Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Great Breakdown of Social Media Platforms

Posted: January 16, 2014 in Social Media
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Every day, I see stats on social media and which are the best social networking platforms to use. What I have hardly ever seen is an infographic as well laid-out as the one posted on Tips Builder. It wonderfully breaks down the major platforms, who’s using them, what works best on those platforms, etc.

I found the below section particularly useful:

Social Media Stats Infographic

 

So why did I find this so useful? Well, when you deal with clients on a daily basis, you have to continually provide the reason why they should be on any social network. While this seems very straightforward, clients have been bombarded with different reasons as to why or why not they should be on different social networks: the users are too young/too old, this platform is only for teenagers, other B2B businesses have had success, etc.

All of these word-of-mouth recommendations get confusing, and they’re often not backed up by real research. This infographic, on the other hand, nicely breaks down what audiences are using which networks, how they’re using the networks and for what. I can present this to a client, and they can quickly understand why I’m making my recommendations.

The only issue that I have with this social media infographic is the social bookmarking recommendations. With all of Google’s latest updates, you’re taking a risk that you could get dinged or that they could just be a waste of your time. I think the age of bookmarking is finally done. And I’m actually OK with that. The end of it has been coming for years.

I highly recommend checking out the full infographic. Well done!

What are you thoughts on this infographic? Do you have other resources that you use to help your clients, friends, family, etc., understand your social networking recommendations? Also, are you still using social bookmarking? Are you still having success?

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Publishers: Facebook Wants You – No Really!

Posted: December 2, 2013 in Social Media
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Facebook has tweaked its algorithm again – for the benefit of publishers.  The latest Facebook move yet again changes what you see more often in your timeline: If one of your friends posts a news article, it’s more likely to show up at the top of your news feed. This allows you to see more breaking news so you stay up-to-date on the latest stories and events.

Now, if this sounds familiar, it should. Twitter has been staking claim to the “breaking news” market for a long time. And it’s done a good job of it. Twitter has been at the center of major events for several years. In fact, you’ve even found reporters and anchors turning to Twitter to learn what’s going on – for both good and inaccurate information.

The way the Twitter feeds are set up is you see posts as they happen. So a breaking news story may come up often if a lot of people are talking about it. You can also search for news items by name or hashtags. Facebook has always been a little different. We turn to Facebook to find out what’s going on with our friends. Facebook has always touted themselves as a way to interact “personally” with people we may or may not know in the real world.

This algorithm update changes that. As opposed to the latest photos from a friend’s hike or an update from your world traveler friend, you may see a recent news story that none of your friends actually posted. But one that someone may have commented on.

If you’ve been on Facebook a lot lately (guilty as charged), you’ve already noticed this change. I’ve seen a lot more news stories at the top of my feed than posts by my friends. Facebook hasn’t officially said when they released this update, only that it was “very recently”. On the other hand, however, they’ve gotten enough data to show that publishers like Time and Buzzfeed have had significant increases in referral traffic from Facebook.

For businesses, this Facebook update is great news. You’ll definitely get more traffic to your site if you put out good information – good information being key – that others are willing to like, share, comment, etc. For individuals who just want to see their friends, this could be quite frustrating.

Facebook Changing the Rules – Again

Posted: September 9, 2013 in Social Media
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Facebook recently announced two new changes, one that completely flips past regulations on its head. First of all, Facebook now gets to determine what is and is not quality content. Basically, Facebook will review your business’ content and then decide when and how often your fans get to see your content. The other has to do with Facebook promotions.

Facebook Rating Factors

Let’s discuss the new content quality update. Facebook has created a string of rating factors to determine if content is truly quality. These factors include:

  • Is it a meme or other type of low-quality post (if so, your fans may not see it)?
  • Is it shareable?
  • Is the source trustworthy?
  • Is the content recent and relevant?
  • Is it interesting, or would you complain to get it removed?

This update is a bit troubling. Sure, Facebook wants to show its fans posts that they want to see. But should Facebook really be the judge of what your fans do and don’t see? It seems a bit arbitrary. What is quality content to one person may not be to another.

Contests Get the Go Ahead

The second update seems almost out of left-field for Facebook. The social network has changed its long-standing rules of not allowing promotions in the News Feed. Up until recently, you had to use a Facebook application to run a contest, giveaway or sweepstakes.

Now, Facebook has reversed itself.  Businesses can now run any type of promotion or giveaway right from their Page. This is good news for organizations, but bad news for the business of creating Facebook contest apps. I’m actually OK with this update. As a social media professional, I’ve always had to wait for developers to create the apps, which often cause campaign delays. On the other hand, Facebook app developers might not be so happy with this.

What do you think of these latest updates? Good news or bad news?

Facebook: To Create or Not Create a Facebook Page

Posted: August 29, 2013 in Social Media
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My business clients always want to know whether they should create a Facebook page. They’ve all heard the success that brands like Coca Cola, Marketo or Nike have had with it, and they think that they immediately have to jump on the bandwagon. If you’re in the B2C market, then by all means create a Facebook page. With over a billion people using the site, Facebook offers a huge potential for you to sell your products or services.

Creating a Facebook Page in the B2C Market

The question gets a little trickier if you’re in the B2B space. Why? Well, the businesses using Facebook tend to be doing the same thing you are: They’re setting up a page in the hopes of attracting potential customers. What they’re generally not doing is using Facebook to find other businesses. Sure, people who work for your potential customers are using Facebook, but they’re probably not thinking about business. These people are probably using Facebook for their own personal, private uses. Even with Facebook trying to become a search engine with its new Graph Search, most people and businesses are not searching Facebook to find products and services.

The other problem with Facebook is that it takes a lot of work to get noticed. You can’t just set up a Facebook page and hope that people will just find it. You have to create good, quality posts, and you have to promote it via every avenue available to you: email, newsletters, events, other social networks, TV, etc. And once you get a following, you have to keep it.

I’ve heard many people say that they created a Facebook page, but they haven’t seen any leads or traffic from it. Then I go to their page, and there’s hardly any updates or the updates are all self-promotional. You have to create a mix of self-promotion and other items like videos, sharing other people’s stories, photos and the like. But more importantly, you have to keep it updated.

Small Businesses and Facebook

Small businesses are usually the ones most likely to want to create a Facebook page since they’re trying to use every avenue available to them drive traffic to their business. And Facebook is for the most part free. But you need to think about social media strategically. Is your target audience really using Facebook? With all the other social networks available, is this really a place where you want to dedicate resources? Do you have the resources to run multiple social networks, especially if Google doesn’t like to see dead social accounts?

If you are a business and want to try Facebook, I suggest trying to gain more exposure with it via Facebook ads. Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive, but the ROI for many clients has been huge. Try a couple of different ads promoting a special offer, product, etc., and see what it does for you. If neither a Facebook page nor ads work for you, don’t be afraid to pull the plug, and shut down your page. It’s worse to have a dead page on Facebook than none at all.