Talk It Up!

Facebook posting tips: we don't need no stinkin' Promoted Posts!

When is the best time to post to your brand Page? 7:00 AM or 11:00 PM

After a series of mostly unwelcome changes, Facebook brand Pages have become even more difficult to administer and to derive value and engagement from. I don't know about you, but with most posts remaining all but invisible unless organizations pay the troll to promote them, Facebook is becoming less interesting as a tool for organizational engagement every day.

However, a new report from Buddy Media shares some insights as to underutilized techniques for content and post timing that heighten engagement without paying the sucker fee for promoted posts. The report is pretty interesting and carries information breakdown by industry; download the full report here.

Study methodology

The report analyzed Facebook posts made to brand pages in a variety of industries (entertainment, retail, fashion, food and beverage, authomotive, healthcare and beauty and more) and evaluated success metrics based on comment rate per post, Like rate per post and "engagement rate" per post (a combination of comment and Like rates). As with most studies, times are reported in Eastern Standard Time.

General tips: keep is short (except for URLs) and be direct

Best keywords. Give simple instructions. The keywords "like" and "post" return the best engagement, indicating that if you want fans to Like a post, just say so. If you want them to post comments, just say so.

Ask a question. Posts that end with a question have a 15% higher engagement rate, so when you ask a question, make sure it is at the end of the post.

Keep it short. The study added fuel to the fire of the philosophy that social media is making us dumber: the most engaging posts were short, 80 characters or less. Posts of that length returned 27% higher engagement rates than longer posts. And, despite the popularity of URL shorteners, the study discovered that engagement rates were three times higher for posts that use full-length URLs versus shortened ones. This might be the reason behind the recent discovery that Facebook posts generated from third-party applications return far less engagement than those posted directly to the Page: I'd like to do some A/B testing of full-URL posts from HootSuite, for example, to see if the engagement level is higher than the dismal rate usually experienced from third-party apps.

The report has a theory on the discovery:

Why? It's likely because the "indicators" a user noramlly gets from reading the text in a full-length URL are missing with a shortened URL. For example, inserting www.buddymedia.com into a Post clearly indicates to the user that clicking on this link will take them to the Buddy media website. With a shortened URL like http://tinyurl.com/yhlw3c6 there is no indication to the user where this link will direct them, so they are less likely to engage with it.

When to post: outside business hours

Not surprisingly, most brands post during business hours. This is a big no-no, according to the report. Why? Because consumers turn to Facebook when they don't want to be working. So they check Facebook more often before 8:00 AM, after 10:00 PM and on weekends.

The best day to post may vary by industry. In general, user engagement peaks on Thursday and Friday: "The less people want to be at work, the more they are on Facebook," says the report. Engagement rates across industries are 18% higher on these days. A quick run-down by industry:

• Retail: engagement spikes sharply on Sunday.
• Automotive: engagement spikes sharply on Sunday.
• Business/Finance: engagement is highest on Wednesday and Thursday.
• Food/Beverage: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are best for posting.
• Healthcare/Beauty: engagement peaks on Thursday.
• Sports: sharp spike on Sunday.

Conclusion

If you don't want to pay for promoted posts, make the most of your Facebook presence by asking directly for Likes and posts, post on weekends and weeknights when engagement is highest and use the full URL when posting links.

Good news! Brands only need to Tweet four times a day

In a recent study, Buddy Media reports on when brands should Tweet for maximum engagement

Buddy Media recently produced a report analayzing engagement trends for brands engaged in social media marketing through Twitter and Facebook. Engagement was measured with three factors: the Reply rate as a percentage of followers, the Retweet rate as a percentage of followers and the Engagement rate, which combined both replies and retweets while factoring in the number of followers.

Some of the information was surprising, such as

Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturday and Sunday compared to weekdays, but most brands don't take advantage of this trend.

Really? I'd always read that weekdays were best for brand engagement. But to be honest, whenever I Tweet on behalf of a brand over a weekend, I'm always surprised at the response. This report found that most brands Tweet mid-week, when engagement is lowest. Much better to schedule a Tweet for a weekend and use some type of notification tool (I use the free Boxcar iPhone app) to be notified immediately of Retweets and mentions via smartphone.

Best time of day for engagement: day or evening?

It turns out that when brands Tweet during the "busy hours" of 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern, they enjoy 30% more engagement than during off-peak hours. Interestingly, the reverse is true for Facebook: the study showed that posts on non-busy hours (between 7:00 PM  and 8:00 AM Eastern) get 17% better engagement than during busy hours. So for an always-on strategy, Tweet during the day and schedule Facebook posts to appear during non-busy hours.

Relax; brands should only Tweet four times a day

Interestingly, the report indicated that brands that Tweeted more often than four times a day got diminishing returns in terms of engagement. From the chart below, it would appear that even just Tweeting once a day (with good content, presumably) can result in a very high level of engagement.

Keep it short

Shorter Tweets are better, the study found:

Tweets that contain less than 100 characters receive 17% higher engagement than longer Tweets.

It's always been considered polite to keep a Tweet under 140 characters to allow space for the retweeter's account name and comments, but this study shows that it's more than a best practice; it actually drives better results. Plus, it's a good exercise in condensing your message into a concise little chunk.

Link it or lose it

Again, it's always been a best practice to link to interesting articles and videos, but now there is data to back up the practice:

Tweets that contain links receive 86% higher Retweet rates than Tweets with no links.

So while it's good practice to Tweet your opinions and questions, for a high level of engagement via clickthroughs and Retweets, make sure you're linking to good content. This not only drives traffic to your destinations and increases your credibility when you link to external authoritative sources, but it allows the possibility of amplification of your brand and its messages to additional followers.

Five steps to Twitter engagement for small business

Why should my small business be on Twitter? It doesn't help my business to say "I'm at the mall having a sandwich."

These days, it's unusual to hear this objection, since Twitter has reached a mainstream adoption level. Personally, I find this refreshing and wish I heard this objection more often. Instead, what social media consultants will hear is, "I need to be on Twitter. How do I do that?"

Tweet

The answer to both objections is a question: I don't know. What are your small business' marketing objectives? And that is followed quickly by another question: where are your customers?

Step 1: Establish marketing objectives

There is no point to initiating any marketing campaign without solid objectives. What would you say to someone who says, "I need to be on a fax machine. How do I do that?" Twitter, like a fax machine, is a communication tool that serves the needs of its master. Or rather, its master's goals.

And "getting more followers" isn't a goal because it carries no inherent benefit, just as "sending a fax" isn't a marketing goal. To whom? For what purpose? To what end? Sending a Tweet with no goal is like sending a fax to a random 10-digit phone number; it's pointless.

A few sample marketing goals that might carry a benefit, especially for a local small business:

• Increase awareness of the organization's charity efforts
• Increase attendance to a particular event
• Build customer loyalty
• Build personal relationships within the community
• Establish our organization as a thought leader in X category
• Increase foot traffic to a specific store or set of locations
• Provide immediate customer service
• Establish a channel for crisis communications
• Establish a loyal user focus group for product development

Step 2: Marketing research

Before initiating ongoing participation and engagement through any new social media tool, organizations must first determine where their fans and customers are gathering. In short, it's important to fish where the fish are. To determine if local content enthusiasts and experts are actively engaged on Twitter, begin by doing Twitter bio keyword searches with a series of keywords. FollowerWonk allows for easy searches of Twitter bios with the option to search by city/location.

For example, if a Seattle green construction company is considering reaching out to the Twittersphere, the marketing research would entail tracking down Twitter bios with the keywords Seattle, green, construction, building, environment, sustainable to get a feel for the number and influence level of both individuals and organizations participating in related discussions via Twitter.

If those searches turn up a level of active accounts engaging the public on these topics, it's a sign that the Twittersphere is likely a viable channel for a local green construction company to achieve some of its marketing and PR goals.

Step 3: Monitor key influencers

The next step is to follow and monitor the influencers discovered in the first phase of research with the goal of gaining insight into the type of content that is most relevant to key influencers and followers within the local green building community. Which conversations generate long threads? Which posts get reTweeted the most often? Which hashtags and Twitter chats are the most active? In this phase, the organization should:

• Follow relevant accounts and follow new accounts daily (be more concerned about who you are following rather than who is following you--this is your information stream)
• Track and monitor relevant hashtags
• Track and follow relevant lists
• Begin building Twitter list of key influencers

Step 4: Develop content strategy

Armed with information on the dynamics of the relevant community on Twitter, the organization can now develop a realistic and relevant content strategy for posting content on a regular basis. And a quick note: it's okey to insert some personality into a corporate Twitter account. Let's not forget that Twitter is for people with common interests to connect, so it's perfectly acceptable to be personable.

Step 5: Measure, rinse, repeat

Content creation and community engagement is an ongoing process. It's less important to have the perfect content right from the start but rather to use tools to analyze metrics for ongoing analysis of the most relevant and engaging content. HootSuite, my favorite free tool, provides fantastic analytics as to which links gained the most clickthroughs and which Tweets were referenced and reTweeted most frequently.

Tweriod is also useful for determining the best time of day to Tweet based on your followers' online availability. I recently posted an analysis of my own Tweet timing using Tweriod. Your metrics will tell you if your content and conversations are relevant and if you are ultimately reaching your marketing goals, and they will also tell you how to redirect if the current strategy isn't working as well as you'd hoped.

To sum up, Twitter isn't a set-it-and-forget-it tool. As with any social media tool, it requires a level of strategy for content and for ongoing participation and engagement. What would you add to the four steps?

More info: Twitter basics and best practices link database is here

SMB Seattle podcast: Brand publishing

Holly Brown answers the question of creating and publishing content as a brand in the age of peer-to-peer networks for the Social Media Breakfast podcast

Do you represent a brand and struggle with strategizing content and presence in the age of prolific social networks focused on peer-to-peer communication? Social Media Breakfast Seattle has invited Holly Brown, Chief Innovation Officer at R2Integrated, to share insight on and examples of how marketers can embrace this change to return better ROI and increased customer engagement with their brand.

This week, before Brown's formal presentation (plug: Wednesday, October 6th 7:30 a.m. at Swedish in Ballard; register here), I sat down with her for a more informal chat to uncover her ideas on what a brand needs to do to publish in the age of a plethora of social networking sites.

SMB7: Holly Brown on Brand Publishing

Show Notes

2:00 What a Chief Innovation Officer does and why an agency would need one

6:10 Jumps off of the AdAge article: The Case for a Chief Marketing Technologist and the new role of marketing; social as the foundational underpinning of marketing; why marketers should worry about technology

11:02 How does a brand move from content to engagement?; creating a structure and process for engagement on both owned and independent communities; difference between large organizations and small businesses approaching social media strategy

16:55 Process for organizations:

• identify and segment your audiences and identify and define their buying behaviors
• identify the communities of interest outside of your own properties
• identify the points of entry for content and conversation in those spaces
• tie those insights together with a plan for conversation, content and engagement and how those relate to current channel processes and marketing already in place

21:40 Addressing measurement and determining what replaces ROI as a model; don't get held up by not having perfect data

28:40 Twitter question from ahmadaa: what is your recommendation for strategy to reach small business in the age of peer to peer?

For more free Social Media Breakfast Seattle podcasts, visit the SMB Seattle LibSyn page.

Social Media Strategy for Dummies, Step 1

A half-dozen times a week, I meet with folks to sit down and take the first steps towards a social media strategy. Sometimes, there is a level of expertise; sometimes not. Sometimes the organization has captured the brand across online properties; sometimes we're starting from scratch. Often, the questions, "do I need a Facebook page?" or "how do I use Twitter?" arise.

Here's the dirty little secret: we social media managers each have some type of process for determining which strategy will work best for each organization we work with. It's not rocket science. Or brain surgery. Or rocket surgery. It's just a matter of mixing a bit of expertise and familiarity with the space with some field research and going through a series of questions and brainstorming sessions with the client to determine which approaches have the best likelihood of being successful, based on stated goals.

This is the first in a series of posts detailing the process. We'll start with the simplest first step, tried and true: Forrester's POST analysis. This is a great place to start, whether you're an individual entrepreneur or a larger organization. Why? Because no one can implement a social media strategy without first determining who they want to reach and why. It's the very first step in brainstorming, and it will be refined many times over the course of implementation.

Here's what it looks like:

People

Who are we trying to engage with? Who is the ideal customer? Where do they work? Play? Where do they hang out online? Where do they hang out offline? What do they want? Are they critics, joiners, collectors, spectators? What content do they ingest? (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, audio, video, YouTube, Digg, etc.) What type of content do they create? Are they involved in social media? To what extent? Who are the influencers in this space? What do the influencers care about?

Objectives

What are your objectives? To listen? To communicate a message? To support your people/community? To increase sales? Traffic? To extend your brand? To increase attendance at an event? To garner positive WOM?

Strategies

Where is the best place to listen first? Which communities already exist? Do we create a new community? How do we plan on participating in their existing communities? Which organizations can we partner with? Will content tone be professional? personal? Informational? promotional? What content appeals most to them: audio, video, Tweets, podcast, blog? 

Technology

Which technology do the people prefer to use? Are they active on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LibSyn, Digg, Delicious, Eventbrite, blogs, podcasts, Foursquare, Gowalla?

When I go through these with a client, I usually create a mind map or some type of visualization of the data. It's not yet organized, and creating some type of diagram as we brainstorm and freewrite eventually helps to create a focus. For example, this week, we looked at how we might help a local pet boutique increase its contact with its regular customers. The People diagram looked like this:

Now, for the Strategies, we hadn't yet researched to determine where these people consume their media. So that step will require a bit of research. Before we can create strategies, we need to discover how these people consume media about pets and where they hang out, both online and offline. To that end, we created a map of topics to guide research on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social media community sites in which we suspect these people might be engaging:

 

Next Step: Research

The next step is research to hone down the best strategy. This step can be quite labor-intensive; in most cases, 10-20 hours of research is appropriate. Allow 5-10 hours to discover the most active community sites in each category and 10-15 hours to monitor those sites for two to four weeks to get a feel for the level and tenor of activity. And always use the social media manager's favorite tool to organize them: an Excel spreadsheet.