Facebook Privacy Changes | Q1 2019

On March 6, 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy note about the importance of privacy on Facebook’s properties, acknowledging that the social network’s track record on privacy has been less than stellar, and outlining a new “privacy-focused vision” for the future. “…we’ve historically focused on tools for more open sharing,” he explained in the post. “But we’ve repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want, including in private messages and stories.” Facebook intends to create a new privacy-oriented platform based on several principles that the brand will commit to in the coming years. For advertisers, the most important of these are:

• Private interactions

• Encryption and safety

• Reducing permanence
  

PRIVATE INTERACTIONS

According to data from the Pew Research Center, 54 percent of Facebook users over 18 have adjusted their privacy settings in the last year, triggered by revelations about how Cambridge Analytica was able to collect data without user knowledge or consent. Since then, social engagement has evolved, given that privacy is of paramount importance to users and under the microscope in the media. And Facebook has taken note. Zuckerberg writes in his note:

Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups  are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication. And there are a number of reasons for this. Many people prefer the intimacy of communicating one-on-one or with just a few friends. People are more cautious of having a permanent record of what they’ve shared. And we all expect to be able to do things like payments privately and securely.

On Facebook, this will fundamentally change the way in which users interact with one another, providing more ways for users to interact privately or semi-privately in small groups, instead of publicly. Social listening has long been a challenge on Facebook, given users’ ability to establish and customize their privacy settings. With more opportunities for users to communicate privately, brands should expect to have even fewer ways to listen in on what’s being discussed on Facebook and its other properties. On the flip side, if Facebook users will be connecting privately, outside the traditional News Feed, new ad units and placements are sure, according to The Verge’s Casey Newton, to follow to help brands reach users within those private interactions.

ENCRYPTION AND SECURITY

Encryption is the primary focus of Facebook’s commitment to this “privacy-focused vision” for the future. In the same note, Zuckerberg explains:

People expect their private communications to be secure and to only be seen by the people they’ve sent them to… There is growing awareness that the more entities that have access to your data, the more vulnerabilities there are for someone to misuse it…And some people worry that our services could access their messages and use them for advertising or in other ways they don’t expect.

Over time, Facebook intends to implement full end-to-end encryption to limit its own ability (and the ability of others) to access user information in private messaging.

While encryption may be a priority for private communications, it appears that Facebook will be working to combat the “real safety concerns” on its platform, working to detect “patterns of [illegal] activity… even when we can’t see the content” of public posts. Shortly after Zuckerberg’s note was published, Facebook responded to Representative Adam Schiff’s request, committing to stopping the spread of misinformation around vaccines on its platform, reducing the reach of ads and posts that aim to spread “verifiable vaccine hoaxes,” removing the ability to target ads to users with interests in “vaccine controversies” and the like, and finding ways to share educational information on the topic.

Facebook does not have a clear timeline or path to implementing full end-to-end encryption at this stage, but brands can expect that the ability to target users based on their activities and interests will be limited when it fulfills this promise.

REDUCING DATA PERMENANCE

In the next phase of Facebook, its CEO envisions a world in which messages and posts (and their associated metadata) would expire or be archived automatically after a set period of time, as determined by the user, to encourage more (and more authentic) posting. “Stories already expire after 24 hours unless you archive them, and that gives people the comfort to share more naturally,” Zuckerberg explains. “This philosophy could be extended to all private content.” Focusing on ephemeral messaging represents a clear effort to get users to post and engage more often on Facebook properties – and there’s data to back that up. As of January 2019, more than 500 million are using Instagram Stories, which disappear after just 24 hours, every day. The greatest impact will likely be felt by advertisers as users potentially move to more ephemeral messaging. With posts and comments disappearing after a set period, brands may see target audience sizes decrease as interest and behavioral data gets removed or archived over time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

While nothing has changed immediately, brands can anticipate changes coming to Facebook and its properties, including:

• Even greater social listening challenges, as more private messaging will prevent brands from tracking relevant conversations on Facebook properties

• Facebook emphasizing new ad units and placements to put branded content in the private messaging spaces where users are predicted to head next

• Limitations on Facebook’s current robust targeting capabilities

Shining a Light on Dark Posts | October 2017

MORE TRANSPARENCY IN ADS

A Little Background Information
In the past year, social platforms have come under fire for foreign-backed advertisements used to sway political opinion leading up to the 2016 US presidential election. To many, Facebook was the worst offender for allowing these ads to be run, targeting skeptical voters in swing states with fake news. Since the election, they’ve tackled the “Hard Questions” about Russian ads in a post by Facebook Vice President or Policy and Communications Elliot Schrage. They’ve also made a number of changes to the News Feed, including debuting new ways identify potential fake news, offering educational tools to help users spot fake news, reducing reach of click-bait posts, cracking down on cloaking, blocking ads from pages that share fake news, and testing ways to offer more context to news articles. Still, for many this was not enough. In mid-October, Sens. John McCain, Amy Klobuchar, and Mark Warner introduced the Honest Ads Act, which would require political ads on digital platforms to disclose who paid for the ads. In response to the criticism and the potential legislation, Twitter and Facebook unveiled new changes to make ads on their platforms even more transparent just weeks later.

What’s Changing?
Facebook and Twitter both allow brands and publishers to run “dark posts,” paid advertisements that are not available to users organically in their feeds or on the brand accounts, themselves. These dark posts are often used to test the effectiveness of audience targeting, creative and copy, or distribution channels, but some have also used them to distribute fake or misleading news.

To combat this, Twitter announced that it was launching an Advertising Transparency Center that would allow users to better understand who is advertising and what they’re sharing, and give individual users the opportunity to share feedback on this information. The ad details available in the Transparency Center will include creative and ad flight duration for all ads, included Promoted-Only ads (dark posts). Users will also be able to see the ads that have been targeted to them individually, along with “personalized information on which ads [they] are eligible to receive based on targeting,” wrote Bruce Falck, Twitter’s GM revenue product and engineering.

Days later, Facebook announced on that it would make all ads – including dark posts – available for viewing by all users. Rob Goldman, Facebook’s VP of ads, explained in a blog post: “Starting next month, people will be able to click ‘View Ads’ on a Page and view ads a Page is running on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger – whether or not the person viewing is in the intended target audience for the ad.”

IMPLICATIONS FOR BRANDS

The Initial Rollout
All brands will be impacted equally by these changes. On Twitter, the Ads Transparency Center will debut first in the US and then expand globally. On Facebook, on the other hand, this change will roll out in Canada first and then expand to the US in by the summer of 2018 to ensure that these changes are firmly in place before the US midterm elections in November. While only active ads will be shown during the initial Facebook testing period in Canada, by the time this rolls out to the US, Facebook will build an archive of past and present ads tied to federal elections to ensure that users fully understand how brands and publishers are spreading news, whether authentic or fake.

Competitive Research
Because all advertisers will be impacted in the same way, US-based brands will have a new method for gathering information about competitors’ efforts to connect with users through ads on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. This presents a unique opportunity to better understand competitors and their audiences, differentiate brand messaging, and even compete directly. It’s important to note, however, that targeting and budgeting information will not be available when users choose to view a brand’s ads.

If you have questions about these new changes to advertising policies on Twitter and Facebook, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly.

Technology Roundtables: Social Media | Philly HUG 2017

On September 19, I joined the Philadelphia HubSpot User Group for their technology roundtable event, which brought together experts in SEO, social media, email marketing, and coding to answer the HUG community's most pressing content marketing questions. There, I led a discussion about using social media in conjunction with larger marketing efforts to help brands large and small connect and, ultimately, convert online.

If you missed the event, here are a few of my favorite takeaways!

UNDERSTAND HOW USERS FIND CONTENT

Much of what individual users see in their social feeds is curated by an ever-changing algorithm that aims to show the content with which they're most likely to engage. Facebook's algorithm, for example, is comprised of three different components:

• Affinity: how close a user is to the content creator
• Weight: the importance of the action taken by the content creator or others that a user is connected to
• Time Decay: how long it's been since the post went live

USE ANALYTICS TO ENSURE AUDIENCE ALIGNMENT

Every brand has a target market, but not every channel can ensure that marketers are reaching that select group. Diving into Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics can help marketers determine whom they're reaching across channels, how their content resonates with that audience (Facebook's Ad Relevance Score can help here!), and how to better target content going forward. To test content in the short-term, Instagram Stories can help brands create content to engage quickly and drive action. Check out our best practices for creating impactful Instagram Stories here.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF ADVERTISING 

For brands with small budgets and big hesitation about the value of putting advertising dollars behind social posts, there's no reason to shy away from promoted posts. In fact, brands can test the waters for as little as $5 per day on Facebook! Try it out, experiment a little, and see what you can learn about your audience and your content.

The conversation at Philly HUG's technology roundtables was engaging and fun. If you were there, share your favorite learnings with me. If you want to know more, check out their upcoming events!

LinkedIn Strategies that Engage the Right Audiences | DVGBC Q3 2017 Event

Chances are that when it comes to LinkedIn, you're doing it wrong. If you're using LinkedIn as a job board an occasional promotional channel, you're not alone, but you're not leveraging the real advantages of this underutilized platform. LinkedIn can be the hardest working (and most cost-effective) social platform for your firm – if you know the right strategies and tactics to better engage. We all know that the name of the game on social channels is engagement, but that doesn’t mean that brands want someone to click the “like” button blindly. Rather, it’s about developing content that drives consistent readership, community building, and authentic advocacy. The best way to do this is to create a strategy specifically for LinkedIn.

DEVELOPING A LINKEDIN STRATEGY

Step 1 is pretty obvious: getting your brand on LinkedIn. Creating a Company Page (not a profile that makes your brand look like a person, as some businesses did in the earlier days of Facebook) helps to establish your brand on the platform and helps users learn more about your company and what you do. Once the Company Page is live, share it with your employees. This is important because employee profiles – those that indicate their role in the organization and link to the Company Page within their profiles – are some of the best opportunities for potential clients and recruits to learn about your business.

If your business already has a Company Page, you can use LinkedIn’s Company Page insights tools to get information about your followers and visitors so that you can determine what kinds of content to share based on their industry, job function, and seniority level to better engage them in the future.

Once you’ve done that, review your existing content, along with your upcoming announcements, any thought leadership opportunities you’re pursuing, and planned marketing activities. Evaluate that content according to the page insights you have to determine if this will be valuable to your audience. If it’s not relevant to them on the surface, is there another way to present that information? Can you reframe it for that particular audience?

CREATING CONTENT THAT RESONATES

One of the biggest questions on any social platform is this: how often should I post? Post too often and it’s overwhelming; post sparingly and you don’t really make an impact. LinkedIn’s best practice, based on the last decade of company content strategies, is to post once per weekday to encourage engagement and foster familiarity among followers. However, this doesn’t mean posting for the sake of posting. If you don’t have compelling content to share, it’s better to post less often than to force content that doesn’t resonate or isn’t relevant to your business.

But what is that relevant, resonant content? Top-performing post types vary from brand to brand, but generally speaking, company news, industry articles (preferably with quotes from your company’s top experts), and thought leadership pieces resonate best. Regardless of the type of content you post, LinkedIn notes that posts with links can see up to 45% higher engagement than those without links – so include links where you can. Links to share may include those that lead to company white papers, e-books, case studies, industry articles, how-to guides, and bright infographics.

Once you know what you want to share, it’s important to know how to make sure it gets noticed and ultimately drives engagement. Keep in mind that while LinkedIn Company Pages are search-friendly – and should feature company descriptions that capture what the business does in the first 155 characters to avoid being cut off in search results, for example – individual posts are more user-friendly. This means that users are looking for eye-catching headlines, thumb-stopping imagery, clear calls-to-action, and introductory post copy that is short and to-the-point.

LinkedIn Company Pages also have the option to add additional pages to show off long-term business initiatives through Showcase Pages. These may be used to show off different product lines (like Microsoft does with Showcase Pages dedicated to Microsoft Office alone) or business units (like those dedicated to a specific service offering or practice). These can help to establish connections with specific audiences and share targeted messages with them.

This is just an introduction to LinkedIn's capability to drive lead generation and engagement organically, of course. Once a clear content strategy is in place on LinkedIn, the sky is the limit for creating better content that resonates and ultimately drives action.

This content was originally shared as an event hosted by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council worth 1.5 GBCI CE hour and 1 AIA LU. 

When Social Leads an Integrated Campaign | Social Media Day Philadelphia 2017

WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE

Whether you’re on the client side or the agency side, you’ve probably experienced this situation. Your team has a new campaign that everyone’s psyched about – beautiful new creative, catchy tagline, media relations ready to spread the word. But no one thought about social at the beginning, so now there’s no budget or all of the creative hours have been exhausted on other assets. But it’s okay, because we’ll just slap a hashtag on some posts and now we’ve got a social campaign, right?

So wrong. Unfortunately, this happens all too often and the result of these kinds of efforts is that brands end up looking clueless, out of touch, and lame.

And the worst part is that we know that our best efforts could have been so much better and effective if social hadn’t been an afterthought.

IT'S TIME TO GO SOCIAL FIRST.

Social media is uniquely positioned to lead campaigns because it’s based on relatable, human connections. Because of our ability to engage in two-way dialogue on social channels, we’re tapped into the zeitgeist. We know what makes followers laugh, what makes them roll their eyes (or flip us off), and what makes them want to share.

Ultimately, a hashtag doesn’t make a campaign; brand authenticity does. That kind of real, relatable, honest-even-though-it-might-hurt awareness of who our brand is and who our customers are makes all the difference in the world.

This content was originally shared as a flash talk at Social Media Day Philadelphia 2017.

Need-To-Know Q1 2017 Social Updates

Changes to social media platforms seem constant. Barely a day goes by without an algorithmic tweak, a new ad offering, or a new product to be tested. For most of us involved in digital marketing, the impact of these changes is negligible, affecting only the content creators and community managers working directly on social media. However, there are three big trends and changes that will impact every business owner, regardless of vertical.

LIVE-STREAMING (SOMETIMES IN 360 DEGREES)

For brands looking to connect more in real time – whether for a campaign launch, a product debut, or a thought leadership opportunity – live streaming offers an exciting way to entice and engage viewers. In the last six months, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have all debuted live video capabilities within their iOS and Android apps. While the functionalities in these three apps are similar, however, they differ in important ways that will help to determine which platform will drive the best results.

• If you want to share a live broadcast in 360 degrees, use Facebook or Twitter.
• If you want to share live content as part of a story, use Instagram.
• If you want live content to be available after the broadcast, use Facebook or Twitter. While it is possible to save a live Instagram story, it will not be available on Instagram once the broadcast is over.
• If you want to broadcast via desktop, use Facebook. 

VERTICAL VIDEO

Thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices and the popularity of social story functionality, vertical video is on the rise. In fact, forecasters explain that,

On average, 57% of consumers globally watch videos on a mobile phone every day, while 58% of consumers watch videos on their laptop/desktop every day. With 89% of US and 77% of global consumers saying they can’t live without their smartphone or always have it within arm’s reach, we are very close to the tipping point where mobile will soon be the number one video screen.

Facebook has even optimized its News Feed to share larger previews of vertical videos as users scroll through posts from friends and brands. What does this mean for business owners? It’s time to take a mobile-first approach to video creation and consider optimizing for vertically oriented screens. Even if Snap Ads and Instagram story ads aren’t in your marketing plans, bear in mind that vertical video is only going to get bigger. The time to perfect your mobile-first video strategy is now.

BROADENING THE DEFINITION OF SEARCH

When most people think of search, they think of typing words into a Google search bar and scrolling through a list of associated websites, but that’s about to change. Social media has been quietly transforming search into so much more. It started with Facebook’s 2013 updates to Graph Search, which allowed users to search posts and comments shared with them by their friends.

Now, Pinterest is allowing users to get more personalized results in their feeds through Instant Ideas, denoted by a small circle that appears in the corner of each Pin. When the circle is tapped, Pinterest will share similar Pins inspired by the original. Search also is taking on a more visual quality, thanks to Pinterest’s announcement of its new experimental technology called Pinterest Lens (BETA), which allows users to use the camera in the Pinterest app (or the desktop-based Pinterest browser button in Chrome) to discover ideas inspired by the objects around them. The platform explains: “Just point Lens at a pair of shoes, then tap to see related styles or even ideas for what else to wear with them. Or try it on a table to find similar designs, or even other furniture from the same era.” Capitalizing on these new functionalities – and those yet to come – will require beautiful, high quality creative assets that are optimized for user searches.

This post originally appeared on BrownsteinGroup.com.

Keeping Momentum Between Events | #ConvenePHL 2016

On June 28, I joined #ConvenePHL to help lead a discussion about leveraging the energy and conversation of an event into ongoing audience engagement. With Technical.ly Philly Lead Reporter Roberto Torres and Buffer Community Champion Arielle Tannenbaum, we chatted at Pipeline Philly about the challenges and best practices in maximizing event potential by creating connection points (online and off) to engage audiences and attendees post-event and in between events. I was proud to be part of the conversation and to represent CreativeMornings Philadelphia, the city's monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types.

If you missed the event, here were a few of our top takeaways!

• Be Persistent. A lot of event organizers feel like they've already spread the word about their event, so they avoid sharing the details of it again. This is understandable, but your messages can easily get lost in the digital shuffle! It's important to share your event details more than once – even if you feel like you've said the same thing a hundred times – on a variety of platforms to reach different audiences. 
   
• Mix It Up. If you feel like you've said it all before, try a new approach. Use video, try animated gifs, or something totally different to attract attention and make your message and your event relevant. Try Snapchat – especially its affordable geofilters – to make your event even more engaging. Just remember to get the location right, warned Tonic Design Co.'s Leon Degtar. If the geofence isn't right, it can make it more challenging for users to try out your filter.
   
• Hashtags Work. When weighing the "should I or shouldn't I?" of hashtags, keep in mind how they're really intended to be used: as groups of like conversations. Keep your hashtags short and sweet, since your audience will need as many characters as possible to share a valuable tweet with their friends. And, as Technical.ly's Catherine Sontag pointed out, it's critical to test them in advance to ensure that your hashtag and the conversation around it can truly be owned by your brand.
   
• Use Photos. AOI Events & PR regularly uses photos from past events to give audiences a sense of what the event will be like before they RSVP, which is a great way to draw in new attendees.
   
• Look to Your Network. For CreativeMornings, we monitor our hashtag (#cmphl) to track conversation leading up to, during, and after an event. One of the best things we're able to find from that is user-generated content. We've found blog posts recapping our events, videos and photos of our speakers, and great takeaways from the talks. And with a quick tweet or direct message on Instagram, we can request permission to share the user's content (always with credit, of course) to help spread the word in the future.

We had a great conversation at #ConvenePHL. If you were there, let me know what your favorite learnings were. If you weren't, I'd encourage you to check out their next event in the fall. I'll hope to see you (and the beautiful view from Pipeline Philly) then.

#PTW15 Recap: Using Social Media to Connect and Convert

Philly Tech Week's Entrepreneur Boot Camp brought together Philadelphia area experts to help teach early-stage entrepreneurs the basics of starting a business. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of those experts in 2015. Things have changed quite a bit in the digital age, so I walked through five best practices to help entrepreneurs connect and convert customers using social media. Check out the recap below and scroll through the slides on SlideShare.

One thing that can quickly threaten to take a business from a startup to a slowdown is conversion – the customer acquisition process. In the digital age, the models have changed a bit. You might have seen acquisition funnels that pull your customer from awareness to action, but in reality, your customers are at every stage of that process at every minute. And in the digital world, they’re expecting you to be right there with them. Fortunately, for brands that deliver on that expectation, the rewards can be great.

On Facebook, the world’s largest social network, followers are 80% more likely to be brand users than non-followers. Similarly, Twitter followers are 64% more likely to buy products from brands they follow, so the chances that your social media content reaches current or potential users is much higher than you might expect. That’s a great sign.

But what do you need to know? Ultimately, you’re not just looking to connect; you want to convert.

Here are the five things entrepreneurs need to know about social media in order to attract attention, and ultimately, convert buyers into advocates.

This Isn’t Highlander. There isn't just one.
First, this isn’t Highlander. Social networks aren’t battling to the death so that you can pick just one channel. These channels are often complementary, providing unique content to specific audiences that may or may not overlap.

Last year, more than half of all internet users in the United States were active on two or more of the five major social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest, according to Pew Research. This number is up from 42% the year before, so it’s important to consider the audience and opportunity to connect with that audience on each platform before coming up with a strategy.

Why? Because the right platform and content mix matters. At LevLane, we’re working with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities on a pedestrian and driver safety campaign, centered around the rallying cry “It’s Road Safety Not Rocket Science.” The campaign is designed to engage pedestrians and drivers who are accidentally (or purposely) disobeying the rules of the road, making it more dangerous for themselves and others. In fact, there were more than 1,800 pedestrian-driver crashes in the City of Philadelphia in 2013, which averages out to about one every 5 hours – almost 5 per day. So to do that, we chose our platforms carefully – the major platforms on which Philadelphians are spending their time, whether they’re on the go or in a chair. We shared compelling content on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram throughout the campaign, and, while our cartoon imagery was fun and eye-catching, we focused our efforts on video.

In August 2014, Facebook actually matched YouTube in terms of videos viewed on desktop, and according to Social Bakers, videos uploaded to Facebook (rather than linked in a Facebook post through YouTube) saw an average of 40% more engagement. That’s a big deal. When we learned that, we sought to share those videos directly on Facebook, which helped us reach nearly 5,000 views since the video was posted earlier this month (compared to about 3,000 views on YouTube). Needless to say, these videos made a big impact for us. By creating content that was fun and entertaining, and by understanding the social landscape, we were able to take a subject as “boring” as pedestrian safety to get attention from local media (including CBS Philly and Philadelphia Magazine) and national and international media (including national ABC News and the UK’s Daily Mail).

Follow the conversation, then join it
The second thing that entrepreneurs need to understand is the importance of following a conversation before joining it. Online conversations about brands, communities, causes, and what everyone ate for lunch is everywhere. And oftentimes, those conversations are happening in places you don’t expect.

In years past, our Massage Envy Spa clients shared with us the most common sites for reviews about their brand – locally and nationally. They’d been focusing primarily on Yelp and Google. In 2014, we discovered that our Massage Envy Spa clients were missing nearly 40% of online reviews because they weren’t monitoring the platforms their customers were actually using to share their feedback. Without tracking conversations, reviews, and tips shared on Yahoo! Local and Foursquare, they were missing the full picture of their brand online and on opportunities to engage.

One of my favorite examples of following a conversation and then joining it is actually from the National Park Service. For those of you who watched NBC’s Parks and Recreation, you’ll know that in the last episodes of the show, Amy Poehler’s character is considering a job with the National Park Service. To capitalize on this great opportunity to turn enthusiastic followers of the show into potential advocates for the country’s real parks, the National Park Service used Promoted Tweets targeted to viewers of the show during the series finale to encourage viewers to get involved with the real National Parks Conservation Association. And what’s great about using Twitter Cards is that all a person had to do was click, so their interest in the cause didn’t take them to a separate experience outside of their Twitter feed; instead, Twitter allowed users to click to provide the email address they already used on Twitter to sign up for emails and get involved.

Think platform first, then strategy and execution
Before you start thinking about what you’re going to do and how exactly you’ll do it, it’s critical that entrepreneurs consider the platform first. In the social world, each channel has different requirements, unique creative parameters, and audiences who engage in unique ways.

Here are a few examples. First up: Ben & Jerry's. This example is an oldie, but a goodie. To promote a cause close to their corporate hearts, Ben and Jerry’s created a social microsite that put Twitter users’ unused characters to good use – helping them to promote World Fair Trade Day. By entering your tweets through their platform, they customized tweets using leftover Twitter characters to support fair trade. They could have decided to do something that was more generic that might work across all of their social platforms, but instead they chose to engage in a unique way on just one platform. Brilliant.

The second example is a local one – Jinxed, three vintage stores in the City of Philadelphia. Chances are if you like vintage finds and home decor in Philadelphia, you’re following Jinxed. If you’re not, I suggest you do. They’ve found a great way to translate their social presence into sales. Jinxed promotes local vintage finds (which are available in their stores) and boosts sales with exclusive call-to-buy calls to action at three locations on Instagram, which still shows users’ posts in reverse chronological order. It becomes competitive, with users regularly checking back to find new deals that they can take advantage of without every having to leave their houses or offices.

Purchases are overrated; advocacy is where it’s at
But even with these great examples of conversions, it’s important to remember that purchases are overrated. Ultimately, you want more than just a one-time buy; you want advocacy that will translate into loyal customers who attract and convert more loyal customers.

At LevLane, we invited Rothman Institute patients to share their own stories with other people just like them. Many of those patients were scared, but we sought to convert their uncertainty into optimism. By sharing real stories on Facebook, Rothman Institute patients inspired more than 100 other patients to share their own stories in the comments of the posts. Of course, it was great to see that people were so enthusiastic about their surgeons and physicians, but what was even more inspiring was the response from people who weren’t patients yet. People who shared the posts with their families and friends, called out their loved ones who were suffering and said things like “See? There is hope.”

Analytics are your friend. Your "gut feeling" probably isn't.
Every client I have tells me something that they believe they know. But oftentimes, their “gut feelings” (sometimes fueled by outdated research) are just plain wrong.

Our Massage Envy Spa clients told us that their customer base was consistently a 50-50 split between men and women, who were mostly white and between ages 35 and 54. On a hunch, we challenged that. It just didn’t match up with what we were seeing online. So we pulled the numbers and in many spas the customers and followers just didn’t match up. In fact, in many markets the customers were a 75-25 split between women and men, who were mostly African-American, and ages 25-54 (but mostly 25-34). It was astounding and it provided us an opportunity to question whether or not to experiment with different creative, messaging, and strategy to more effectively engage the audience.

Knowing is half the battle, so let’s recap. First, there isn’t just one platform or content type that works, so it’s important to do your homework in advance. And speaking of doing your homework, it’s critical to follow the conversation before you join it. Then strategize for each social platform. Aim for advocacy, not just one-time buyers. And finally, use analytics to continually optimize and improve.

Customer Acquisition in the Digital Age: Using Social Media to Connect and Convert from Erica Nardello

Pinterest Messaging Makes Social Even More Personal

Earlier this month, Pinterest launched an in-app messaging service to allow its users to engage in private conversations around its content. In the past, when users wanted to share Pinterest content with their friends, they could only send a pin. Any additional engagement forced users to resort to email or other social channels to continue the conversation. Now, however, there’s no need for users to leave the platform in order to start and sustain a conversation on Pinterest. Users can now share individual pins, boards, other users’ profiles, and their own messages in chats with up to 9 other users.

Plan projects, swap ideas, share your best discoveries. http://about.pinterest.com/messages iTunes App Store: http://pin.it/VQ-xmlR Google Play: http://pin.it/bEYNSEA

Of course, social messaging platforms are nothing new. Facebook’s newly-separated Messenger app, WhatsApp, GroupMe, and even LinkedIn allow users to send messages back and forth with one or more users, but Pinterest isn’t necessarily looking to join their ranks. In fact, Pinterest Product Manager Michael Yamartino makes it clear: “We’re not a communications service. We’re not trying to be the place to say ‘What’s up?’ or ‘When are you coming home?’” Instead, Pinterest’s messaging capability is intended to enable focused discussion centered on products and projects showcased on the platform and to encourage collaboration around those products and projects between friends, family members, co-workers, and more.

More than anything, Pinterest is creating better opportunities for sharing. Initially, the platform focused on public boards and profiles, but has shifted over time to also allow for a more personalized experience. Two years ago, Pinterest began allowing users to create secret boards, but users clearly wanted even more ways to share privately. Since then, a lot has changed. This private messaging capability has created an almost Path-like experience with the opportunity to share pins, boards, and messages on a one-to-one or one-to-many (but not one-to-all) basis. It’s demonstrating that private collaboration is just as valuable to a social media platform as the outward-facing content being pinned and shared. In fact, that private collaboration often leads to the creation and sharing of new pins, better content, and more engagement for users and brands. How users take advantage of this capability will determine Pinterest’s next steps, but it’s clear that they’re already heading in the right direction.

This post originally appeared on the Advertising Week Social Club here.

Instagram's Algorithm Update Brings a More Personalized Explore Feature

In an effort to make the Instagram user experience more personalized, the photo-sharing platform has updated the algorithm for its Explore tab. Previously, a quick tap on the Explore tab would summon the platform’s most popular posts (usually the supermodel-esque selfies and adorable cat photos that had racked up the greatest number of likes) for all Instagrammers. As of last week, however, the tables have turned.

The app’s Explore tab now offers personalized recommendations for each user. These recommendations are based on the photos and videos their friends have most recently liked, plus the Instagram community’s most popular photos. While the customization is new, the basics are not – the Explore tab still shows 21 photos and videos from public users only (sorry, private users!) and is updated regularly, based on the trends within the Instagram community. And, of course, users are still able to find for new content and new users to follow by searching by username and hashtag. These changes have only been made to the Explore tab and won’t affect the app’s home feed, which still displays photos and videos from users in the order in which they were posted.

What does this mean for you? Whether you’re an individual Instagrammer or representing a brand on the platform, it seems to be a good thing, at least according to some folks.

The algorithm change could make your content easier to find. If you’re using the app to share personal photos and videos, your friends and their friends could find your content because you fall within their social graph. If you’re more of a photojournalist, this shift could attract new followers by sharing your photos (even those with a smaller number of likes) with users who are interested in your subject matter, based on their social network and interests. And for brands, this is a much improved way to connect and share branded content with followers and extend that reach to their friends.

Plus, with just 20 other photos with which to “compete,” each photo (and user) instantly becomes easier to digest, appreciate, and explore further on Instagram’s Explore tab. It’s unclear how many people are using the tab currently, but this will hopefully make it more user-friendly, whether those users are individuals or brands. What do you think of the algorithm change? Will this make you more or less likely to tap over to the Explore tab in the future?

This post originally appeared on the Advertising Week Social Club here.

News Feed Update: A New Look and Feel for Facebook's News Feed

As you've probably already noticed, Facebook has updated the News Feed for users. As they announced last week, the changes in the look and feel will help to provide a more consistent experience across desktop and mobile platforms. For the most part, it's just a new look, but here's a run-down of what's new (and what's not).

What's New:

• Larger images
• Fonts
• Bookmark icons
• Stories housed within "cards" in the feed
• Timestamps under the Page or user's name
• Same sizing for organic stories and ads
• Multi-photo Page posts (all multi-photo stories will honor the orientation of the first photo in the series and will not be distinguished from the format of a photo album)

What's Not New:

• General layout
• Navigation
• News Feed's algorithm that determines what you see and when
• Creative specs and image aspect ratios for Facebook Ads or Promoted Posts (including the 20% text rule)

Check out the changes and let me know what you think in the comments.

News Feed Update: Facebook’s Algorithm Pushes Posts Most Relevant to User Interests through Tagging

After Facebook’s latest algorithm change gave preference to personal status updates over brand status updates, the social network is throwing brands a bone: more reach for their most relevant posts. Starting this week, brand posts that tag other brands may be shown to followers of both brand pages. Much like a user’s friends will see that they’ve been tagged in posts by other (non-mutual) friends, Facebook followers of brand pages may see posts that the brand has been tagged in by other brands, including press outlets, sponsors, strategic partners, competitors, and more. For example, Facebook followers of Advertising Week will naturally see the Page’s posts, plus posts from other brands that tag Advertising Week – even if they do not follow the other brand on the platform.

As Facebook Product Manager Andrew Song explained in a Facebook Newsroom post,

“We look at many factors to make sure the most relevant stories appear in News Feed, including which posts are getting the most engagement (such as likes, comments, shares and clicks) across all of Facebook. We also consider which posts are getting the most engagement from people who like both the Page that posted and the Page that was tagged.”

This new algorithmic update comes after users expressed that they liked seeing this kind of relevant content in their News Feeds when Facebook tested the feature for Pages, Song said. It’s an interesting move for Facebook, given that this feature could easily be abused by brands that want a little extra reach by leveraging a big, but irrelevant name. But more than that, it’s a great opportunity for brands to make their posts more relevant to their current and future audiences. Here’s how:

1. Brands that leverage existing partnerships on local, national, and global levels can connect with the audiences that they most want to reach. This means that brands small and large will more clearly benefit from sponsorship, partnership, and overall collaboration in the social media world.
2. Brands can create better brand associations based on the relevant interests of their audience. For example, if a brand like Stonyfield Farms posts about its corporate stance on GMO labeling, tagging the Environmental Working Group that created a guide to help shoppers avoid genetically engineered foods will help to create a stronger connection between the two brands and their values.
3. Brands can demonstrate differences between themselves and their competition by tagging their competitors in posts that compare them. Prego’s latest campaign to differentiate themselves from Ragu through taste testing could easily extend to social channels. By leveraging Facebook tagging to show the results of their taste test to the followers of both brands, they could more clearly show that one brand is superior to the other and even drive conversions of sales.

It will be interesting to see the creative ways that brand strategists and community managers leverage this newest algorithm change to benefit their brands.

Originally posted on the Advertising Week Social Club here.

#SMWNYC Recap: The Future of Social Media and Content Creation

For the second year in a row, I made the trek from the City of Brotherly Love to the Big Apple for Social Media Week NYC. In two days of SMW sessions, expert panelists from socially savvy agencies and brands discussed continuously changing social media platforms, revolutionary content strategies, and evolving analytics. Check out the key takeaways from select sessions below and, if you were in attendance at #SMWNYC, let me know what findings you found most valuable in the comments!

The Language of Social Media is Visual

The internet was built on text. From search engine algorithms and queries to website and application coding, words have defined and shaped the digital experience. But, as JWT Trends Strategist Will Palley pointed out in a session on Thursday called Reading is No Longer Fundamental: The Shift to Visual Vocabulary, “new social platforms force people to learn new languages.” Increasingly, those languages are not always (or only) verbal. With the rise of platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, the language of social media is evolving from words (and even limited characters) to images. DigitasLBi SVP and North American Mobile Practice Lead Chia Chen said in The Changing Face of News Consumption, Hosted by WSJ, “The currency of social media is imagery.” As users increasingly turn to animated stickers and emoji to communicate, brands need to evolve to learn from, understand, and embrace these languages – to “listen visually,” said Palley. But how?

“We need to restore context to content,” said Curalate CEO and Co-Founder Apu Gupta. That context can come from comments, emoji, metadata, and more. While users may be pinning your brand’s products or posting photos of your signage on Instagram, it’s important to understand the users, read their posts, and know that they could be sharing the content because they love it or because they hate it. Brands have the opportunity to create that context by inviting consumers to participate in the content creation process. Rather than simply taking and repurposing user-generated content, Craig Hepburn, global head of digital & social at Nokia, recommends that brands start building relationships with (but not paying for the involvement of) key influencers. Curalate's Gupta cited a really amazing example of work with Urban Outfitters, which leveraged user-generated content to create a digital experience based on the real style of its customers on its homepage. But the best part wasn't the "influence" of the customers featured on UO's website – it was their enthusiasm. "We talk so much about influencer marketing, but that's to the detriment of loyalists," Gupta explained. The success of the efforts to incorporate visual user-generated content depends largely on the type of brand and the type of consumer, but one thing is for sure: the visual language of social media is still in its infancy and it will only continue to grow and change.

The Evolution of Content Creation and Sharing

Propelled by changes in consumption habits and platform preferences, storytelling has changed forever. Still, there are great opportunities and challenges for community managers and content creators of all kinds, but they've evolved with the times and with us. "Most people have thought of stories as having a beginning, middle and end," said Jim Roberts, executive editor and chief content officer of Mashable. "For the consumer who has time to consume it, it's a really rewarding experience, but most people don't have time to do that anymore." Now, brands and media companies are being forced to tailor their content to evolving consumer preferences.

Liz Heron, emerging media editor at The Wall Street Journal, explained that content, especially content targeted to millennials, needs to be characterized by three things: presence and share-ability on social and mobile platforms, rich visuals, and emotional relevance and resonance. And really, in a sea of content that is constantly fighting for our attention and our love, that couldn't be more accurate. Without content that tugs at the heartstrings and engages with imagery on the social and mobile channels at our fingertips, media companies and brands cannot hope to connect with modern consumers. "The pace of change that we experienced... in the '90s was nothing compared to the pace of change in recent years," said Roberts. Clearly social media trends are leading the way forward and show no sign of slowing down.

News Feed Update: Facebook Favors Status Updates From Users – But Not From Pages

Facebook's at it again – changing up the News Feed algorithm that controls what users see and when they see it. In this case, it means more text status updates from friends and fewer from Pages. In the latest post from Facebook Newsroom, the social media giant explains:

Through testing, we have found that when people see more text status updates on Facebook they write more status updates themselves. In fact, in our initial test when we showed more status updates from friends it led to on average 9 million more status updates written each day...

Over time, we noticed that this effect wasn't true for text status updates from Pages. As a result, the latest update to News Feed ranking treats text status updates from Pages as a different category to text status updates from friends.

This makes sense, given that Facebook users certainly interact differently with their friends than they do with the brand and interest Pages they like and follow. This algorithm change will cater to that difference and show more text updates from friends and more visual content from Pages. But what does this mean for community managers, social media strategists, and brand managers?

1. Expect to see a drop in reach (and therefore, engagement) for text-only status updates from Pages. Armed with this knowledge, community managers and social strategists can help to educate clients and partners about the best kinds of content to post to ensure that overall reach and engagement metrics are not affected.
2. Use link-shares to add value to traditional status updates. According to Facebook, "The best way to share a link after this update will be to use a link-share.... We've found that, as compared to sharing links by embedding in status updates, these posts get more engagement (more likes, comments, shares and clicks) and they provide a more visual and compelling experience for people seeing them in their feeds."
3. Focus on delivering visual, valuable content. Whether it's a photo, video, or link, the content posted to Facebook should be attractive, relevant, and timely. Use Facebook Insights to determine the best kinds of posts for your Pages (historically) and consider adjusting future content to fit the timing, focus, and type of your best-performing posts.

Ultimately, the text-only status update will not go away for Pages – but it's clear that other types of posts must be a key part of the content strategy in order for brand content to stand out from user content in Facebook's News Feed.

Learnings from the Social Media Leadership Awards #SMLA13

On an incredibly snowy December 10, I started my day with a little social media learning with a fellow LevLane-r, PR Account Manager Tracy Dabakis. Bundled up against the chilly precip, we trekked over to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to hit up the last sessions of the Social Media Leadership Awards' Best Practices Conference. There, we learned from some of the industry's best and most innovative about using social strategies for customer service and community creation/management. Check out the top takeaways from the morning below. If you were in attendance at #SMLA13, let me know what you found most valuable in the comments below!

The Integration (and Separation) of Social Media and PR

The moderator of the morning's customer service panel, The Wharton School's Sr. Director of New Media Stefan Frank, pointed out that 50-75% of social media managers are still part of larger PR and communications teams. From proactive blogger relations to crisis management, PR and social media teams work collaboratively as close partners, even if they are not one intertwined team. Those who work with or serve as part of social media teams will not be surprised by this, but the fact of the matter is that this can be both an asset and a detriment to social media strategies, if not managed properly. While many PR strategies focus on specifically-worded answers to customer inquiries or problems, the canned response is met with disdain in the social sphere.

Still, that doesn't mean that elements of traditional PR fall by the wayside in a technologically modern world. As Bianca Buckridee, VP of Social Media Operations for JPMorgan Chase, explained during the panel, it's crucial for PR teams to communicate with social media teams regarding buzzworthy events (from both a content strategy perspective and community management perspective), as well as anticipating and planning for positive and negative reactions across different media. This doesn't mean latching onto one canned response for the duration of an event, however. Brian Monk, AVP Social Media at Barclaycard US, said that his team often crafts several different ways to communicate the same message, so that customers don't lash out upon being served the same response repeatedly. It seems like a no-brainer, but you might be shocked to see how few brands actually utilize this simple tactic. In fact, those varied and personalized responses are the primary way in which social media and PR strategies diverge when it comes to customer service. Buckridee emphasized that at JPMorgan Chase, they have (and use) brand and conversation guidelines for customer service issues, but the most important thing is that their team members' personalities shine through. They, after all, are the voice of the brand for each customer – and that voice needs to have a human touch. Personalized responses may sometimes require a little background research (and almost-daily coaching and education to determine which responses work best), but the pay-off of having a happy customer is so worth it.

In fact, The Wharton School's Frank pointed out that, "You can delight people the most in a crisis because they expect to be let down." But what do social teams need to do before and during crises in order to delight, rather than dismay? As Dennis Stoutenburgh, Co-Founder of Social Strategy1, explains, it's about using social media tools to anticipate reactions or issues and to communicate with the larger team to proactively reach out or to provide valuable reactions to those issues. "Social care can be the early warning system that helps to create a good coordinated effort." Once an issue has reached crisis-level, American Airlines' Sr. Analyst, Social Communications Katy Phillips, emphasizes three things: honesty about the situation and what it means for customers, delivering timely updates, and (perhaps most surprisingly) knowing when to let the crisis go.

As David Berkowitz, CMO at MRY, put it in a later panel on content and communities, "Real-time marketing [or response, for that matter] is too late." That's exactly what the day's #SMLA13 sessions were all about: the need to anticipate, predict, and respond in strategic, delightful ways for customers and stakeholders, alike.

What was your favorite part of the day? Did anything surprise you? Share your comments below!

Takeaways from PR News' #digitalpr Summit

On October 16, I joined two of my fellow LevLane-rs for a little learning about social media, reputation management, SEO, measurement, and leadership at PR News' Digital PR Summit in New York City. After searching the Grand Hyatt's digital agenda and map to find our conference location, we briefly considered trying to join the Super Bowl's planning meeting before grabbing a quick muffin and our seats in the ballroom. For the most part, the speakers had great experiences to share and insights from which we could all learn. The most important takeaways for me, as a Social Media Manager in an agency, can be found below, in both narrative and infographic. This conference recap is not exhaustive, obviously – I want to be "at the table, not on the menu," as American Traffic Solutions' SVP of Public Affairs and Marketing Communications Charlie Territo so eloquently put it. If you were in attendance for #digitalpr, I'd love to know what you found most valuable. Let me know in the comments!

How to Measure and Communicate Social Media ROI

In this session, EVP, BurrellesLuce Johna Burke cited a rather groundbreaking statistic from Nielsen: In the past, brands had to communicate messages 3-6 times in order for them to really sink in with consumers. Later, that number increased to 8 times. Today, with the message, platform, and product clutter that defines our lives, brands must reach millennials 23 times in order for brand messages to resonate. Whoa.

Get Your Messages in Front of the Right Followers on Twitter

One of my favorite quotes of the day came from Brooke Primero, SVP, PR & Marketing for the Academy of Country Music. She said, "The kiss of death in social media is being a 9-5, Monday-Friday brand." No matter what brand you're promoting, social activity doesn't sleep and it certainly doesn't stop because it's 6:30PM on a Tuesday. The Academy of Country Music's biggest push of the year is for a 3-hour awards event once a year. That's it. So they focused their efforts on building that brand during the rest of the year via social channels. In 2011, they announced their award nominees on TV, reaching 3 million people, according to CBS. In 2012, they took to Twitter to announce the nominees and reached 14.2 million people. Those are some pretty amazing statistics, but the Academy of Country Music didn't stop there. They engaged with key influencers to grow across Twitter and gave them behind the scenes access to content to take them from influencers to brand ambassadors.

How to Engage with the Internet's Passionate Communities

If there's one thing I learned during this session, it's this: some people just don't get reddit. Half of this session was spent listening to the great brand integration stories about reddit, and the other half of the session was spent trying to explain what reddit is. My life, in that moment, was r/reddit. Still, it was interesting to hear Marta Gossage, community operations manager, and Victoria Taylor, director of communications, distinguish reddit from other social platforms: Platforms like Facebook and Twitter show off your "frontstage behavior" (the way you want to portray yourself to the world), while platforms like reddit show off your "backstage behavior" (the way you think and feel when you're eating potato chips by the fistful in your sweatpants, reading the AMA with a guy who lost 300+ pounds through extreme starvation). reddit seems to be a much more authentic platform in that way – and redditors keep it that way. At the table we shared in the back, Gossage described reddit as having its own immune system. If there's a foreign body in there, the community reacts strongly to defend its territory (...er, place on the interwebz). Plus, if all else fails for you on reddit, you can always end a post with "...and here's a picture of my cat" to help you get your footing.

How to Use Instagram, Pinterest, and Vine for Digital Storytelling

If you've been trying to figure out how to build a brand presence on one of the more visual social platforms, this was a great session for you. Amanda Junker, digital director for Shape Magazine, spelled out how to drive better results and greater brand relevancy through SEO on Pinterest. Her tips? Display the "Pin It" button prominently on your web properties, verify brand accounts, complete the "About" profile section, name all pinned graphics appropriately, and create boards that capture long-tail searches. She also recommended infogr.am, which I used to create the infographic below. After her part was over, Allison Robins, Director of Global Public Relations at Zumba Fitness, stepped up to discuss Instagram's power and limits. According to Robins, Instagram is not the best platforms for brands focused on ROI, conversions, and sales. Instead, it's better for brand and relationship building. And if you've been wondering how to upload pre-recorded videos to Vine, Doug Simon, President & CEO, D S Simon Productions, was your guy. Simply edit your video in a program like Final Cut and convert it to an H.264 mp4 file, compress it, email it to yourself, then upload it to Instagram or Vine. It's that easy!

Building, Motivating, and Managing Your Digital Dream Team

Hands-down, this was the most valuable part of the day for me. Gemma Craven, EVP, NY group director, Social@Ogilvy, explained exactly how the growth of digital and social has shaped the creation and make-up of agency and client teams. Some of these teams may be as large as 20 people, handling digital and social creative, strategy, community management, analytics and listening, production, and more. More than metrics, more than C-suite buy-in, this is what I feel is the most important piece of the digital and social puzzle for agencies and brands today.

Did anything surprise you?

Graph Search Updates Could Help Facebook Compete with Twitter

In a move to help the largest social network compete with Twitter, Facebook announced an update to Graph Search that enables users to search status updates, comments, and posts shared with them by friends. While the new feature won't necessarily have people posting as feverishly about live events (like the Emmy's or the "Breaking Bad" finale) as they would on Twitter, this function will allow community managers to track  posts by users about their brands, especially TV shows that people are talking about in real-time. Posts made by private users will not be available for non-friends or brands to review.

The functionality isn't live for all users at this time, so here's an example to make it a little clearer: if you wanted to know what your friends thought of the "Breaking Bad" finale, you could search for "Posts about Breaking Bad by my friends" within the last week. Then, all status updates, comments made on status updates, photos and photo comments posted mentioning "Breaking Bad" would show up in your Facebook search results.

It's a good move on Facebook's part, seeing as their hashtags seem to have fallen a little flat. We'll see if this update can help them compete with Twitter's recently-announced ad partnerships with CBS and the NFL, which will put real-time video into your Twitter feed.

New Facebook Metric Helps Telecommunications Brands Better Measure ROI

Facebook just launched a new tool to help telecommunications companies (like mobile carriers and operators) measure success on their platform. It's been tough to track the correlation between ad impressions and mobile phone sales, as the transaction typically occurs in a store, rather than online. This, of course, is not unique to telecommunications brands, so Facebook may be rolling out similar metrics for other kinds of companies in the future. In their announcement, Facebook explains why they've created this new metric:

Though clicks can be an effective indicator of interaction with Facebook content, they are less useful for linking digital impressions to in-store sales. In fact, our measurement team found that in telecommunications campaigns, more than 90% of people who made a purchase after viewing an ad on Facebook had never clicked on that ad.

The new metric, called "Telco Outcome Measurement," relies on Facebook's mobile reach to correlate ad exposure to actual sales, and to provide more valuable insight into ROI for Facebook ads. It's an interesting metric and one that, if successful, could be applied or modified to provide better information to several other kinds of businesses – not just telecommunications.