5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure | Social Media Examiner

you don't get the green if you don't get seen. good tips from the examiner on ways to increase the number of fans that actually get to see your page posts!
here's a good one on posting links:
Tip: When you share links on Facebook, make sure that if you put a link into a Facebook post first and it automatically shows a preview of the link, close that preview and add a photo before posting.
alternatively, attach the picture you want first, then write the copy, including the link. either way, it will come out looking like this instead of this
via socialmediaexaminer.com click through for all the tips

 

it's not you, it's me: only 2% share on FB | allfacebook.com

this info is from back in february, but there's no reason to think things have improved. I would say take comfort, but it's not very comforting.

Have you looked at the “virality rate” statistic in your page insights — the percentage of fans who reshare a page’s posts and wondered why the percentage looked so low?

Take heart: 61 percent of page have a virality rate of 2.5 percent or less, according to EdgeRank Checker.

The median rate came out to 1.9 percent.

via allfacebook.com click for full article - it's worth the read

 

May I Approach? Lawyers Getting Their Facebook On | AllFacebook

no, you won't be seeing pinstripe firms running contests anytime soon, but other legal eagles are starting to dip a toe in the water and go where the fish are (okay, no more shark jokes). legal marketing is not as freewheeling as pizza or tampon advertising, but other regulated industries like finanial services are working within the rules to build community and business. smart firms like sokolove are hiring even smarter marketing folks who know digital inside and out.

michael evans offers a lot of the same ol same ol for attorneys looking to get on the facebook bus: it's more than like counts, conversation not broadcast, etc. one intersting point is his results from advertising, esp given facebook's relatively lower costs: 

Evans also noted that like businesses, attorneys should offer something of value to their Facebook fans — something to keep them coming back. He offered the example of some kind of contest or aligning with a cause that people believe in. Evans also wrote about the power of Facebook ads. He detailed that he tried both Facebook ads and Google AdWords, and got better value from the former. Attorneys should be smart about ads that will connect with their targeted demographic and entice people to join the cause.
via allfacebook.com click through to read the whole article

image: AttributionShare Alike Some rights reserved by peggydavis66

Post Targeting Pops Up on (Popular) Pages | AllFacebook

facebook has introduced targeting options for posts to any page with 5,000 or more fans. probably not an immediate option for most SMB page owners, but hopefully the water will run downhill. let's call it aspiration for now... :)

If your page has more than 5,000 likes, here’s what the new feature looks like:

Page administrators can choose to target news feeds of specific types of user, based on categories such as gender, age, relationship status, education, interests, location and language. This does not affect what kinds of posts users will see when they visit the page (all of them), but rather which posts will show up in users’ news feeds.

via allfacebook.com click through to read full article

 

5 Facebook Marketing Resources You’re Not Using Yet | Mashable

piece from mashable on Facebook's homegrown resources for marketers

Take a peek at the following resources and, as always, please share your own Facebook marketing advice in the comments below.

1. Facebook Studio

If you’re looking for examples of successful social marketing, turn to Facebook Studio for inspiration. Studio curates game-changing campaigns that have appeared on the social network. In addition to a gallery of marketing efforts, the site presents Facebook Studio Awards to exceptional campaigns. You can even submit your own. Studio highlights campaigns from all over the globe, so you can see what works in other cultures, too.

via mashable.com (click to see all the coolness)

 

some page tab apps begin to recover despite removal of default landing tab | inside facebook

back in march, facebook removed the default landing page feature as part of the shift to timeline. developers of landing page tab apps felt the pain, losing a ton of volume. a few are coming back, however, as this article in inside facebook describes. reason - the landing page isn't dead, you just have to work a little harder to get new visitors there. read the whole article there. 

The key difference since Timeline is that now page owners have to actively promote their tab applications, whereas previously the app was the first thing new visitors saw when they came to the page. Woobox’s DeCarlo says he immediately recognized this and when Timeline launched, Woobox added a feature to give page owners a short shareable URL with a customizable image, headline and summary that would appear when the link was posted to Facebook.

 

Twitter Ads Beating Facebook After All | ClickZ

 

In the rush to compare advertising engagement levels between Twitter and Facebook last week, TBG Digital made a hasty and significant error. The social media marketing vendor originally reported that Facebook mobile ads outperformed Twitter by at least four times, but days later it reversed its finding, admitting that it was "not comparing like for like."

While the desire to juxtapose largely incomparable channels like Twitter and Facebook is understandable, the fact of the matter is that most brands already know that such guesswork is an effort in futility. In its report, TBG Digital compared the click-through rates of Promoted Accounts on Twitter with Newsfeed ads on Facebook. "A more comparable product for Twitter would have been Promoted Tweets," it later noted.

However, the end result still doesn't carry much weight for brands. If Promoted Accounts and Newsfeed ads are akin to comparing apples to elephants, Promoted Tweets and Newsfeed ads are like apples and oranges. Neither of those directly compare, so advertisers learn little in the process.

Based on those misleading comparisons, TBG Digital drew the wrong conclusions. Facebook isn't beating Twitter on mobile ad engagement. Indeed, it appears to be doing quite the opposite.

excerpt; click on link to see whole article

4 Ways to Drive Engagement With Facebook Ads (via mashable)

Victoria Ransom is founder and CEO of Wildfire, a global leader in social media marketing software. She is also a sought-after expert on social marketing trends and was recently named a 2012 TechFellow by the Founders Fund, NEA, and TechCrunch. For more on social advertising, register here for Wildfire’s free on-demand webinar.

In the run up to Facebook’s fast-approaching IPO, the company is making extensive and ongoing improvements to its advertising platform. The most recent updates, which are not yet live, will allow marketers to optimize their ads for any Facebook action (not just likes). These new capabilities will also give advertisers a much greater understanding of their consumers, allowing them to segment marketing messages based on certain user groups. All of this goes to support the general belief that Facebook wants to turn their ad platform into the main driver of a brand’s reach. To be successful in this space, brands will have to be very authentic. The first big move towards making ads into more organic-feeling messages came when Facebook introduced the updated Premium ad format, in which Premium ads could only be created from real content posted to a brand’s page.

It continued with the recently announced extended feature set for the ads manager, which includes the ability to set different metrics and goals for different campaigns. This capability allows you, for example, to set up one campaign and optimize it to be shown to users most likely to post comments; and set up a different campaign for users most likely to spend their Facebook credits on an in-app purchase. With this tool, marketers will be able to more efficiently use Facebook advertising to capture the attention of very different kinds of Facebook users.

This means that now, more than ever, the challenge to create organic-feeling and genuine ads is on! Here are four ways to drive more engagement with the new Facebook ad units, along with tips for how to enhance performance once the new action-driven optimization capabilities are live.

1. Create Versatile Video Content

When viewing a premium ad with video, users can watch the clip in its entirety straight from the ad, or click through to the page to learn more. The variety of options means more interactions are possible, which is great news for an ad because it can be doubly effective!

Above, McDonald’s and Tide turn video posts into premium ad units. McDonald’s adds in a second user interaction: a hyperlink to the local farmer campaign on an outside domain. In this way, users can land in one of two different places: the outside website or the fan page itself. They can also just watch the video without leaving their news feed at all.

Tip: When Facebook makes the new action-oriented optimization features ready, you’ll be able to optimize your budget by the action you value most. Those actions can include targeting users who are more likely to watch the video, targeting users who are more likely to share the video, or targeting users who are more likely to post a comment on your video.

2. Use Promotions to Track ROI and Ad Performance


Soon, Facebook advertisers will be able to segment the demographic coverage of their varied ad campaigns by propensity to buy, click, or share (or any other activity). For the time being, however, brands like Starbucks and Schick can track the ROI of their premium advertising placements by tracking mention of the $2 Petites deal in Starbucks stores, and by tracking entry rates to the XTreme3 Eco remake contest by using custom referral links for the promotion.

Tip: Once you’re able to target your ads based on action-specific metrics, ROI will become easier to track. For example, if your product can be purchased from the Facebook page either with credits or through a custom application, the Facebook ads manager should be able to optimize the reach of your ad to those users more apt to make purchases ahead of those who take longer to buy.

3. Showcase New Product Lines

Since Premium ads make use of the content a brand posts to its own page, it can be challenging to think of posts that will both organically attract user attention but also serve as compelling advertisements. Consider showcasing individual items by pointing to their trendiness, or showing off a unique set of products from a new product line. These are both good ways for users to view your ad from their fan page.

Incase and Rugby Ralph Lauren demonstrate two ways to advertise products without crossing that delicate line into inauthenticity. The photo of the new Andy Warhol iPhone case collection reveals an interesting and limited edition collection. Rugby Ralph Lauren’s post about spring-ready classic oxfords and blazers offers helpful advice, while linking directly to a ready-for-purchase catalogue item. In line with all the “typical” posts to Rugby Ralph Lauren’s Timeline, nothing about the post looks out of place, or forced.

Tip: When you endorse page posts by turning them into sponsored ads, and you optimize those ads for certain engagement activities (i.e. comments or likes), your ads will be served first to the users most likely to perform those actions. Since your page post is receiving the benefit of being served to more “engaged” users, once those users interact with the ad, your brand benefits from the boost in EdgeRank and subsequent posts enjoy an increased reach.

4. Post Interactive Content

Posting content that specifically instructs users to take action, and pairing that call-to-action with an example image, is a great way to influence engagement. Iams is a good example of this.

Tip: The Facebook ads manager will be able to optimize for photo tags, which is one of many new metrics a brand can set a campaign around. An example of how a brand might use this can be illustrated with the Iams ad. The Iams fan page administrator will be able to track the viral effect of requests in their ads if, say, a user posted a photo to the Iams page even a week after the ad ran (in response to the call to action). Before, Iams wouldn’t know if the success resulting from asking their fans to post their own photos to the page was because visitors saw the ad or the Timeline.

Which in-network actions do you anticipate optimizing most of your campaigns for? In-app purchases? Shares? Share in the comments!

Facebook Offers: How and Why They Work (via The Next Web)

In the past 24 hours, coverage has spread across the Internet of the launch of a new feature by Facebook, one that allows businesses and brands to utilise an ‘Offers’ feature that delivers daily deals to a brand’s Page and a user’s News Feed.

The new service is a twist on the traditional Daily Deals market, particularly because it allows Facebook users to remain in direct control over the offers they see. Instead of functioning as a dedicated website like Groupon, LivingSocial and AmazonOffers, Facebook has the ability to drop targeted deals into a user’s News Feed in line with status updates, photo posts, location checkins and other more social features.

To some, it may be puzzling as to why it has been reported that Facebook launched Offers over the past couple of days. The truth is, it didn’t. The company actually announced and rolled out the feature on February 29:

Offers are a free new way for businesses to share discounts and promotions directly from a Facebook Page. They can be distributed through the News Feed or promoted as Sponsored Stories. People can redeem Offers via email or on a mobile device.

The launch was somewhat understated, maybe because Facebook’s previous attempt at brand promotion ‘Facebook Deals’ didn’t gain much traction when it launched. However, we’ve already seen a select number of businesses have already been dropping offers into Page subscriber’s feeds.

One company is UK-based online supermarket delivery service Ocado, which offered free hot cross buns to its customers:

Screen Shot 2012 04 14 at 07.44.01 520x162 Facebook Offers: Why you could soon be buying from your favorite brands in your News Feed

Ocado’s deal hit on March 20, offering the traditional baked Easter treat to people who had ‘Liked’ its page. To claim it, Facebook user’s simply had to hit ‘Claim Offer’ next to the advert (whilst it was live) and a small box would pop up, stating that details of the deal would be emailed to the user’s email inbox.

In this case, those who redeemed the offer were emailed a promotion code, which could then be entered into the company’s checkout page, ensuring they would remain free.

In operation, it works almost exactly the same as Groupon and LivingSocial, placing the responsibility on the advertiser or the brand to facilitate the remainder of the deal process. Facebook serves as the delivery medium, a large one with 850 million users, driving pageviews and interest to a brand’s promotion.

What makes it different from Groupon et al?

Whilst the redemption process is similar to that of more established daily deals websites, Facebook’s ace card is that Offers are already delivered in such a way that makes it easier for them to spread virally.

Let’s look at Groupon’s deal pages and sharing platform:

Screen Shot 2012 04 14 at 07.56.34 520x451 Facebook Offers: Why you could soon be buying from your favorite brands in your News Feed

Groupon hopes that if a user signs up to its daily emails or subscribes via the application, they will be directed to the deal, allowing them to ‘Buy it Now’ and, in this case, save 77% or £60 on their day out.

However, take a look at  Groupon’s recommendation system (bottom left of the image). There are three options to share the deal with friends, one is a Facebook sharing widget with the other two consisting of Twitter and Email. No doubt people will click on these buttons and share the deal with their Facebook and Twitter friends, but it’s another step in what could be an already lengthy redemption and sharing process.

Screen Shot 2012 04 14 at 08.07.56 520x285 Facebook Offers: Why you could soon be buying from your favorite brands in your News Feed

On Facebook, you don’t need to visit an additional website. In fact, deals will be delivered in such a way that they will appear in between your existing News Feed updates. If a particular deal resonates with you, you hit ‘Get Offer’ and details of how to redeem your Offer are sent automatically to your email address.

Facebook’s sharing tools are seeing increased usage — we also use Facebook sharing widgets to help share articles — because no matter where you go across the web, more often than not there is an option to share a post or a webpage. The same can be said of Facebook’s own posts (which includes Offers); each post has a Share link which can be clicked to allow the quick sharing to a user’s own Timeline:

More interestingly, when a user claims an offer, a story about it will be added to their timeline. By default, the story is visible to that person’s friends, but they can change the audience of the story before they post it.

The bigger the brand, the wider the Offer can potentially spread.

296358407100167 1046094376 520x400 Facebook Offers: Why you could soon be buying from your favorite brands in your News Feed

Won’t it pollute the News Feed?

Facebook is a business, a company that has already successfully built a targeted advertising platform. When a service is free, users often have to expect that its owner will monetize its users or incorporate tools and services to boost its revenue streams.

Currently, Facebook Offers are only available to a select number of advertisers and they can be run at no charge to companies that are able to place them. You may argue that this could pollute the News Feed, turning you off your favourite brand.

Facebook has been clever to implement an ‘all or nothing’ scenario when it comes to viewing Offers.

The company notes:

You can hide a particular offer and all posts from a specific Page from your news feed, but there isn’t a setting that allows you to hide all offers from your news feed.

To hide an offer from your news feed, hover over the top-right corner, click the drop-down menu and choose what you’d like to hide:

  • Hide story will remove the offer you’re looking at
  • Hide all by will remove the offer you’re looking at, as well as all future stories from that Page

This could alarm users, because it means they have no way to mute promotions, other than to hide them individually. But what it does do is put the onus on the brand to market itself effectively and not spam its users, because if it goes all-out and posts a large number of deals in a short amount of time, fans of its Page are likely to unsubscribe and effectively drop support for that company.

Facebook isn’t only going to show Offers in the browser, they will also come to your mobile, giving it another edge over its rivals. The company has looked to make the process as simple as possible; all you do is hit the ‘Get Offer’ link and the details of the deal are sent to you via email. No lengthy terms, no bold advertising, it just merges with existing content.

Why aren’t I seeing Offers and when will I be able to redeem them?

Facebook’s official line on Offer availability is as follows:

Offers are available in beta to a limited number of local business Pages. We plan to launch offers more broadly soon.

That means that only a small number of companies are currently able to create an Offer on their official Facebook Page, at least until the company rolls the feature out to all accounts. Businesses are able to connect with their advertising managers at Facebook to request access, but the process has been intentionally limited for now.

However, given that the company recently posted the following video to its official Facebook account, it may signify that the company is ready to push ahead with its new promotional tool and roll it out to more accounts:

To ensure you see Offers from the brands you follow, you need to make sure that you are a fan of their Facebook Page. Facebook says this is the best way for you to keep updated on such deals, regardless of their plans.

Will it work?

This is the million-dollar question. Facebook users are generally somewhat resistant to change, but Offers display as normal updates and don’t appear unless the user has decided they want to follow that brand or business.

With the user in control over what he/she sees, Offers has huge potential to drive interaction between consumers and the brands they like, it’s not like Groupon which is forced to advertise any deal that is placed with it on that particular day.

If you love Nike, you can ‘Like’ the sports brand and maybe in time Offers will appear in your Timeline, giving you the chance to jump on a money-saving deal. If not, the company will still continue to post updates to its Page, driving interaction via different means.

Lots of businesses have taken to the Daily Deal market to increase sales, many have failed. Groupon is struggling to maintain its success but Facebook’s ability to display Offers in amongst existing updates means potentially millions of people will be able to see new promotions the minute they hit, spreading them wider when people redeem them.

17 Ways to Integrate Facebook and Email Marketing (via Convince & Convert)

I won’t write out the entire presentation for you in blog post form – that’s what Slideshare is for – but here are the high points of this presentation on Killer Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing, where I offer 17 specific ways to tie these two important programs together.

2 Sides of the Same Coin

The notion that Facebook is a tool to create new customers is massively flawed. Research from DDB shows that 84% of fans of company Facebook pages are current customers. Of course they are. Think about how you use Facebook. You don’t randomly surf around, clicking the “Like” button for companies of which you’ve never, ever heard. Why would you want their info in your news feed?

Consequently, Facebook is primarily a tool for keeping your brand top-of-mind among customers who have given you permission to do so. Through this messaging, you hope to solicit repeat business and customer advocacy. And email marketing sets out to do the exact same thing.

Thus, the people in charge of Facebook and the people in charge of email marketing in your company should be the SAME PEOPLE.

3 Types of Integration

There are three main areas where Facebook and email marketing can and should be integrated:

  • Strategic Integration
  • Channel and Audience Integration
  • Message Integration

Strategic Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

There are several areas of overlap here, but perhaps the most illustrative is the fact that the metrics used to measure both tactics are mathematically quite similar, even if we call them different names:

  • Email subscribes = Facebook “Likes”
  • Email unsubscribes = Facebook “UnLikes”
  • Email opens = Facebook impressions
  • Email clicks = Facebook feedback
  • Email forwards = Facebook shares

You can even derive the value of your overall Facebook marketing effort by examining it through the prism of your existing email marketing investment. I wrote a post about this new way to calculate what Facebook is worth to your business a while ago. It includes a link to a free Facebook valuation worksheet.

Channel and Audience Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

The goal is not to get an email opt-in or a Facebook “Like”. The goal is to get both. Consequently, whenever you are asking for you, you should be asking for the other, as well.

  • Email thank you messages.
  • Email unsubscribe preference centers.
  • Facebook landing tabs.
  • Social log-ins using software like JanRain.

Message Integration of Facebook and Email Marketing

Tons of options here for using (and re-using) your Facebook and email content.

  • Use email subject line testing to optimize Facebook ad headlines. And vice-versa.
  • Test image effectiveness via email, incorporate into status updates or Facebook ads. And vice-versa.
  • Just like Sponsored Stories, incorporate fan expressions of advocacy into your email content.
  • Incorporate most popular email content into status updates. And vice-versa.
  • Tease upcoming emails via status update.

Do Not Eat This Entire Sandwich

The presentation has 17 ways to tie Facebook and email together. Do not try to tackle all of those at once. Pick the two to four that make the most sense for your company, and try them. Them, add two more. And two more. Until you’ve integrated your programs in many ways. Remember, however, that your Facebook and email marketing will NEVER be optimally integrated if different groups (or even different agencies) are handling them.

You know how you can tell social media is a truly big deal? It’s become too important to stand on its own.

This is a presentation I originally put together for the Facebook Success Summit. Many thanks to two geniuses and good guys Christopher S. Penn and Chad White for their help and inspiration.

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