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DTW fastest riser in Prolific North Top 50 PR agencies

Let’s just start by saying that you always have to take any industry rankings with a pinch of salt, but this is one of the meaningful ones. We’re very pleased that DTW has been ranked by Prolific North as #15 – and as the fastest riser – in Prolific North’s latest annual list of the Top 50 PR agencies across the north of England. In a list dominated by Manchester agencies we’re classed as the largest in the north east, but more importantly than that, it shows the results of the really great creativity and hard work put in by

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Mobile phone showing the LinkedIn homepage

How to use the new LinkedIn update to increase your reach

We all try to keep our LinkedIn feeds up to date don’t we? We try to log in frequently to check-in to the oldest ‘big’ social network out there but let’s face it, for many of us it’s never our most used app or website. Well, this blog might change all that. In October, LinkedIn announced BIG changes to their feed algorithm meaning not only will we be seeing some fairly different content when we log in, but we’ll notice our personal content getting a lot more attention. What’s the update? Let’s set the scene: LinkedIn has over 567m members who

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Content marketing

Creating meaningful content for Facebook

Facebook have announced it will be taking steps to limit the number of low-quality ads on their platforms by disapproving more of them and reducing the distribution of the ones that are approved. Which got me thinking, what are the key ingredients to creating high-quality content on Facebook? Before we dive in let’s go through a little background and talk about what ‘low-quality’ actually means. In Facebook’s own words low-quality ads “include clickbait or direct people to unexpected content, create bad experiences for people and don’t align with our goal of creating meaningful connections between people and businesses.” Facebook break

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Aerial view of traffic crossing the Northern Spire bridge

Northern Spire: Hard hats and sequins – the secret to successful infrastructure communications

Karen and Chris are heading back to Sunderland shortly to do a joint event with Sunderland City Council’s communications team about all things Northern Spire from a PR perspective. If you like the sound of that you can book a ticket on the CIPR North East eventbrite site and read on below to find out more. “It’s all about hard hats, sequins and having a narrative that can really engage the community.” Successful infrastructure projects take years to deliver – so where do you start, how do you keep people engaged and what do you need to do to get

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Twitterstorms, Facebook meltdowns, Instagram explosions – how do you handle a crisis on social media?

What are the golden rules for managing social media in a crisis? Our MD Chris Taylor takes a look at how the UK public sector is leading the way and picks out his five top tips for using social media in a crisis.  This article first appeared in ESPO’s Spotlight magazine.  If you work in the public sector, one thing you can guarantee is that ‘stuff happens’ (other words are available). Another certainty is that when it happens, there’ll be a whole load of people queueing up only too ready to put the boot in and give the local council, NHS trust

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Photo of Strictly's Giovanni Pernice and Faye Tozer on the Northern Spire Bridge

It’s a 10! When the project you love takes centre stage on BBC Strictly

There are times in PR and communications when something pretty amazing happens – and for our Northern Spire team, and particularly me, that time has been this week. After all, it’s not every day you manage to get your client’s brand new landmark bridge in front of 11million people on the biggest show on TV. However, that is exactly what happened for Sunderland City Council tonight when its impressive Northern Spire bridge took centre stage alongside the stars of Strictly Come Dancing. By taking a punt, and believing that with a lot of tenacity and a bit of good fortune

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