Summer Can Be Quiet(er) #3 – Facebook Engagement

 

Continuing on with bookmarks I find helpful, and therefore want to share with you.

10 Mistakes That Could Hurt Your Facebook Engagement

Number 1 definitely – Writing posts that are too long – Facebook’s news feed is very crowded. Keep your status updates short and sweet to quickly grab a fan’s attention. This can be tough, but try to limit your posts to about 100 characters and if you must write more, don’t exceed 250 characters.
Agreed, to an extent. If your entire message can’t show up without a read more, then it needs to be tightened up. You can liken read more to running out of space on a voicemail, if you’ve run out of space you’ve said too much. That being said, if your post does need to be longer for whatever reason, your important information needs to be front and centre – think of it as a newspaper article, and put the lead where it belongs – up top. Also helpful to crate a post that breaks unnaturally, say, in the middle of the list of show times, compelling people to read more to get the info.

#3 – Absolutely – Posting during high-volume hours on Facebook – The best time to post on Facebook varies for each individual business page, but it’s important to keep news feed competition in mind. You already know how difficult it is to keep someone’s attention and stand out in a crowded news feed. When you post during the busiest hours of the day, you’re making your task even more challenging. During prime TV-watching hours, your posts are directly competing with your fans’ attention as they are engrossed in a favorite TV show, their friends, or the brands they follow and love. Increase your engagement by posting during non-busy hours.
You need to follow the example your own followers and like-minded posts to see when your best time of engagement is. When are your people on-line – not just “everyone”. You don’t necessarily want “everyone” – you want people who will engage with you.

Number 8 – You’re too focused on selling – Individuals use Facebook to connect and interact with other people. That’s why your Facebook Page should feel like a friend. Use a conversational tone, tell stories, listen, and respond to the folks that engage with your page. Also, remember the 80/20 rule. 80 percent of the content you post should be helpful or entertaining and 20 percent can be used for self-promotional or focused selling content.
I don’t need to elaborate – you know how I feel about “that guy”.

Into the day – it’s Thursday! Thursday is the new Friday!

 

Content with your Content

(love the english language…)

Out and about today, meetings and off to the Fringe to be part of a video talking about my favourite Fringe memories. I have a ton. I will narrow it down by the time I get there.

SO – quick and dirty post today for everyone who has ever made a Facebook page, or a web page and then thought they have no idea what to say now that it’s up. INFOGRAPHIC!

Fun fact – this infographic used to contain 21 type of content – it now contains ten based on viewer votes – a type of content in itself. I smile at that. Brought to you by Infinigraph, shared by a guy named Scott.Also please note his please note at the bottom, and remember that item #2 does not refer to his please note. Nice try.

 

 

A Picture Is Worth a K.I.S.S.

My grandfather was an Army man, and very fond of the saying “KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid”. I don’t actually recall him using the acronym, but we were urged a lot to keep things simple.

Pinterest has indeed, done that. For folks wondering just why it’s attained such saturation, grown so fast and been embraced so easily – well, it’s simple. Good article by Nir Eyal in Automatic You, a blog about behavioral engineering which is being added to my bookmarks.

Pinterest’s Obvious Secret

Two thoughts that really struck me – Pinterest’s obvious secret is its ability to serve our innate desire to capture and collect, while making consuming, creating and sharing easier than ever before.

Well, to be precise, that thought struck me, but this one truly made me think – The volume and richness of user data collected through pinning is unparalleled. While I might “Like” Babies’R’Us on Facebook or follow their Twitter stream, hoping to get a coupon, only Pinterest knows I’ve been keeping an eye out for a mid-priced stroller appropriate for an 18-month-old boy.

In other news, I’ve figured out just where you 2000+ people are finding me (mostly search engines. followed by Facebook, I thought it would be the other way around); you’re searching for me and this website, which is cool; you’re looking mostly for info on goings-on around town, social media and marketing advice; you’re mostly sharing posts on events. And I thought I knew more of you that I do – I don’t, and that’s really  cool.

Some of you wondered where the politics went. Well, I don’t do Federal, I don’t do Provincial and honestly, I think our Mayor is covered on  “reports of him and his brother making fools of themselves”, so I stopped. It will pick up again when there’s something good to write about.

What does this mean? That things will probably keep on keeping on with minor subject tweaks you might or might not notice.  I might be trying new forms of posts, or topics and see how those work out.

One thing is for sure – I like writing this blog. I like that folks are reading it. Thank you for your likes, questions, comments and follows. All for now.

(do not) Click ALL the Likes!

Part of my business involves social media, creating Facebook pages, twitter feeds, websites and the like for clients.

What always interests me is how to make sure clients don’t think I will be finding all the fans and followers for the page. So far, none of my clients have thought that was part of the deal, but what will  the answer be for those who think that’s how it works?

Nope.
Why not?

Because it’s not my page. It’s their page. I might invite a few very targeted people to like or follow , but only if I know they will be genuinely interested in the content.

Don’t get me wrong, the ones that are doable include – other related organizations, folks who are already connected, sure no problem. But liking for the sake of liking?

What happens when I ask all my friends, fans, followers to “like” the client’s page, and then my contract ends? A few things:

1) you’ve got a heck of a lot of followers that aren’t necessarily interested in your project. They liked it because I suggested it. You’ve got quantity but not necessarily quality.

2) my reputation is shot. We’ve all had Facebook “friends” we never hear from unless they are inviting us to like yet another page or attend yet another event.  It doesn’t seem to matter if I’d care to like or attend, or even if I’d be interested, it’s all about inviting as many people as possible. Uh-uh. Bad marketing.

I ask folks to like things if I genuinely think they’d be interested without my recommendation, or if they are somehow already connected – it isn’t hard, this Six Degrees of the Arts Community.  It’s  quality control. It’s knowing your audience.

Remember folks – although Facebook pages and Twitter feeds are just another tool in your box of marketing tricks, next to the posters and the press release and just behind the stack of flyers – they’re different. Know your audience. Get to know them better through your pages and tweets. In turn, they’ll know and get to know you, and become a truly amazing part of your marketing team.

It’s a team effort, this marketing thing. It’s not about me swooping in. It’s about figuring out what works best for you, for your event or company and who you are trying to talk with in the first place. It’s about real followers and fans, and I think most importantly, you knowing how to do this yourself when we’re done working together. And doing it well. When all is said and done I want your fans and followers there because they know and like you, know and like your work, and are genuinely engaged.

A one-off event is one thing, but a longer term, bigger picture strategy is completely different. If you’re trying to maintain a presence for your work in the social media and marketing world, especially in the in-between times, drop me a line –  we should chat.

Bits and Pieces Tuesday

Harold Awards last night and as always a good time was had by all. As I said in my Facebook status – What a great night. People I love getting hardcore recognition and fancy trophies, seeing people I don’t get to see enough, hugs and laughing and some welling up – the Harolds are different every year except that the love is the same. Congrats to the recipients and the committee. Delighted there is a new Award – The Annual Volunteer Appreciation Award and doubly delighted it went to Barbara Fingerote as its first recipient.

Working on a Workshop I’m doing for CDA on May 17th – click here for details.

The Fringe Creation Lab has launched their IndieGoGo campaign! Skip a coffee or two and donate the proceeds to keeping an important rehearsal space going  – five bucks buys an hour of rehearsal time. If you want to, you could donate more. If you want the coffee anyway, that’s up to you, but be prepared to lie awake, tossing and turning, haunted by the thought of artists with no space to work.

Seems there are online fundraising campaigns going on everywhere you look, but we still lag behind the US of A. Click here to find out why it’s easier to crowdfund down south.

Final thought – RIP sir. Your genius will be missed

the Quality of Relationship is not strain’d

Quick and dirty post today, there’s lots going on. But I wanted to mention the relationship power of social media – specifically Facebook.

Many folks think or say that Facebook or online relationships aren’t “real”. Theory disproved at the Cadillac Lounge last week where a dozen Facebook friends got together in real life and a fantastic time was had by all – a combination of people you knew “in real life”, people you sort of knew in real life, people you only knew from Facebook and people you didn’t know at all – everyone was a combination of the above. This get-together occurred due to a thread on somebody’s wall. Those who were at the table quite likely would not have made it there if not for that thread. Sure maybe the folks who already knew each other “in real life” might have gotten together – but half the group there didn’t know each other from anywhere but online. Behold the power of Facebook.

Secondly – I believe I’ve mentioned the lovely and talented Rebecca Coleman to you. Rebecca and I do the same sort of thing – she does it in Vancouver, I do it in Toronto. And so we became Facebook Colleagues. And then Facebook Friends.Then when I was in Vancouver in February, we became real life friends and hot chocolate was taken together as proof of our bond. Flash forward to a couple weeks ago when I posted about social media contests. Rebecca saw and liked the post. Over the past few days we’ve been long-distance interviewing (and talking about cake) and guess what? There’s an article on her blog about our discussion.

I think this is very cool. Not just the article – which IS very cool, but the idea that two people who a year ago did not know each other, and odds are wouldn’t have known each other now do – that’s amazing.

Go enjoy the sunshine! I tried earlier but a bug landed on me and that was the end of the communing with nature thing.