Ryan Sommer

A Silicon Valley native and PR professional with a tech writing background, specialized in consumer web launches, product review programs, social media momentum initiatives, and blog relations in U.S. and European markets.

Being at the forefront of social media PR, I understand SEO's "white hat" relationship with it very strongly, and I am well versed with new tracking and reporting methods that come along with it.

In 2010 I relocated to the UK in order to work as part of global marketing team for a consumer web product, and I have worked in London ever since through freelance consulting to the burgeoning startup scene and with the digital marketing intelligence community Econsultancy.

Specialties: Branding, identity, community building, community relations, market research, social media relations, user acquisition, web browsers, mobile, desktop software, social networking, web standards, open source, identity/OpenID, design, music, gadgets, blogging, SEO, content marketing

Q&A with The Digitals judging panel: Ciaran Norris of Mindshare Australia

Entries for The Digitals, our new awards that recognise the best in digital marketing and ecommerce, are currently open.

To celebrate their launch and build a better understanding of what it is all about, we've invited several of the esteemed judges for a Q&A.

Entries for The Digitals have been coming in from around the globe. Ciaran Norris, Chief Digital Officer at Mindshare Australia, is the first in our international judge Q&As.

by Ryan Sommer 27 February 2013 22:01pm 0 comments

Q&A with The Digitals judging panel: Anil Pillai of LBi

Entries for The Digitals, our new awards that recognise the best in digital marketing and ecommerce, are currently open.

To celebrate their launch and build a better understanding of what it is all about, we've invited several of the esteemed judges for a Q&A.

Anil Pillai, CEO of LBi UK, is the fourth in the series.

by Ryan Sommer 26 February 2013 14:19pm 0 comments

Q&A: Lean Analytics co-authors on data-driven marketing

Econsultancy and Geckoboard recently surveyed SMBs and entrepreneurs in the internet software industry for our Data-Driven Culture Survey and found that across different approaches to data and goals, the majority of respondents felt metrics were not understood or acted upon correctly.

Whether you are a marketer or a startup founder, we can all benefit from a structured, lean approach to data.

As the Lean Startup movement (spawned from the bestselling book of the same name by Eric Ries in 2011) will add another chapter in just a few weeks’ time when co-authors Ben Yoskovitz and Alistair Croll release Lean Analytics, we decided to get their take on prioritising data for marketers in this Q&A.

by Ryan Sommer 27 February 2013 14:53pm 1 comment

Q&A: RAPP UK CEO Marco Scognamiglio on digital excellence

The call for participation in Econsultancy's Top 100 Agencies Report is now open.

With 2013 being the year that digital truly goes mainstream in business, and the multitude of predictions on themes to watch along the way, this series of Q&As with marketing heads agency-side will bring analysis and commentary ahead of the report to our blog.

Here Marco Scognamiglio, CEO of RAPP UK, discusses using data properly in marketing, RAPP's mobile platform offering, and key upcoming trends across the industry.

by Ryan Sommer 25 February 2013 13:16pm 0 comments

Q&A: Eric Mellet on the sales organization of the future

Eric Mellet is co-author of a new report published by Econsultancy entitled The Sales Organization of the Future.

The report, which is free to registered Econsultancy users, explores how product-oriented companies need to evolve into value-added services organizations to meet the changing expectations of customers in a business environment which is fundamentally changing.

I asked Eric about brands leading the way in innovative sales.

by Ryan Sommer 22 February 2013 14:28pm 0 comments

Why your brand should get creative now with visual content marketing

According to Toprank CEO Lee Odden’s recent SES London session, content marketing at its very minimum needs to include: brand leadership, customer empathy, storytelling and creativity.

Here are three reasons why some of that creativity should be visual, regardless of your brand or industry.

by Ryan Sommer 21 February 2013 16:17pm 0 comments

Q&A: Karl Havard of TBG Digital on digital excellence

The call for participation in Econsultancy's Top 100 Agencies Report is now open. With 2013 being the year that digital truly goes mainstream in business, and the multitude of predictions on themes to watch along the way, this series of Q&As with marketing heads agency-side will bring analysis and commentary ahead of the report to our blog.

Here Karl Havard, Client Strategy Director at TBG Digital, discusses key digital trends and working with new strategies to deliver clients results.

by Ryan Sommer 20 February 2013 13:51pm 0 comments

Q&A with The Digitals judging panel: Lucy Dawson of Lloyd's

Entries for The Digitals, our new awards that recognise the best in digital marketing and ecommerce, are currently open.

To celebrate their launch and build a better understanding of what it is all about, we've invited several of the esteemed judges for a Q&A.

Lucy Dawson, Digital Content Executive at Lloyd's of London, is the third in the series.

by Ryan Sommer 19 February 2013 12:56pm 0 comments

Facebook's Graph Search explained for a five-year-old

Here at Econsultancy, we are big fans of the Reddit AMA, where a notable business person, politician, or often a celebrity sit down to answer point blank questions from the community. Recently, Lars Rasmussen, Facebook’s Director of Engineering, did an AMA and explained Graph Search in as simple a way as possible.

The thread, which reveals that Graph Search has been in development since Summer 2011, includes many elements a marketer can skip (including Rasmussen's experience on one of Zuckerberg's famous walks, and the "best and worst things about working at Facebook") but also the most straightforward "tech in non tech speak" explanation of Graph Search since Rasmussen was asked to explain it like he was talking to a five-year-old.

by Ryan Sommer 19 February 2013 19:00pm 3 comments

Is Twitter changing how content surfaces?

Twitter has been on an announcement binge as of late, and assuming it’s factual, and not just a bunch of PR...it's all very relevant to marketers.

As our Social Media Manager Matt Owen has already pointed out we get a lot of traffic (and hence new members) from Twitter, so these changes to search history and mobile search experience are important to us. I did some A/B testing with the old iOS app, and then the new one and came away unimpressed however. Twitter PR, feel free to send someone our way to correct any inaccuracies!

by Ryan Sommer 14 February 2013 18:24pm 2 comments