by Francois Muscat | Oct 26, 2012 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
On Friday, 28 September, Klout announced that they will be supporting Facebook pages, which means that your Facebook page will also influence your Klout score. Now you can login to your Klout account and connect your company’s Facebook page so that your Facebook activity can help you boost your Klout score.
Last month, Klout updated their look and revamped their scoring methods.
“We went from about 100 variables that we were looking at to over 400. We went from about 100 variables that we were looking at to over 400,” Joe Feranndez, founder of Klout, told Mashable.
We’re happy with this new move – Facebook is one of the biggest social networks and it definitely has an impact on your online credibility and your ability to influence others. Not only will it make it a bit easier to boost your Klout score (if you’re active on Facebook and post sharable content), but it also means that your Klout score will reflect a more complete online reputation.
One of the other scoring methods that was introduced in August was the impact of “real world influence”, which basically means your title will influence your Klout score. If you’re a CEO or you’re important enough to have your own Wikipedia page, your Klout score will increase. Another cool new feature on Klout is the “Your Moments” section, which shows your more influential social media posts and tweets over the past three months.
We’re going to be keeping an eye out for more changes and we’re eager to see how our Facebook page will influence our Klout score!
by Francois Muscat | Oct 18, 2012 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
According to a new study by Buddy Media, many digital marketers are getting Facebook all wrong. If you’re choosing days to post content or information on Facebook, make sure you include Sundays (which is the best opportunity of the week).
The study, entitled “Strategies for Effective Wall Posts: A Timeline Analysis” studied the user engagement of over 18,000 Facebook pages from some of the biggest brands in the world in order to determine how companies could maximise interaction using the new timeline feature that was launched earlier in 2012. Buddy Media collected data over the course of two months after all the Facebook pages were moved to the new timeline layout.
The results of the study coincided with earlier reports on the subject: Facebook users appear primed for interaction on weekends, but brands aren’t posting on weekends. The study also concluded that marketers weren’t posting enough at night time (when their target audiences are on the site).
While this is a notable trend, one has to take note of the different trends in timing and engagement across various industries. In the advertising industry, for example, weekend posts get 69% higher interaction, but only 11% of posts are published on Saturday and Sunday. In the fashion industry, however, Thursday is best day to post content on Facebook.
Keep it short and use pictures
Another trend that Buddy Media noted was that brief Facebook posts (with 80 characters or less) receive 23% higher interaction than longer posts. Facebook posts with photos also received interaction rates 39% higher than average, making it the top content to post on this social media platform.
Using stats like these as a guideline can change the way you engage with your brand. While there’s no definitive strategy, it’s a good idea to experiment with different times, days and types of content to find out how you can best connect with your target audience.
Need help with your social media marketing? Contact WSI OMS today!
by Francois Muscat | Aug 6, 2012 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
As social media marketers, we often tell clients that “getting more Likes” on Facebook shouldn’t be your only goal with social media marketing – because everyone knows it’s about the engagement and not the number of Likes your brand has. That said, more Likes means more people reading the content you post, more people sharing your updates and more people who are connecting with you online.
A common misconception is that you simply need to post great content on Facebook and the Likes will follow. While there’s some truth in this statement, it’s hard to grow your fan base if there are only a few people (your employees, friends and family) following you to begin with. If you want to give the number of Likes on your page a boost, use these strategies:
- Facebook advertising. Facebook advertising is quick, simple and targeted. You can choose exactly who should see your ad – from men or women down to their hobbies and interests. If this strategy is done properly, you can get tens of thousands of Likes within a few days.
- Advertise the icons. Most websites have social media icons on their websites these days, but there are other ways to promote your page on your existing web properties as well. Include the icons in newsletters, blog posts, e-mail signatures or anything else your company sends out. You can even change your Skype and Gtalk status to your Facebook page in order to encourage your contacts to visit and Like the page.
- Give something away. Does your company create White Papers and eBooks? Offer a free White Paper, eBook or other online resource to people who like your page. Make sure you keep track of who’s liking your page so that you can send them a message with a link / password to the freebie once they’ve liked the page.
- Create a custom landing page. Custom Facebook pages are great – they look different and they are much more interesting than the standard Facebook pages. If you’re getting a custom page, create a big banner that says “Like Our Page”.
- Play favouritism. Offer discounts and promotions to Facebook users who like your page.
Need help with your social media marketing? Contact WSI OMS.
by Francois Muscat | Jul 27, 2012 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
A popular request (or joke) from social media users is that they need a “Dislike button” on Facebook and a “sarcasm font” for Twitter. While social media users don’t always get everything they want, brands may soon get a new way to create a following on Facebook – through a “Want” button!
In the beginning of July, the tech wizards over at Mashable.com stumbled upon a blog post exposing an experimental Facebook “Want” button. Facebook hasn’t confirmed or announced anything yet, but some of the evidence posted online indicates that this could definitely be a possibility in the near future.
Why this is a good idea for brands
I can only imagine the amount of research that goes into developing new buttons and add-ons for social media giants like Facebook, but I think it’s safe to assume that brands could increase their engagement with Facebook users if they are able to offer a “Want” button next to a product.
People don’t like becoming “Fans” of a product, which is why the button “Become a Fan” was changed to a simple “Like” in the first place. Facebook determined that users click “Like” almost twice as much as they would click “Become a Fan”. Offering users the option to say they “Want” a product could probably be seen in the same category as re-pinning a product picture on Pinterest. It doesn’t mean you’re the brand’s no.1 brand advocate, it just means you think the product looks cool.
Whether we’re going to see the new “Want” button any time soon is still up for debate. Keep an eye out for more related posts from us on this subject – we’re watching the situation closely!
Need help with your social media marketing? Contact WSI OMS.
by Francois Muscat | Feb 9, 2012 | Facebook
Since the launch of the Facebook Timeline a few months ago, rumors have been spreading like wildfire around this new change. The Facebook Timeline is the latest profile persona of this social networking giant. When you update your profile to the timeline, your personal profile page can turn into a miniature time machine where you can access previous events in your life either by browsing your timeline or by clicking the year you want to view.
On 24 January 2012, Facebook announced that everyone that hasn’t changed their profile to the latest Facebook Timeline, have a few days to clean up their profiles before they are going to activate it for everyone. This includes everyone, even if you haven’t used Facebook in a long time.
If there are certain events or updates that you are not proud of to be publicly available to anyone, now is the time to delete those things, even if the Facebook Timeline has already be activated for you. Because this new feature on Facebook can make someone access all the old information about you, start cleaning up those not so proud moments that you have on your profile that can be seen by the public.
Here’s a couple of tips you can do when the new Facebook Timeline has been activated for you.
Facebook Timeline tips
- Change your privacy settings on your profile to control who can access your individual and personal updates.
- Change the dates of your posts to match the date on your timeline.
- Delete all the unwanted items that you are not proud of.
Facebook is growing bigger everyday and is expected to cross the 1 billion mark this year. Any changes that this social networking giant make on your profile to impact how others are viewing you is important. Log in to your Facebook profile and start adding these changes so that you are not caught of guard by that nasty update that is public.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 8, 2011 | Facebook
Running a Facebook competition can increase your website traffic and improve on your consumer interaction, but it has to be done well. Asking people to “Like” your Facebook Page for no reason (or to stand a chance to win a prize) is the common train of thought – but this just means you’re buying fans.
If you want people to Like your page, you have to offer them some sort of value. Running a competition on Facebook is a great way to reach more people, but you have to make sure your competition offers an experience instead of just acting as a vehicle to increase the number of fans on your page.
What to do?
- Define it. Have a theme, a goal and specific outcomes. Knowing you want to launch a Facebook competition is a start – now you have to come up with the mechanics of the competition.
- Get involved. Get everyone in your company hyped up about the competition and ask your employees to blog about it and comment on your page. Send out a mail about the competition, tell your clients about it and make sure everyone knows.
- Produce content. If your Facebook competition has a festive season theme, write blogs and articles about the theme and post it on your Facebook page. Also make sure you have all the competition details posted on your website and page so that everyone is aware of the details and dates.
- Fans only. Let people know that they have to be a fan on your page to stand a chance to win. (As a side note – make sure you’re giving away something cool to make sure people get involved).
- Follow up content. If you’re running the competition over a few weeks, you’re going to need content to keep people interested. Write blogs surrounding the theme of your competition. Try to get your fans to also contribute content (this could be a part of the competition).
- Customise your page. Everyone has a Facebook page, but not everyone has a customised page with tailored graphics that match their websites. Invest in a customised Facebook page if you want to stand out.
Need advice on setting up a Facebook competition? Contact WSI OMS.
