#Someone on the Subreddit mentioned this making a good sticker design and would that I could

[sysig]

Let’s Geckin’ Gooooooo! (Patreon)

[puurcreative]

Which social media platform is for you?

As the world stands today, social media is an inexpensive way to keep in touch with your audience. If you've had a look around you can see that there are a great number of different social applications and networks (if you want the very long list of social media sites have a look on this Wikipedia page. This is useful as it has numbers of registered users on each platform and Alexa page rankings included!). These all have different audiences and fulfil a different 'need' for their audience and for the people posting. Here’s our short list of the top 3 types of social media including an example of what platform this could be: Social networks - people and businesses, connecting with people (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter...) Media sharing networks - for sharing images, audios and videos (instagram, YouTube. Tiktok...) Discussion forums - for people and brands to share views and news (Reddit, Quora...) We have accounts on most of the above (and more), but obviously to publish content on all these would be a full time challenge. It may seem overkill, but being up to date on these networks and sharing your knowledge, helps to build social currency. Social Currency is all about reputation (much the same as brand is) it's a measure of your influence on both social networks and offline, and the degree to which your output is then shared by your target audience and others.

Let's look at a few platforms then...

So, let's skip through each of these platforms one by one, giving a very brief flavour of what each network is about, who the audience is and what sort of messages work well on each. One thing to bare in mind across all platforms though is to remember that 'social media' is very much social. Don't spend all your time talking about yourself and your business. If possible we always recommend the 80:20 rule: 80% posts related to your business area (even vaguely), but not directly promoting it20% can be promoting your business more specifically, but still make it 'more conversational' LinkedIn - In the past company pages within LinkedIn used to be viewed primarily as HR landing pages for people looking for jobs. LinkedIn as a whole used to be where professionals could find their next role - through making relevant connections. A lot has changed, and although this is still how some people use it (though better than before) the network is also becoming a great place to help drive business from. It's also becoming a platform to educate your audience of your products and services and in turn, raise brand awareness.

This is very much a professional to professional network, with men slightly more likely to be LinkedIn users than women (57% of LinkedIn users are male*). Here is where a specialist business of service can get technical with your chosen audience, you can talk shop or post articles direct from your website without any changes. Facebook – On the face of it, it is great way for people to keep in touch with family and friends. It is social media for everyday use. In terms of a business, it can be great for building brand awareness, after all Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Remember to post links that interest people though - a post about an accountancy firm will stand out between two pictures of kittens acting cute! - not in a good way. Facebook can drive traffic to your website through posting links and by targeted ads. Ads (which cost money) can get your brand in front of a very specific audience – target specific demographics, based on location, age, gender and interests. To gain traction with your audience, it is best to post fun items in amongst your more business focussed elements.

Twitter – is a platform that provides access to millions of users (330 million monthly active users*) all over the world. It tends to be more popular with 'educated' individuals. I was once explained that Twitter was like walking into a noisy pub and being able to listen in on each of the conversations (at the time, in 140 characters). The challenge with Twitter is that it is very much a global platform. Your followers could be all over the world, very few of them (if you're a local business) could be your target audience. Through using hashtags you can help the transition from global to local. Though it is very much dependant on your audience using them too. If you market to these people appropriately, then you stand to gain a great amount of exposure. Using a post scheduling platform may help make using Twitter more manageable as the more you post the more audience you gain. Remember - liking, mentioning and commenting on other peoples tweets is a simple way to connect with other users.

Instagram - is a key platform for younger audiences (67% of people ages 18-29 use Instagram*) and is consistently adding new functionality for business users. It’s an extremely visual platform, in fact it's pretty much all about imagery. As it has become more and more ubiquitous, every small business should consider using it. You should share images of your products in a setting that would be more reflective of your audience. Short videos are ideal of your products in use. Give people a taste of your world, but as well as this, reflect their world. Consider using Instagram Stories, where you can post recorded videos, still photos, live videos etc. As with most platforms liking, mentioning and commenting is a simple way to connect with other users. Also the use of hashtags is again a great way to help your target audience to find content. YouTube - Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has become the goto platform for video content (YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users*). Nearly 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute! A key thing to think about is your audiences age? (71% of people aged between 26-35 use it*).

If you're going to create content, try and think about what are the sorts of YouTube videos you watch, why do you watch them, what makes them keep you engaged to the end? Remember though, a regular YouTube viewer only spending on average, 11 minutes and 43 seconds per day* on the platform, so it's best to keep content on the short side. As well as the usual likes, links and commenting, think about creating playlists - organise (yours or others) content through a list (perfect for retail or services). Another way to help grow your channel is to share videos regularly on your other media. TikTok - this is a relative new kid on the block. Launched in China in 2016 is is now one of the fasted growing social platforms in the world. With an audience now of more than 800,000,000 active users (yes, that is 800 Million) TikTok's mission is “to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and precious life moments, directly from the mobile phone. TikTok enables everyone to be a creator, and encourages users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos.” Bascally, TikTok is about making and viewing video content. Creativity and individuality are key. Videos can be uploaded or created from within the app, with users also having the option to live stream. From within the app users can add visual filters, time effects, transitions, stickers, emojis, and much more.

The target audience really is the under 30's (Roughly 50% of TikTok’s global audience is under the age of 34 with 26% between 18 and 24). Marketing was slow to jump on the TikTok band wagon, but now brands like Nike, Pepsi, Lush (already having 117k followers) and Skittles have open accounts. It has even got to a point where online giants: Buzzfeed are recruiting youngsters to cover the US elections on TikTok! The good news is that if you're going to create content, there most definitely an audience, though it may be in India (which accounts for 43% of new TikTok users) or China (in 2019 80% of the time spent on the platform was from Chinese users). However this is a platform with is still growing, get in there early and you could reap the rewards. As with other social media, make sure your content is fun or if your brand can stand it - outrageous. Take full advantage of the in built advertising possibilities: Infeed native content (like in snapchat), Hashtag challenges (takes some of the stress out of building a hashtag following), Brand takeovers (take over the TikTok for the day) or Branded lenses (like the 2d and 3D lenses within Snapchat). Reddit - First off, Reddit dislikes marketers. That said, if you can find a way to market to the mainly male audience it can reap rewards. There are only two reasons someone goes to Reddit: to get information or to have fun. And they go there in their droves. Reddit has 85 Million global monthly users, with 64% of them under the age of 30. One thing that will help is to chose a 'subreddit' that links to what you do and get to know the users there. Ask a question, be helpful or just make people laugh, but become part of that community. The more you get to know them and the more they get to know you the better relationships you’ll build and the more attention your business will receive. It's a tough audience, but could be great in the long run.

Quora - is basically a site where people ask and answer questions. These questions could be anything, from the serious: What is the impact of logo design on brand recognition?, to the abstract: What does the Coke logo mean?. Everything has to be one of the two. With more than 300 million unique visitors every month, Quora is a weighty platform. In some ways the same as Reddit, Quora relies on an upvoting system. The more people that upvote your answer, the more exposure your answer gets. The great thing about Quora is that every answer is searchable through Google, allowing your answers to link back to your website. The thought leadership opportunities in this platform are immense.

What next?

Well, the above are only a few of the platforms out there. Really which ones you go for is up to you. Have a look around each platform, see if there are other companies that are like yours visible, see if the tope of people that you see as your audience are visibly engaging on the platform. See the sort of content that's being produced. This will help you come up with content of your own. Make it as original as possible and make sure it 'feels' like your brand. Remember though, companies may have a whole team behind their posts - so don't be too hard on yourself. Think of your audience, make a plan, and where possible stick to it - plans are always meant to be broken though - so be flexible and think on your feet! And if that's not possible - give us a call :) Puur doesn’t just deliver award winning design solutions, we give advice to ensure that design, advertising and marketing are part of a successful business strategy. Our decades of experience of being both the designer and the client give us a unique perspective on the world of design. We know that the work we do is a tool to bring a reaction, our work really does need to answers a need. Give us a call today to chat over how we can help.

*Facts and figures courtesy of The 2020 social media demographics guide Take a look at our blog on Bloglovin Images from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Harry Cunningham on Unsplash Read the full article

[crijoh]

 YESTERDAY'S POST CAN BE FOUND HERE - 16/01/18  Game Releases: No Game Releases Today ;(  Today's News: Nintendo Labo Announced! - Announcement Website - TrailerEven thought it's technically still Wednesday where I am, the Thursday announcement that was leaked a little while ago has officially happened. Before the announcement, Nintendo teased that it would be, "specifically crafted for kids and those who are kids at heart.". Although this is quite vague, it shows that Nintendo were trying to focus this announcement on more casual gamers instead of the majority of people on this Subreddit...Anyway, 10PM GMT came and we were introduced to Nintendo Labo, a DIY kit that uses intricate engineering and cardboard to turn your Switch and specifically the IR Scanner into a game controller. After building one of these kits and attaching your joy-cons to the designated locations, you will launch an exclusive game for the Switch that will be controlled by the kit you just built. Examples that were demonstrated were a piano, robot suit, steering wheel, and a fishing rod. On the official website that they just launched, they are marketing the kits starting from $69.99 with the Robot Kit being priced at $79.99. There is also a customisation kit that comes with tape, stickers etc. and that will come at a sum total of $9.99. Now in my own opinion, I'm quite happy with this announcement. It was known from the beginning that this would be an accessory to the Switch that was being designed mainly for kids, to those who were hoping for Sma5h, or some other game shouldn't have, because that's what Nintendo were saying wasn't going to happen. The intricacy and detail in some of these kits look quite cool and although priced at $70.00 for basically a bit of cardboard and bands, it also comes with games and will take hours to build, like Lego. I understand that people will be disappointed, but as someone who knew exactly the kind of announcement that this was going to be, I'm quite excited to see how these "Toy-Cons" are going to turn out! Oh I nearly forgot, they are set to launch on the 20th April 2018...4/20...Thanks Nintendo. The Dark Souls Remastered will not have changed design in any way - LinkThere was quite a lot of justified concern over the upcoming Dark Souls Remaster. Now to most of you that haven't played any of the series, you might not know that Dark Souls 1 is completely different in most ways mechanically to Dark Souls 3. As Bloodborne, Dark Souls competitor, came out with quicker combat and a more rounded feel to the gameplay, Dark Souls 3 tried to become accustomed to this new demand for new combat by basically copying it. Now back to the announcement, the reason why fans are getting worried is because the remaster is being developed in the Dark Souls 3 engine, leading to some people assuming that the original combat will be changed for the Dark Souls 3 combat. This concern isn't as far fetched as it sounds either, as the re-release of Dark Souls 2 changed some of their gameplay and people weren't too happy about it then either. To stop this concern before it gets too far, Nintendo decided to release an FAQ for the upcoming title coming to their system. In this article, it is revealed that although it will be on a different engine, the design and gameplay will not be changed at all and will remain faithful to it's original counterpart. Although I personally prefer the gameplay and combat feel of Bloodborne, I'm happy that they are developing this remaster for their fans and I feel more inclined to give it a shot as I haven't managed to play the first Dark Souls yet...I guess I'll just have to wait till May when it's actually released. Sony's PhyreEngine is now supported on the Switch - LinkIt was discovered on the, practically daily featured site, ResetEra that in the licensing document for the recently released Dragon Quest Builders Demo, it says that the demo was developed in PhyreEngine. This engine is specifically designed for Sony exclusive games so you can see the reason that everyone is getting a little excited. In no particular order, the PhyreEngine has been known to have developed titles like, "Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster", "OlliOlli 2", "Gunslugs", and more. People are kind of going a little mad over the first title mentioned there are if you go to the relevant threads you will see a lot of people screaming for Square Enix to port Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD to the Switch...I kind of don't blame them as, I know this opinion won't really be liked but, FFX is probably my favourite Final Fantasy game in the series and that's probably because it was the first one to really capture and hold my interest and was the first game in the series that I actually finished. Can't wait to find out what developers do with this new support for the engine!  Game Announcements/Updates: Aegis Defenders - eShop Link - PS4 Trailer - Website - 8th February 2018I feel like there seems to be a lack of good strategy action games on the Switch, especially those that have a strong story to "meat up" their gameplay and world's lore. This game may be something to fix that whole in the Switch's library. Aegis Defenders, currently scheduled to release onto Steam, PS4, and the Switch on the 8th February 2018, originally started of as a kickstarter, raising a total of $145,815 out of a $65,000 goal; that is pretty remarkable. Along with doubling their initial goal, the kickstarter unlocked stretch goals that included local multiplayer and the most important one, console support. On the website the game is described as, "a world where control over ancient technologies means power, a ruthless Empire has arisen. You play as a team of Ruinhunters searching for the one thing that can save their village - a legendary weapon known as Aegis. Explore, build, & defend in this 2D platformer that blends Metroidvania style combat with Tower Defense strategy.". Now that seems pretty intriguing to me and the tone of the piece seems like something I could totally get behind. I recommend that you seriously check out the trailer above, as long as you aren't scared by the big bad PS4 logo at the top. Arcade Archives DOUBLE DRAGON - Website - Trailer - eShop Link - 18th February 2018Hamster Co. have become pretty well known for releasing quality ports of incredibly old games onto the Switch and other platforms, but most importantly the Switch. Anyway, it was discovered on the eShop today that the 1987 Japanese action game series Double Dragon will be ported over to the Switch as of tomorrow! It will be priced at a lovely $7.99 (compared to the couple of hundred dollars it would have cost back then). On the eShop page it describes the game as, "an action game that was released from Technos Japan in 1987. Two brothers fight with evil, to rescue Marian that has been kidnapped by violence organization. Players can change various game settings such as game difficulty, and also reproduce the atmosphere of arcade display settings at that time. Players can also compete against each other from all over the world with their high scores.". Fuze - Educational Programming Tool - Website - Q2 2018Now this was an announcement that I definitely wasn't expecting; I'll let the actual developer speak on what it actually is so I don't butcher this wonderful announcement. FUZE is specifically aimed at making it easy to learn to code, an educational tool which not only makes learning and teaching real coding easy and accessible, but can also be used as a more professional tool to create extensive and complex projects. In case you can't read those specific 3 lines above for some reason, this app basically lets you create games from scratch and teach you in the process. It's kind of like a game engine as an app on the Switch and in the comments, they also revealed that they are working on sharing capabilities so you and your friends can share code and work on a game together. You will also be able to share you final creations and play other users submissions. The announcement also came with the knowledge that it will support the use of USB keyboards on the Switch so you don't have to cramp up your poor finger touching the Switch for the 100+ hours it takes to make a ridiculously small game that ends up being crap...it's not personal, I promise... Splatoon 2: Update 2.2.0 - Patch NotesAnother update has arrived for Splatoon 2 in the form of update 2.2.0. The patch that is available right now has a ridiculous amount of fixes in it ranging from fixes in the online featuring, "an issue in which the bubble effect displayed when taking damage while submerged would not be displayed if you even momentarily went outside of the ink or treaded on opponent’s ink." all the way to, "an issue on terrain that moves in Shifty Station which would occasionally move in a halting fashion.". They also fixed several issues with Salmon Run and other small Amiibo based fixes. I love this much detail when it comes to patch notes and I wish more developers did this as most patch notes that come out for games have the main fixes and then at the bottom it will simply say, "Other small fixes". Tell me what those small fixes are dammit! Thanks Nintendo, for being so precise and open with these patches. Battle Chef Brigade: Patch 1 - Patch NotesIn smaller indie news, the recently released Action Adventure RPG Battle Chef Brigade, has revealed it's first large update since it's launch on the Switch platform; this comes in the form of Patch 1! In this update expect to see, quite a lot of fixes regarding game breaking bugs that were previously only found in the Switch version of this game. Some of these fixes can include, "Add option to Reset to the pause menu during duels", "Don’t respawn Thrash if he dies in the Yoku hunt. Prompt the player to retry immediately.", and "Don’t cull items that aren’t physics-sleeping (would result in ingredients suspending in air off-screen until the player moved close to the items again).", along with many others. This patch actually makes it so the PC and Switch version are at the same point and there developers have said that this is what they going to try and focus on for future patches. You can read the full patch notes in the link above.  Top Reddit Posts: I really want to thank Nintendo for making the carts Nasty - Link - u/syn7foldExcited for Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch so I made a Demastered wallpaper! - Link - u/sturoWould You Buy a Remastered version of Wii Sports? - Link - u/GaLaXy_Shuckle2K18's support for the Switch over the past few weeks has been unacceptable. - Link - u/FutureDictatorUSA  If there are any errors or missed information, just let me know and I'll add it promptly.  Well today was the big announcement day for Nintendo and surprise surprise, a lot of people are mad. But I personally think that it looks great and also a lot cheaper than Lego with the added benefit that you get to play with the damn thing digitally and not just physically. What looked particularly interesting was the intricacy of some of the kits and so I probably will end up picking one up at some point when they are released in April...unless this all turns out to be an April fools joke...probably not. Anyway, thank you to all the wonderful people who gave me permission me to use their reddit posts from earlier today, it is very much appreciated! I hope you all have an amazing time doing whatever it is you do and I'll see your wonderful faces tomorrow....metaphorically. Sam :) via /r/NintendoSwitch