Are You Ready For Facebook’s Pages Update?

Facebook announced 7 days ago what we’ve all been expecting for a long time: that Pages will be shown less to their users in the News Feed and instead their friends and family will be prioritized.

Source: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/

Adam Mosseri, who is Head of News Feed at Facebook, said:

With this update, we will prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people.

We will also prioritize posts from friends and family over public content, consistent with our News Feed values.

If you’re one of the many Freelancers or independent businesses that benefit from referral traffic or even sales through your Facebook Page, then you need to pay attention.

Will the update negatively affect my reach?

The answer to this is: probably.

Facebook has claimed it’ll only negatively effect pages that don’t consistently post content that their followers want to engage with. They’ve said:

Pages making posts that people generally don’t react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases in distribution. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect.

If you’re one of the pages that consistently drives good reach – which means getting lots of tags or comments from your users, then the update won’t cause you so much of a problem.

If however you are like most independent business and your engagement is hit and miss, you may want to start working on your content to get the best engagement out of it. Check back soon for a post on this.

How will I know if my Page is still showing in the News Feed?

Pages will be prioritised based on how many posts ‘generate a conversation’.

This could be anything from friends debating in your comments to people tagging each other in them.

Facebook wants to be seen as a place that “brings people closer together and build relationships” and they’ve put that at the heart of their News Feed update.

The algorithm will change to prioritise the types of posts people typically interact with. So if you have a core set of die-hard, loyal fans who comment on everything you do, chances are high they’ll continue to do so.

Also, people who’ve selected ‘See First’ for your page will continue to see your Page’s posts at the top of their News Feed. 

If you don’t know what this is, it’s a handy feature Facebook added so people can keep track of their favourite Pages by having their posts always stuck to the top of their News Feed.

It might also spell an end for click-bait

Facebook has categorically said it will demote any content that’s deemed as:

“engagement-bait” to goad people into commenting on posts

This is because Facebook doesn’t think these types of posts constitute a “meaningful interaction.”

How do I make sure people can still see my Page?

The best way, it seems, to make sure your Page stats don’t suffer too badly is by making sure your Page is ticking those crucial Facebook boxes.

These are:

• Bringing people together by encouraging conversations
• Posting content that inspires ‘back and forth’ discussion
• Posting content that people want to share and react to

Facebook has a good tip in their press release as well: Live videos often get six times as many interactions as regular videos.

Facebook suggests that Pages that post more Live videos will tend to be the Pages getting more engagement, and therefore the Pages more likely to keep their spots in their customer’s News Feeds.

Check back for our next post on how to give your Facebook Page an engagement check-up and stop the negative effects of the update.

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com

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5 Social Media Tools That Will Save Your Life

Social media is a black hole for time.

You can spend hours pouring over the same 10 videos and you barely even notice the clock ticking.

When it comes to running your own social media, however, time is a huge factor. Because the more time you spend on social media, the less time you’re spending actually doing what you do (unless you’re a social media maven. You do you.)

Given that most creatives are time poor, so we’ve pulled together a list of 10 social media tools that will save you time and effort. Meaning you don’t have to spend your life flicking between apps. Yippee!

The best bit is… they’re all free!

Buffer

Buffer is an awesome scheduling tool that allows you to post Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts at a later date.

With the free version you can link up to 3 accounts and schedule up to 10 pieces of content.

There’s also a handy content inbox where you can follow your favourite blogs (*cough*) and schedule to share their content online with a simple click. You can also link your own blog and re-share old content as well as broadcasting new content.

Audiense

Audiense figures out when the best time for you to Tweet is. What’s even cooler is that it then links up to Buffer, and gives you a handy schedule.

This means you know all of your planned tweets are getting sent at exactly the best time for people to like, comments and share them.

Not only this, but it lets you search for people to follow (to grow your community) and also tells you who isn’t following you back (meanies.)

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is great if you’ve got loads of different accounts and you want to keep them all in one handy place.

It offers the same service as Buffer but also includes a handy reply function – meaning you can keep track of all your conversations, all in one place!

Hootsuite also allows you to target subsets for channels like your Facebook page.

Social Mention

Ever wondered what people say about you online? Googling is so 2014 – you need Social Mention. It’s a eal-time platform that searches across the whole of the social interweb and organising it into a handy list for you. Influence is measured by Strength, Sentiment, Passion and Reach.

Not only this, it gives you a score for positive vs negative sentiment and your overall influence.

Pretty great if you’re trying to manage your brand or someone else’s.

Iconosquare

You know that 31 people liked the picture of your breakfast. But do you know how many more likes you when you use Mayfair, instead of Nashville?

Iconosquare delves deeper than your ex into your instagram and analyses your posts, measuring the type of post vs the level of engagement.

If you’re monetising Instagram or even just using it to help build brand/personal awareness, this is one for you.

Now you’re fully armed – fly, my social media mavens, fly! (And let us know if you think we’ve missed anything.)

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com

5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making on Social Media

Social media. We know the deal here, right? Some tweets. Some likes. A few dozen comments and a gif for good measure.

It’s not a top secret recipe.

And yet – nearly everyone is guilty of the following social media fails. How many do you clock up?

1. Selling on purpose

We all have something we want to sell. Whether it’s tickets to our next show or even just that jumper you bought off Ebay months ago and have never worn, we’re used to seeing sales messages on social media.

If you’re using social to build awareness of yourself and your brand however, you need to try and avoid the hard sell.

Why?

Because people don’t like following accounts where they think they will get sold to all the time. It’s not fun for them (I mean, how passionate can someone be about a 20% discount on lawnmowers? Hmm?

2. Not secret selling

So here’s the secret. You sell. But you do it in a more roundabout way with some personality, fun and intrigue thrown in for good measure. Have a look at these two tweets:

Guys! Please buy tickets and come and support me on stage, www.ticketlink.com, it would be great to see you all.

Vs.

First dress rehearsal today! How’s my makeup looking for [insert production name]? http://www.ticketlink.com *With relevant image attached*

Which of those two tweets would you be more likely to click on?

The second one, right?!

Show us why we should come and see your show rather than ordering us to buy tickets!

3. Information broadcasting

This is a fancy way of saying ‘talking at people all the time on social media and never actually having a conversation with them.’

This happens when you view social media as a checkbox exercise. You log on, post your tweet, log back off and continue with your day/week/year. Wrong! You’ve just put something out into the world. If Sally from Rochester has decided to reply to you with a salsa dance emoji, then you need to engage with Sally (not salsa-ing, well maybe if that’s what you enjoy) and at least say thanks for the interaction.

Remember, you’re here to be social with people, not just yell at them from the safe confines of your laptop.

4. Ignoring the wider conversation

So back to Sally from Rochester, you need to engage in other conversations as well, not just the ones about you.

Get involved in topics you’re interested in (and that are on brand), but also show interest in other people and events in your industry. Being an active member of the wider social community will mean you get exposed (not like that) to new people, who in turn will get to find out about you. Win!

5. Posting natively (ohhh some social media jargon)

This is a mistake people make especially with Twitter.

‘Posting natively’ means logging onto twitter, clicking ‘write tweet’ and then typing it out there and then and clicking ‘tweet’.

“But how else would I post?” I hear you ask! There are a bunch of social media schedulers (watch out for the post on this) and tools that make it a lot faster for you to post online with the added bonus of being able to track all the good clicks and comments you get. Plus you can post on more than one site at the same time and view it all in the same window.

Magical huh?

So those are our top 5 social fails. How many did you get?

 

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com

Guardian Masterclasses led by us!

The lovely people at Guardian Masterclasses have asked us to lead two workshops on 23rd February on ‘Social Media for Creative Freelancers’ at BVE 2016 at Excel London.

They are one hour workshops for only £25 and you can book here:

Book Penguin in the Room Guardian Masterclass Now

This is how we feel about doing the workshops:

It’s going to be fun. See you there!

 

Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing are some penguins with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.

Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com 

 Facebook.com/penguinintheroom 

twitter.com/prartsmarketing

or waddle over to the website: www.penguinintheroom.com