WeWork Creator Awards Comes To Leeds

WeWork is the platform for creators. Beautiful workspace, an inspiring community, and business services to thousands of members worldwide. WeWork want to do more to help their members and creators far and wide, from getting started right the way through to expansion. And so the Creator Awards were born, a global initiative to recognise and reward the creators of the world. WeWork were inspired to launch the Creator Awards by the fact that the WeWork community reached a new milestone: they are now 100,000 members strong. 

The Creator Awards is intended to acknowledge and empower those who exemplify what it means to be a creator. Anyone who brings a new idea into the world, pursues his or her passion, and believes in something greater than oneself is a creator. From freelancers to founders, nonprofits to small businesses, artists to educators, creators are bringing new ideas into the world — and making it a better place — every day. 

Once the awards were announced the WeWork team began touring the world hosting events all over the place, one of those places was Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds. I was thrilled to not only be invited to attend the event, but compère the panel of speakers, who included Nicola Elliott, founder of Neom Organics, Dave Tucker from Sonocent and David Atkinson from Yorkshire Meatball Co, all from completely different industries, backgrounds and business journeys. 

The panel were fantastic, insightful and inspiring, whilst being very honest about the realities of being an innovator and business owner. The main takeaways from the evening were;

• Everything takes longer than you think it will, from building a team, being successful, every single step takes longer - but if you want it, it's worth it
• Don't be afraid to network, use your contacts, develop relationships and find your tribe of people
• Have an exit plan, you may never need to use it, but without it you will never be able to guide your business

"We're a company that want provide people with an energy source, that wants to provide people with a motivation, with excitement, we want them to love what they do," says company co-founder and chief creative officer Miguel McKelvey in a film about the awards.

"The Creator Awards is not just about pitching and connecting, it's about entering a city and changing the reality of that city, which is what we love to do," adds Adam Neumann, co-founder and chief executive officer.

Applying for a Creator Award only takes a few minutes—and with more than $20 million up for grabs, what do you have to lose? 

Huge thank you to the team from WeWork, including Emma & Shelley along with the guys at Belgrave who spoilt us with awesome fries and pizza.

It was a complete honour to compère the evening panel and I really hope that a number of attendees take WeWork up on their awards offerings, it has to be someone, so why not you?!

Huge thank you to Beverley for the beautiful photos! 

Everyone Can Add Links To Snapchat!

Snapchat has been struggling to keep up with the mighty Instagram, however all that may have just changed. 

Within the last 24 hours Snapchat have rolled out link adding properties to the platform, in a bid to keep it one step ahead of Instagram. The new features are rolling out globally on iOS and Android thanks to an update today. I first saw this on TechCrunch and you can read the full article here.

Once you have snapped you photo, you will see down the right hand side of the screen under the scissors icon you will see the Paperclip icon, which allows you to attached a link to your snap that friends and followers can then click to open within Snapchat’s internal browser.

1. Take your photo 2. Click the paper clip icon 3. Add link

4. It shows you how the link looks 5. Paperclip icon has white background once link added        6. Snap then shows grey paper clip at the bottom once snap is live

Previously only ad campaigns and Discover content could include links, but now it's for everyone! Snapchat has made it clear that all links must abide by its terms of service, community guidelines and privacy policy. Snap will use its own automated trust and safety tools, as well as information from Google’s Safe Browsing service, to warn users about potential phishing scams, malware or other dangerous sites.

Here's hoping this move from Snapchat will push Instagram to roll out the link adding and swipe up option to everyone not just verified profiles!

Your move Instagram, your move! 

Social Media Trends - When to jump in & when to hold back!

Snap Maps, Insta-stories, Facebook Live...just a few of the new social media changes that have happened in the last 12 months, and as a brand it can be very, very hard to know which you should get involved in and which should be left alone.

FOMO (fear of missing out) is not exclusive to individuals watching their mates have fun without them, in fact businesses left right and centre are jumping on social trend bandwagons so they don't feel left behind by competitors. Let me tell you now; not all trends fit all brands and not all brands fit all trends, so there is a time and place for jumping and a time for sitting back and waiting.

Digital trends pop up as often as fashion and foodie trends, some become a household name, while others are gone before the world even knows they existed. Due of the sheer number of these trends and the volatility of them, it is genuinely physically impossible for brands to react to every single one of them. However, there are a few that are a necessity in order to remain relevant with your audience. Herein lies the challenge; knowing the difference.  

The key words in the above sentence are 'your audience' - if you are unsure of your audience, differentiating between the trends you should and shouldn't spend time on becomes a minefield. If you find yourself struggling every time a new trend emerges, I strongly implore you to take some time out and really break down who your audience is, how they consume digital media and then begin again looking at social media and trends. 

So you are presented with a new social trend, this is what should happen next;

Weigh the value of the trend firstly in the amount of time and investment it will take to act on it. For example, is it a whole new platform, that needs strategy and research? Does it need establishing before you can fully embrace it? Are there niche intricacies that will add time onto team members? 

Or is it simply a trend within a platform? Such as snappy stop motion videos, a new hashtag, or style of content similar to insta-stories?

Once you have taken that into account, you can begin to make plans for how much time/money/consideration needs to be allocated and from there, what you need from the platform/trend. 

In the case of a trending hashtag for example, it can be beneficial to hop on the bandwagon and take the opportunity to get involved, if it is in keeping with your brand, ethos, product and audience. Hashtag Hijacking is a thing and it happens regularly, but has to be done in a very intelligent way! Not in the way that Entemann's sweets did it;

In July 2011, Entenmann’s told Twitter followers they should feel #NotGuilty about eating the brand’s low-calorie sweets.

The hashtag was already trending. But it wasn’t because of past Entenmann’s tweets. “Not guilty” was the verdict of the Casey Anthony trial, which revolved around the death of her two-year-old daughter.

The twittersphere largely didn’t appreciate the post. And social media reporters were quick to cover the story.

Entenmann’s deleted the tweet and apologised. The public relations team claimed ignorance, but the twittersphere can’t be certain if it was accidental.

It's imperative to research a hashtag before you, as a brand or individual, jumps into the conversation by using it. I wrote in more depth about this in my Hashtag 101 post. 

Before you get involved ask yourself these questions;

• Is it in line with our message/manifesto/brand?
• Are our customers or potential customers already engaging with it?
• How can we transform engagement on social media into real engagement with customers or potential customers
• What do you want from your involvement? Is it to be 'part of the crowd' or do you have a genuine opinion/reason for engaging?

Once you've asked yourself those questions, if it feels right to get involved then throw yourself into it, if not then be satisfied that with the speed of social media, there will be another opportunity imminently. 

Engagement about trending issues in your industry or customer concerns can establish your brand as a thought leader in the eyes of your consumers, however a misuse of this can have a severely detrimental affect on your business and how it is viewed by consumers.

Hopefully this has helped you work out how to tackle social media trends, however if you would like some more help you can of course contact me.

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