✅ Monday briefing #18: Influencer insights, ad budgets, remote presentations, COVID-19 creativity challenge, DIY app builder, data skills and Instagram business guide, and more

Business of influence, data and reports, COVID-19 insight, tools, social media and platforms, and food bank fundraiser

Good morning. This is a weekly summary of news from my blogs and topics discussed in a community of practice that I run on Facebook. You’d be welcome to join us. My thanks to all the contributors.

Business of influence

🤗 INFLUENCER INSIGHTS: A Reuters Institute report recommends that organisations use trusted sources that demonstrably help people understand COVID-19. This includes scientists, doctors, and other experts. Spotted by: Alan Morrison.

📈 MARKETING INFLUENCERS Three-quarters of marketers are allocating a greater proportion of their budget to influencer marketing than they were a year ago according to WARC. Spotted by: Andrew Smith.

Data and reports

📉 ADVERTISING BUDGETS: The UK ad market is down by a third (£4bn) year-on-year. Advertisers are expected to spend almost £725m less than last Christmas due to the coronavirus pandemic. Factors including winter lockdowns, a disorderly Brexit and rising unemployment. Spotted by: Sarah Waddington.

📰 SUSTAINABLE LOCAL MEDIA: Former Northern Echo editor Peter Sands predicts a shift in regional media from daily to weekly by 2020 citing rising staffing, production and distribution costs. He also foresees a move to private ownership. Spotted by: Alan Morrison.

COVID-19 insight

💻 REMOTE PRESENTATIONS: Presenting via a video camera over the internet is an entirely different skill to presenting at a physical event. More than 20 people responded to Lorna Bithell’s request for insight and support. Source: Stephen Waddington.

🎨 COVID-19 CREATIVITY CHALLENGE: In the shift to home working serendipity has been replaced by scheduling and face-to-face meetings by Zoom. It makes creative work challenging according to Bank of England Chief Economist Andrew Haldane. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

🏢 HUB AND SPOKE OFFICES: More than a third of businesses are considering downsizing their HQ and switching to smaller satellites closer to where their employees live according to a report by recruiter Robert Walters. Spotted by: Alan Morrison.

👂 COVID-19 PUBLIC OPINION: King's College has been tracking UK public attitudes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It has released a series of studies with Ipsos MORI and the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit covering the pandemic’s impact on business, culture and society. Spotted by: Ben Verinder.

Tools

📱 DIY APP BUILDER: AppSheet is Google Cloud’s no-code development platform, that enables anyone to create an app to interrogate a dataset, without having to write code. Spotted by: Stuart Bruce.

🔍 APPLE SEARCH: Apple is stepping up efforts to a search engine as its ties with Google come under increased antitrust scrutiny. Apple’s latest version of the iPhone OS shows its own search results and links directly to websites. Spotted by: Andrew Bruce Smith.

👨‍💻️ DATA SKILLS: The ODI has produced a useful framework to help organisations understand the skills that they need to manage data. It sets out how technical data skills must be planned with innovation. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

📕 DOCUMENT DECIPHER: Google has added a new AI tool called Pinpoint to its Journalist Studio that allows journalists to explore and analyse large collections of documents for free. Spotted by: Andrew Bruce Smith.

Social media and platforms

📄 SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY: Professional behaviour, impartiality and respect for colleagues and confidential documents are among new rules set out in the BBC's social media policy. Spotted by: Stuart Bruce.

📚 SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYBOOK: The Government Digital Service has updated its social media playbook. The playbook shares best practice for planning, measurement and execution, platform-by-platform. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

😈 FAKE WOOLWORTHS: Very, owner of the Woolworths brand, said that it has no plans for a high street relaunch after Twitter account @UKWoolworths hit the headlines. The student project fooled MailOnline, Metro and The Daily Mirror. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington.

🖼️ INSTAGRAM BUSINESS GUIDE: Create high quality visuals, build a brand, and post regularly are among the recommendations in Instagram's new guide for business. It also includes recommendations for building a community and creating engaging content. Spotted by: Stephen Waddington

Food bank fundraiser

💳 If you find this weekly newsletter helpful please consider donating to my food bank fundraiser. £5 would be great, £10 would be fantastic, and £20 would be amazing. Local Giving will double your donation. We’ve raised £7,500 in two weeks. I’m aiming to make it £10,000. Thank you.