Heather Taylor

Heather is a writer and filmmaker who covers media and communications, tech, ecommerce and the arts and was listed by Brand Republic as one of the top 200 most influential bloggers in 2011. She is currently VP, Head of Social Content and Strategy at Social@Ogilvy. These posts were written during her time as editorial director of Econsultancy in New York (2012-13).

Prior to her move to Econsultancy, Heather was acting editor of About the BBC, the BBC corporate blog and website, and managed online corporate reputation for the BBC. Previous roles included social media manger for PayPal UK and social media/ PR manager for Groundswell award winner, giffgaff.

Heather speaks at events on social media, marketing, community and filmmaking - previous speaking engagements include talks at ComicCon, Reputation Online Live, Technology for Marketing and Advertising, PR Week, European Customer Experience World, Social Media in Business, Media Camp London, and Digital Surrey. She has also advised on social media strategy for a number of startups and charitable organizations.

Making tag management work for you: new report & infographic

The digital world is complicated and website tags sit at the heart of online businesses and marketing. In fact, effectively managing website tags, or tracking pixels, is fundamental to digital marketing.

In the ROI of Tag Management, a new report released today in partnership with Tealium, we explore the role, challenges and opportunities for technology in handling vendor website tags.

by Heather Taylor 16 May 2012 16:34pm 6 comments

US job moves: RIM, Edelman, AOL, Hoffman Agency, Hootsuite

Once again we've put together the most senior and influential job moves in the US.

This time we cover influential moves from Fuse to Newsday Media Group, two greatly anticipated hires at RIM, a promotion at Edelman, new hires at AOL and the Hoffman Agency and two new hires at Hootsuite.

by Heather Taylor 11 May 2012 20:12pm 0 comments

The role of social media in financial services marketing

Today, LinkedIn launched its inaugural Financial Services Summit in New York which focused on the role social media is playing in the financial services industry. The first panel brought together representatives from American Express, Citi, Fidelity Investments, Prudential Retirement and Hearsay Social to talk about using social media in financial marketing.

It was curious to see a panel on social media where only two out of six individuals on the panel have Twitter accounts. One was Clara Shih, who runs the agency Hearsay Social, and the other, Frank Eliason, SVP of Social for Citi. The panelists' lack of Twitter accounts felt like a microcosm highlighting how most financial service organizations are behind in social media.

by Heather Taylor 10 May 2012 21:52pm 7 comments

The impact of negative SEO: the experts' view

Negative SEO is not a new concept but it is one that has recently become more mainstream. These are underhanded tactics where companies do SEO activity for their competitors so it appears that they are breaching Google's guidelines and they get penalized.

This SEO campaign then ruins the competitor's organic rankings in order to improve their own rankings. The most common practice is to build low quality, anchor text links to a specific domain in order to trigger a Google penalty for that site or specific page.

We asked some SEO experts in the UK and US their opinions on negative SEO, what techniques are being used and how you can prevent it from happening to you.

by Heather Taylor 09 May 2012 19:55pm 9 comments

Bridging the digital divide between marketers and consumers: new report

Today, PulsePoint released new research in conjunction with The CMO Club and Digiday on what they are terming the Digital Divide. This report examines digital marketing capabilities, top challenges and priorities of brands, agencies and publishers.

PulsePoint first decided to conduct a study to analyze the gap in perception between publishers, advertisers and agencies and how they use digital channels. Surprisingly, there was not much difference between the groups but rather between what they were doing and what the consumer expected.

by Heather Taylor 08 May 2012 23:19pm 2 comments

Soft skills still outweigh education in entry-level hires: infographic

The marketing world is known for its love of hiring interns but with unemployment rates on the rise, are internships really going to lead to new jobs for graduates? And what are employers looking for?

A new study by Millennial Branding and Experience reveal an employment gap between employers and students. Even though 91% of employers think students should have between one and two internships before graduation, 50% haven’t hired any interns in the last six months. In fact, over three quarters of employers have hired 30% fewer interns into full time positions of late.

by Heather Taylor 14 May 2012 17:00pm 1 comment

Twitter showdown: Ford vs General Motors

As the newest Fortune 500 list came out this morning, we've pulled two of the top 10 to be today's competitors in our Twitter showdown: General Motors (ranking 5th on the list) and Ford (who came in 9th).

Everyone knows how passionate people are about their cars but will their standings on the Fortune 500 reflect how they are doing in the social space? Let's find out.

by Heather Taylor 08 May 2012 00:51am 3 comments

Managing the flood of big data: infographic

As large web companies are selling us on the value of big data, they are also peddling their own cloud services to help you make sense of all the information you feel compelled to process.

Just as Amazon Web Services is showing how it's changing businesses with its scalable and affordable data and analytic services, IBM has been developing its own solution with Netezza, an acquisition they made in 2010.

by Heather Taylor 07 May 2012 19:13pm 2 comments

US job moves: Best Buy, Google, T-Mobile USA, AOL, Dell, American Express

Once again we've put together the most senior and influential job moves in the US.

This time we cover influential moves from Google to Ifeelgoods and Dell to SAP AG, another senior resignation at Best Buy, new hires at American Express and Eloqua and the loss of T-Mobile USA's CMO.

by Heather Taylor 05 May 2012 13:24pm 1 comment

Q&A: MyPod Studios on brands creating online videos

Last week, we had a chance to talk to Jay Miletsky, CEO of MyPod Studios. Launched October 2010, MyPod Studios was created to provide an alternative to the current video networks with content curated by the MyPod team.

Miletsky shared with us his top tips on how brands should create video content on the web and how he would like to see online video advertising and how we deliver it to change.

by Heather Taylor 04 May 2012 20:00pm 4 comments