Month: May 2020

DERRY YouTube sensation Adam Beales last week handed out more than £1,000 on a spur of the moment decision to help those in need as the financial impact of the Covid-19 crisis deepens.

On Wednesday night Adam posted on Twitter that he wanted to support in some way those struggling.

Within a few hours he was sending money to his followers via PayPal as he responded to heart-rending messages from people in dire situations.

Known as Adam B online, the 20-year-old star has amassed more than 2.7 million subscribers, and his gesture even prompted others to help out too.

“I just had a feeling of helping out that night and so posted out a tweet asking if anyone was struggling and needed extra help during this time,” he said. “It was just a spontaneous thing.

“The more and more people who came forward with their struggles, it was hard not to help. I kept working through all the messages until my phone battery literally died that night.”

From appearing on children’s TV to flying first class across the globe the full time YouTuber has carved out a unique career for himself online.

The Wednesday night gesture helped people with their rent, utility bills, single mothers struggling, and some who just wanted a little to treat them and their loved ones.

He posted his tweet at 10:45, simply saying “I wanna help a few people out, who’s struggling atm? Let me know and send me your PayPal”.

Replies quickly flooded in, some moving him to tears.

And, his gesture drew people to commend him on his generosity, one user said: “You’re so sweet, loving, kind human being”, and another simply called him “an angel”.

Apart from some jokey responses Adam’s aim was to help those finding it tough without income.

“I wanted to help people who were especially struggling during this time so anyone who replied to the post, usually gave a story about what’s going on in their lives at the moment,” he said.

“It was once again a reminder of how lucky I am. Whenever you see people and families be torn apart by this pandemic, it’s very hard to ignore. My deepest love goes out to all of whom are affected.”

As well as his Youtube channel Adam has more than 500,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tik Tok, where his witty antics and pranks have attracted growing numbers of followers.

He describes himself on his Facebook profile as “a not so funny person trying to be funny”.

But he recognises that his online success has left him in a better position than most during the pandemic.

“I do feel very fortunate that me and my family haven’t been too affected by what’s going on in the world at the moment,” Adam explained. “Of course, with YouTube, we are just seeing everyday as it passes by to see if there are any changes but as of yet, we are incredibly lucky to be in the position to help others out and it is always such a good feeling, being able to help and surprise others.

“And the support from others was a clear indication that you can help people who are in need with the smallest gestures.”

Those gestures reminded Adam of the positivity in these dark times

“There were no ulterior motives behind my reasoning that night,” he said. “I wanted to help people out, so I did just that. But what really warmed my heart was seeing other people actually send money to the people who I didn’t get a chance to get back to.

“The comments under those tweets were almost like a little community of everyone helping everyone. It made me very emotional and reminded me that the Internet can be a good place.”

The decision to post on Twitter was so he could reach out quickly.

“Twitter is a handy platform because you can get immediate response from people and personally interact with them in a way that YouTube or Instagram doesn’t support.

“It’s a great way to get instant communication between myself and people who watch my videos.” 

His initiative showed Adam that there is a positive message that can be sent.

“It proved to me that night how special community spirit truly is. We’re all fighting this silent killer together. We’ll battle through it together. And we’ll come out on the other side together.”

On his Youtube channel Adam describes what he does that attracts so many subscribers.

“You can catch me doing pranks, challenges, vlogs, Q&A’s, life hacks, gaming, eating food and so much more!”

You can see Adam’s tweet at twitter.com/Adam_byt and check out his videos on his YouTube channel Adam B.

On March 17, Coleraine and District Motor Club announced the 2020 fonaCAB and Nicholl Oils North West 200, scheduled for May 10-16, would be postponed following the government’s introduction of restrictions to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Since March the organisers of the NW200 have been in consultation with all of the relevant agencies to explore the possibility of running the event at a later date during 2020. We have corresponded with officials from the N.I. Executive as well as Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council plus all of the NW200’s stakeholders, considering every option available to us should there be a suitable window of opportunity.

Despite these efforts, it is now obvious the disruption and uncertainty the virus will continue to place on all of our lives and activities in the coming months will make it impossible to deliver the extensive planning required to run an event on the scale of the North West 200.  That being the case, Coleraine and District Motor Club have taken the unfortunate but responsible and necessary decision to cancel the 2020 races. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause for our competitors, volunteers and race fans.

A provisional date for the 2021 fonaCAB and Nicholl Oils NW200 Race Week Festival has already been set for 9^th to 15^th May. We hope everyone stays safe and well so we can return to an even bigger and better North West 200 12 months from now.

Whilst working with influencers is not a new concept in marketing, working with digital influencers on platforms such as Instagram is still very much unchartered territory for a lot of small businesses.

And although it’s easy to get it wrong and waste a lot of time and money on “fake” accounts or the wrong type of influencers – getting it right could be the secret to success for your company.

Leanne Gannon, the Founder of She & Co Digital, is a specialist in social media and influencer marketing. If you have spent any time on social media, it is likely that you will have been exposed to influencer marketing, but what is it, how does it work, and what are the regulations surrounding it that you need to be aware of?

Leanne explained all of this and more during her Lunchtime Learning session facilitated by the Cathedral Quarter BID (Business Improvement District):

What is influencer marketing?

Leanne explained: “Influencer marketing is using someone else’s influence or relationship with an audience to promote your product or service. It can be tricky to do well, but if done well it can be very effective.”

Influencers can be found on almost all social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, through their own personal blogs, and even on Snapchat. While they are most commonly associated with the beauty and fashion industries, almost all sectors will have influencers out there – from hobbyists to those who do it professionally.

During her session Leanne advised that the key to a great influencer is authenticity: “Most of the successful influencer marketing campaigns encourage the creation of content that is original and/or adds value for the audience. Today, more than ever, consumers look to fellow consumers to inform their purchase decisions. Influencer marketing, when it is authentic and trustworthy, increases a brand’s credibility.”

While influencer marketing is certainly not new, it is something we are likely to see increasing going forward. The industry is set to reach a whopping $10 billion by 2020, with more and more brands increasing their influencer marketing spend.

What does an influencer marketing strategy look like?

• Research thoroughly – investigate the influencers that are popular for your industry, as well as the smaller ‘micro’ influencers – make a list of who you would like to approach that have authentic content and engage regularly with their audiences.
• Set your campaign goals – do you want to increase brand awareness or increase conversions? This will impact the type of advertising you do and likely your budget.
• Set a budget – consider the return on investment that you would like from your campaign, as well as the lifetime value of a potential customer.
• Target the right influencers for your brand – do you want one bigger influencer, or multiple smaller influencers? Do you want to exchange (‘gift’) free product to micro influencers in exchange for an honest review?
• Use tools to your advantage – ask influencers to provide evidence of their engagement levels and the impressions, clicks and uptake numbers from their previous collaborations. Heepsy is a useful online tool you can use to check out their stats.
• Review and analyse the results – see what worked well and what didn’t work so well, and use the information to inform future campaigns.

Beware of Regulations

“As influencer marketing has grown in popularity, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – and in the Republic of Ireland the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) – have released guidelines on how these adverts should be disclosed” said Leanne, adding: “There are rules regarding how these adverts are tagged, such as using #advert, #gifted, or #sponsored. Free downloads are available from their respective websites, so make sure you are aware of how to disclose properly and that any influencers you work with follow the rules.”

The final takeaway message is to be clear in your expectations when working with influencers, especially smaller influencers who may not have undertaken much advertising work before.

Clearly state how many posts you will get, check that captions are spelt correctly, and that any necessary hashtags are used and spelt correctly. If undertaking paid-for advertising, pay a percentage up-front and the balance upon completion of the work. Your aim should be to create a mutually beneficial relationship so you can continue to work with those who produce positive outcomes for your company.

Want to hear even more top tips about working with influencers to market your business? Check out the full recording of his workshop on the Cathedral Quarter website – https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/whats-on/lunchtime–learning–working-with-influencers

To see more Lunchtime Learning sessions go to https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/lunchtime-learning

Do you need help creating content for your business?

At Excalibur Press we have a team of over 12 writers in a variety of specialisms writing blogs, website content and more for clients on a daily basis. Maybe this is just one thing we could help you with – even just to get you started.

If you would like to speak to a content creator or would like more information about our rates and process just call 07305354209 or email team@excaliburpress.co.uk

Find out more about Excalibur Press at https://excaliburpress.co.uk

With four out of five business to business successes on social media directly attributable to LinkedIn it’s no wonder why companies across Northern Ireland are using their time in lockdown to master the platform.

This Thursday (May 7, 3pm) Tina Calder from Excalibur Press and The Content Club will draw on her own experiences with the platform to help attendees of Supercharge Your LinkedIn With Great Content tackle the basics of their profile optimisation as well as helping them learn how to create great content.

The 90-minute webinar will help to unlock some of the secrets of the popular b2b social platform and is packed full of top tips, tricks, tools and techniques to help you go it alone and do it yourself.

Speaking of what attendees should expect publicist and content creator Tina said: “Supercharge Your LinkedIn With Great Content will go over some of the basics of optimising your profile, however, what we will focus on more is the content, what should you share, how do you share, where do you find it and how can you use it to maximise your opportunities, get sales leads and raise the profile of yourself, your brand and/or your business.”

Supercharge Your LinkedIn is part of a series of free webinars each week by Tina and Excalibur Press helping businesses look at a variety of elements of their digital transformation during the Covid-19 crisis.

“As a result of the Covid-19 crisis more and more of our clients at Excalibur Press are asking us to help them with their digital transformation.

“We had already launched a plan for a range of training sessions and masterclasses across Northern Ireland for 2020 that had to be scrapped so we thought the best thing to do would be to move them all online.

“However, I wanted to be able to bring value to people whilst raising profile for our company – that’s when I decided to make the webinars free of charge for anyone to attend.

“We have everything from Setting Up Your First Webinar and Turning Your Training Into An Online Course to Podcasting, Blogging For Business and something coming up to help business owners with their Thought Leadership strategy.

“The plan is to have around six per month with at least two of them being newly created sessions.”

Beginning at 3pm on Thursday May 7 places are still available to book for the Supercharge Your LinkedIn slide/video-based session.

“LinkedIn has sometimes been forgotten about amidst the array of social media platforms,” said Tina, adding: “But the evidence is that businesses seek out and receive work through it.
“This webinar has been created to give you the tips and tricks to make LinkedIn work for you.”

The slide/video-based webinar cover the basics of setting up a LinkedIn profile, types of content, using hashtags effectively, reading metrics, best practices, what content people are looking for, how to stand out from the crowd, the importance of storytelling, effective content, useful tips on headlines and subject titles and using LinkedIn to supercharge your thought leadership strategy.

“We’ve set aside an hour and a half for this webinar which will help you start thinking about what you need in order to get LinkedIn working for you,” said Tina.

“There will be an opportunity to ask questions throughout.”

Registration is available on Eventbrite.co.uk or by going to https://bit.ly/3floK1r

To see what other sessions are coming up log on to excaliburpress.co.uk/events

About Tina

Northern Ireland’s Content Queen, Tina Calder is a journalist and commentator of 20 years, a publicist of 12 and a multi-platform media professional. The Belfast entrepreneur owns publicity management agency Excalibur Press based in the city’s Cathedral Quarter.

From travelling across the UK and Ireland as a showbiz reporter, publicist and tour manager to becoming an award winning business journalist, Tina uses her varied and colourful career experiences to deliver bespoke publicity and communications strategies.

To put it bluntly she’ll show you how to get stuff done!