This week, we were taken by surprise as Instagram launched their brand new ‘Reels’ feature.

Podcasts are one of the most popular forms of media and entertainment available today. As it currently stands, 7.1 million people listen to podcasts each week in the UK – an increase of 24% over the past year and more than double over the past five years.

We can’t quite believe we’re saying this, but today marks our 24^th anniversary as a business.

Social media is an ever-growing fixture in our lives – we spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes per day clicking through our favourite apps, and use them to connect with our friends, read the news and find out about current affairs, pop culture and, well, everything else.

"Leaders Create Leaders” is one of The Roland Dransfield Way’s 15 values - values that keep us focused on how we want to conduct business and ourselves. This particular value reminds us that anybody, at any level of seniority or experience, has the ability to lead - and that a great leader creates other leaders throughout their team.

It goes without saying that during these incredibly trying times, many of us have been focused primarily on doing all we can to get ourselves and our families through each day. But as we continue navigating this ‘new normal’, Mancunians are finding new ways to display their renowned community spirit by helping the less fortunate.

Two months ago today, the Roland Dransfield team watched the Government’s Coronavirus press conference at 5pm in silence. When it finished we all looked at each other blankly. Everyone’s always got something to say in our office – it’s a competition to get the best line out all the time, but nobody uttered a word. It hit us right then that this was serious – that things were going to change very dramatically, very quickly.

Even when you have a lot of time to prepare, coming up with new strategies to win business, engage with your audience and create shareable content can be a huge challenge.

The most important thing in the world right now is supporting our NHS. People are putting their lives on the line daily to make sure we get the chance to live. For this reason, Roland Dransfield is proud to partner with the NHS and Celebrity eSports on the NHS Charities Together Cup, in association with Lynx and PlayStation.

At this moment in time, many of us are feeling cut off.

Manchester-headquartered PR agency Roland Dransfield has launched a new initiative to keep the city’s creative industry thriving in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Manchester-headquartered PR agency Roland Dransfield has launched a new podcast series, titled ‘We Built This City’.

In these unprecedented times, it’s more important than ever to remain visible and engaged online. With the majority of the population now working from home and being subject to the household, you are likely to have a lot of eyes on the content you produce.

J.K Rowling once said, ‘We are only as strong as we are united and as weak as we are divided’. This current crisis is affecting us all, both individually and collectively, but it has also revealed that we are surrounded by incredible, dedicated people who are ready to help one another and determined to not let this situation damage our city and our businesses.

In a constantly changing media landscape, it’s more important than ever that public relations and marketing professionals stay on top of their game and keep up to date with current trends and industry news.

When planning an event for ourselves or a client, the most important thing to consider is ‘WHY’ – why are we running the event?

A new social media platform has been invading the digital world for the last few months, and it’s showing no signs of abating. TikTok is a cultural reset of a massive magnitude.

In a constantly changing media landscape, it’s more important than ever that public relations and marketing professionals stay on top of their game and keep up-to-date with current trends and industry news.

We’ve always thought the Monday of MIPIM was a bit of a missed opportunity - it’s the perfect time to meet new people, see a new country and make some incredible memories.

It’s with great pleasure that we announce we’ve been shortlisted for three awards at this year’s PR Moment Awards.

This week we got up early and braved Storm Dennis to attend an Introduction to Podcasting session with Vic Elizabeth Turnbull, Founder and CEO of MIC Media (@SilentVic on Twitter).

This month our CEO and Founder, Lisa Morton, took to the stage at Manchester’s Bulletproof Agency Network event to discuss client retention and agency life.

Because working with each other simply isn’t enough, we thought we’d it would be fun to have some quick-fire interviews in the office – pick a topic, pick a person and go!

In the last year social media has amassed even more users and its influence is at an all-time high - recent statistics concluded that in 2019 around 45% of the planet are on some form of social media.

Over the years we have seen a lot of PR disasters, from the Doritos campaign suggesting women should have ‘daintier Doritos’ in order to be more ladylike, to the complete disaster of the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Max advert (we don’t even want to talk about it).

At Roland Dransfield we know a good PR campaign when we see one. 2019 has seen some outstanding campaigns from brands that have captivated millions, so as the year comes to a close, we’ve rounded up a selection of our favourites.

The Manchester-headquartered PR and communications agency has also announced a restructure which sees Lisa Morton become CEO and Alex Bell named COO

It goes without saying that social media now plays an integral part to the marketing strategy of many businesses. Through likes and shares, companies can get the exposure not many emails or hard copy headlines can get.

Roland Dransfield’s most recent successes were celebrated on the big stage last week as we were awarded PR Agency of the Year at the MPA Awards for the second year running!

When it comes to brand marketing there are plenty of platforms to make use of, and Reddit and Snapchat’s new collaboration is another exciting new gateway for coverage.

This week we were lucky enough to bring Anna into Roland Dransfield for a bit of work experience. Anna’s in the throes of university, working part time and socialising the rest – she falls right into the target audience of many of our clients.

Ambient Advertising refers to the placement of ads on unusual objects or in unusual places, where you wouldn't usually expect to find them. The concept has evolved because it has a lasting impact on the minds of consumers, making it arguably more effective than a conventional ad.

Let’s face it, social media is saturated. It’s saturated with everything from generic business posts to cat videos (which is arguably not a bad thing). For this reason, however, it’s never been more important to create scroll stopping content for your own social media accounts – finding a way to be seen amongst all the noise is imperative for business growth.

Did you know that the average time spent on a task at work till moving on to something else is just 11 minutes?

We are proud to partner with Chester Racecourse to launch PARADE, its new luxury dining concept.

Let’s be real, we all love Instagram. There’s nothing quite like the pride of taking a gorgeous photo – whether it’s a beautiful, scenic lakeside scene or your face – and seeing the likes roll in.

In the world of PR, crises are inevitable but there are ways you can counter these problems to ensure that you come out on top.

Over the years, Instagram became an essential business tool to the point that almost every single business owns an account.

Our own Lisa Morton put her best foot forward on 11 May to dance the Paso Doble for Strictly stars Denise van Outen and Gethin Jones, and a live audience of Strictly fans at the Hilton Hotel Manchester – all in aid of Seashell Trust.

Lisa wants to thank everyone personally for helping her raise more than £3,500 in sponsorship, contributing to a fantastic total of more than £130k raised on the night.

In some shock news last week, Lush has announced that they will be closing down all of their UK social media platforms.

As MIPIM 2019 approaches, it’s about time you got your social media plan of action in place in order to enhance your exposure and maximize your new business opportunities.

In just two weeks’ time MIPIM 2019 will be getting underway, seeing the Manchester Pavilion turn into a hive of property announcements, thoughtful debates and discussions surrounding the infrastructural future of our city.

Say the word networking and people tend to recoil in horror… At best it sounds tedious, and at worst, sends a shiver down the spine at the thought of having to ‘work a room’ full of strangers. You can bet that if you’re feeling anxious about getting out there at a networking event, however, others will be too.

Our senior account manager and property PR expert Maria Murphy is heading to MIPIM for the first time this year. Read her thoughts on what she’s hoping to get from the experience.

MIPIM veteran Alex Bell, Roland Dransfield’s head of media, shares his thoughts on what’s changed and what he’s looking forward to seeing this year.

Manchester-based communications agency Roland Dransfield has appointed Alison Owen as Account Director.

Roland Dransfield has been appointed to handle PR for the famous, original boutique fitness studio from LA; Barry’s Bootcamp, at its new Manchester home.

As Martin Luther King Day – an American holiday celebrating the life of legendary social activist Martin Luther King - passes for another year, a quote that he was famous for (no, not ‘I have a dream’), is cropping up across social media at a rate of knots. 

Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a massive shift in brand advertising. Priorities have changed from selling in the key USPs of the company – whether it’s the precision of a Gillette razor blade or the quality of Nike trainers – to championing societal issues.

Whilst November is normally the key month to push your Christmas messaging and campaigns, some brands took the time to highlight important issues, orchestrate change and make people laugh.

Merry Christmas!!

The Roland Dransfield team has been celebrating this week after being named PR & Marketing Agency of the Year at the City of Manchester Business Awards.

The realisation that someone is buying their followers and likes usually results in an immediate unfollow. It’s disingenuous and highlights a company’s failings of not being able to hold and retain honest customers.

Fallen behind with your Christmas marketing? It happens to the best of us, but it’s important to ensure that even if you’ve failed to plan, you still have some fail-safe ways to show your customers some love this season.

Last week we were absolutely delighted to attend the MPA Awards, where we scooped up two incredible wins.

Roland Dransfield has added four new recruits to its staff roster and moved into brand new offices to house its growing team.

It’s the news that all of us have been waiting for. At least, all of us who work within social media. Twitter has finally announced that all emojis will have the same character length. Rejoice!

Vincent Kompany and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham have teamed up to launch an unprecedented campaign that will tackle rough sleeping in their city-region.

One of the best ways to get your brand some great exposure is through a well-executed marketing campaign. Regardless of your industry, our increasingly online and digital world allows you the opportunity to market your product, sell your service, or amp up your brand awareness via some creative thinking!

Video marketing is going from strength to strength - it allows content creators to get a lot of information across to audiences in an engaging way. Video made up 73% of traffic in 2016 and will rise to 82% by 2021, meaning that if you’re not embracing video as part of your content marketing efforts you’re going to be falling behind.

PR & communications agency Roland Dransfield has taken advantage of the UK’s long, hot summer and notched up six new account wins while the country basked in the record-breaking sunshine.

This week Roland Dransfield scored a Best Sports Campaign shortlisting for the Northern Marketing Awards 2018.

Creating a closer connection between your property scheme and your target audience is something every developer hopes to achieve. A great way to accomplish this is through experiential marketing.

Marketing your brand is a full-time job and requires a full, experienced team to ensure fruitful and effective campaigns. So, why not offload some of your work onto someone who works specifically in the field you’re struggling in?

With inner city areas seeing an increasing rise in apartment prices, how are you expecting young professionals to be able to afford accommodation in your BtR scheme?

Throw away your pencil and paper… lets talk about the most up to date ways of creating content for a property scheme in 2018.

Ever wanted to start an Instagram page for your business but feel like you might fall at the first hurdle?

No matter what you sell, and how you sell it, social media is key for any business, particularly when it comes to growing it.

We’re delighted to announce that following an intensive application process, Roland Dransfield has been shortlisted for three MPA Awards.

As a property developer, your key aim is to entice people to enquire about your commercial offering and you’ll help to achieve that through online marketing.

This month it was announced that Manchester has officially been named the best city to be a landlord in the UK.

Roland Dransfield has been appointed by elite networking and events club The Manchester Sporting Club (MSC).

It is a given that, in today’s society, building your business’ online presence will kick start your journey to success and lead you well on your way to a thriving property scheme in a busy Manchester market.

In 2018 influencer marketing campaigns are firmly secured as the best way to reach your customers. With follower counts frequently in the 100,000s, Manchester influencers are the tool to focus on in your next campaign.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to touch base with your target audience – you can do it en masse, you can tailor your messaging to ensure you’re getting your key points across, and you can almost guarantee that everyone will see your email popping into their inbox (which is great for brand awareness).

The UK’s property industry is thriving, and where industries thrive, content follows suit. It can be a full-time job keeping up to date with property news, whether you work regionally or nationally, so we thought we’d compile a list of the three best UK property news sites to follow in 2018 - one's that aren't necessarily on the same scale as The Guardian.

Less than a month after getting shortlisted for the Prolific North Awards 2018, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for the national UK Content Awards 2018.

Unlike most social media platforms, LinkedIn is not primarily used as a form of entertainment. It’s to share business news, scheme updates, and provide helpful information that meets your end-goal.

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for the Prolific North Awards 2018, under the PR Agency of the Year category.

Roland Dransfield has been appointed by the Blackpool Pier Company to handle PR for the seaside resort’s illustrious North, South and Central Piers.

ROLAND Dransfield has been appointed by high-end fashion brand MANCUB to provide PR for the UK launch of the new fashion label.

In the wise words of everyone who works in the marketing sector – content is king.

Greater Manchester’s property sector is booming. Manchester has been named one of Europe’s fastest growing cities and demand for new property in and around the city has never been more evident.

In the Spring Statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond has appointed his first wave of funding to help roll out high-speed broadband across the UK in a bid to upgrade the country’s digital infrastructure. Greater Manchester is one of the key regions that will feel the benefit of this.

Gaining media coverage for your Manchester-based commercial property scheme is a key way to get your scheme noticed on a huge scale.

It’s safe to say the Manchester property market is booming. Every day we’re seeing more and more commercial and residential buildings gracing our skyline, vying for lettings in market that’s continuously saturated.

Manchester Life is the joint venture between Manchester Council and the Abu Dhabi United Group, who own Manchester City FC, which is driving forward the development of Ancoats, New Islington and east Manchester.

A MIPIM first, Manchester and London will be partnering on an event to close out the week.

Manchester has always been years ahead of its time regarding technology. Without the exceptional Mancunians that have paved the way, we mightn’t have the resources we have today – from Google to Network Rail.

Networking at any major event can be a daunting and intricate affair – and MIPIM 2018 will be no different. You’re going to be surrounded by people who are after the exact same leads and new business contacts as you, so you have to bring your A game.

We’re not quite sure how, but MIPIM 2018 is back next month. Now you may already be setting up your meetings, putting together pitches and deciding which conferences to attend – but have you selected what MIPIM essentials you’ll need on your trip?

It’s the month of love! As it’s Valentine’s Day, we wanted to let you know how to give your Manchester commercial property scheme all the love it deserves this year!

What a difference a year makes. Just one year ago, the MIPIM Manchester delegation was out in force with exciting and hopeful plans to change the way we provide accommodation in Manchester, do business and socialise.

Whilst social media can be incredibly powerful, getting a campaign wrong can ruin a company’s reputation in seconds. 2017 was full of marketing fails from companies who usually get it so right. We’ve picked our 5 worst marketing campaigns of the year.

The hashtag is one of the great phenomena of our decade.

Social media marketing has been a mainstay for businesses for over a decade now and has become a necessary component to a successful online marketing strategy.

You’re going to have aims and goals for your property scheme – whether they’re to fill spaces or really embed your scheme into its new city. One way to achieve these aims and goals is by utilising social media platforms like Instagram.

We’re delighted to say that our Director, Lisa Morton, has been crowned PR & Marketing Personality of the Year at Downtown in Business’ Mancoolian Awards, 2018.

Over the past decade, LinkedIn has become an essential personal branding tool.

In a recent report from The Guardian, Build to Rent (BtR) schemes haven’t come out with a huge amount of hope for 2018 growth.

2.07 billion. That’s how many people are on Facebook as of quarter three of 2017. That equates to a whole lot of posts being shared every day – 293,000 a minute, if you’re interested.

It’s important that you give your commercial or residential scheme the best chance of success, and having sought-after trophies in your back pocket to showcase your scheme in the best possible light is a great way to do that.

Whatever you do, the world is watching… and in the social world of 2017 it couldn’t be truer.

Regardless of whether your commercial property scheme is in development or on its way to being fully-let, a great way to generate interest and amass a target audience is through social media.

If there are two things we know for certain, it’s that the Christmas season is officially underway, and BtR schemes are more popular than ever.

Mixed-use schemes are growing in popularity, particularly across the North West. From Altair in Altrincham to Rochdale Riverside in Rochdale, you only have to take a look at property news to see the huge explosion of mixed-use schemes across our region.

It’s that time of the year when 2018’s big property events are being talked about and planned – particularly MIPIM 2018. The partners have already been announced and property leaders from across Manchester are deciding what they’re going to get out of this year’s event.

A fantastic way to get your brand name well known in Manchester is by getting influencers and advocates onboard.

One of the key ways to ensure you maintain a healthy flow of business in a city like Manchester is through connections.

Congratulations, you received planning permission, developed your scheme and now you’re officially a brand new member of the city. Hurrah! We’re sorry to break it to you though, as your work is definitely not over.

If you’re thinking of north shoring your company to Manchester or you’ve already made the move, it’s important to know exactly how to market your brand to get the most exposure possible in your brand new city.

If there are two things we can be certain of in 2017, it’s that we’re never going to be short of a new residential scheme in the city, and people still REALLY love video content.

Manchester is the UK’s hottest property right now. With the influx of businesses north shoring and leap shoring, as well as the huge digital growth of our city, there’s never been a more opportunistic time to move to Manchester and begin marketing your brand here.

It’s hard to remember living in a world where thoughts weren’t conveyed via the use of a hashtag.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the reasons why you should consider north shoring (or “leap shoring”) to the UK’s second city.

When planning an event for a client or for your own organisation, the most important thing to consider is the event’s purpose.  

When you put a lot of work into something, it can be disheartening to see it fail. A property scheme is not only a huge commercial investment, but it’s something that a developer, contractor or agent can take a huge personal investment in – you want to see your hard work pay off.

In this wonderful, online world that we’re currently inhabiting, content is constant. Whether you’re reading the news, watching a YouTube video or laughing at a tweet, you’re consuming content. It’s an unstoppable force.

Is your company online? We’d hope the answer to that is yes! With over 3.4bn internet users in 2016, it’s important to have an online social presence to really build your brand’s awareness. The best way to do this is by getting more followers on social media. 

Whether you’re developing your own build to rent (BtR) scheme or helping to manage one, the most important aspect should be getting it noticed. Getting people engaged with your scheme and drumming up interest are quintessential in its success.

Manchester-based PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has won a number of significant new retained accounts.

When writing a press release for any niche sector, it’s important to keep your audience in mind. For property journalists, the requirements for your press release totally depend on what type of development you’re covering.

We’re thrilled to have won the Small PR Agency of the Year award at the Prolific North Awards 2017.

Social media has become an unavoidable platform when looking at your marketing strategy. It allows your business and your stakeholders to interact with consumers and businesses like never before. With over a billion daily active users, you’re missing a massive opportunity to interact and grow your target audience.

Whether you have a huge library of content or simply post a couple of blog posts a month, there’s a strong chance you have copy that can be repurposed to give your site the exposure it deserves.

Video is becoming the most popular way we consume media online, and it's only set to grow. By the end of the year, Google has estimated that 87% of all web traffic will be video, meaning that you'll be falling behind your competition if you're not using it. Social media has accelerated this shift towards video marketing, with Facebook reporting over 100 million hours of video consumed per day in 2016.

Reputation management is a job that’s never done.

Another year, another BrightonSEO event. Throngs of SEO and content specialists from across the country congregated at the digital event of the year to gain insights into what’s ahead for the SEO world, and how to make the most of the tools we have at our disposal.

PR and marketing communications agency Roland Dransfield has announced a number of new client wins, following on from a successful visit to global property conference MIPIM.

Oh fake news, you nuisance. In 2016 and carrying on into 2017, fake news has been a huge talking point across the world.

Now that MIPIM, the property event of the year, has come and gone and you’ve had time to evaluate your time there, your effectiveness as an organisation, your preparation for the event and your presence both physically and socially, is there anything you would have done differently?

As the sun sets over Cannes and MIPIM for another year, our property PR team board their plane back to the UK and reflect on what has been one of the biggest and best conferences to date.

Yesterday, our Managing Director Lisa Morton (@lisam2301) and our Head of Media Alex Bell (@AWBell1985) caught up with Sir Howard Bernstein, Gary Neville, Rupert Goddard and Ian Simpson.

Public relations (PR) is the art of distributing information between a key individual or organisation, and a targeted audience through online, digital and media forums.

As MIPIM draws slowly closer, you’re going to want to have a social media plan to ensure you look relevant, attract attention from potential new contacts and can share your insights on the property event of the year.

Premier real estate event MIPIM is back again for another year, and with it come the most influential players from all sectors of the international property industry for four days of networking, learning and deal-making.

Spoiler – there’s no one size fits all approach. We know, we’re sorry.

PR and marketing communications agency Roland Dransfield has appointed Carolyn Lewis as online reputation manager to bolster its digital team. 

In the days before paid posts and advertising, the only way to be noticed in a content-driven world was through quality organic content with the hope that your followers would enjoy it and interact with it.

Social media management is a key aspect of your marketing strategy – it’s important to make sure that you have an active, relevant and results-driven social presence.

If there’s one thing that any company needs to be aware of, it’s their reputation. How you’re known and perceived within your industry is incredibly important for doing business.

It’s no secret that video is taking over the internet – it accounts for 74% of online consumption in 2017. A video is able to positively activate people’s emotional responses in a very small window of time, and as such they’re a great way to drum up business and get your brand name out to your intended audience.

Whether you’re trying to join the corporate world or you’re already a fully-fledged member, it’s important for your professional presence to be known – after all, social media dominates.

There’s nothing that stresses a company out more than having to handle a crisis in our increasingly social world. People don’t miss a beat in 2017.

One of the most iconic things about your website and brand are the images and visual identity that you choose to identify your company.

In June last year Instagram announced they would be offering a service for businesses – and rightly so. Created in 2010, the mobile photo and sharing app and social networking platform has over 500 million monthly active users and after hundreds of interviews with businesses the outcome was for the introduction of a business page.

If your company engages with external audiences, participates in media relations or could face a potential crisis then you need a spokesperson to respond to enquiries and represent the company.

New stories break on Twitter and reactions to those happen almost immediately. This is why it’s important for you to follow the right type of people.

Earlier this week Facebook officially began rolling out its new innovation - Facebook for Work. The new product offering is called Workplace by Facebook and has a fancy new logo and UX.

Facebook is confident that Workplace will work, but the biggest questions are, what are the benefits? And does your company need it?

It’s no surprise that companies who blog generate more traffic and more than half have won a customer through this activity. A blog that's updated regularly with interesting, relevant content attracts new and returning visitors.

You’re probably familiar with social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, but do you know the difference between personal profiles and company pages?

Manchester PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has appointed experienced account manager Alexis Darby to support company growth following a series of client wins.

Renowned Manchester music personality Clint Boon will DJ at city centre networking event Suits & Vinyl this month.

Social media is more than just a way of contacting your friends or sharing photos - it’s a tool for doing business.

When the majority of us (57.7 per cent) voted to leave the European Union in June, we had no idea the impact this would have on British politics.

Infographics are simply graphic visual representations of information, allowing us to present information quickly and clearly.

The use of visual information has certainly boomed over that past few years and infographics have grown in popularity, proving successful for many businesses of all shapes and sizes.

When deciding to embark on PR activity, it’s important to be able to identify what is and isn’t a good story. What does a strong news story look like and what should you avoid?

A successful launch event can be extremely effective in building up awareness of your business and lending it credibility, but can often involve a lot of effort on the part of the organiser.

Whether you’re launching a new scheme, product or building, you’ll want to make sure you put on a good show. So in this guide, we explore things you need to consider when organising the perfect launch event.

We're delighted to have been awarded Best PR & Marketing Agency of the year at the City of Manchester Business Awards (COMBA) last night.

When companies launch their PR activity, the first task is to set goals which will evaluate the success of the campaign. The key to accurately and efficiently measuring the success of PR depends on choosing the correct metric to correspond with the objective of the PR activity.

Roland Dransfield were delighted to attend the launch of Beech Holdings’ new city centre headquarters last week.

A successful consultation event is the linchpin to any public engagement strategy regarding a planning application. A key tool in your community engagement arsenal, a consultation event gives stakeholders an opportunity to be part of the decision making processes, and provides the developer with a great way to showcase their plans and gather direct feedback.

Here are Roland Dransfield’s five top tips to make your consultation event a success.

Last week, we reported on what we learned from one of the UK’s finest search, analytics and social conferences, SAScon. Amongst a whole host of industry experts, one session that called to me was Laura Thomas’s (Head of Online Display at MediaCom) “Paid Social and the Quest for Creativity” talk, where she explored what it means to be creative and how technology is influencing us.

As part of the digital team, I’m always looking at new ways to push our team to be more creative and the thought that technology is empowering us to do so really interested me. So I delved in deeper to what this means for us and the industry.

RDPR's digital team was privileged to attend SAScon 2016 last week (June 17-18th).

For those of you who didn't manage to make it, we've put together some key points that we gleaned from some of the fantastic search and social speakers in their fascinating presentations.

Jam-packed with industry experts and insights, SAScon is billed as one of the UK's finest search, analytics and social conferences – and it certainly didn't disappoint.

So without further ado (and in no particular order), here’s twelve lessons we took away from the tech-filled two-day event:

RDPR’s digital team were delighted to attend SAScon 2016, held at MMU Business school last week.

Still revelling from some of the fantastic sessions and presentations on day one, we were excited to see what day two had in store for us.

A recurring theme of SAScon yesterday was the importance of understanding your customers' behaviour, knowing which platforms they use and the best tools to reach them.

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks, so it was only a matter of time until they developed an offering for businesses – after all, 50% of Instagram’s 450 million monthly active users follow a brand, and 60% learn of a brand or service through the app.

The Mail Online recently reported that a school spent £6,500 on Public Relations and legal teams to suppress rumours about a major playground brawl.

PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield has announced a number of new client wins.

The Manchester-based company has out-pitched a number of agencies to successfully win significant accounts across a number of specialist sectors.

Doing PR within the property sector comes with a host of unique challenges and the dawn of digital has certainly had an impact on the way we work.  But what does this mean for successfully launching your new scheme to the market?

In this guide, we explore how a PR and social strategy is crucial to a successful lettings strategy whilst at the same time building a positive reputation for your property and your organisation.

Social Media is now more reliable for feedback than the traditional forms. It encourages direct, honest and frank comment from customers – unfortunately, these aren't always going to be positive.

It’s not always clear what the best course of action is when receiving negative comments and many managers today don’t know how to react appropriately or effectively.

Instead of ignoring these messages which could damage your brand, here are a few tips to help you manage negative posts on social media.

Prominent figures gathered to discuss Manchester’s instant and ongoing response to the IRA bomb that rocked the city centre 20 years ago.

The event, sponsored by Roland Dransfield, focused on major regeneration programmes that have since shaped the city, as well as people’s constant willingness to ‘make Manchester better’.

Twitter is consistently being promoted as the must-have social media platform for any business and there has been multiple success stories as to how Twitter has proven an unrivalled tool for brands.

It acts as a great way of keeping up with the latest news and trends and has essential turned into a competitive weapon. In this guide, we've compiled the main benefits of Twitter, with some comparisons to its main competitor Facebook.

You may have already read our guide on why your business should use GIFs on social media but for those of you who missed it, let’s take a quick recap:

GIFs (or Graphics Interchange Format) are basically a series of images played in sequence, like a flipbook.

While they’re not always suitable for every type of content, GIFs can be used to liven up posts, drive home a point and add a level of richness and media to otherwise dry content. It also helps you to stand out on social media, adding moving images can really catch the eyes of consumers when they appear in their social feeds.

So now you know ‘why’, let’s delve into the ‘how’.

In this guide, we take you through an easy step-by-step approach to creating GIFs and more importantly – how to share them.

The social media phenomenon has rapidly turned into a key part of the modern marketing mix. A flexible presence on not only Facebook and Twitter but other platforms, is a must for any business. What better proof than 1.04 billion daily active users on Facebook and over 1.3 billion registered accounts on Twitter?

We are delighted to be sponsoring Insider's 20 years after the bomb breakfast on Tuesday 17th May, which celebrates the amazing transformation of Manchester since the IRA bomb 20 years ago.

News is simply defined as, "newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events.”

In this guide, we layout five notable areas of importance when discussing whether or not a news story will be scooped up by the press. Ideally, a great news story should typically embody at least two of these when competing for publication.

When your website is live on the internet, every update you make contributes to your interactions with visitors, customers and search engines. A static website without updates is essentially a dead entity, which will go unnoticed in the scope of the world wide web. 

On Monday, Twitter celebrated its 10^th Birthday. In that time Twitter has gone from a micro blogging platform based around SMS messages, to one of the largest social networks in the world.

In the 10 years it’s been around, Twitter has amassed a user base of over 320 million people sending in excess of 500 million tweets per day! The most followed people are celebrities on Twitter, the top of which being Katy Perry, with a mind-boggling 85 million followers!

We sent our Head of Media Alex Bell to Cannes for the week to cover the MIPIM global property conference.

In between dining on yachts and stand sessions he reported plenty of MIPIM news.

We're ecstatic to have been shortlisted for Small Integrated Agency in the 2016 Prolific North Awards.

We're delighted to announce two major new client wins.

Greater Manchester was mentioned a handful of times during George Osborne’s hour long address. As such, we reached out to our clients to see what they had to say about the announcements for the North West.

Bilfinger GVA's Chris Cheap reflects on a memorable MIPIM 2016

Ongoing innovative collaboration along Corridor Manchester will help propel the city above others - both in the UK and Europe.

That's the opinion of Rupert Goddard, partner at architect Sheppard Robson, who was speaking from global property conference MIPIM which is held in Cannes.

Once again, MIPIM is very much alive and buzzing. 

This year's global property conference is at the halfway point as we speak - and hasn't disappointed so far. 

There has been around £6 billion of transactions in the Northern Powerhouse area in less than two years. 

That's according to Bilfinger GVA Regional Senior Director Mark Rawstron, who also said he would be hugely disappointed if investment activity couldn't be doubled within a very short period of time, as economic activity feeds through the regions.

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format – think of them as a series of images played in sequence, like a flipbook. GIFs have been around since 1987, but they’ve made a humble comeback and now feature heavily on social media. The fact is, more and more brands are getting on board with them – and so should you.

The most influential, international property players will be once again dusting off their passports to attend the biggest annual property conference, MIPIM at Palais des Festivals, Cannes next week (15-18 March 2016).

Breakfast events, meetings and dinners are shoehorned into the four day event, with the objective of casting the net further to make new relationships and solidifying existing relationships.

In this guide, we'll explain why using social media is a must at MIPIM, if you want to grow your business and offer some ideas that'll help you be part of the #MIPIM2016 conversation.

The transition from traditional marketing to inbound marks a paradigm shift in the business world and it’s therefore easy to understand why many property companies fall foul of some of these common pitfalls.

To help you sidestep these, below we’ve looked at some of the most typical mistakes made by newcomers and the best ways to prevent or fix such situations.