In late September, brands started to sound the alarm: The reach on their page had dropped a reported 30-40% overnight. The reactions ranged from irritable to apocalyptic. Now that the dust has settled and there is a real sample to look at, Socialtyze conducted a study of brands that we felt would best reflect any Facebook algorithm changes.
Our goal was to see if Facebook was keeping its promise to simultaneously make the news feed a less spam-ridden experience AND continue to provide qualified impressions to users with a history of brand engagement. As our CEO Mateo Gutierrez pointed out in his Huffington Post article, “Facebook sees that the future of brands within Facebook is not one of amassing fans and simply publishing to them repeatedly.”
So, we set out to test whether the drop in reach resulted in an equal drop in engagement. If Facebook’s algorithm tweak was successful, engagement should only see a slight dip.
The graph above shows the evolution of reach within our database over the last few weeks. As you can clearly see, the bottom fell out during the middle of September, with a 32% drop from the previous week. This was coupled with an additional 14% drop during the following week. This is consistent with other findings and outside publications, so there were no real surprises.
However, despite the drastic drop in reach, engagement remained consistent, even showing a 3% increase the week of the algorithm tweak. It wasn’t until mid October that any significant dip took place, and even then the losses were small (just over 5%) compared to the losses in reach.
So what does this mean? It seems that Facebook, in an odd way, has done brands a favor, removing impressions to users who would have considered them a nuisance. But not to worry, they’ve kept all the fun people at the party: the clickers, the likers and the sharers!
The launch of iOS6 for Apple’s iPhone users wasn’t just a major milestone for the boys from Cupertino; it was a huge leap for Facebook developers on the mobile OS. With the upgrade, the toolbox for application artists got much larger. Here is a quick look at some of those features:
With iOS6, users can upload images and videos from their phone. Now users can participate in sweepstakes, polls and anything requiring them to contribute content, without using a desktop!
When viewing in landscape mode, the user now has the option of making the page full screen. This means better visuals and better user experiences. And with the bump in pixels on the iPhone5, this means even more screen to fill with awesomeness.
All those CSS3 filters you have been so stoked to use on the desktop are now fully capable of being translated to your phone. Want image editing power? Grab your favorite cupcake photo and with the push of a button, add sepia, super saturate, change the hue, rotate it, flip it, make it bright, deepen contrast, gray scale, blur, drop-shadow… you name it!
Cache has jumped from 5MB to 25MB! That translates to 500% more space to store app data, boosting performance for app users and allowing storage of several sessions of app items.
You can now debug your mobile web apps remotely. Just plug in your iOS device via USB and run the simulator. That way, developers can test all that JavaScript and new CSS capabilities with ease, which means less buggy web apps.
Overall this is a huge step for mobile web. Desktop power is even closer to being a reality on your iOS device!
Like most things that seem, at first, a bit peculiar, or perhaps even slightly challenging, historical context usually helps to lend some calm to the situation. When it comes to the recent changes Facebook has made to its fan page edgerank algorithms, this holds true.
In recent weeks, brands have noticed that their fan page reach has dropped precipitously due to the recent changes Facebook has made to its edgerank algorithms. While this may be initially concerning for brands, when you frame it in context of Facebook's product team history, working diligently to improve user experience, it all makes more sense.
Facebook has always developed product to a core principal: no spam. Consider the first roll out of apps within Facebook way back in the day. These were the most viral prolific little buggers in the system: everyone was poking, werewolfing and vampiring ad naseum. The Facebook experience was getting spammy. So what did they do? They dialed it all back and everyone panicked. Lo and behold, it left us with a much stronger and more thoughtful ecosystem of applications, becoming such a rich landscape that entirely new businesses have grown from it (i.e., social gaming).
More recently, we saw the emergence of social readers via the open graph. Everyone was suddenly seeing every song you listened to and every article you read! The experience was spammy. What if I didn't want to share what I was reading 24/7? So what did Facebook do? Again, they dialed it back and everyone predicted the demise of social readers. Fast forward to today: social readers are a popular high use destination within Facebook's larger ecosystem.
So how does this relate to brands and fan pages?
Facebook sees that the future of brands within Facebook is not one of amassing fans and simply publishing to them repeatedly. That is not a high value engagement. It is fundamentally spammy. So, Facebook is dialing that back too. Consider an analogy: If Facebook were a big 1 billion attendee theme park where people grouped up around the rides they liked, rode the rides, shared stories about their experiences, met their friends from times past and rekindled memories, would you want the world’s brands standing in the middle of that, vying for attention with an ever larger and louder megaphone? In that scenario, the brands would eventually drown out the intended social experience and people would simply leave. Similarly, Facebook wants its users to have a positive experience, to be able to socialize and without feeling bombarded or jockeyed between brands.
But why is this good for brands?
Returning to the theme of this post: framing things in history, remember that other big online animal that has algorithms? Google. For years they have been tweaking their algorithms to impact the SEO machine and deliver ever more accurate and relevant search results. Why would Google do this? The same reason Facebook is changing their algorithms. Google wants its users to come back. If the search results can be gamed and the same brands can dominate search results over and over again, that’s a terrible experience for an end user, and they’ll go somewhere else. When I search for ‘green laundry service, Brooklyn’, I don’t want to end up seeing the first page reading Walmart results for ‘eco laundry detergent’. But what has happened as a result of Google’s algorithm changes? Brands have had to create well-structured, high value and relevant destination sites, with good information and positive user experiences. In the end, it has proven to be a very positive experience for brands and consumers because the overall quality of the online experience has improved dramatically. Secondly, as a result of reducing spammy search engine results, Google has been able to serve up ever more relevant and therefore clicked on ads. This has been the single greatest boon for brands on the web to date.
Similarly, the changes we are seeing on Facebook are extremely positive for brands. The new Facebook for brands is a world where brands can build highly engaged, rich, thoughtful and above all else high quality connections to their fans. As I hear brands bemoan the changes, I also hear a quiet stirring of relief from the many CMOs and the like who are faced with the empty challenge of buying a million fifty cent fans and delivering a multi-day publishing strategy that amounts to nothing more than an outpouring of junk.
Brands should understand this: Social media is its own unique medium. It’s not like TV where people passively watch a show. It’s not like reading a magazine or driving in your car and seeing billboards fly by. Facebook, in particular, is a place where people share intimate stories, where revolutions are sparked, where breaking news really breaks. In this context, the challenge for brands is to thoughtfully understand your fans on a very deep level. Speak to them in ways that are relevant to the space and understand how they want to identify with your brand.
Facebook understands that the future of brands succeeding in social is predicated on the end user having a positive experience. Facebook also understands that their financial future depends on brands succeeding in social. So cheer up brands! These changes are good thing. No, they are a great thing! Connect with your fans. Know them intimately. Publish thoughtfully. Build great custom application experiences. You’ll reach your base better and the response and ROI will be more than you’d hoped for. Facebook knows this, the end user knows this and so should you.
Media planning is like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle: each piece is crucial for success. However, media planning also requires both a strong strategy and a smart, savvy individual to piece it all together!
Here are four tips to help you through the process of planning a successful campaign:
Clients come equipped with their objectives in hand, and it is the media planner’s job to find the best media mix to meet the client’s KPIs. It’s key to understand the client’s vision, their special considerations (i.e., is the client restricted from having social context in their advertising?), as well as key messaging they want incorporated into the campaign.
Tip: Ask questions that help ensure you and the client are on the same page, and be sure to manage expectations throughout the process.
Data is a media planner’s best friend. Knowing how to tell a story with numbers is a significant part of our jobs—we take CTRs, viral reach, daily like statistics and weave them into a holistic media plan.
Tip: Look over stats from previous campaigns, compare optimization strategies and measure engagement to help you create thoughtful and strategic campaigns.
Media planners work closely with budgets and data analysis on a daily basis; however, engaging campaigns require a significant amount of creativity. When developing a campaign, it is important to keep a fresh perspective on each project and remember that there is no “one size fits all” solution for media.
Tip: Think outside the box when suggesting plans; make sure you’ve considered all the options and have chosen the ad units that will best reach the client’s objectives.
The social media and digital marketplace is constantly evolving. New advertising methods are released while features that have been around for years are suddenly obsolete. Knowledge is power, so you always need to be ahead of the game and well- informed.
Tip: Educating your clients on all available opportunities allows them to make better- informed decisions. Whether it is a new targeting type or ad unit, keep up with Facebook marketing capabilities so you offer clients accurate information.
There you have it—a few quick tips to make sure the media puzzle piece you are looking for isn’t hiding on the floor.
Quick on their feet and multi-tasking all day long, great community managers are always connected to your brand’s audience. They have become one of the most important resources a brand can use to market on social media, so we sat down with Socialtyze Community Manager extraordinaire, Krista Kopina, to learn how to successfully manage online communities.
I’ve always enjoyed connecting with the community- connecting in a deeper sense than just a few hellos or thank yous. The appeal is about really getting involved and genuinely being interested in what people are talking about. I love daily chats and checking in with the “regulars," but the best part is even if I can’t help or provide users with what they need, I can reach out to the community and find someone who can.
Beyond talking to the client and hearing out their thoughts and vision, I read anything and everything about the brand: the company website, brand messaging, blogs, Twitter chatter, Google alerts and more. This also means knowing the competitive landscape. What does the brand stand for? Why are they different? What’s their value proposition? Then I build my posting strategy to represent the brand’s messaging and core company values.
Be Human: Humanize the brand. Post with a personality, feature photos and videos of staff members and share content that elicits emotion. Be authentic and honest. And ALWAYS apologize if mistakes are made.
Include a Call to Action: Ask for fan feedback. Get their opinions. Ask them to share your content. Ask them to recommend your page to their friends. These are your brand’s most loyal customers. Get them involved!
Be Brief: Short posts are much more likely to receive a response.
Share a Variety of Content: Keep everything fresh! Share links, videos and photos. Hold contests and sweepstakes to help build buzz and add value to liking your page.
Share Exclusive Content: Provide content that your fans can’t get anywhere else.
Be Consistent: If you post 5 times per week, don’t suddenly stop or drastically decrease your posting frequency. Being consistent with post timing is important, as fans will return to the page with expectations. You always want to give them a reason to come back!
Recognize Your Fans: Encourage user- generated content and always make your fans feel important! Thank your most loyal fans for their involvement and helping you meet new milestones.
Trying to control EVERYTHING! The Community Manager’s job is to make the user experience as frictionless as possible by providing content that’s easily accessible and hassle-free to keep fans coming back. However, fans will always have both positive and negative feedback, so just be ready to smooth out the bumps when they happen.
Definitely balancing the needs/wants of the community with the interest of the business/organization. It can be tricky when there is a desire to give the community what they want and knowing, of course, you may not be able to. Also, not allowing negative sentiment in the community to bring down the positive energy of the brand!
Embrace transparency. Learn to balance the positive and negative by giving rational “haters” a sounding board that allows them to have their say, while encouraging the “lovers” to engage in as much conversation as possible. And of course, always admit your mistakes.
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