social media Archives - mcsquare marketing limited

9 Steps To Secure Your LinkedIn Business Relationships

We all worry about backing up our PC or Mac but what about your LinkedIn data?

What if for any reason you lose access to your account?

Imagine all those years of building up your network of amazing connections and all the articles and posts you spent hours creating. All gone!!!

So here’s my #mc2valuebomb to save you that stress!

BACK UP YOUR LINKEDIN DATA TODAY!

It’s actually easy to do too. So follow these 9 steps to secure your LinkedIn business relationships and have peace of mind that all your hard work will be saved! + I have also given you some more ways to enhance your online credibility even further!

1. Go to your “Privacy and Settings” section

2. Go to the “Privacy” tab and find the bit saying “How LinkedIn Uses your Data”

3. Here you can just click on “Getting a copy of your data”

4. You can choose to download everything or specific aspects eg just contacts. Choosing everything will take longer, but don’t worry it won’t literally be buffering and downloading.

5. You actually get sent a Zip file with your data to the email address you have registered.

6. Now “Extract all files” and save each one in a folder on your server, pc or Mac

7. You can now consider adding your contacts information to your CRM system, but remember don’t just send emails to everyone and spam them. Think GDPR too!

8. Look through your articles and posts and maybe Re purpose articles / posts / content on other channels, as long as its still relevant and gives up to date information.

9. You could turn your written content into short video clips, vlogs or stories

Was this information helpful?

Please feel free to add your comment and tag someone you think could also benefit from knowing about this. Oh and feel free to share this article if you wish. Thank you

10 Things Your Business Can Learn From Star Wars

By Zaf Sedat

USING THE FORCE

Every year on the 4th of May, fans worldwide celebrate Star Wars Day, with the pun ‘May the fourth be with you’ coming from the successful catchphrase from the series.

You may have never considered it, but business and Star Wars are similar in many ways.

If you think about it, you can see the Rebel Alliance as a small business in a world where the larger corporations rule. The Empire has power and resources while the Alliance has to depend on other things. As we start a new business most of us have only ourselves to depend on and we don’t have a lot of resources or power.

Here are some of the things start-ups and companies can learn from the Star Wars universe.

Believe in yourself

Star Wars fans out there will remember when Luke Skywalker was in the murky swamp with Yoda and he struggled with accepting that he had the Force within him. As long as he didn’t truly believe in himself, he couldn’t succeed.

The same goes for you and your start-up. You have to believe you have the Force, the power to start a business and to make a difference.

Luke was raised by kind people, but he didn’t know who he was and what his potential was and the same goes for a lot of us. We meander about in life not knowing truly who we are and what we are able to achieve.

But when we start believing in ourselves great things can happen. As with Luke when he lifted the X-Wing out of the swamp.

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Luke Skywalker is emotional but “the force is strong.”

The Emperor was clever but didn’t understand the power of paternal love.

Princess Leia is clever but sometimes reckless.

When we start a business, it is wise to evaluate where your strengths lie. Sometimes it might take a while to truly understand yourself but when we do it will help us in our start-ups or new business by teaching us how to avoid mistakes. The Galactic Empire saw only their own strengths and not their weaknesses and, in the end, they were defeated.

Don’t join the dark side

Celebrate uniqueness

Customers, clients and employees bring their own skill to the business. To grow a business, we need to accept and celebrate this.

Don’t build a Death Star!!

It’s vital to be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances. You should always consider alternatives to your course of action and develop multiple plans for achieving particular goals in case your plans don’t pan out. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If an approach doesn’t seem to work, change direction.

Accept failure and learn from your mistakes

What did everybody learn from Darth Vader’s punishment of Admiral Ozzel? No one will ever give any suggestions and will be afraid of telling the leader anything for fear of making a mistake. And also, that if your superior fails, you will be promoted.

Have clear vision for your goal

If you know what your goal is, you will be able to inspire others to join you. The goals of the Rebel Alliance were simple, powerful and straightforward: Bring down the Galactic Empire, restore the Republic, and give people back their individual freedoms. How clear are yours?

Just do it!

Yoda says it better than anyone. “Do. Or do not. There is no Try.”

We often say; I will try. But as Yoda says maybe there is no try. Maybe we should just do it or not do it. Instead of using energy for countless tries we should just go ahead and do it, regardless of whether we are sure we are capable. Sometimes, I get the feeling we use the expression “I will try” as an excuse to not do our best. When we just go ahead and do it, we will have the opportunity to either succeed or fail. If we succeed, we will be joyous and if we fail, we will learn from our mistakes.

Use the Force

Believe all humans carry a Force inside. This Force is what keeps us going when things are tough. To start a new business is not easy and you will have more than one moment when you wonder if this ever will work. You will have moments when you consider quitting what you have started.

When you feel like this, you should reach inside yourself and use your Force to keep going.

Online Hospitality Reputation Management

For many hospitality professionals, the possibility of negative reviews is of great concern. Because of this, many still shy away from having a presence on review sites.

However, now, more than ever before, people make decisions on which hotels to book or restaurants and bars to try out based on recommendations and online reviews, with 90% of consumers saying they read online reviews before visiting a business. If your establishment does not have a presence on these review sites or you are not properly managing your reputation online, you risk losing bookings to your competitors.

Why Online Reputation Management Is Important

Customer Reviews Sites are the norm

This is true of not only hospitality but of most industries where consumers are making decisions on the purchase of goods and services. Review sites are omnipresent. The likes of Amazon, Trustpilot, Which?, Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor are popular and have become an integral part a consumers’ decision-making process, with 67% of purchasing decisions being influenced by online reviews.

Customers hold the power

Customers are spoilt for choice, and the influence of social media and online review sites means customers hold the power. Smartphones and tablets have made this information accessible at the push of a button. How you manage your reputation online and react to online review s play a major role in attracting guests to your establishment. 30% of consumers name responding to reviews as key when judging a local business

Know what your customers are saying about you

Online reviews are a great way to get feedback from customers and to find out how you are performing. Many guests feel more comfortable leaving an anonymous review as opposed to doing so face-to-face. Knowing what your guests are saying is an opportunity to make improvements to areas or add elements to your service offer that may be lacking.

How to Improve Your Hospitality Business’ Reputation Online

Make sure you create a solid online reputation strategy to help you and your team manage reviews.

Actively ask for reviews

As mentioned above, review sites are not only omnipresent, showing up at the top of a Google search, but they are integral in a consumer’s decision-making process.

Set up a professional looking up-to-date page on the review sites that are most relevant to your venue type, and the encourage guests to leave feedback there. Use your social media, website and offline

Keep an eye out

Closely monitoring customer feedback about your brand on review sites and on your own online platforms (website/social media pages) should be an integral part of your daily marketing/social media tasks. Knowing what is working/what customers are happy about and emphasise this in your marketing efforts. Also, know where you fall short and show customers you are listening and how you are making improvements. Search for reputable online brand tracking tool to make brand monitoring easier.

Respond quickly to negative reviews

Ignoring negative reviews will not make them go away.

Online reviews are no less important than face-to-face feedback. You wouldn’t (hopefully) ignore a customer’s complaint while they’re in your venue, so why do so when the complaint is made online? What’s more, while an onsite complaint can be contained and kept between you and your customer, a Tweet, Yelp review or Facebook comment can be seen by a global audience.

Respond professionally always and try to take it offline

While most consumers are genuine about their experiences, there will always be the odd one who is difficult, unreasonable or simply – for whatever reason – wants to harm your business by leaving a fake review. While the temptation may be to respond angrily, the best response is a professional one. Remember – people are watching. Always try to move the issue offline or away from public viewing. Encourage the complainant to inbox or DM you their contact details

Your rating and reputation online play a huge part in determining whether or not customers will pick you over your competition. They can’t be avoided so make sure you are in control of managing both.

Our team is here to advise you, so contact us for more information on how to optimise your online hospitality reputation management and to help you get MORE BOOKINGS and HAPPIER CUSTOMERS.

Join our Hospitality Social Media Made Easy Facebook group to get regular advice and tips and to ask us any questions about hospitality social media marketing.

6 reasons you need social media marketing for your hospitality business

You’re aware that many businesses in your sector have jumped on the social media marketing bandwagon and are using it as part of their marketing strategy. You see them posting pretty photos of their guests, food, and facilities. You’ve probably set up your own Facebook page which you half-heartedly post to every few weeks, but you’re still not convinced that it could trump traditional advertising you’ve been using for years and should be taken seriously. You’re scratching your head as to why you should bother investing any time and resources in it.

If you’re not taking social media marketing for your hospitality business seriously, here’s why you should:

1. More visibility

Daily active social media use continues to grow. 75% of male internet users and 83% of females internet users are on Facebook and 81% of millennials check Twitter daily. Fewer people are watching television and reading print media. Social media is not just a place where you can watch cute cat videos or upload your latest meal. It has become a part of our day-to-day lives with people turning to social media for entertainment, education, breaking news, connecting with people and researching products and services. Social media channels allow you to be visible and to reach people using more dynamic content like video, live streaming, and Instant Messenger.

Source: http://lillianjamescreative.com/top-four-2017-social-media-trends/

ThinkWithGoogle reports that 49% of all hotel searches take place on a mobile device. Make sure that you can be found when customers search. Make sure not only that you can be found, but that the content you put out is current, informative and engaging

2. You’re reaching customers where they are

By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 5.7 billion mobile subscribers, representing a mobile phone penetration rate of 73%. Think about how many times a day you take your mobile phone out and all the things you use it for throughout the day, including checking your social media. Whether you’re home or on the move, your mobile device is pretty much by your side constantly. Chances are that you are reading this on a mobile device. Our mobile phones are an extension of ourselves, so why not make sure that your business can be found there. Not only should your website be mobile-friendly, but your social media pages should be up-to-date, engaging and entertaining.

Come and talk to us about your hospitality business' social media marketing at Restauran Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket. — Come and talk to us about your hospitality business’ social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket.

3. People trust online reviews

‘’Hotels that responded to more than 50% of social reviews grew occupancy rates by 6.4%, more than twice the rate of properties that largely ignored social media reviews. ‘’ (source: http://www.hotelsmag.com/)

Reviews play an important part in helping people decide whether to book a table at your restaurant or a session at your spa. Review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor are becoming people’s go-to before they make that final decision.

Many hospitality businesses shy away from review sites, fearing that any negative or maliciously false reviews in the public domain may harm the business, however, careful damage control and smart handling of complaints and less than complimentary reviews could actually count in your favour Ignoring negative reviews reviews before booking their table, room, flight or holiday

4. Convenience

Where before, a person would pick up the phone or visit a travel agent to book a dinner reservation, a hotel room or a holiday, nowadays, people want the convenience of booking with one click while they’re on the go, without the hassle of being passed around from one department to another or being made to wait in a call waiting queue. More than ever, people are using their devices to make bookings.

5. More direct, personalised targeting

Think about how much information the average person shares on social media, not only through what they post, but what pages they like and interact with. Users share where they live, what type of job they have and work, how many children they have, what their hobbies are what kind of restaurants and holidays they enjoy. Facebook and Google metrics allow you to go after your target audience based on their behaviour online.

Social media provides an opportunity to provide a more personalised by communicating through a mobile device which is an extension of a person.

Come and talk to us about your hospitality business' social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket. — Come and talk to us about your hospitality business’ social media marketing at Restaurant Tech Live. Click the banner for your FREE ticket.

6. It’s Instant

Social media allows you to respond instantly and directly to queries. Not only that, you could probably have a look at the customer’s profile quickly to find out a little more about them before responding. Artifical Intelligence can play a part in how you respond to customers. Facebook has introduced bots for Instant messaging which could revolutionise

7. Bonus reason….Your competitors are on it!

Need we say more?

How mc square can help

Find out how you’re doing. Sign up for a FREE social media health check and we’ll let you know how well you’re doing and give you tips and feedback on how you could do even better.

It’s not enough to get the youngest chef in your restaurant or bar to do it because they know their way around Instagram and Snapchat. Social media involves research, knowledge of how algorithms and Facebook advertising works, analytical expertise and strategic marketing skills. Contact mc square marketing to find out how we can help you manage your channels, so you can concentrate on running your business.

If you prefer to do your social media management in-house, we’re happy to sit down with you and devise a training program for your staff so they learn to do it correctly. We also keep up to date with new trends and developments in the fast-paced world of social media marketing, so you’re always ahead of your competition. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you do social media marketing for your hospitality business correctly.

Fascinating Social Media Facts: Did you know…?

The Addiction is Real!
Social media is not even a decade old and it has completely disrupted the way we live, work and socialise! We’ve put together some CRAZY social media facts! Who knows where we are headed?!

Have a look!

What do you think of these social media facts?

Let us know in the comments down what social media platform you are addicted to and which channels are you using for your business.
Get your FREE SOCIAL MEDIA HEALTH here :

www.mcquare.co.uk/hospitality

Facebook Video Marketing Done Right

Unless you’ve been living off the grid these last few years, you will have noticed that videos are all over social media. Whether it’s friends posting a Facebook live rant, your favourite food blogger sharing a ‘how to make…’ tutorial or your teenager uploading Snaps or Insta stories all day, you can’t deny that video is everywhere!

Facebook users rack up 100 million hours of daily video watch time with experts predicting that by the end of this year, 74% of all internet of all internet traffic will come from video. Cisco predicts that video will make up 82% of the content we consume online by the year 2020.

What this tells us is that social video and Facebook video marketing in particular, should (if it’s not already) be part of your social media marketing startegy.

Here are a few tips to make sure it’s done right:

Content is king

Remember that people are constantly scrolling through their timelines looking for something that might interest or entertain them. In order to catch their eye use compelling visuals and make sure your video is entertaining.

If Content is King, Search is Queen

There are millions of users putting out video content daily. How do you make sure yours does not get lost in the noise? Optimise your video for search using relevant keywords for your content in your video tags, script, title, description and thumbnail. Make sure your titles are catchy and original and that your thumbnails stand out.

Hook ’em

People generally tend to give a video 3 – 7 seconds before deciding whether to continue watching or not. Make those 3 -7 seconds count. Get your message in early or use those first few seconds on something compelling that will make them want to keep going.

Short and Sweet

Keep your video under 60 seconds. With so much entertaining content to choose from, people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.

Tell a story

People respond best to a story where you start off showing a struggle followed by some sort of triumph. Make sure your videos tell a story. Find out what your target market’s pain points are and show how you can help them overcome those.

Shhh…keep it quiet!

Remember that your audience are probably checking their social media at work, on a crowded train or anywhere else public where they watching on mute might preferable. In fact, research shows that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. Make sure your videos are easy to watch and easy to understand without sound. If your videos have speech, use Facebook’s own closed captions tool when uploading your video.

Re-use & recycle

Cross post your video to your other platforms including your website. Instagram and Snapchat stories are also a great source of content that can be shared to other platforms. Just save them to your smart phone and repurpose them onto another platform.

Pay to Play

Proud of your video? Why not show it off to an even larger audience through paid promotion. Boost the video or use Facebook Ad Manager. Remember though that Facebook Video ads work best for collecting viewer date for retargeting in future campaigns, rather than for conversion goals or for driving traffic to a landing page. This is because you would be splitting activity between clicking to watch the video and clicking through to the landing page. Very important to keep in mind!

We’ll be sharing more tips soon on how you can boost your views for Facebook Live video. Scroll down and sign up to get notified when we share new tips and articles to help you grow your business.

Learn how to harness the power of Referral Marketing to grow your business at our next workshop.

mc square work hard, play hard in Malta!

MC SQUARE WORK HARD, PLAY HARD IN MALTA!

We’ve been dropping cheeky hints to Michael our MD, for ages about moving mc square headquarters to his country of birth Malta. This year, he finally took us up on our challenge by surprising our team with a week’s work trip to the beautiful Mediterranean Island. This was not only going to be a team building exercise, but an opportunity to brainstorm ideas and new strategies to develop and take mc square marketing to the next level.

We stayed in the beautifully charming village of Naxxar at Malta Haven, Michael and Mari’s lovely 3-bedroom holiday apartment. The terrace views were to die for and perfect for out door entertaining, oops working!

Mornings started early, like any other work day with a run or yoga followed by breakfast and then work on client’s social media accounts.

Lunch was a lovely, light Mediterranean spread of “Gbejniet” traditional Maltese cheeses and crusty bread, cold meats, fresh vegetables & fruit, olives and a traditional Maltese spread called “Bigilla” (drooling just thinking about it) that we absolutely fell in love with!

The afternoons were our time to enjoy the best of Maltese sunshine and sit on the roof terrace to work on mc square. This was our time to collectively come up with ideas on how to take the business forward and how to enhance our existing service, experience and product offer for our clients. Michael started the week by sharing his learnings from his recent trips to the USA, particularly his business development programme with Asentiv. He also took the time to find out from each member of staff what our personal and career objectives are and how he, Mari and the company could help each of us achieve these over time. This was a wonderful way to bond as a team as well as contribute to the future and growth of the company.

We also invited Keno Ogbo, our expert Web Developer on our trip, which helped us understand how we can further integrate our online / digital strategies for our clients. This included developing our Sales Funnel processes and creating Landing Pages that convert into leads from our Facebook Advertising we manage for our clients.

We’re glad to say we’ve come away having achieved a hell of a lot, including setting out the following:

– improved and more efficient ways of working to be bale to give even more for our clients

– new services and packages for that are going to help existing and new clients work achieve the results they want. This included a greater focus on Social Media Coaching and for Michael Cuschieri to develop his public speaking and Referral Marketing Training programme

– ways in which each team member can utilise their individual talents to successfully grow mc square and help our clients grow their businesses

– a clearer VISION for mc square and ways of achieving our goals

We would like to thank Mari and Michael for planning and organising this fabulous mc square Malta experience. It was an AMAZING experience, one that we will never forget and one that we will always cherish. We thoroughly encourage business owners or employees, to ask your boss to take time to work “ON the business, not just IN the business”! We’re now waiting to hear dates of our next trip!

Of course, we couldn’t visit Malta and leave without seeing the best of what the island had to offer, and Michael and Mari were wonderful hosts and tour guides.

Here are some photographs from our week in Malta!

Enjoy!

Tadiwa & Shirin

Taking a break from work in the beautiful town of Valetta

These Maltese pastries were worth the extra pounds of weight gained

A beautiful view of Naxxar at night form the Malta Haven roof top

We couldn’t leave without posing to take a photo with our hero Einstein

Talking mc square strategy on the beach. Not a bad office view…

So…is your Marketing working? Do you need help? Contact us and let’s work together to get you the results you need.

KISS and get Engaged!

When it comes to getting your message across on social media first impressions and time are crucial. Remember, people reading your posts, tweets and updates are probably doing so while they are on their break, in between TV programmes or chilling out. They probably have very limited “TST”- Thumb Scrolling Time!

So how do we help them and get their attention? Think KISS and I’m not talking Heavy Rock band or using your lips! I mean make sure you “Keep It Short and Simple”.

So here’s my short lesson on Kissing! – think of it as if you are on your first date maybe.

Grab their attention with a great image that stands out. (Make sure you look good)
Then get a short Punchy Headline or Title. (Maybe even your chat up line?)
Now for the main body of text. Get straight to the point and explain briefly what it is you are trying to say in as little words as possible. Don’t give it all away in the post (Be careful here and don’t bore the person but definitely don’t go for the smooch straight away!)
Decide what you want the reader to do and add a clear CALL TO ACTION eg Understand how here (You know what they like so suggest where you can go for your next date)
Now add a link to your blog, landing page or source of the full article (give them the full address of where you will meet and your telephone number – again just in case they forgot it!)

Einstein’s KISS Formula: KISS = (H x 6) + (T x 50) + CTA2²

For reference: H = Headline | T = Text | CTA = Call To Action

So when it comes to social media and potentially other marketing or promotional activities, just KISS and who knows, you may get ENGAGED with your audience! Enjoy!!!

Have you seen or read any good examples of KISSing? Please do feel free to share them with us on our Facebook page or add links in the comments below.

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Image via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/3902547287/

16 ways to be more productive in life and on social media

Social media is synonymous with procrastination, distraction and is the very medium through which you get sucked into the vortex of cute animal photos, GIFS and videos. 5-minute breaks often turn into 50-minute catastrophes and you end up feeling like s***e. No wonder the social media channels are often described as ‘Weapons of Mass Distraction’. Does this sound familiar to you? Don’t worry because you are not alone and here a few (16 to be precise) techniques, tips and tricks that will help you find your way back to your actual work on social channels.

This one we have all heard many times before. It is an oldie but a goodie. De-clutter and tidy up. Clean workspace leads to a clean headspace.

Start your day with setting the intention of getting things done. Sounds obvious but it helps. Creative visualisation in the morning before you start can be very helpful. Don’t be intimidated by this. A little practice and persistence goes a long way. Here’s what you can try. Visualise your perfect day at work. See yourself slaying those Facebook adverts, Instagram posts, tweets and videos. Picture yourself as superman/superwoman at work. Get creative with your intentions and visualisations. This definitely works!

Start with the toughest task at hand. A lot of people leave the toughest tasks till the very end of their day and then invariably end up staying at work till much later. Try and finish what is the most annoying, the most difficult task at hand first thing so you can face the challenge head on with a fresh mind, body and intention.

Don’t get caught up in your emails. Chances are that if you start replying to your emails, you will end up wasting a lot of precious time from your day. Like mentioned in the previous point, tackle the most difficult tasks first. Once you have made a head start with your work in the morning, allocate specific time during the day to your emails and stick to that.

Don’t have the will to put your phone on airplane mode? Turn off any distracting sounds such as email, SMS, Whatsapp and other alerts. These are major distractions and can wait.

Don’t get over ambitious with your To Do Lists. Stick to 4-5 major things to accomplish during the day. And do them wonderfully well. A big to do list might be good to look at but brings about nothing but overwhelm.

Try the Pomodoro Technique. It is where you work on a task at hand for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. The reason behind this is that taking frequent breaks keeps your mind fresh and focused and you have something to look forward to at the end of your task. Find out more about Pomodoro Technique here.

Take breaks from Social Media. But don’t start watching YouTube or looking at Instagram pictures. Take breaks from your screens- breathe, step out, stretch, and move. This is great for refreshing, energizing and refueling the mind.

Don’t have a gazillion windows/tabs open at once. This is nothing but a recipe for disaster. And this also brings me to the next point which is don’t try and be a multi-tasker.

Don’t multitask. Finish what you have at hand first and then move onto your next assignment. Various studies have shown that multi tasking does not make you more productive. You are better off finishing one task at a time with full focus & energies on it.

There are countless social media channels out there and being on each and every one of them impossible and impractical. Don’t get overwhelmed, you just need to identify what channels are best suited for your business and then stick to those channels and put great quality content on those channels. If you would like us to do a blog post on how to choose the right social media channels for YOUR business, then be sure to leave us a comment down below and we will get working on that.

Plan, schedule, automate and dashboard it. Plan your content in advance and then schedule it. There are various apps and softwares that you can invest in to help you manage all your social media platforms from one point of control and effectively. Hootsuite, IFTTT & Buffer are just a few that you could try.

Repurpose your content. You don’t have to spend hours trying to create fresh content every single day. It is totally acceptable and necessary to repurpose your content. Sharing and re-sharing your content at periodic intervals helps reach more and more people over a period of time and it also saves a lot of time that you can then spend on other areas of your business.

Sharing is Caring. Despite all your plans & scheduling, there will be days that you will be struggling. Make your life easy by sharing other people’s content. Social media is all about building relationships and belonging to the community. There is no better way to get to know other key players & influencers.

Plan, Plan & Plan. Try and work at least 3 months in advance. Plan your photos, posts, articles and videos i.e. content around the calendar keeping important events, festivals, holidays, your dates etc in consideration. Then schedule them in. Voila. That’s the way to do it.

Get everyone involved. If you are a business managing your own social media, invite in your office staff to participate. This will make sure you have plenty of content going and it also helps curb monotony in your content. It’s all about team effort after all, isn’t it?

Which tip resonated the most with you? If you found this article useful, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family. They might be looking out for ways to increase their productivity too.

How to go VIRAL? Pokemon Go!

On July 6th a digital phenomenon hit the US, Australia and New Zealand. It was the resurgence of what was once a hugely popular card game back in the nineties – Pokémon. Only this time, it had returned in the form of the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon Go. Just over a week later, the game had doubled Nintendo’s market value to £23.5 billion, putting it back on the map. Now available in 35 countries, not only has the game managed to successfully attract millennials – a target market reluctant to play ball with direct advertising – but it has also re-captured the hearts of its original fans. So how has the team behind Pokémon Go managed to do this in such a short space of time and what lessons can we learn?

While no one could have predicted the speed in which word spread about the game, it wasn’t just luck. There are a number of factors that have helped with its success so far.

1 – Know your Audience
The right players were onboard from the very start. The game was jointly developed by Niantic, the Pokémon Company and Nintendo. It just so happens that Google is a major shareholder of Niantic which will have helped to take augmented reality to the next level with the integration of Google Maps. Nintendo is also part owner of Niantic, which will have helped with the publishing of the game. In addition, both Google and Apple collect 30 per cent of in-app purchases so they are fully committed to the current and future success of the game.

2 – Be part of their life
Pokémon Go has successfully weaved itself into everyday life. The game uses Google Maps to integrate the real world with its virtual universe, so players have to catch Pikachu and other Pokémon creatures from their phones in real life locations such as pubs and restaurants. While AR has already been widely adopted by brands such as Aldi and House of Fraser, none have succeeded in taking it to this level.

3 – Create demand
Thirdly, by starting in the US, it created a huge buzz around the game. Naturally, the UK wanted a piece of the action, and so rather miraculously, a hack was ‘leaked’ which enabled players to download the game by changing their phone settings. After just two weeks in the US and a few days in the UK, it already had around 21 million daily active users in the US, surpassing Candy Crush’s peak audience of 20 million users.

4 – Plan to monetise
Fourthly, the game generates countless opportunities for local businesses and brands. The team behind the game has been clever not to alienate other sectors and instead, are working collaboratively on various in-game purchases and sponsorship deals. A number of businesses have bought the in-game ‘Lure’ item (which at a cost, brings Pokémon to a specific location for 30 minutes), to drive footfall. Another example is Japan’s McDonald’s which is to become the game’s first sponsor, with 3,000 plus restaurants becoming “gyms” or battlegrounds for Pokémon collectors.

5 – Build a Social Media Tribe
And the icing on the cake is that Pokémon Go is turning into the ultimate social AR game, globally. Last weekend in Mumbai nearly 2,000 people attended the Midnight Pokewalk, with a further 7,800 interested. This Saturday is the Pokémon Go Massive Lure Party in Trafalgar Square, which already has 4,000 signed up and an additional 10,000 interested. Social media is not only a platform for creating buzz, sharing tips and promoting live events, but it’s playing an integral part in closing the gap even further between the game and reality.

Like with anything that takes off too quickly though, problems with volume arise. In this case, it resulted in a total server collapse. There’s also talks that the ‘three footprint tracking bug’ (which means tracking doesn’t work like it did at the start) was a deliberate move to reduce some of the load on the servers. However, whilst this may have impacted the experience to some extent for existing players, it doesn’t appear to have made much of a dent in the game’s popularity.

So whether you’re a keen player yourself, or you’ve been privy to a few distracted teenagers (or adults) walking into lampposts and the like, the game will reach you some way or another.

Have they got to you yet and what are your thoughts on Pokemon Go?

Visit www.pokemongo.com to find out more or just download straight to your phone