On the 5 January, a talented but relatively unknown Canadian band decided to post their cover of Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ on YouTube with little idea of what a sensation it would turn out to be. A little under a month later, the video has received almost 58 million views, but more importantly, it’s sparked huge share rates, engagement and support for the unassuming musos. My cousin posted the video on his Facebook page and obviously seeing 5 people playing one guitar sparked my interest. Next thing I knew, it was an hour later and I had watched as many of their covers and originals as possible.

Like most other articles around this video, I could harp on about the share rate, the millions of views and the Internet phenomenon. But, for me, the human aspect of this story is what makes it special and worth talking about. Walk Off The Earth consists of Gianni, Marshall, Joel, Taylor and solo singer, Sarah Blackwood. They joined YouTube in July 2008 and nearly 3 and a half years later, they are finally getting the publicity and acclaim that they so rightly deserve. They play multiple instruments, have unreal voices and their creative and quirky way of presenting videos really makes them stand out. They literally ooze music.

They play music for their fans and for the love of it.  For the past few years, people have requested various covers on Facebook and WOTE have duly responded with their own take on the songs – two of my favourites being Karma Police and Someone Like You. They even personally thanked everyone out there only a week after ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ went live saying: 

 “Thank you so much for all of your incredible support! We honestly couldn't appreciate all the love you've shown more than we do right now. You're the best! Things are crazy at the moment but we wanted to send you all a little thank you gift before things get even crazier.”

It’s nice to see such down-to-earth talent make it by means of the social space. They’ve got the nod and the exposure – now they need to keep the momentum up and rock it! The Ellen DeGeneres Show was inundated by requests to see Walk Off The Earth perform and on the 23 January, they did just that! Although a little shaky and nervous, you’ve got to give them credit; less than three weeks after posting the video, they were performing to a worldwide audience on one of the most popular talk shows around. YouTube and social media in general are making it more and more possible for genuine talent to gain exposure and fans, without taking the record label route. The rawness of music posted online makes it far more exciting, and the immediacy and variety on the Web are redefining how the music industry operates. As Walk Off The Earth so clearly demonstrates, an online phenomenon can translate into a real life success story and I can’t wait to see how far they go!

We thought it'd be great to share the full interviews with our blog readers, so you can better understand what motivates a car blogger, why they choose to monetise their blog, how the evolution of social channels is affecting them, and how they interact with brands.

Over the next few days, we'll be publishing our car blogger interviews. Up first is James Hind from Car Buzz - get some top tips from him on how to grow a successful blog within a competitive blogging segment:

 Ebuzzing (EB): What makes your blog stand out from the crowd?

Car Buzz (CB): We're not afraid to give our true opinions on things, unlike most other car blogs. We never just rehash press releases; we always add value to the new story for our readers by giving our expert opinion. If that means honest criticism then we'll include it! 

 We also make sure we regularly do a lot of fun and light-hearted features, such as our Top 10 Zombie Survival Cars and the range of infographics we've produced. They're something a bit different for our readers and get shared with a lot of people that aren't car enthusiasts too. 

 EB: What motivates you to blog? 

CB: We love hearing back from our community from the blog. Nothing’s better than when they share their views on a news item, or ask further questions or even challenge us over something. 

 From a business side it's also a nice way to get yourself noticed. Blogging is a great way to differentiate your product or service from the competition and to show you're knowledgeable in your field.

EB: How do you market your blog? 

CB: We haven't done a great deal of marketing for the blog actually. We don't pay for any SEO or PPC. 

 The only marketing we've done is through doing guest posts on other car blogs, which is a nice way to get enthusiasts aware of our blog. 

EB: What do you think makes a successful blog in the Automotive blogger niche? 

CB: I think you have to find a way to be different. The problem is that everyone is writing the same news stories and unless you can be the ones to break the news, which is highly unlikely, then it's hard to be memorable and have a reason for readers to come to your site. 

 I also think the frequency of posting is important. Too much can put people off as they feel you're spamming them with content every day; too little and it's impossible to build a following. 

EB: How do you feel about monetising your blog? What is the value added of branded content on your site? 

CB: Currently, we monetise the blog through display advertising and occasional editorial features. From a business point of view it's obviously critical to monetise it, and we're happy with the way we do it as we believe it adds value to the reader. For both display advertising and branded content, we only accept them if they are related to cars, meaning our readers should get some value from seeing them both. 

 Branded content is important for us in terms of revenue stream, but we are very careful to select only high quality stuff from trusted agencies with well-known clients, which is why Ebuzzing works so well for us.  

EB: Have you already taken part in a campaign that you particularly enjoyed? 

CB: We did a nice campaign with Red Bull Racing through Ebuzzing that featured a couple of stunning videos of an F1 car tearing along a beach, and another F1 car racing up the side of a mountain!

EB: How has social media affected your blog? 

CB: We've found Twitter to be a great tool for building industry relationships and also driving traffic. Facebook, we haven't found to be quite so successful yet, we haven't concentrated much on it at all, so aren't seeing a lot of traffic yet coming from there.  

 In 2012 we plan to make our readers more aware of our Facebook page and encourage new users to join through competitions.  

EB: What does the future hold for social video in your opinion? 

CB: I think video will increase hugely in the next couple of years. We already see that video is generally more shared than editorial content is, and the constantly increasing role of mobile will only extend this further. We get over 10% now of visitors on mobile devices, whereas last year it was closer to 5%, a big jump in just 12 months. Our site features a video page for each new car on sale, and we've seen that after the review pages, these are the most popular. Video also seem to be shared a lot more, we see on our Facebook and Twitter profiles that they tend to get more shares, partly I think as it's so easy to watch them within those platforms, without having to leave to external site to consume the content. 

EB: Will “vlogging” become essential in the future to capture your audience’s attention? 

CB: I believe it will become a key part of any succesful blog. Vlogging is a great way to show your personality to your readers and lets them get to know your style a lot quicker than written content. Our industry is a very visual industry, people like to see the actual car talked about, so I think it's especially important for auto-blogs. We haven't started vlogging yet just because of the time it takes, not only with filming but also editing after. 

EB: Regarding the automotive industry, what are the factors that your readers consider more attractive? Consumption, innovation, environmental concerns? 

CB: Consumption and environmental factors are key to car buyers, which is who our blog is targeted at, so posts on those topics always go down very well. For example our post on Congestion Exempt Cars is our most popular post ever in terms of traffic.  

EB: What car would you vote as The Car of 2011, in terms of the amount of online buzz it’s created? 

CB: This is an easy one: The Range Rover Evoque. The launch was very carefully and cleverly planned, with lots of anticipation built throughout the world for it. They did a number of teaser videos and gradual reveals months before it was launched, which created a huge build-up. Once it launched the product didn't let it down either, the bold styling and all-round quality meant it's got a fantastic reception and has already won huge amounts of awards.  

EB: The automotive market is suffering from a crisis currently. Has your blog been impacted, or has demand for automotive-related content remained unchanged? 

CB: We've only be going for a year now, so haven't had a chance to notice any changes, as our traffic has been growing non-stop since! We have seem demand for fuel efficiency and money saving articles increase in the last 6 months though, which shows that the running costs and price of cars is becoming increasingly important.  

EB:This year, which viral campaign has really stood out to you as being unconventional & innovative; and why? 

CB: The one that Mercedes are running at the moment using Google Maps is quite clever. It involves users trying to help someone 'escape StreetView' through an interactive video, so there's an element of competition and challenge in there, as well as the chance to win a brand new Mercedes.  

EB: When you notice an automotive brand on Facebook, what do you do?

 a)    Like the page straight away 

 b)    Just read the comments on the page

c)    Start interacting on the page

 d)    Other

CB: (c) I always like to see how strong the community is by getting involved and asking a few questions. I've seen a few brands have huge numbers of Likes, but actually no one is engaging with their content, whereas other brands don't have many fans, but those that are there are very involved in the page and regularly contribute. 

So, which viral car campaign stood out to you over the past year? Let us know in the comments below.

It was great to have Car Buzz involved in our study - stay tuned for more car blogger interviews over the next couple of days! If you'd like to get involved in our upcoming studies then just let us know.

Yes, that's right. We've recently partnered with Adloox, a leading online media verification provider, in order to offer our clients a totally brand safe environment.

Whilst we have always strived to protect our client's brand reputations, we can now do it with greater efficiency and accuracy. Using Adloox, Ebuzzing can automate an on-going real-time analysis of its network of sites on the basis of a keyword list that can be customised to clients’ needs.

We're really happy to be the first video advertising platform offering this new layer of brand safety for our clients, using a solution that is trusted by the likes of Omnicon Media Group, Isobar, Vivaki, and Adconion.

We can now be 100% sure that each of our video campaigns will run in completely safe environments, as sites with content deemed to be dangerous to brands will be prevented from running our ads.

For more information, read the press release here, and for more information please contact Adwoa (Marketing & PR Manager, UK).

Ebuzzing will be out and about in London this week, as Social Media Week London is on over the next few days (13th – 17th February 2012). This year’s theme is Empowering Change through Collaboration reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change. There are a range of events happening throughout the week to suit any taste. Here's the top 10 events that have caught our eye:

• Social Media for Events
• Corporate Digital Communities, Do They Work?
  
• Social Business Immersive
• Not just another Facebook page
• Ogilvy Keynote: The insidious plot to socialise the enterprise
• Social Media: teenage of the species
• The future of social
• The future of sharing
• The Power of Social Media for Sports Brands & Rights Holders 
• Games for Brands

Let us know which ones you're attending, and how else you're getting into the Social Media Week spirit. We'll be tweeting from @ebuzzingUK/@adwoabaah, so you can keep up to date on which events we're at. To follow up to date news from the week-long event, just search for the event hashtag #SMWLDN, where lots of tweeps will be including in their live tweets. Have a great week!

This weekend Ebuzzing is supporting The Only Way is Blogging (TOWIB for short), a bloggers' conference organised by London Beauty Queen. The successful beauty blogger (who has only been blogging for the past 18 months) decided to start organising the event in order to give the blogger community an offline meetup space to have a chit chat, share ideas, and learn how to improve their blogging.

That's where we come in...we believe this is a great idea as it means that bloggers are getting the right tools to improve their social sites and get more exposure for their blogs. Ebuzzing is happy to be sponsoring the event by providing the lovely venue, Montague in the Gardens, a beautiful 4 star hotel where bloggers will be treated to cream tea in the afternoon.

The event looks like it's going to be awesome, with a great line-up for the day: Annabelle's Wigs will be giving bloggers a run-through of their products, with an on-site 'wig bar'; some PR experts will be coming to explain the best way to get noticed; there'll be a Blogger Q&A, where guests can ask some leading bloggers for expert advice; and Ebuzzing will be sharing our knowledge on blog monetisation, optimisation and marketing.

For more info on the event schedule, check out the TOWIB menu.

Look forward to seeing you at the Montague on saturday if you're attending. And be sure to come back next week if you're not attending for a write-up of the one-day event.

Find out all the answers to these questions in our latest study, Cars & Social Media, which looks into the presence of automotive brands on social media during an 8 month period last year. The results are based on an analysis of 50 million articles per day from 3 million sources (blogs and information sites) in 5 languages, using Ebuzzing's proprietary analytical technology.

Download the study here for more info on:

1. Most referenced car brands in the UK on social media
2. Ranking of car brand Facebook pages 
3. Influential blogs that make car industry news
4. Car blogger testimonials: what it's like to be a blogger in the industry
5. Focus on Frankfurt Motor Show : an analysis of the buzz

Happy reading!

I couldn’t believe my luck when I won the raffle at the Ebuzzing party at the Century club.  I was even more stunned when the prize was revealed...a weekend for two at a luxury hotel in Paris! It was such an incredible prize and I was still in a state of shock for most of the next day (not helped by the fact my head was pounding after far too many celebratory glasses of wine!)

Skip forward a few weeks and my boyfriend and I are boarding the Eurostar ready for a weekend of wine, French cuisine and doing terrible impersonations of  characters from ‘Allo ‘Allo.

We weren’t disappointed. We scaled the Eiffel Tower (by foot because we’re well ‘ard), drank mulled wine from the Christmas market at the Champs-Élysées, checked out some galleries in the Marais district and hit some bars in the Latin Quarter. I even managed to squeeze in a trip to Ladurée – the best place for macaroons known to man.

The Radisson Le Dokhan certainly lived up to its ‘luxury hotel’ title. Situated just a few streets from the Eiffel Tower, it was perfectly located for a weekend jaunt, and the croissants at breakfast were incredible! 

All in all it was an incredible weekend. On behalf of my boyfriend and I, we would like to say a massive MERCI BEAUCOUP to Ebuzzing for the best early Christmas present, and a special thanks to Adwoa for organising it all.

We're very happy Katie had such a lovely time! Stay tuned to find out what other treats Ebuzzing has in store for lucky prize-winners. What would be your ideal treat from Ebuzzing?

1. Get to know your media suppliers – Ask lots of questions about how your supplier works with other parties, especially if it’s a media company that is new to a certain area. 

2.    Check that any content written by bloggers is validated by your media supplier – This quality control measure will ensure that if an article does not accurately meet the campaign brief or the general quality criteria, then it can be modified. 

3.    Ensure that all content is written in the blogger’s own words– It’s important that articles reflect the author’s style, knowledge and creativity, whilst also following the campaign brief. 

4.    Never mislead search engine algorithms – It’s essential to work with a media supplier, which automatically adds the attribute rel=“no follow” to all links included in sponsored articles. The point is not to artificially boost SEO but to provide influential recommendations. 

5.    Be transparent – Ensure all bloggers involved in campaigns include a ‘sponsored post’ link in all articles. If you are asking bloggers to recommend your products and paying them for their hard work, then don’t try to hide it, otherwise you may lose trust with current and potential customers.

It’s also important to encourage bloggers to only participate in campaigns that they think are “cool” or interesting. This is beneficial for the brand and maintains credibility. After all, if a blogger started writing about something that was rubbish, they would quickly lose their audience and the brand would be tarnished.

To find out more about running a successful, brand-safe campaign, get in contact with us.

It's a misconception that blogs are small, niche sites that communicate between themselves and reach only a handful of regular readers. Slowly, people are coming around to the idea that what started as a blog can grow enormously, snowballing its way into something more like a traditional website, an online magazine or newspaper. This is the path that our December Blogger of the Month, Londonist, has taken. We interviewed Matt Brown, who jointly co-edits the site with Lindsey Clarke, to delve deeper into the brains behind this brilliant publication.

Londonist is about everything London. Everything. Its editors and contributors live and breathe London, as Matt told us. "I got involved because I had this great passion I wanted to share with people - that is, exploring the history and culture of London," he said. "It was a great thrill to be able to reach and converse with thousands of people around a subject I loved. I think that's true of all of our contributors."

Even his favourite blog, Spitalfields Life, is London-related: "For the sheer depth the 'Gentle Author' provides on this fascinating part of town," he said.

But, what is it about London? Matt shared with us an "old and too-often-used" quote from Dr Johnson: There is in London all that life can afford. He explained further, saying, "Try and think of something we don't have in London. It's hard. Even the space shuttle visited once (on the back of a jumbo jet)." He's right, it's an inexhaustible source of content; to be passionate about this is a bonus, part of Londonist's success lying in its writers' love of London. "Me personally, it's probably down to obsessive passion for the subject," Matt said. "I spend every waking hour exploring London in one way or another."

But we can't forget what really helps a blog grow to well over a million page views a month: readers and contributors. 4,600 people have contributed photos to Londonist's Flickr pool and dozens of people regularly send in tips or leave suggestions on their Facebook wall. "When you write about something you're deeply interested in, you tend to attract readers with similar interests," Matt explained. "Many have gone on to become contributors." And it's this side of things that Matt likes most about blogging: "You quickly find other bloggers, tweeters and others who share that interest. Before you know it, you're in the pub with them. And then they soon become your best friends."

It's this crossover into real life that is a characteristic of Londonist's popularity, regularly collaborating with museums on events and exhibitions to help get the name into the real world, Matt told me. "But we've a long way to go," he continued. "There's still a large portion of the population who rely on radio, newspapers, magazines and other print sources for their London news and ideas."

However, if his predictions are anything to go by, Londonist will become much more widespread: "We'll see the continuation of a trend that's long been apparent - the blurring of boundaries between what constitutes a blog and what constitutes a publication or a website."

We love Londonist here at Ebuzzing UK. We're London-based, so it's perfect for everything from restaurant reviews to local news. I believe that balance lies behind its success: it's a blog, but it's a publication; it's online, but you see it in the real world. Whether you live in London or not, Londonist is a great read and an absolute must for your bookmark list.

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In return for all our bloggers hard work, every month we pick a blog to highlight, which we feel has really contributed to Ebuzzing campaigns and is working hard to build themselves a good reputation within the blogosphere. 

From our mobiles acting as alarm clocks, to our iPod keeping us entertained on the way to work we are constantly relying on technology to distract us from everyday life and fill in the gaps.Wearable computing would just make this a lot easier. Wearable computing can be any personal computer that is worn as a piece of clothing and unobtrusive for users; it could be anything as simple as a digital watch, to augmented reality glasses. So, what does the future hold in this technology arena?

Well, according to the NY Times Bits Blog, Google and Apple are currently looking to build prototypes in this field, which could see much more user-friendly technology that fit even more seamlessly into users' lives. Whilst Google X labs is recruiting engineers specialised in buidling tiny wearable computers, Apple is discussing the idea of "a curved-glass iPod" that can wrap around the wrist and be activated using Siri, the company's artificial intelligence software.

Researchers are certain that the lines between reality and virtual reality will begin to blur much more in the near future, with some predicting contact lenses with display functionality in the next 10 years (similar to Black Mirror). As well as this, augmented reality could take the Google + groups concept one step further, by allowing users to create a virtual self to be seen by different groups of people, so that your colleagues, old school friends, and family would all see different perceptions of you at the same time.

It seems that we have only reached the tip of the iceberg in terms of the technology available to us now. As demand grows for much more efficient and seamless interfaces, we could see prototypes for miniature wearable computers much sooner than you'd think.

Heard of any digital innovations recently that you think we'd be interested in? Leave a link in the comments below or send me an email.  

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