Hello Insiders,
Welcome to another issue of the EU Bubble Insider!
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In this fourth issue we bring to you:
- EU Bubble Insider Podcast with Stefan Borst, EMEA Head of Energy and Industrials at Edelman
- SEO for Publishing a Position Paper Like a Pro
- Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 insights
- EUCB Payment Methods – trends and insights infographic
- The Top 5 Climate Activists & Influencers you should be following for your next campaign
- EU Bubble event recommendations
- Links to articles and reports that we find worth reading
Do you have any thoughts or suggestions? Just reply to this email. I would love to hear from you.
Enjoy reading and watching!
Krzysztof Bulski & Molecule Group
In this fourth episode of the EU Bubble Insider Podcast, we speak with Stefan Borst, EMEA Head of Energy and Industrials at Edelman. In this episode, we discuss a range of fascinating topics. From his journey to becoming a leader in the industry to advice for those interested in pursuing a career in public affairs, and the impact of the pandemic on the way Stefan manages his team and works with clients. We also delve into the challenges and opportunities presented by the emergence of AI tools in the communications industry, as well as the challenges faced by the public affairs industry in Brussels. We explore the importance of trust and share best practices for ensuring team members care for their mental health and well-being during challenging times.
You can watch the interview on YouTube:
or listen to it on Soundcloud:
In an increasingly digitised world, writing an informative position paper is only half the battle. The other half is making sure that people are able to find and read what you created. That’s where Search Engine Optimisation comes in – in short, SEO is important when publishing because it increases the likelihood that your text will appear higher in search results, ensuring you reach your audience (and, hopefully, beyond it!), increasing the impact and influence of your paper. Without SEO, you’re running the risk of your position paper getting buried on page 10 of the search results, where very few people will see it. Hence, here are our SEO tips for publishing a position paper like a pro:
- Optimise your meta tags: Meta tags are the title and description that appear in search engine results. Make sure your title accurately reflects the content of your article and includes relevant keywords. Your meta description should be compelling and encourage people to click through to your article. Depending on the platform you use to host your website, you will have different ways of editing your meta tags.
- Don’t forget about images: The names of the images you upload to your website can impact your SEO results. Use alt tags to describe your images and include relevant keywords that you want people to search. This helps search engines understand what your images are about and can improve your ranking in image search results.
- Use internal linking: Link to other relevant content on your website to help search engines understand the structure of your website and the relationship between your content. For example, you can add a ‘You might also be interested in…’ section under your publications, linking to your other relevant texts.
- Build backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They can improve your website’s authority and increase your ranking in search results. Media relations can be really helpful when establishing your backlinks. Whenever another website mentions your paper, make sure they link to the relevant page. Other ways to build backlinks include promoting your content on social media, or guest posting on other relevant websites and profiles.
- Consider mobile optimization: More and more people are accessing content on their mobile devices. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly on mobile devices. A great tool to check how well your website is performing is PageSpeed Insights. Their analysis will provide you insights and direct recommendations on what to change to make your page load faster and be accessible to a wider digital audience.
In January, Edelman published its 2023 Trust Barometer and released a staggering finding: Business is the only institution viewed as ethical and competent. Before exploring what exactly this means for business today, let’s first turn to Edelman and its barometer.
Edelman is a global communications firm that partners with businesses and organisations to evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations. The Edelman Trust Barometer is its yearly global trust and credibility survey. Polled to over 32,000 respondents across 28 countries examining how much people trust institutions or others, this year’s theme was ‘navigating in a polarised world’. The report is published every January and covers a range of timely and important societal indicators of trust among business, media, government and NGOs. Here are our top picks from the report:
- Business is the only institution seen as competent and ethical (62 percent): it now holds a staggering 53-point lead over government in competence and is 30 points ahead on ethics.
- Economic optimism crashes: only 40% of global respondents think their families will be better off in five years – a 10-point decrease from 2022.
- Emergence of a mass-class divide: high-income earners’ average trust in institutions has soared from 50 to 62 since 2012, while low-income earners have struggled, with the trust index rising only slightly from 43 to 48.
- Polarisation is most severe when divisions become entrenched: six countries surveyed – including the U.S. – are severely polarized, and nine are at risk of severe polarisation.
- People want business to do more: people say business should do more, not less, to address issues like climate change, economic inequality and workforce reskilling.
Speaking about the results of the survey, Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman said: “The increased perception of business as ethical brings with it higher than ever expectations of CEOs to be a leading voice on societal issues”. This, he noted, brings with it a set of challenges: “On average, respondents want more societal involvement by business on issues such as climate change, economic inequality, and workforce reskilling. But business must tread carefully; more than half (52 percent) of our respondents do not believe business can avoid being politicised when it addresses contentious societal issues.”
You can read the full report here.
The European Central Bank released a report investigating the evolving payment landscape in the Euro area and the behaviours of its citizens: mainly, how people pay for goods and services, and how they pay money to each other. This bi-annual report provides valuable insights into the state of the Eurozone economy and financial system, allowing you and your organisation to make informed decisions, or to strike up a conversation with your finance friends. Hence, we created an infographic summarising the main takeaways:
There is no denying it: climate change is the greatest threat to our world and future generations. Calls for businesses to act on the climate in their corporate practices have become louder and more urgent among consumers – particularly young people – on social media. These so-called “sustainability influencers” have been successful in gaining support and admiration from the public, putting pressure on brands to implement eco-friendly production and practice. This is where your brand enters the chat. Influencer marketing is a powerful way for your brand to reach out to your target audience and encourage them to engage with your product and services. Here we have compiled a list of our top-five activists and influencers in the sustainable sphere that your brand should gain inspiration from and collaborate with to add credibility to your next campaign, endorse your latest product or help you promote the right message for your brand.
- Kate Brandt is Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer and is responsible for the tech giant’s environmental impact on the planet. Brandt shares Google’s industry advancements on LinkedIn, such as how their AI will help whales avoid ship traffic. Brandt’s positive attitude and dedication to the environment from a business-perspective has earned her an impressive 40K followers – demonstrating that inspiring, sustainability content sells.
- Chris Hines, the owner of A Grain of Sand and former Sustainability Director at the Eden Project, is a popular LinkedIn influencer. Whether it is supporting the environmentally sustainable efforts of his peers, directing his followers to the other sustainability champions tackling climate change or promoting the exciting sustainability events he is invited to speak at, Hines is a master at implementing small but effective social media strategies to raise awareness about brand environmental commitment.
- If you are a business owner, Pia Heidenmark Cook is a must-follow as her LinkedIn is full of practical sustainability strategies. Following her 14-year stint as IKEA’s Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Advisor, Heidenmark Cook has amassed over 15K followers on LinkedIn and is popular for her posts on corporate sustainability, ESG (environmental, sustainable and governance) and renewable energy. Follow her example.
- Instagram influencer marketing starts with Monika Poppy, one of the most famous environmental sustainability influencers on the platform. A well-known sustainability influencer, public speaker, and consultant who has been cited as one of the UK’s Leading Environmentalists by Forbes, Poppy launched her website Sustainability is Cool in 2016 to help brands and businesses optimise their social media presence by creating engaging content for their sustainability campaigns. Her platform also provides practical tips that encourage people to live more sustainably and ethically. Poppy has worked with some of the biggest names in sustainable fashion and food brands. A collaboration with the influencer is calling.
- France is a major climate actor in the EU. It is little surprise then that it should have a highly influential environmental personality. Boasting an impressive 261k followers on her Instagram account, social and climate justice activist Camille Etienne is at the forefront of French climate politics and online climate advocacy. Engaging with young people and government officials alike through informative videos, televised debates and documentary films, Etienne is a valuable source of inspiration for any brand seeking to advance their eco-conscious practices and online sustainability campaigns – especially if English is not their first language.
WindEurope Annual Event 2023Expired
Copenhagen, Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
EPRS online Book Talk: Women and leadership in the EUExpired
On-line
Climate and health in ‘Climate Mainstreaming: Breaking down the silos’ seriesExpired
On-line
SRB Legal Conference 2023 – EU and Banking Union Law in a European and Global ContextExpired
On-line
EPRS Policy Talks: What the EU is doing on ensuring Europe’s energy securityExpired
Brussels
Consumer electronics retail: Facilitating the green and digital transitionExpired
Brussels
- Content Marketing Institute shares their insights on suing AI to facilitate your content marketing processes. From content briefs to diversification, here is how AI can make your life in marketing easier.
- ERM published their ‘What’s Next for Sustainable Business?’ trends report. Sustainability trends are evolving rapidly and businesses have to adapt. Learn about tech climate impact, the circularity gap, digital ethics, and more.
- Anyone working in lobbying or campaigning needs to be fluent in the language of persuasion. To help his fellow persuaders, Aaron McLoughlin wrote an article where he shares his seven ways to sell your policy to officials and politicians.
- The Mack Institute at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania interviewed Christian Terwiesch, a renowned expert in the field of innovation and operations management. The interview explores his thoughts on the future of technology, including the potential of Chat GPT and its impact on businesses and society.
