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Robyn Ackerman
In , How to, Marketing, , Tips

5 Key Tactics to Create Engagement on Facebook

facebook engagement tips

Big brands and small brands alike all have similar goals on social media: To cultivate our online community, grow our followers and ultimately create a platform to convert new leads. 

What is Facebook Engagement and why does it matter?

Many times our clients at Pop Digital Marketing ask why they should try and solicit responses, likes and shares on Facebook. Facebook Engagement Rate is measured by the percentage of people who saw a post (the reach) and liked, shared, clicked or commented on it. As a result of Facebook’s EdgeRank Algorithm, your page’s engagement rank will play a leading factor in which newsfeeds your posts get displayed in.  So in short and simply put (there is a bit more to it), if people are not interacting with your posts, they will eventually stop seeing them.

5 Facebook Posts to Drive Engagement:

  1. Contests. Create a fun contest that requires participants to comment or share the contest photo. Facebook has removed the contest requirement of using a third party application, so you can make this as simple as you want now!  Facebook contests with the goal of increasing engagement also carry many other benefits if your team strategizes well.  Over 38% of Facebook users are active in contests and when the rules are simple to follow that number goes up to over 52%.

What works: Try requiring followers to post a link to a product or service from your website to your page.  This now increases web views and brings awareness to what you are selling. 

  1. Photos. According to Wishpond– Facebook photos attract 104% more comments than an average post. And while insights of engagement vary across different industries, there is a global statistic that engagement rates are higher on Thursdays and Fridays. 

What Works: Right now, Throw Back Thursdays and Flash Back Fridays are driving many successful engagement campaigns.  Another fun way to get people interacting with your photos is to ask followers to “caption” the photo.  This creates “buy-in” from the followers and makes for a fun way to inspire creativity. 

  1. Ask for opinions. Let your followers know they matter. A powerful way to solicit comments are merely by asking.  According to a hubspot study, the way you phrase your questions will determine the likelihood of response success. 

What Works: Ask your fans a “Which would you rather” question about 2 new services you are contemplating offering.  This will help with creating a sense of “ownership” and anticipation from your prospects.  For more on generating comments, read this blog. 

  1. Fill in the blanks. Fill in the blank posts are another fun way to up your rankings. Use this opportunity to be light and even humorous! 

What Works: While we generally post close to subjects regarding our business, fill in the blank posts can actually deter out of your industry zone.  The more entertaining the post is, the higher the likelihood of generating responses.   Tie it into the local weather, news or hot topic. 

  1. Like vs. Share. Like vs. Share posts are a nice little trick to utilize the draw of visuals while still extracting that opinion benefit mentioned above.

What Works: Post a picture/visual of two opposing sides (A and B) that people have strong views on and ask them like the picture if they want A to win or B to win.  Note: This one won’t really give you qualified leads but is an easy way to increase your edgerank.

How to track engagement:

Using Facebook insights you can easily track each post and its success or lack of in generating engagement.  It’s very important to track both your overall page engagement (how many people are clicking on your page and its tabs) as well as the individual posts engagement rates.  Once you have at least 4 weeks’ worth of data, you can start creating campaigns based on what you know your audience responds to best!

Robyn Ackerman
In Blog, , How to, Marketing,

Facebook Updates Its Posting Preferences For Pages

If you manage a business page on Facebook, your life just got easier!

Facebook has officially rolled out a new posting feature which allows admins to effortlessly elect if he/she wants to post as the page or as him/herself through a more straightforward means.  Way back in the day (yesterday), in order to toggle between the two identities, one had to click on the settings in the upper right hand corner of the whole page and change who you wanted to post as.   This was a confusing process for many page managers.

Where to find the new posting settings:

Now, each and every page post has its own spot where you can click and choose if you want to post, comment, share or like as yourself or as your page. You can also choose to comment, like or share as any other page you currently manage.  See visual below for reference:

Facebook post preference

Ways to utilize the new Facebook posting preferences to your benefit:

  1. You can create momentum on your page posts a lot faster. You can now easily write a post as the page, and quickly switch to your own persona to comment on said post.
  2. You can connect pages you manage. If you are running multiple Facebook pages for industry related businesses, why not increase both company’s exposure and engagement by commenting on one’s post under the name of the other?  This is a sure way to increase the likes of both pages!
  3. You can comment on posts of pages you do not manage- as any of your pages! Go ahead and bring exposure to your page by posting effortlessly on bigger brands! All you have to do is click on the little gray page flag in the upper right corner of the post and choose the page you want to comment, like or share as. See below for an example.

coca cola facebook page

Follow Pop Digital Marketing on Facebook for more tips!

Robyn Ackerman
In Blog, , How to, LinkedIn, Marketing, , Tips,

4 Wedding Traditions to use in your everyday Social Media Strategy

wedding traditions and social mediaWe have all heard of the wedding day traditions for wearing something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.  Originating from an old English rhyme, the 4 items a bride carries with her is supposed to bring her good luck.  Transitioning into today’s digital age, we can actually leverage these 4 elements as a means of remembering some best practice strategies for top notch social media posts!

Post Something Old:

For the bride, something old represents continuity. Psychologically, people prefer to see social media posts they are comfortable with and they can relate to from their past.  This creates a sense of safeness.  This explains why so many people love the “Throw Back Thursday” picture phenomenon. A great tip: post something exciting about an employee that has been with the company from the beginning to give your prospects a sense of your company’s stability.

Post Something New:

For the bride, something new offers optimism for the future.  One the social media spectrum, posting something new positions your company as the thought leaders.  When you are the first to post the latest events, products or news in your industry, it is your post that will get widely shared, commented on and “liked”.  Furthermore, when you are posting about your company’s news and updates, you are demonstrating your company’s ability to provide top service or products by exposing its growth.

Post Something Borrowed:

For the bride, something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness.  When it comes to social media, you too should be borrowing happiness and success.  There is no need to re-invent the wheel.  When you see another company’s digital marketing campaigns working well, borrow their strategy! While it’s always ideal to be the first, it may not always be practical.  It is better to be on the right bus, even if you aren’t driving, than to not get on it at all.  Tip: borrow a post but put your own unique spin on it by adding a call to action or a different opinion!

Post Something Blue:

For the bride, something blue stands for purity, love and fidelity.  In social media we know that when a customer loves a post they become passionate to spread it.  Every once in a while, post something controversial to incite engagement.   Nothing attracts more shares and comments then the posts that hit a nerve, good or bad with followers!

Use these 4 tactics in your social media strategy to ascertain your commitment to your followers and with time they will say ‘I Do’ to your services!

Robyn Ackerman
In Blog, , How to, Marketing,

Why your Company Needs a Weekly Tip on Social Media | 4 How-To Guided Steps

One of the first pieces of advice I give to new clients looking to increase engagement on Social Media is to create a monthly content strategy plan.  Part of that plan involves creating a weekly tip to offer followers and fans.

The benefits of providing a weekly tip for followers include:

  • Content Manager HiringPositioning your business or brand as a thought leader.
  • Opening up dialogue for customers who may have questions about that topic.
  • Building trust with your followers and showing your expertise.
  • Learning what subjects your customers find popular through shares and likes and then turning them into blogs or e-books.
  • Increasing visibility on that subject with search engines (as they crawl and show public status updates with keywords relevant to search terms).
  • Keeping followers and fans coming back to your company page in anticipation for that weeks tip.  This will in turn increase your post updates showing up in their feed.

4 tips to sharing tips on Social Media: 

  1. Pick a day of the week when your audience is likely online.  You can see when they are online through Facebook insights, or timing + (which measures your google + fan activity).
  2. Create an editorial calendar 6 months out (which is only 24 tips).  Create a spreadsheet and include the month, date and time you plan on posting the tips.  Add fields for topic, subject and content developer (if you have multiple experts in your company that will be contributing).  Then add the field where the actual tip content belongs.  The tip itself should be 2-3 sentences at most.
  3. Hashtag your tip name. Prior to launching your tip strategy come up with a clever name that you can place at the beginning of each tip post.  Examples are “Monday Marketing Tip” or “Tuesday Tips With Jon” or “Fridays Health Tips”.  Keep it brand and industry appropriate and make sure it is relevant to what your customers would expect to see from you.  Then Hashtag it so people can eventually search for and see all the previous tips by clicking on the hashtag. Example: #SocialMediaWeeklyTip.

    Post by Pop Digital Marketing.

     

  4. Create a visual of the tip.  Hubspot launched a very successful 30 day blogging tip in which each day they provided a visual of a tip dealing with blogging.  When you post a picture on any Social Media platform you increase the likelihood of the post getting shared and liked.  You can also share the tip picture on Instagram and Pinterest!

For advice on launching or re-launching your company’s social media strategy, contact us here.

Robyn Ackerman
In , How to, Marketing, , Uncategorized

5 Reasons why your Facebook Posts Create Awkward Silences

It goes like this: You think you’ve created something that will go viral.  You post it and wait….and wait…..and wait.  30 minutes go by and there is still no comment, “like” or share at all.

Here are 5 reasons why your Facebook posts may not get the reaction (or any reaction) your were hoping for:Awkward Facebook Posts

  1. You ask yes or no questions.  You have to give people the opportunity to express themselves.  If you are asking a question with an obvious answer or one that doesn’t require much thought, you won’t generate much response.   Ask open ended questions, and give your followers the chance to share their full thoughts!
  2. You are posting yesterday’s news. It’s nice to share the viral video that everyone is talking about.  Guess what though: if everyone has already seen it, they will scroll over your post.  Of course, it doesn’t hurt to share, but it’s even better to be one of the first pages releasing it!  Tip: when you first wake up, peruse your industry news and post on your page the top story/video/picture.  Be the thought LEADER… not follower.
  3. You post the same things over and over again.  So many pages do this.  They love to promote a specific E-Book, product or service and they keep posting about it.  Think about meeting someone and, after that first time, every time you see them they tell the same story.  You will start avoiding them.  That is exactly what will happen to your page posts.  People will hide them, ignore them and because of the Facebook algorithm, they will eventually stop seeing your posts altogether on their feed.
  4. You are boring.  Post something funny, exciting, provocative, scary, visual or even confrontational.  Switch up your tone every once in a while.  Some of the most interactive posts are the ones that drive emotion (good and bad) from followers.
  5. You are self absorbed.  The best way to get people to share your post is if it’s about them.  Not you or your business.  Don’t just concentrate on your services, concentrate on your followers.  Follow the 20/80 rule.  80% of your posts should be industry or client related and 20% should focus on your business.

Click here to talk with our experts on how you can take your facebook marketing to the next level!

Robyn Ackerman
In Blog, E-Marketing, How to, Marketing

How to Decrease Unsubscribe Rates

Too often I receive a blast from a small or medium sized business that just makes me cringe.  For example, the other day, I received an email from a company that had information in it for its current clients, which I am not.  It made no sense that they sent it to me, but odds are, they sent it to their entire list.  There are clear ways to increase your unsubscribe rate, and not sending relevant information to your entire list is the biggest one.

Unsubscribe button

According to an Epsilon Study in 2009 67% of North Americans unsubscribe from a company’s email list because they found the content irrelevant.   Follow the tips below to increase your open rates, decrease your unsubscribe rate and encourage overall engagement with your email readers.

6 Steps to Decrease Unsubscribe Rates:

  1. Use your email provider to create segregated lists.  No matter if you only have 50 subscribers or if you have 30,000 subscribers, each subscriber is unique, has his/her own needs and should be treated as such.  Remember your lists are only seen by you and your marketing team so do not worry about the subscribers knowing which list they are on.  Utilize the list option in your email platform and separate subscribers by services, products or client type.
  2. On your sign up form create interest choices.  This is the best way to truly gain an understanding of what you client wants.  Let your client decide which list they want to be on!   Keep the choices less than 6, as too many choices can lead to a subscriber abandoning the sign-up altogether.
  3. Import your own list of current clients.  Keep an updated list of your current clients in your email database.  Use this list to send updates about client related events, updates, and information that pertain to just the active customer.  The same goes for creating a list of potential customers.  Think of each subscriber as in a different phase of the purchaser’s path.  Your email communications need to nurture each lead appropriately according to his/her place on that path.
  4. Keep the titles (and content) relevant to the audience.  Even if they personally signed up for your list, a subscriber still needs motivation to open the email.  Make sure the title is as relevant as the content in the email!
  5. Only send one large communication piece to the entire list per month.  The second reason people unsubscribe?  Too many emails.  If you are sending more than one large blast to your entire list each month, you become a nuance and also devalue the information you are sharing.  By limiting your large blast to once a month, you create anticipation from your customers.  Make sure your ‘entire list’ email combines “something for everyone”.
  6. Make sure your “forward to a friend” button is prominently displayed.  Did you know that depending on your email provider, and unsubscribe process, if someone forwards your blast to a friend (using the traditional forward method, not the button in your email), the friend can unsubscribe the original subscriber?  All the friend has to do is forget it was sent as a forward and click the unsubscribe button.  To avoid “wrongful unsubscribes” make sure you place the “forward to a friend” button at both the top and in the footer of the email.  By using the button, friends can not unsubscribe for the sender.

To learn more about increasing subscribers, click here.

Robyn Ackerman
In E-Marketing, , How to, Marketing

How to Increase Newsletter Sign-ups

Before covering the tips on how to increase sign-ups, you need to be clear on why you want more.  People often think the larger number of sign-ups means you are doing better at marketing your business.  This is not the case.  It’s what actions the subscribers take after reading the content- that matters. Increase newsletter signupsTherefore, you need a newsletter goal.  Each piece of communication should have a planned purpose and desired outcome prior to sending it.  Once you have an idea of what action you would the readers to take, you can strategize the content you want in it.

 6 Tips to Increase Newsletter Sign-ups:

  1.  Create Sign-Up Forms.  This seems simple enough, yet I have seen many clients that enter in emails personally whenever they get them and don’t provide website “passerby’s” to sign up on their own.  Remember that there may be a potential customer who is not ready to call you about services, but is still interested in your content.  By providing sign-up forms on your site, you are supplying customers with an easy and non-pressured way to learn about your company.
  2. Place the forms everywhere! Have a link in the navigation of your site titled “newsletter”.  You should provide sign-up forms in the sidebar of your site and buttons to sign up on appropriate pages.   You should also have a sign-up extension on your Facebook business page.
  3. Opt-in option.  No reputable email platforms these days allow you to use unauthorized or purchased emails.  If you want to gain the trust of your readers, gain their subscription and ultimately gain their business, make sure your opt-in (and opt-out for the matter) options are set correctly and easy to manage!
  4. Provide subject choices.  Email open rates will increase when the email is specific to the needs of the reader.  Provide a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 different subject check-boxes for new sign-ups.  See example here by click here.
  5. Clearly state the value.  Explain in a sentence or two above the newsletter fields, what the reader will receive or how they will benefit by signing up.  What makes your emails unique?  Keep it short and sweet.
  6. Make the emails forwardable and sharable.  Make sure you have a “forward to a friend” option inserted in every email communication that goes out to the public.  You also want to connect your newsletters with your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages to autopost.  And thirdly, insert social sharing buttons in each email campaign.  As outsiders see the emails from a friend’s (whom they already trust) page or a forward, they are likely to sign up as well. 

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Robyn Ackerman
In , How to, , Uncategorized

How to Embed a Facebook Post on your Website

Previously only permitted to developers, Facebook now allows people and businesses to embed a facebook post, picture or video on a webpage/blog.  See below for an example of an embedded post:

Post by Pop Digital Marketing.

How Embedding a Facebook Post On Your Website Can Help You:

  1. Create engagement right there on your blog
  2. Allows readers to “Like” your facebook page from the post
  3. Readers can like, share or comment on the post immediately from your blog
  4. Readers can even embed the post onto their website increasing brand awareness for you

How to embed a facebook post on your website:

  1. From your Facebook Page, choose the post you want to embed (note: only public posts can be embedded)
  2. Click on the ‘down arrow’ in the upper right corner of the post to open a pop up box of options
  3. Choose “Embed Post”
    Facebook Embed
  4. Highlight the code in the new pop up and copy it to your clipboard
    Facebook Embed code
  5. Paste the code on the webpage you want it to appear on

 

Robyn Ackerman
In , Marketing,

8 Tips To Facebook Posting For Business Pages

Congratulations!  You finally put together your facebook page.  Now you need to grow your fan-base, figure out what to post and how to post it.  Below are a few best practice methods to getting started on your facebook business page.

Here are 8 tips to consider when posting on your Facebook Business Page: Facebook Pages

  1. Think about your target audience.  Who are you trying to reach?  What type of things would they like to know?  What age group does your fan base consist of?  Is it mostly female or males?  You can actually find all of these statistics on your page’s “insights”.  Once you can answer those questions, you will be better equipped to providing a great “fan” experience.
  2. What you post.  Is it relevant to your followers?  Are you posting something that will be of interest to them?  Are you providing your fans with original material?  People like your page because they like your business, brand or what you represent.  Everything you post should have something to do with your business or industry.  It is very beneficial to create a “publishing calender” with enough content to post for 3 months out.
  3. Be the first to post.  If something comes out in the news, you want to be the first to share it.  That way you own the post that everybody is sharing.  Therefore, I suggest that every morning, you search different news sites for important information in your industry.
  4. When you post.  When are your fans likely to be on facebook, and thus see your updates? If your target audience is comprised of retired empty-nesters, 2:00pm may be the best time to post.  If your fan base is mostly stay at home moms, nap times are the best time to post.  Common practices show that 7:00am, 11:00am, 3:00pm and 8:00pm are the prime times for facebook activity, but that may vary depending on your audience demographics.   This takes us back to the first tip of knowing your audience.
  5. How often you post.  This is an important one.  You don’t want to be posting so often that your followers start hiding your updates.  Likewise, you don’t want to have any empty page.  Most successful pages post 3-4 times a day, and post different things.  There isn’t anything more annoying to followers than seeing the same post multiple times a day!  Make sure to spread the posts outs throughout the day. You can use social media tools such as HootSuite, Sprout Social or even on Facebook, using the scheduler below your actual post.
  6. Keep posts short and sweet. When you start rambling, people stop reading.  It’s that simple.
  7. Don’t just sell your business.  If people want to learn about your services or products, they can visit your website.  You should  use facebook to engage your customers.  Show them that you want to provide them with valuable information, listen to their wants and needs, and every now and then let them know about a sale or new service.
  8. Give them something to talk about.  If you want your fan-base to continuously grow, you have to provide buzz-worthy information.  Sometimes the most shared content is the most controversial.  Use this method to ask questions and encourage your followers to participate in the conversation and share with their friends!

Good luck and may your facebook page numbers continue to grow!

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