The Gamble of Doubling Down on Social Media

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  Black Jack Hand
   

This article from Business Insider talks about how Proctor & Gamble is struggling to meet its marketing goals after the CEO made an announcement that they were going ‘all-in’ on social media.

In a recent interview, P&G’s CEO is now saying they are instead going to increase their paid search budget and focus on traditional marketing efforts like sampling. While P&G is working with the biggest ad budget on the planet, what they learned can shed some light for the rest of us.

Facebook Changed the Rules

One thing that made the gamble on social media not work the way P&G planned was that Facebook changed the rules of the game. Facebook changed its algorithm for what people see in their news feed. Business pages went down in impressions significantly.

Is it unfair for Facebook to ‘change the rules’? Not really. Facebook is a free service. It isn’t like you paid for the features they promised you. That free service comes to you thanks to ads delivered to you by your ‘likes’ and activities. As Facebook matures, its job is to show users the content and ads they respond to best. That left many a brand page on the cutting room floor.

What can you do?

So what is a business supposed to do? If Facebook is your marketing channel of choice, you need to make darn sure you are delivering really, really good content that people like and respond to. The more people like and respond to your content, the more you will show up in people’s news feeds.

Second, you need to focus your marketing efforts on your own territory! Those rules won’t change at the drop of a hat.

Your owned marketing territory is your website, your blog, your email list and/or your contact list. Social media sites are great, they are popular, they are where people are, but they are also owned by stakeholders that are worried about their social media sites making money, not how you use them to market your business.

Social media is a great way to let people know about your company, build trust, create conversations and engage current and future customers. What we as businesses need to do is use those opportunities to get people to do something else with your business like participate on your owned marketing channels.

photo credit: Images_of_Money via photopin cc

Facebook’s New News Feed: What Does it Mean for Users – and Marketers?

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bigger images in facebook's new newsfeedUnless you’ve been under a rock, you know that Facebook announced big changes for its news feed last week. As most speculated, the design changes highlight the most popular and engaging content on Facebook: images. All of the visual content you see in your news feed will be bigger and better. For marketers, this means more real estate for in-stream ad content. 

Another major change will be topic-based feeds – including a feed in which you can view all content from friends only. This will be a welcome change for those of us who have been frustrated by the current news feed algorithm. Yes, if you feel like you’ve been missing important updates from people you actually want to hear from, you’re not alone. On other hand, some are concerned about what the new feed choice options will mean for organic brand reach in the news feed. Before we panic, we’ll just have to wait and see. Changes started rolling out to some users immediately, but it will take awhile for the changes to go in effect for everyone.

One update that I am excited about – from a marketing and branding point of view – is the improved integration of Timeline’s visuals. New connections made and new pages liked by friends will now highlight more of Timeline’s visual real estate (the cover photo) that is most often seen by first time page visitors only, increasing opportunities for engagement with potential fans and better brand awareness. Your business page cover photo should already tell your story, but if it doesn’t, this is the time to freshen things up.

Facebook's new news feed highlights cover photos

As you can imagine, there’s plenty of buzz happening as we speak, so I won’t try to cover what’s already been covered. Here are a few good articles on the topic so far:

How to Get the New Facebook News Feed ASAP – yes, I did just read your mind

Facebook Launches Multiple Topic-Based Feeds Including Photos, Bigger Images, And A Consistent Design Across Devices

Facebook Gets Simpler, More Complicated

A New Look for News Feed – Facebook Studio Blog, talks about what marketers can do to take advantage of the new look

What Facebook’s New News Feed Means for Marketers

Advertisers and marketers should love Facebook’s new feed — but they better refocus on being awesome

Oh and in case you missed it, Google+ also announced a redesign last week. Users on that network will notice that cover images have gotten much larger. The redesign also includes updates to profiles, including some local search changes. Katie will have more on that later this week. Some would argue that Facebook’s new news feed looks pretty similar to Google+. What do you think?

Photos courtesy of Facebook

Are Brands Stalking You? 3 Popular (and Effective) Remarketing Techniques

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remarketing-squirrel

Ever look at a product online, decide not to buy it and then feel like it is haunting you all around the internet? You may not be losing your mind. You may be the focus of a smart remarketing campaign.

Remarketing/retargeting is a service offered by a variety of online display ad networks that lets you market to people who have visited your site in the past. The idea being, that you can attract lost prospects and lure them back to convert on your site (purchase something, download something, contact you, fill out their profile etc.). Many of the top ecommerce sites use it – some eerily well.

Here are three popular (and effective) remarketing techniques you may have seen:

  1. Basic remarketing with branding – This is the most simple remarketing strategy. Once a visitor leaves your site without completing the desired action you want from them, you can have ads appear on other sites as they travel around the internet. This will hopefully keep your company fresh in their mind so that they come back and complete their purchase or desired action.
  2. Personalized retargeting – This takes the basic example from above but includes images of the products you were looking at or searching for. As you travel around the web, you may see the shoes you looked for on Zappos, the t-shirt you put in your cart at CafePress or the jewelry you were eying on Overstock.
  3. Remarketing with increased coupon offers – Abandon your purchase on a big ticket item? You may notice a coupon for 10% off your purchase someplace else in the next week. Still don’t go back and buy it? That coupon offer may jump to 20% or have an additional offer. Remarketing can incentivize people to go back and finish their order.

A little freaked out?

Sure these are great options for businesses, but as a consumer, you may be a little freaked out. Opting out of ads like these can be tricky. This article shows you three ways you can opt out of retargeting cross-hairs by:

  1. Regularly clearing your cookies
  2. Trying to block behavior targeting
  3. Blocking ads altogether

Facebook-about-this-adFacebook is also a user of ad remarketing. To learn more about why you are seeing an ad on Facebook you can hit the X by the ad and click on About This Ad. If retargeting is used, you will have an option to edit your advertising preferences. Facebook also recently stated that they will be using AdChoices for the businesses that opt to add it to their ads.

Think about your concerns as a consumer and make sure you are being considerate to your customers too. ClickZ recommends always offering an opt out option, managing how frequently you use retargeting and giving converted customers a break.

Retargeting makes a lot of sense for businesses – when done right. If you are going to pay to have ads show up online, why not show them to people who have already expressed an interest in your brand and products?

The privacy debate will continue on. For now, keep yourself informed about how much of your information is being kept track of online. If you want to get even more freaked out about online privacy, check out this What They Know series that Wall Street Journal has put together.

Flickr photo credit: mybulldog

A Simple Guide to Facebook’s Different Ad Types

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If you’ve seen Facebook evolve over the years, you’ve watched as different ad formats have been added to the mix. More recently, we’ve seen options become available within the news feed itself and in the mobile app. The (newish) Promoted Post option drew quite a bit of controversy when it was introduced around the same time that Facebook updated its Edgerank algorithm.

Despite what the critics say, the added variety of Facebook ad options available for businesses and organizations makes paid promotion on the social network more accessible and effective for different advertising goals and budgets.

Examples of all of the different formats are probably visible in your own news feed right now. But which is which, and what makes them different? We’ll try our best to explain the ad types in plain English. We’ll also note which options are mobile.

The “Original” Facebook Ads

facebook-ad-example

Also known as marketplace ads, these appear in the right hand column of the page on the desktop site and are the ads most of us are used to seeing. This format is similar to a typical online display ad and consists of a headline, some short copy and an image. Campaigns can be used to get users to convert on external websites. They can also be used to direct users to Facebook pages or apps as a way to increase likes or engagement.

Click through rate on Facebook ads do tend to be low, but a well written ad with a strong image and landing page can be very effective. You can create an ad campaign by clicking ‘Create an Ad’ under ‘Build Your Audience’ on your Facebook page timeline.

Sponsored Stories

facebook-sponsored-story

Sponsored Stories appear in the news feed on both desktop and mobile. These ads are based on users’ interactions with whatever is being promoted (like a brand’s business page or a special offer).

Friends of people who already like a page see these ads, making them a cost effective option for increasing exposure and new fans. These endorsement-like ads tend to see a good click through rate. They can be set up just like a marketplace ad, as noted above.

Promoted Posts

facebook-promoted-post-mobilePromoted Posts are just that: posts that are promoted in the news feed (desktop and mobile) according to the number of users an advertiser wants to reach (and the amount they are willing to pay). They are shown to users that already like the page as well as their friends, making them an ideal choice for increasing engagement with an existing audience while increasing visibility among potential fans.

These are easy to set up and work well for promoting events, special offers and engaging images. Any post can be promoted using the ‘Promote’ link in the bottom right hand corner of the post.

Promoted page posts can also be purchased like standard ads, to appear in the right hand column.

Page Like Ads

facebook-page-like-adThis is one of the newest Facebook ad options, introduced in December. Following a set up similar to promoted posts, page owners can choose to promote their page according to the number of likes per a day that they are willing to pay for.

Set up is simple and geared towards small business owners. These ads are also visible on both desktop and mobile. Page like ads can be created right from your page timeline, in the bottom left corner of the admin panel.

Page Post Ads

Page Post Ads are basically the standard “marketplace” version of promoted posts. Unlike promoted posts, page post ads can be used to reach all users, not just those who already like a page and their friends. They are visible on both desktop and mobile.

As I mentioned, different options work better for different types of businesses and advertising goals.
Have you tried any of these options yourself?
Which have you found to be most effective for you?

Want to learn more about social media advertising? Check out our two part blog on Twitter Advertising for Small Business.