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Tag: Facebook

Social Media And Viral Content: Tips From Matt Siltala
If you haven’t heard of Matt Siltala, get your butt to Google right now and start searching. As an online search industry leader and president of Avalaunch Media, Matt came to New Orleans this week to present at Pubcon, a social media and optimization conference and expo featuring multiple days of multiple-track sessions, leading-edge keynotes, and an all-day intensive Pubcon Masters Group training program.

Prior to wowing the crowds at Pubcon, Matt was kind enough to visit Search Influence and give us the skinny on social media, content, and how to make things go viral. His presentation was amazing, informative, humorous, and vastly helpful in terms of SEO. So, I’ve put together some key takeaways businesses can and should focus on in order to promote their brands and make a name for themselves online.

Find Your Target Market By Talking To The Right People

When you’re trying to reach a target market, knowing who to talk to in order to get results within that market is most important. When you talk to someone with power, authority, and a willingness to help, there is a higher probability of getting your brand noticed and increasing awareness among your target market.

Pro Tip: If you know who you want to target, use Followerwonk to compare, analyze, track, and group users. That way, you know exactly who you’re reaching, and what to say in order to entice them.

What Makes Good Content?

Oddly enough, controversy increases viewers and makes for some great content. Think about it. When do people get the most involved in content? During a debate! Any topic people disagree on will get more viewers. This is a theory that withstands the test of time. For example: Republican vs. Democrat, Mac vs. PC, Coke vs. Pepsi, and Matt’s popular Evolution of the Electric Guitar infographic, which includes a Guitar Hero controller, featured below.

Build Up Your Instagram Following With Deals

With millions of users posting pictures every day, Instagram has exploded in terms of social media marketing and brand promotion. Boutiques, restaurants, and more post photos of products, specials, daily deals, and location information daily, giving viewers a reason to follow them and stay consistently engaged in the brand. By monitoring hashtags and paying attention to channels, businesses will learn whom to target and how to peak people’s interests and gain followers.

Pro Tip: Show products in context to help viewers visualize a final product. Whether that is a meal, an outfit, or a piece of furniture, demonstrating what the product will look like in conjunction with other products peaks interest and makes things easier to relate to.

Processes On Pinterest

More frequently, businesses are turning to Pinterest to gain a customer base. In fact, the “Pin It” action has gained more popularity than the Facebook “Like” and Twitter’s “Retweet.” Checklists, how-tos, recipes, and detailed processes are hugely popular on Pinterest because they get people thinking and and keep their interest longer than a simple image.

Pro Tip: In terms of repinning vs creating new pins, employ 4:1 ratio. Remember that it’s not just about repinning for content, you repin to network. And make sure you get yourself noticed by commenting regularly.

Focus On Visuals On Facebook And Twitter

As with all other forms of social media, building a following and growing your popularity is key to brand success on both Facebook and Twitter. So, what is the key to getting lots of retweets, likes, shares, and comments? Images! Think about it, what is the most retweeted post of all time? Ellen Degeneres’ Oscar Tweet! Only three days after the Oscars the tweet had a record 3.2 million retweets. Now that’s a powerful image.

Pro Tip: Identify influencers relevant to your industry and interact with them as much as possible on social media to grow your online presence and brand popularity.

I could go on and on about the wealth of knowledge Matt dispelled on the Search Influence family, but rather than rambling I’ll leave you with a few of his final tips and tricks:
1. Pay attention to Linkedin groups. If you get in contact with the owner of a relevant group to your industry they can help you tremendously. Not only can they contact a large group of people easily via email, the group they’re contacting will be the exact target market you need for shares and online visibility.
2. Sign up for alerts from Help A Reporter Out. You can find experts, get free publicity, and gain tons of helpful contacts.
3. The gift category in Pinterest is wildly popular. By using a dollar sign ($) in your post description, your post will automatically show up there.
4. Find a way to repurpose everything. Much like Matt’s wildly successful Social Meowdia Explained infographic (featured below), post, images, content, and more can be repurposed to gain popularity in a variety of forms. For example: an infographic can be turned into a blog, memes, content, etc.
1. Remember that everything you do contributes to authorship. Every post you write, share, retweet, favorite, etc has your brand name attached to it. Everything you do online grows your authorship, so take advantage of that and be creative in what you post.
For more information on Matt Siltala, check him out at Pubcon or visit his website! And for any questions on the information above, feel free to ask in the comments!
March 18, 2014
Instagram is “Ad” it Again!

Does it seem like, eventually, everything turns into a platform for advertising? For social media, that seems to be the trend when comparing networks over the years. Everything from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, and Pandora have all followed the same trend. Using a great business plan (and a lot of foresight), they open their online “doors,” create a massive following, and after a few years succumb to the massive potential profit that is advertising.

Instagram Ads

Even though it took some time, it is clear that the mega success of our beloved Instagram has followed suit. After Facebook bought the ultra popular image sharing platform for a cool $1 billion, they didn’t waste time reaping a return on their investment. In late 2013, Instagram announced that they would start releasing “sponsored” posts that would look and feel like the other images users were already sharing. The Beta version of these sponsored posts were designed to “underwhelm” users so that they might not even know they were looking at an advertisement.

Who Sponsors Posts?

These sponsored posts were only given to a select number of brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Macy’s, Michael Kors, Lexus, and Levis, in order to test out consumer reactions. However, recent studies show that these advertisements were highly successful due to the limited number of competitors on the site, the quality of the advertisement, and the fact that it is an image instead of text. Many advertisers understand that images are far more powerful than words, which is why Instagram, along with its huge user base, is an ideal platform for marketing.

Personalized Ads

But how will Instagram know what brands you like or images you’re drawn to? The beauty and genius of the merger is that Facebook already knows everything about you! Between the information Facebook has already collected about you (likes, interests, hobbies, etc.) and the images that you like and follow on Instagram, advertisers are able to put more customized and targeted ads in front of you. The hope is that these ads will be so successful that companies will eventually pay more to advertise. So watch out, you might actually start seeing ads that you enjoy!

Have you seen an ad on Instagram that grabbed your attention? Let us know in the comments!

March 12, 2014
Facebook Announces Design Changes and New Features for Pages
Yesterday, Facebook For Business announced a new, more “streamlined” design for Pages, which will begin rolling out this week. In addition to the new look, a new feature called “Pages to Watch” will launch, allowing page admins to monitor and compare their page with that of other businesses.

Ch-ch-changes!

Overall, the layout changes to Pages are not terribly drastic, but as with any small change, there will likely come some backlash from the user base. Page administrators have a few new features to look forward to and some adjusting to do when it comes to navigating the platform, as Facebook has rearranged some key features with the design refresh.

Photo credit: http://www.someecards.com

Here are some of the notable changes to the design of Pages and how they might affect you:
1. The cover photo and profile square dimensions do not appear to have changed, though Facebook’s announcement does not specifically list any dimensions.
2. The position of the profile square has changed slightly, as the cover photo overlaps farther with the profile square than before. Some design changes may need to be made to pages with a design that integrated the cover photo and profile square together.
3. Page name and website will appear in white typeface, overlaid on the cover photo. It appears that cover photos will automatically contain a darker gradient from the bottom up to accommodate this text, similar to what is in place on Twitter header photos.
4. The “Like” button has been overlaid with the cover photo (as opposed to the current layout, where the Like button is below the cover photo), which may result in a change to design when the goal is to draw attention to the “Like” button. Some existing Facebook pages with cover photos drawing attention to this button will need to be updated.
5. Tabs no longer have square icons appearing below the cover photo. Because the position of these has changed, cover photos drawing attention to specific tabs will need to be updated.
6. The “About the Business” section has been relocated farther down the Page Timeline, below the total Likes.
7. Other changes directly affect page administrators rather than users. These include:
  - Different placement of key metrics such as ads you’re running, page likes, post reach, and notifications from “This Week”
  - Direct access to your Ads Manager account from the top of the page when an admin is viewing the Timeline
  - Simplified navigation at the top of the page for activity, insights, and settings
The Design As We Know It

What We Can Expect

In addition to the cover photo and general header changes, Pages will now feature a two column layout similar to the old version, but with some notable changes. Now, the right hand column features the Page’s timeline content and posts. Facebook for Business says in it’s post that this “means that all of your posts will appear consistently on your Page and in News Feed.” I’m curious about the latter half of that statement, as it’s currently unclear how the layout change will affect post visibility in the News Feed.

The left column will now display information about your business, starting with the total number of likes. According to Facebook’s release, it will feature a map (though not visible in the images provided), business hours of operation, phone numbers, website URL, etc. This column will also feature photos and videos.

Fancy New Features For Admins

It seems like most of the changes will simply result in a few painful days as Page admins get used to clicking around the new layout, and finding what they need to manage their pages. A few things that will make our lives a bit easier are the relocation of Page insights and admin navigation to the top of the page. There’s now also a more prominent “Build Audience” button, allowing admins instant access to their Facebook Ads Manager account from the timeline.

At the top right, Facebook has also added a “This Week” panel, showing you metrics about your page from the last week including the number of ads running, total page likes, post reach, unread messages, and notifications.

Lastly, the newest and potentially most usable feature is the addition of “Pages to Watch.” This addition will enable Page administrators to keep up with the competition by monitoring Pages of businesses they care about. Other new features in Insights include the opportunity to view engaging posts from Pages you’re watching within the last week.

Are you looking forward to the changes or dreading the adjustment period? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
March 11, 2014
14 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid in 2014

We’ve all seen them… misfired tweets, Facebook fails, and huge national brands that just don’t get it. Last year we recapped the 12 worst social media mistakes of 2012, but brands just keep making the same errors over and over again. For 2014 we’re going to be proactive. Here are 14 mistakes to avoid this year, so that your brand isn’t ridiculed by friends, fans, followers, or the general public:

1) Avoid relating ANY holiday to your brand:

Unless you are a major fireworks distributor or 1-800-Flowers, holidays are NOT about you. Don’t force it. Even if you think your message fits in flawlessly with the holiday, chances are someone will take offense. Don’t believe me? Google MLK Day Social Media for proof.

2) Not understanding your company’s image

Banking giant J.P. Morgan decided to host a Twitter Q&A session utilizing the hashtag #AskJPM in November. Although they received thousands of amazing questions such as, “As a young sociopath, how can I succeed in Finance? #AskJPM” and “What’s it like working with Mexican drug cartels? Do they tip? #AskJPM”, the company quickly realized that Twitter was not the appropriate medium for a company discussion.

3) Using trending hashtags without first checking their meaning

Utilizing hashtags is a great way to get more eyes on your tweets, but don’t hijack trending tags without first researching the message behind them. Baked goods company Entenmann’s faced backlash after utilizing a trending hashtag without realizing that #notguilty referred to the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial.

4) Getting too political

This one practically speaks for itself. No one wants to hear outspoken thoughts about gay marriage, political candidates, or religion from a brand. Italian pasta company Barilla came under fire last year after stating that they would not feature gay families in any ads. After thousands of people tweeted at them with the hashtag #boicottabarilla, they finally issued a semi-apology (in Italian) from their brand account. The lesson here? Don’t get your brand involved in political affairs, and respond quickly if you find your company in a similar situation. Most users prefer their pasta without a side of prejudice.

5) Creating fake controversies

Real time marketing is a hot buzzword, but faking a crisis is not the way to achieve success. Brands like Chipotle and JC Penney have faked problems on their own social media networks to achieve attention. Effective real time social media campaigns react to events as they happen, not create unnecessary controversy.

6) Responding generically to complaints

If your company does something to upset a large amount of fans, you should not reply to them all with the same generic message. Either issue a blanket public apology to all of your fans, or personalize each response.

7) Not responding to negative feedback or customer questions

Not responding at all to complaints is also a bad policy. A study from Maritz Research and evolve24 found that over 50% of respondents expected a reply from a company regarding public complaints on Twitter. Deleting or ignoring complaints is not the way to approach social media management. Furthermore, if you engage with an unhappy customer, you should not stop answering them after one tweet.

8) Beginning tweets with “@” or “.@”

It might seem like beginning tweets with an “@” is Twitter 101, but tons of brands still make this mistake all the time. If you begin a tweet with a user’s handle, only that user and their followers can see it. Some companies have taken the lazy approach to combatting this problem, by adding a period before the @ symbol. Don’t do this! It looks sloppy, and if you’re getting paid to write tweets, you should be thinking about ways to word your response differently.

9) Using #too #many #hashtags #on #Instagram

This one is fairly self explanatory. Hashtags can lead to natural discovery, or can be utilized to chime in on a trend or theme (such as #TBT). Using too many hashtags in one post not only looks silly, but makes it extremely difficult to read.

10) Posting photos on Pinterest that don’t link back to your site

Pinterest can be a great platform for both small and large businesses to get their products noticed. However, pinning products without a link back to your site is a waste of everyone’s time! You want to eliminate any hassle or additional steps in the sales funnel so that someone who finds your amazing product can buy it on the spot. Pin directly from your website and see your sales soar.

11) Leaving the URL in your Facebook post

Facebook’s link preview feature is a great way to show off your links in a visually appealing and enticing way that encourages customers to click through. However, once that preview generates, delete the original link! This will clarify your posts, and allow readers to easily figure out where you want them to click.

12) Avoid using click bait to get users to read your posts

Which websites are exploiting Upworthy-style click bait to get viewers to read and share? The answer may surprise you.

13) Cross posting content from Facebook to Twitter (and vice versa)

Some companies save time by cross posting their Facebook posts to Twitter. Although this is occasionally fine, many Facebook posts are simply too long for Twitter’s 140 characters. These are shortened by including a fb.com link in the post, which defeats the purpose of the tweet. Tailor your message for each specific social media channel.

And finally…

14) Handing the keys to your channels to someone who isn’t responsible

This should go without saying, but the vast majority of brand social media fails are due to someone accidentally tweeting or posting from the wrong account. This is not a job for an unpaid intern. Make sure that whoever is running your brand’s accounts is trustworthy and reliable.

February 26, 2014
Career Advice from the Facebook Queen (and some life lessons, too)

Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most influential women in the world, according to Time, CNN Money, and Forbes. She’s the COO of Facebook, and in my opinion, one of the biggest badasses out there. I’ve been reading her book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and it is changing my perspective on life, offering tips on how to navigate the business world, and giving me a little gumption to speak up for myself. I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but I guarantee I’ve learned some lessons that are going to stay with me for a while. Check them out:

1) Don’t Dis-credit Yourself

Many women (including myself) suffer from “impostor syndrome.” I often feel that my accomplishments really aren’t accomplishments, but rather things I’ve muddled through with many errors along the way. The truth is, we need to start acknowledging our efforts and own our accomplishments. You did it! With or without the help of others, you’ve most likely accomplished a lot of positive things in your life, and you need to be proud of yourself for that!

2) Fake It Till You Make It

When something negative happens in the workplace, sometimes it’s best to keep going and put a smile on. Recently, I had a frustrating experience at work (as we all do), and I was fuming mad before a conference call. However, I put those feelings aside and lead the call successfully. When these situations arise, do something that takes your mind off the situation. Even if that means stopping work to go for a walk, call a family member, or run an errand. Anything you can do to get away from the problem (for a while) will ultimately help reduce a negative reaction to the situation, which will make you look like and feel the professional woman you are.

3) Jump Into Opportunity (don’t wait for it to come to you)

Men apply for a job when they meet 60% of the requirements, but women apply for a job only when they meet ALL of the requirements. We hold ourselves back because we think we are not ready, instead of thinking, “There is an opportunity here and I can learn by doing it!” Apply for positions that offer growth, adaptability, and room for you to fill a gap that the company needs. Don’t NOT apply for a job because you’re scared. We are rarely handed things in life and you should take advantage of every opportunity.

4) Don’t Be Discouraged – Be Persistent!

Sheryl tells the story of leading a Q&A section and reaching a point where she had time for two more questions. When she answered those questions all the women put their hands down, but all the men who still had questions kept their hands up. She answered a few other questions, but only the men got answers because they kept their hands up! Ladies, we need to be as persistent as men! There is no reason why we should stop asking for more information, details, and answers. We live in the same world as men, and we need to start acting like we deserve to be in it.

5) You Don’t Have To Be Liked by Everyone

This is a complex that a lot of women have. We want to be liked by everyone, because we don’t want to be perceived as bossy or rude. Women think we can please everyone, but men know that’s not humanly possible. There are going to be times where we have to make tough decisions. Those decisions are not always going to provide positive outcomes for everyone, but we need to learn to make decisions that are going to positively affect a great number of people. You’re inevitably going to hurt someone’s feelings or make someone mad, but there’s not much you can do about that. So, make decisions that create positive outcomes and keep the ball rolling.

The moral of the story is, ladies, if you want to be a badass at life, go out there and do it! There’s no reason we should not be a part of conversations and advocating our thoughts and beliefs. I fully believe that we can have our cake and eat it, too. We just have to start leaning in and participating in life the same way men do.

Cheers, Sheryl! You’ve inspired me more than you know. Thanks for the encouragement 🙂

February 14, 2014
It’s SNEAUXmageddon!

Down here in New Orleans, let’s just say we are not used to the cold. With freezing temperatures threatening, the entire city is shutting down, (but here at Search Influence we are still hard at work!) Although many people are referring to the winter storm as Sneauxmageddon (the world is ending, didn’t you know?), others are taking advantage of the unusual circumstances.

Hemline Metairie is offering hot cocoa to shoppers, urging them to spend their days off shopping at their store.

Over at Hattie Sparks, they are taking a different route. Closing for the day to stay warm, they are offering 40% off to online shoppers who have plenty of time to spare while at home.

The brave restaurants that have remained open are serving warm treats that we know all too well: hot gumbo, steamed mussels, and anything to keep us warm.

At Search Influence, we are bundling up with scarves, hats, and coats hidden deep in our closets. And to be sure we remain productive in the cold weather, we resort to some interesting methods. Check out Influencer Lauren Christy‘s hand-warming mouse pad!

Although the temperatures are dropping, creativity is on the rise. Websites like isitsnowinginnola.com, have popped up to add some local flair to the typical weather report (chanting “Snow me something, mister!”) Currently, the forecast states that the snow is “No, it ain’t.”

Hashtags have also emerged to describe the wintry weather in New Orleans. The graphs below from hashtags.org show that they are definitely catching on!

See what others are up to by following hashtags #Sneauxday and #Sneauxmageddon. What’s been your favorite thing to come out of the winter storm?

January 29, 2014
Social Media And Small Businesses
Early last year, an article was featured on StreetFight.com that made some overzealous claims about social media marketing for small businesses. The negative stance was made loud and clear: social media marketing + very small businesses = zero return.

I take the most issue with the article’s claim, “The type of business most likely to realize a social media return on investment are B2C businesses whose customers are younger than 50 and that focus on entertainment, retail, personal services, or tourism. B2B or home services, or businesses catering to older people, do not fare nearly as well.”

In my experience, that just isn’t true. Every business can benefit from social media marketing. Here’s why:

Social Media is for Everyone

First, let’s talk about the age comment. The whole “social media is only for young people” idea is dead. Besides the fact that every family member I have over the age of 50 is actively engaged on Facebook (and some are even on Twitter), there are numerous statistics that prove age assumptions wrong. The fastest growing age group using Facebook is surprising – 45-65 years old.

So, in all actuality, Facebook has transcended the age divide.

Second, the article singles out B2B companies, saying that these businesses do not do well on social media. Wrong again. According to Vocus, 90% of B2B companies are currently on Facebook. Outside of Facebook, Twitter has emerged as a popular platform for B2B, with 85% of B2B marketers citing Twitter as the top social platform, followed by LinkedIn at 82%. If those stats are not enough, there is a whole list here.

B2B Benefits

Social media generates leads and leads make B2B. That’s a fact. Social media allows businesses to:
- generate brand awareness
- increase customer engagement
- establish a personalized/genuine relationship with customers
- respond to customer reviews and make improvements
- share special offers and highlight products
The list goes on, but what I’m driving at is that social media drives site traffic. When executed well, social media marketing acts as a hook, getting customers intrigued. All social media business profiles should direct the customer back to the site. Regardless of the products sold, even if the business isn’t based in “entertainment, retail, personal services, or tourism,” social media marketing can work for small business.

Low Cost Alternative to Traditional Marketing

As the article points out, sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+ are all free, so the only cost is time. However, the easy-to-use formats of all these sites allow for quick updates. Plus, there are numerous scheduling tools out there, like Hootsuite, that allow you to make posts into the future. The benefits behind social media marketing are well worth the time SMBs are dedicating to it. Most businesses don’t have the time to run their own social media profiles, so these customers usually contract with Search Influence and our partners to manage their social profiles for them.

Finally, the article says “Sure, social signals are important for SEO. But as far as knowing that inputting X equals Y placement in search results, we don’t know the equation and never will.” Even if we don’t know exactly what X and Y are, we do know that there is an obvious correlation between social media traffic and site traffic.

For instance, an increase in followers leads to more shares, and shares are a great way to spread your website content and brand name. An active social presence will also generate inbound links and improve customer satisfaction as Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks provide the optimal forum for direct customer-business feedback. In other words, social networks increase online visibility, and they don’t just provide a small window of visibility – these business profiles open a genuine link between customers and businesses.

Putting Social Media to Work

So, small businesses shouldn’t count out social media marketing just yet. Create profiles that promote products and engage your customers in a genuine fashion. Of course, all of this support for social media marketing would fall on deaf ears without a direct example. One of our clients, a small business of the exact strain highlighted in the Streetfight article, reached out to Search Influence two years ago. At the time, they only had 97 Facebook fans and site traffic in the low hundreds.

Now, after a strategically designed Facebook ad campaign and other SMO tactics, the client has over 27,000 likes on their Facebook page alone and generates monthly site traffic in the thousands. Although their site traffic was not driven by Facebook alone, their Facebook ads had a click-through rate five times the average for other Facebook ads.

Annual ad spending is increasing most rapidly on Facebook. By the end of 2014, 88% of small businesses expect to put some of their marketing dollars on Facebook, up from 43% in 2009. Recent estimates show ad spending on Facebook and other U.S. social networks increasing by 31.6% in 2013 (eMarketer, 2013).

Even though social media marketing may still be a bit undefined, many online marketing experts predict that it will only become more prevalent. The future of links-to-like upheaval hasn’t been determined, but the power of the “like” is only growing stronger. Don’t count out social media marketing because you are afraid that you won’t generate a fan base due to age restrictions or the size of your company. Explore the social media networks out there and find the site that best works for your business.

Top 5 Keys to B2B Social Media Success
January 27, 2014
Q&A on ShortStack

For anyone that doesn’t know, ShortStack is an app that allows you to run contests and promotions from your Facebook page. It can also help boost social engagement and get more likes on your page. I recently had a client ask about using ShortStack for a Facebook contest and this overview helped explain it quickly and easily.

First Question

1. If I put this on facebook, will only my fans see it? If I’m trying to get more traffic, where do I put it then? How can I get more people to see my contest?

When you put an image or a form or text or anything in the ShortStack, you can choose the permissions who can see it underneath each addition. Visibility can be set to everyone, only fans of the page, non fans of the page, or admin only.

We had an image that said “Like our page to find out more,” and we set it so only non fans could see it. So if someone came to the tab that didn’t like the page, that’s what they saw. We then had another image and a form for fans only. Once someone liked the page, they saw the new image with details and the form.

The little buttons underneath each thing tell you what is what. The thumbs up is fans only. The thumbs up with a strike through is non fans only. Little people are everyone.

You can also check yourself and see what it will look like for different people (Fans vs Non Fans). Under “Live Preview” in the left corner just click the thumbs up. You will see what fans of the page see, and if you click on the non fan view (thumb with strike through) you will see what they see.

Second Question

When I install the final product through ShortStack, where does it appear on our facebook page? Does it have to be used on a personal page or business page?

If the login information being used is for a Facebook account that is connected to a business page, when you are ready to publish the ShortStack tab will show the pages you are a manager of and you can choose the pages you want.

Good luck in your next contest or promotion! I hope some of these questions/answers help.

BIG THANKS to Maggie Emerson who helped me answer these questions for my client!

Check Out More:

ShortStack provides more information and tips on their own website. http://www.shortstack.com/

They also have their own FAQ page along with video tutorials.

January 23, 2014
4 Tips to Writing Attention-Grabbing Social Media Posts

CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT

We are bombarded by content and information everyday. The average person reads a couple thousand words and sees about 247 images each day. Something interesting from a marketing standpoint: we see anywhere from 3,000-20,000 marketing messages every day! All of these words and images are pieces of informative content that we have to internally process.

I mean seriously think about it…

TEXTS PHONE CALLS
EMAILS   RADIO
WEBSITES TELEVISION
TWEETS MENUS
FACEBOOK POSTS BLOGS
SEARCH RESULTS STREET SIGNS
INFOGRAPHICS BOOKS
GOOGLE+ POSTS MAGAZINES
PINS ON PINTEREST   NEWSPAPERS
PRESENTATIONS FOOD LABELS
BILLBOARDS   MAIL

Whew—it’s exhausting just thinking about it! And I guarantee there is more than what I listed! Most of it probably goes in one ear and out the other, so, as marketers, we only have a split second to catch the attention of someone who is already being bombarded by information. Here’s a list of 4 types of social media posts that are guaranteed to catch the eye of your clients’ audience.

1. Anything that drives interaction
Any post that encourages a user to interact with a page usually works well with social media marketing. By interact I mean liking a post, sharing it, commenting, retweeting, +1, pinning on Pinterest, etc. If you can do this organically (without forcing it), then it’s even better!

2. Anything with eye-appeal
We are a very visual culture (why do you think the iPhone took off like it did?)! If you can integrate words into a visual image that presents the information is a well-designed way, then you’re golden! I’m talking about the infographic, people. There are good and bad infographics out there. But a good rule of thumb is don’t over load it with information, and make sure what you are presenting is relevant to your client’s industry. This example below was pinned 508 times and liked 76 times on Pinterest.

3. Anything That Links the Brand to Current Events
If you can find a way to tie the brand into something that is relevant to current events in the news and/or pop-culture world, you need to post about it! People often try too hard with this one, so please don’t force it! The brand needs to truly be relevant for this to happen organically.

4. Anything That Stirs An Emotional Connection
We are an emotional species, and significant life events can really change our lives. If you can stir an emotional feeling in someone, they are likely to be more drawn to the brand. Note: This doesn’t always have to be the warm and fuzzy feelings! If you want to touch on the controversial subjects, there is an audience for that as well!

Now get out there and create some engaging content!

November 6, 2013
What’s Wrong With Facebook Cover Photo Reach?

Facebook announced a new version of News Feed way back in March 2013 and emphasized that decreasing clutter and increasing images were the company’s top priorities. Months later, some of the highly touted features have still not rolled out to all site users. However, one change was made almost immediately: allowing Business Page cover photos to appear in both ads and stories in the News Feed.

This new feature was poised to make businesses’ cover photos more important than ever, especially after Facebook removed the 20% text rule from cover photos in July. These site improvements were welcome changes for most brands, as they allowed companies to improve their branding and use calls to action directly on their Facebook page. Unfortunately, business pages are unable to see just how many people are seeing their cover photos due to a bug in the new system.

We noticed back in July that a new cover photo we posted for Audubon Zoo had more “shares” and “likes” than it had organic reach. I assumed that it was a temporary issue, or a fluke, but we have seen it time and time again over the last few months whenever we change our clients’ cover photos. We updated the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery’s Facebook cover photo on Tuesday in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The new cover photo post received 225 likes, 71 shares, and 12 comments, but for some reason Facebook is reporting that the new image was only seen by 33 people total.

It certainly doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realize that number cannot be correct, but there seems to be virtually no information out there as to why we’re seeing underreported reach totals for cover photos. If this truly is just a bug, why has Facebook not yet identified the issue and fixed it? Have you encountered this problem on your Facebook Business Page? Let us know in the comments!

October 4, 2013