I’ve been amazed to read several articles, including some written by senior practitioners within the marketing industry, claiming that JD Wetherspoon’s recent decision to leave social media somehow demonstrates ‘brand leadership.’ What it actually represents is the failure of JD Wetherspoon’s senior management team to grasp the reach and power of the major social media networks, and the sea-change in human behaviour accompanying it.

Understanding how Twitter works is essential for anyone who wants to promote their business, event, group or themselves. Here are my top ten essentials – the ten laws – that I think that you need to know about Twitter.

Search advertising can be a great way to develop new leads for your business, putting your website in front of people actively looking for your product. However, poorly constructed, untargetted ads can haemorrhage away your budget and significantly reduce your return on investment. Here are three ways to boost the performance of your Google Adwords campaigns.

Birmingham City Council recently produced a draft strategic planning document relating to land use in Moseley, and set up a consultation exercise for it. Here’s my response (also sent to BCC) to the question: “Do you have any comment on the vision set out in the draft SPD?”

On several occasions I have seen well-meaning non-PR practitioners issue their own press releases, only to be puzzled when no coverage results. Often the answer is that the writer hasn’t been able to apply the “so what?” test to their own work, in order to create a story that stands out from the hundreds that a journalist will typically receive each week.

It is often said that we have two ears and one mouth because we should use them in that proportion. Listening is certainly overlooked in the art of good communication. Lots of people go on presentation skills training – yet I have never met anyone who has attended listening skills training.

Social networking builds a range of skills that are good for both the employee and workplace. It exposes the user to new ideas; promotes cultural awareness; facilitates work/life balance and even just provides distraction, which can be useful in creating the breaks needed to maintain productivity when completing long tasks.