up points by connecting their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and Tumblr accounts, and performing activities — such as following, liking, commenting and sharing. And for anyone who is remotely interested, New York, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit and Tampa, Florida have accumulated the most points so far.

Ellie Goulding

British singer Ellie Goulding has fully embraced social media.

Not only did she recently conduct the world’s 'first digital album signing' in a Google+ Hangout, she also unleashed a lyric video for Halcyon‘s lead single, 'Anything Could Happen', which featured fan-submitted Instagram photos.

Goulding had just joined the photo-sharing site in June before she asked fans to show her some Instagram love, and you can view the resulting video below.

Have you found this post interesting? If so, please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. If you can think of any other examples of musicians embracing social media, let us know. Thank You.

Exclusive PackshotBoys Offer

One of fatBuzz’s long-term partners, David Cadzow, has an intriguing new business venture - and he has a fantastic introductory offer for the fatBuzz community.

David, who has over 20 years’ commercial photography experience, has created PackshotBoys, a vibrant new packshot company providing high quality, low cost packshot solutions for e-commerce businesses across Scotland and the UK.

And if anyone is interested in taking advantage of David’s and PackshotBoys’ expertise, he is offering a fantastic 15% introductory discount, exclusive to the fatBuzz community.

For those unaware, packshots are still or moving images that are used to portray your products’ quality and reputation, whether through your website, digital advertising or traditional print media.

He can shoot product at clients' premises or in their purpose built studio, using the best digital camera and lighting equipment available to produce stunning quality images to do your products justice.

As well as running PackshotBoys, David also owns internationally acclaimed architectural & interior photography company, Cadzow Pelosi, alongside Joseph Pelosi.

David has also previously supplied photography to a major multi-channel retailer supplying both room-set lifestyle and creative photography, as well as fast turnaround, high volume packshots.

To obtain this offer, contact David directly on 01698 891 721 or email him at info@packshotboys.com Offer is valid until 16th November.

You can follow PackshotBoys on Pinterest and Twitter, or join them on Facebook.

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Social Media Podcast No.49 - Remember When Facebook's share price was $38, now it's almost half but they have 1 billion users!

We're back with Social Media Podcast No.49 and it's a slightly different line up from usual, Kyle had to take care of some urgent client work but we are joined by a couple of first-timers on the podcast.  Taking part in Social Media Podcast Episode 49 we have Gordon White,  Iain Murray  Derek Howie and Joanna Robb.

As usual, we have some lively debate and chat around the world of social media and we bring you some useful examples of social media campaigns that have gone well, and some that have not gone so well.

One of the things we discuss is the Friends Reunited #RememberWhen campaign run at a recent charity ball when they used disposable cameras and a hashtag to engage people both on the night and, on the Friends Reunited platform.  Here is a picture of the Friends Reunited cameras that were used at the Cash for Kids Ball which ultimately raised £250,000 ($403,000) for charity.

HELP US WITH OUR 50th EPISODE
The next Episode is No.50;  we would like to make it a special edition by getting some comments from you - these can be sent by email, Twitter or, posted on the Social Media Podcast Facebook page.  Better still, why don't you send us a short audio message and we'll play it on the podcast - send audio messages to gordon@fatbuzz.com

We would really welcome as many comments and contributions as possible so please send them to us as soon as possible.

Podcast No.49 is packed with great conversation and information from the world of social media - there's also the normal banter and light hearted fun you expect when the Social Media Podcast  team get together.

There's a lot in this one including:

• Audi's ProgressIs campaign - What lessons can we learn from the competition and the two finalists, John Garcia and Jet Set Brunette?
• The fatBuzz Training Day for charities, oversubscribed but we may have some good news for the charities on the waiting list!
• iPhone 5 - Leaves its mark, but is it different enough?
• Samsung vs Apple, the battle rages on
• Will Microsoft's phone be the next big player?
• Friends Reunited - their interesting #RememberWhen campaign
• Iain's a finalist in the National Geographic Photographic Competition - does he need our votes?
• 12 Principles of Social Media Marketing - we discuss an excellent blog post from Jeff Bullas
• Bing teams up with Klout - are these 'scoring' sites of any real value?
• Social analytics tools - are they an expensive luxury?
• ROI - Are your expectations and goals realistic?
• Facebook features strongly in our discussion including the following: Facebook Gifts, Facebook Offers, the alleged Facebook fail
• Facebook also loses a clients' Facebook page and they wont respond to us - is the real price of 'free'?
• TV hit series, Once Upon a Time's Fan Club adopt With Kids as a their Charity and raise lots of money online after watching a video of Robert Carlyle on YouTube.  We discuss the global donations for this small but worth while Glasgow charity.
• Facebook pass 1 billion users but are more than half their users still frustrated with Facebook's mobile experience?
• Pinterest - great for certain brands but are people realising the potential?

If you would like to donate to Gareth Hughes Once Upon a Fan campaign for With Kids, you can do so at the Just Giving Page here

We hope you enjoy the podcast, if you have any comments to make or topics you would like us to discuss please leave them here on the blog or on our Facebook Page.

Play the podcast here:

Subscribe/Download Social Media Podcast on iTunes

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