Session 03Creating

Great Content

By Chris Meylan @facebook.com/SocialMediaLounge

Learning Outcomes

To clarify the importance of GREAT content for successful Facebook Pages marketing.

Review the performance of the Social Media Lounge so far.

Look at the type of content that can create the higher level of engagement.

The Importance of Great Content

Why, oh why?

As a Facebook user, why would you ‘Like’ a Fan Page?

What would you like to see on that Page?

What would make you like a Page and comment with the content of that Page?

You HAVE TO create GREAT ContentContent is: the most important component of any social media programme.

Content is: ‘anything created and uploaded to a website: the words, images, tools or other things that reside online’.

The Page admin creates content and shares it social media, including Facebook.

You need to create GREAT Content

Status updates, pictures, videos, music, articles, e-books, FAQs, are example of content that could be shared.

Companies need now to supply valuable content to their customers that is useful for them first, and then promotional.

You need to create GREAT ContentFor the hospitality industry, it could be: - News release,- Blog post about events, - Customer-reviews, - Blog post from a travel expert, - User-generated video about

the hotel or the destination, - Photos from a customer,- ‘How-To’ videos,- Industry-related article.

Scott (2010) explained that the new marketers must now be preoccupied by creating news and attractive content and should be obsessed by readership as much as an

editor or a publisher would.

It’s vital to be Liked!

WHY?

Because of the newsfeed

The newsfeed is the first thing that a user sees.

The newsfeed is important because research shows:

That 90% of Facebook users don’t return to the Page after having clicked the ‘like’ button.

NewsfeedMost fans only see and interact with your content in their newsfeed.

But they might not see your content!

Because Facebook has created an algorithm that decides the content that is displayed.

HOW THE ALGORITHM WORKS

The Facebook algorithm ranks objects in the Facebook News Feed. Pages with high scores will be more likely to

show up in the news feed, than Pages with low scores.The algorithm is made up of 3 variables: Affinity,

Weight, and Time Decay.

Affinity: the user's relationship with a certain Page.

Weight: the type of content, such as a photo/video/link/etc.

Time Decay: as an object gets older, the lower the value.

Newsfeed

The number of interactions each post obtains–‘likes’, comments, and shares–affects Affinity and therefore the ranking of each post in the newsfeed.

NewsfeedPages admins must therefore focus on getting interactions with their fans for each post.

They must engage their fans.

Facebook is a TWO-WAY communication channel.

The Page should focus on maintaining a dialogue and conversation with the fans.

Newsfeed

If there is no interaction with the content of a Page, the algorithm will conclude that the user is not interested in this particular content.

It will automatically hide the content from the newsfeed, making this particular user more difficult to reach with future posts.

“Breaking into the newsfeed is currently the easiest and

most important consideration for brands and companies

looking to establish a presence and identity on

Facebook” (Treadaway and Smith, 2010: 45).

In order to achieve this, brands must post

regularly relevant, high-quality, useful, educative and entertaining content,

in order to encourage users to comment and to

‘Like’ them (O’Neill, 2011).

Let’s look at the results of the

Social Media Lounge!

SML Results... so far!

SML Results... so far!

An engagement rate of 24.74% (73/295)

SML Results... so far!

SML Results... so far!

SML Results... so far!

Likes analysis

SML Results... so far!

Likes analysis

SML Results... so far!

SML Results... so far!

Reach per post Analysis

SML Results... so far!

Engagement Analysis

SML Results... so far!

Non-Engagement Analysis

SML Results... so far!

Total Reach Analysis

SML Results... so far!

Reach per post Analysis

SML Results... so far!

Specificities by post

SML Results... so far!

All details about one specific post

PTAT (People Talking About This)

The number of unique people who have created a story about the Page, during a full week.

A story is created when someones: 1) Likes the Page; 2) Posts to the timeline; 3) Likes, comments on or shares one of the Page posts;4) Answers a question posted by the Page;5) Responds to an event;6) Mentions the Page (with @); or tags the Page in a photo;7) Checks-in at your Place;8) Or recommends your Place.

Terminology

SML Results... Very few people actually posted anything directly on the Page,

And there has been very little questions, or comments by our fans.

This is something that we should strive to create for any Page, and encourage our fans to participate.

SML Results... Very little engagement with the ‘theoretical’ articles. There has been very little questions, or comments by our fans => little engagement.

This is something that any Page should aim to get.

An engagement rate of 1.55%

SML Results...

An engagement rate of 5.13%

Much higher engagement pictures involving people we know, and ‘personal’ content.

SML Results...

An engagement rate of 3.73%

Much higher engagement with pictures, that seek to entertain and create fun.

SML Results... Pictures must be relevant to current time and activities happening on real-time.

An engagement rate of 5.97%

In theory, how should admin create more

engagement?

Be up-to-date

Brands should be posting every 2 to 3 days minimum to be effective.

Some argue that with the increase number of brands using Facebook, the posting interval could even be 2 to 3 times a day.

Fun Content, not Promotional

80% of the content should be informational, educational, or have entertainment value.

Only 20% of content should be promotional (Owyang et al., 2010).

Personalised PostsCompanies should personalize interactions by providing authentic people-to-people connections.

Each post and response should be signed by the Page admin writing the post.

Brands that enable fans to interact with the admins have a better chance at creating relationships with their fans.

Post LengthKeep it Short and Sweet!

Research indicate that the longer the post length, the less engaging fans find it.

Concise copy increases readability and consumption.

Posts between one and 80 characters have a higher engagement.

Source: BuddyMedia

Keep it Short and Sweet!

Research indicate that the longer the post length, the less engaging fans find it.

Concise copy increases readability and consumption.

Posts between one and 80 characters have a higher engagement.

Post Length

Studies show 37% more engagement on page posts when 80 characters or shorter.

Have fun posts

Fans are on Facebook not to connect with brands, but rather for entertainment and fun.

To get noticed by your fans, it’s important to know their

“fun triggers”. But the content you share has to be in accordance with the brand.

Post Videos

Try to create a series of similar videos around the same concept.

Your video should be no longer than three minutes. Think short!

This is not something hospitality does well, yet.

But there is an opportunity to create engaging content with videos.

Best Time to Post

Post When People Are Listening:

Brands that post outside of business hours, have higher engagement rates.

It’s important to make the Posts appear at the top of fans’ Newsfeed during the times of day they are most likely on Facebook.

Best Time to Post

Schedule Posts to appear early in the morning or late at night.

Don’t publish Posts simply when you’re in front of your computer.

Publish when

your fans are online, otherwise the post will be missed.

Best Day to Post86% of Posts are published between Monday through Friday, with user engagement on these Posts peaking on Thursday and Friday.

Source: BuddyMedia

SUN

THURS

FRI

SAT

MON TUEWED

Best Day to Post

The less people want to be at work, the more they are on FB!

Utilize the flexibility of pre-scheduled Posts to communicate to fans when they are most engaged.

Take into consideration your industry when determining posting schedule.

A tool to help you

Admin should use a social media dashboard, (such as hootsuite) that allows admins to manage Facebook.

It allows admins to distribute targeted messages across multiple channels and schedule postings in advance for the rest of the week.

Travel and Hospitality IndustryLook towards the end of the week. The lowest engagement rates are on the weekend and Wednesday, while highest engagement occurs on Thursday and Friday.

Source: BuddyMedia

SUN

THURSFRI

SAT

MON

TUEWED

Facebook tells you when your fans are online

Use easy call-to-action!To drive ‘Likes,’ be direct in asking for the ‘like.’ Outright requests worked most effectively.

The simpler, the better. ‘Liking’ a Post requires the least amount of effort asked of a user, so if you want users to ‘like’ a Post, just ask them outright!

Action Keywords

Use Action KeywordsTo drive Comments, ask a direct question and ask for the response.

Ask fans to “post,” “comment” or “tell” you something.

You could also ask fans to write a caption about a picture.

Fans will listen and respond by commenting.

Example of asking for caption

These are the type of action verb that fans tend to respond to (BuddyMedia, 2011)

Use Games + Trivia

Incorporating games + trivia and into your Posts can be an effective strategy to increase engagement.

Fans like to provide answers as a way to show off their knowledge about a topic.

This is a great way to engage people, and to get to know your fans and your fan base.

Use “Quote of the Week”Quotes tend to have quite a high level of engagement.

But an even better trick is to add the quote inside an image, so the post will stand out in the news feed.

As the quote will be more visible, it will give you also the opportunity for more engagement.

Use “Quote of the Week”

Ask for FeedbackAsking for fans’ feedback, and show that you care what they have to say.

Fan feedback can be very valuable. It will give you great insights in what your fans/customers want.

When you let people know what you’re working on, you can create some buzz around your upcoming projects.

Relate to Current Events

Facebook is a great hub to find information about recent news, events and trends.

Brands should relate their content to the current events.

If done correctly, there is a potential to produce a significant amount of traffic.

Sell... sometimesFinally, it is also important to lead your fans to purchase.

When brands provide sufficient value on their Page, they should mix their “fun” content with promotional content.

Businesses can start with simple but immediate call to actions, such as sign-up for newsletters to finally give them opportunities to buy products.

Pre-ConclusionMarketers are becoming brand journalists!

They must find interesting things to talk about around their brand and show it on FB.

Mix-up the format, and strive for interaction.

Encourage people to like, comment and share.

ConclusionObserve the results for each of your post.

Analyse which types of posts work better, take day + time into account.

Be inline with your brand.

Keep experimenting

Strive for conversations.

ConclusionObserve the results for each of your post.

Analyse which types of posts work better, take day + time into account.

Be inline with your brand.

Keep experimenting

Strive for conversations.

BE CREATIVE+HAVE FUN!

References

Buddy Media (n.d.) Strategies for effective Facebook wall posts: a statistical review. White Paper [online]. Available at: <http://forms.buddymedia.com/whitepaper-form_review-strategies-for-effective-facebook-wall-posts.html>.

Owyang, J., Tran, C., and Webber (2010) The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing. White Paper [online] Altimeter Group. Available at: <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2010/07/27/altimeter-report-the-8-success-criteria-for-facebook-page-marketing/>.

Pickering, B. (2011) 4 reasons why contests should be part of your marketing strategy. Blog Post [online] Mashable. Available at: <http://mashable.com/2011/07/21/contest-marketing/>.

Porterfield, A. (2012) 5 Facebook Posts that spark massive engagement. Blog Post [online]. Available at: <http://www.amyporterfield.com/2012/02/5-facebook-posts-that-spark-massive-engagement/#dsq-form-area>.