Do you use Facebook video on your page? Does it rely on sound? Most of the time we are viewing videos with no sound, perfect when you’re in work (naughty) or when you’re in bed and the other half is asleep. So there’s no surprise that when a video plays with sound most react negatively and move away from the post. So a video with no sound works better, but how do you convey a message in mute? Through captions of course! You could always import an SRT (subRip) file to do this,

So you’ve started 2017 with a plan, a business plan, a plan to make your business the best it can be in 2017! Part of that plan will be social media right? If it isn’t then quickly jot it down and take a look at some tips to help you get started in social media with Red Squirrel Marketing. Watch and learn. First thing to do is to learn the ropes, you can do this by having some social media training or you can take a look at our social media channels like twitter, facebook, li

That is the question.. We have met countless businesses in Aberystwyth and Cardiff recently talking about social media marketing and our social media management service and been asked one big question by most. Should I be on Instagram and Snapchat? The follow up question is normally... "But which one? What's the difference?" Instagram has copied Snapchat with so many features in 2016, it’s an obvious ploy to poach the Snapchat users. In 2017, apart from some small differences

Let's take a look at 8 key trends for 2017 across Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter. Before we look at each social media platform individually one thing we've noticed is that a lot of the platforms latest features are blurring into one another. For example, until the launch of memories, Snapchat was all about in the moment content. Instagram was the place for our best images and videos until they opened up stories and encouraged users to share more Snapchat like conte

Lean and Clean are a brand new healthy eating take away and delivery service in Caerphilly, with its owners already running a gym in the area the focus of the business was to promote healthy eating. The need Stephen and his wife Danielle wanted to create new branding that carried the already recognizable logo from their gym, Mean Muscle Gymnasium but also represent this new venture. This project was a fast paced one as the store was opening on Monday morning and the branding

Hungry? Ordering food on your phone? we've been doing it for a while now and it's a common sight in Cardiff to see a deliveroo bike speed past with a hot pizza on board. But now we can do this as well as book an appointment and more in a recent Facebook update. It looks like we'll nearly never have to leave the Facebook app. But will this leave less emphasis on a mobile friendly website or businesses with their own personal app? Get More Out of Your Local Business Interaction

Insurance Centre Wales (ICW) is a relatively young Commercial Insurance brokerage based in Aberystwyth, West Wales. ICW in Aberystwyth offer specialist advice for certain niche industries throughout Wales and bordering counties as well as offering a competitive friendly local service to general businesses in the Mid Wales and Aberystwyth area. The need Aberystwyth based ICW came to us in 2016 with the challenge of promoting their relatively new brand in Wales and bordering co

Facebook is having another play with its platform, for the better? Well that's for you to decide. We think its going the right way with the end user in mind, Facebook is keeping us on the app more than ever. Get Recommendations Whether you are travelling to a new place, looking for a hair salon, or searching for the perfect place to eat, people already turn to their friends, family and local Groups on Facebook for advice. Facebook are rolling out a new tool that makes it easi

Saturday saw our first Social Media Workshop take place in Aberystwyth, over 20 businesses turned out early to come and learn more about helping their business online. After a swift coffee at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre the Social Media Workshop took to the cinema, we covered Twitter and Facebook and how to use both for your business. Covering content, images, video, analytics as well as monitoring competitors. We went into depth but also helped out businesses who were yet to

So Snapchat is to become snap, dropping the chat and giving us a new set of funky sunglasses. Will it be another Google Glass and flop, we don’t think so and we can’t wait to snap snap snap and snap some more when they come out. The Snap specs are set to be around $130 (US) and they can record video and take pictures and the click of a button, perfect if your on Aberystwyth beach on a sunny day and want to record that perfect moment with friends. “Imagine one of your favourit

Last week we spent a week in the seaside town of Aberystwyth, some of it was leisure time but most of it was meeting new and current clients delivering free 1 to 1 marketing sessions for businesses. We didn’t expect as many businesses at first but our days were slowly filling up and we were fully booked on three of the days, all in all we saw 18 new businesses and drank lots of coffee. We gave advice on all things marketing from digital marketing such as email, social media

At my first marketing job many many years ago in Cardiff, social media was a tough sell. The business I worked for had a dated website, everything was done via letter or individual email and social media wasn’t even in their thoughts. When I prompted a few senior members of the team that we needed a Facebook, twitter and YouTube page I was pretty much laughed at. “what do we need to use them for” and “oh I don’t think its very good for our image to be on those” My jaw dropped

Twitter still wont allow more than 140 characters in a tweet, and we think that’s a good thing, but if reports are correct we will soon be able to pack more info into them. By time you throw in a #hashtag and a mention you’re left with a few remaining characters; but then you want to add an image or a link and there’s no more room! #frustrating! In as little as two weeks images and links may not count as part of the 140 character limit, leaving us free to be add more. Current

Do you want to know how to use Twitter Video to your advantage? Video is a great way to tell a story and grow your twitter following. Twitter video is pretty straightforward. You either record a new video from your smartphone or if you have an iPhone, upload a video you’ve already taken. Open the Twitter app, start a new tweet and touch the picture icon. Next, touch the camera icon and switch your camera to video.You have 30 seconds to capture your video. Finally come up with

305 million monthly active users, yes twitter is here to stay and the micro-blogging service that has seen some changes recently is as popular as ever. Is your business on twitter? If not we advise you to get straight over there and choose your twitter handle and get promoting and posting about your business. Here are 5 tips to start you on the road to twitter success (3 more tips are coming next week) Fill in your twitter profile to the max, use up all the characters, link t

What’s the next big thing? 1. Social shopping Buy things straight from your newsfeed? Sounds interesting hey. Up until now we rely on our tweets to direct users to our website with the hope of purchasing, how much easier would it be if they could buy then and there. This is already taking form on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Facebook has been testing a Buy button so you can purchase without ever leaving the social platform. One of the biggest challenges with s