Category: Facebook

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Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on December 29, 2020

Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Happy Holidays!

Oh, I do so wish I had written this.

This sweet video says so much more about Social Media than most can say, and it does it in a breezy, easy to understand style.

The main idea behind this rather detailed video consists of a retelling of the Nativity Story. The video does so through the medium of social media, with everything from Facebook statuses to Foursquare check-ins, to tweets, and more. Even email gets into the act. The Virgin Mary apparently uses Gmail.

Even More

And then there is even more, with a look at Nazareth from Google Earth. Of course there is a check for directions from Nazareth to Bethlehem. A check for hotel space reveals only a stable available (but of course). Joseph buys a cow (from Farmville, I would guess).

The Magi discuss their offerings (over Gmail – man, Google has its hands in everything!). And they pick up their gold, frankincense and myrrh at, you guessed it, Amazon. Twitter gets into the act as the Magi, naturally, follow the star there (very clever play on words there).

Eventually, the visit to the baby by the Magi ends up on video. Someone uploads it to – could there be any other place more perfect? – YouTube. The video shows, I suspect, a play.

Lovely Ideas Made Manifest for Your Happy Holidays

Now, in the interests of full disclosure, this is not even my holiday. But it is never heavy-handed. It always has a light touch. That is a big part of why this kind of happy holidays video works. Much like with the best forms of advertising, you never really know that you’re being talked to. Or preached to, for that matter.

Or, perhaps, sold to.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

This beautifully made and cleverly written and produced video comes to us from ExcentricGrey, which is evidently a Portuguese advertising firm. They report that this viral video has over 20 million views. Viewers are concentrated more in the United States and Western Europe than elsewhere, a function (probably) at least in part due to the video being made available in both English and Portuguese.

Oddly enough, Portugal did not seem to have a very big concentration of viewers. Neither did Portuguese-speaking Brazil, Mozambique or Angola.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday.

Want More About Social Media?

If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.

Working With a Facebook Page

How do you go about working with a Facebook page?

Keep in mind that Facebook is constantly A/B testing (e. g. checking to see if new layouts or color schemes, etc. will make you click more), so these instructions might be a little out of date after a while. This is what currently works. Caveat emptor.

Adding images

Images are always helpful. Use them a measure of branding for your work, and always use images you have permission to post! If someone else created or photographed an image you are using, even if you now own the rights, it is a courtesy to link to them and give them a shout out. A lot of my father’s and husband’s photography is on my personal author page, and people like to see newer work from them.

It’s just another way to acknowledge that this is a community and this solitary pursuit is far from being completely solitary.

Working On And Handling Updates

It’s all about the updates. You can schedule a few months in advance, so make a point of doing this. You can cover a lot more if you spread out your work and set it to emerge at various times; just look at your insights to get an idea of when people are online, and match to those times as well as you are able to.

Setting Up a ‘Buy Now’ Button

You will definitely want one of these. Right in front of your background image, there are three buttons. The one on the left (which is actually in the middle of your background) is a variable. Pull down on it and choose what you want to showcase. Select Edit Call to Action and enter a link directly to buy your work. Be sure it is a link directly to your work on Amazon or Smashwords or wherever.

That is, clear away the extraneous junk on the URL. So for Amazon works, this is everything after the ISBN.

If you have nothing to currently sell, you can always upload a YouTube video and change the call to action to a call to watch a video on your site. There are other choices such as Call Now. So, use whatever works best for your needs.

And if you want to start advertising on Facebook, well, that’s a whole other thing…

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

• Demystifying Facebook
† Creating a Facebook page
• Working with a Facebook Page
† … And Facebook for All — Your Profile Page, Part I
• … Your Profile Page, Part II
† Home Page
• … Company Pages
† Offsite Sharing
• All Your Account Settings
† … And Facebook for All
• All the Rest of It
† Advertising on Facebook
• Facebook versus Forums

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… And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 16, 2020

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Your home page is vital. Log into Facebook, and it’s the first thing you see. It’s your Home Page. So here’s what’s in it. You can divide it into what look like columns.

NOTE: Facebook constantly A/B tests. Features move around, change, are renamed and resized, or disappear all the time. These are rolled out in stages; your neighbor may have a different-looking Home Page from yours. And this is 100% normal.

Home Page Links

So first of all, column one (left side, top):

• News Feed
† Messenger
• Watch
† Marketplace

Then shortcuts; this is a section you add to or subtract from.

Then …

• Explore
† Pages
• Groups
† Events
• Fundraisers
† Games etc.

Your Feed

Then column two (center):

• Status messages on friends’ pages
† Other friend activities
• Anything your friends or the pages you follow are sharing

Column Three

Then column three (right, top):

† Events
• Friends’ Birthdays
† Marketplace
• Groups You Might Like
† People You May Know
• Targeted Advertisements
† A list of friends available on chat (at the bottom)

Let’s start with Column One:

Groups

So this is a list of the groups you have joined.

Pages

These are pages you are following.

Friends

So pretty obviously, this is a way to access your entire list of friends.

Create Group

So you can create groups for any reason. And this includes to support a beloved entertainment figure, promote your business or just complain about people wearing Crocs. So I’ll get into the specifics later.

Games

These will rotate as you access more games, depending upon recency.

Status Messages on Friends’ Pages

So this is the actual News Feed itself. And you can comment on others’ statuses (statii?) or posted links.

Your Home Page Still Shows Other Friend Activities

First of all, you are served everyone’s activities. Facebook can be a tsunami of data. However, a lot is aggregated; you are usually shown that six people joined a group, rather than separate messages on all half-dozen.

Events

So if you’ve got upcoming events and you haven’t RSVP’d, they’ll show up here, but you can jettison them by clicking the x on the right side. Note that you’ll be invited to all sorts of stuff, including sponsored activities and openings by commercial ventures. And RSVP’ing is not strictly necessary. However, as an event organizer, I have to say it’s appreciated so as to at least get a handle on headcount (and know who not to expect).

You need not RSVP for commercial store openings or whatnot.

Friends’ Birthdays

Whether they’ve made the year apparent is their own business. But if they’ve got the month and day up on Facebook, birthdays will show up here. And of course you’re under no obligation to wish people a Happy Birthday, but it is kind of nice.

People You May Know

So this is based upon some sort of an algorithm whereby Facebook looks at things like your current friends list, their friends, your location and possibly also your school(s) and workplace(s). However, I don’t believe the latter are included at this time. So if you have any mutual friends, Facebook lists them as well.

Facebook does not always get this right, or it gets it wrong in interesting ways, e. g. Facebook says I “may know” the spouse of someone I attended High School with. Well, unless I went to High School with the spouse (over 30 years ago), then there isn’t much of a likelihood there.

Hence there are times when this list is bewildering. Hey, Facebook is doing the best it can.

Targeted Advertisements on Your Home Page

Well, they’re as targeted as Facebook can make them. This apparently has a basis in your click activity, your likes, your friends’ likes and whenever you click on an ad to get rid of it. Again, sometimes Facebook can get this wrong in rather spectacular ways; for example, when I wrote this post originally, it showed me an ad for Toyota. And I have neither owned nor contemplated owning one, ever.

Your Home Page has a List of Friends Available on Chat

It should go without saying that you should never click on links from chatters you don’t know well. And you’re under no obligation whatsoever to answer anyone’s instigated chat.

So a big part of the Facebook experience is not only playing games but also sharing them with others, or sharing status or links. The way you see and can participate in this sharing is via your Home Page. It is, essentially, a bulletin board between you and your pals. But keep your own wall the way you want it. If you don’t want people to swear or argue politics, etc., that is 100% within your rights.

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

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… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 14, 2020

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Let’s look at your profile page part 1.

If you’re a member of Facebook, you’ve seen it dozens, if not hundreds, of times – it’s your Profile Page.

There is also a Home Page, but I’ll cover that in some other segment. But right now, let’s just concentrate on your Profile. Here’s mine.

Keep in mind, FB changes things up constantly. The largest beta tester the world has ever seen will never sit still.

Profile Page Part 1: Basics

So at minimum, the Profile page consists of the following:

• Wall
† Info and,
• Photos

And it also contains:

† A space for your profile picture
• Information on any mutual friends you might share with anyone peeking at your profile
† A small subgroup of your friends
• Your Likes
† and Your Photos
• Your Links
† A share button, and,
• On the right side, there are advertisements

NOTE: Facebook is the biggest A/B tester on the planet. They constantly move things around in order to try for an improved user experience. Hence this means you may see buttons moved, resized, renamed, or even eliminated.

And it also means your neighbor might see an entirely different configuration.

Let’s start with the tabs.

Wall

Up at the top, you can put in your status. There doesn’t seem to be a true limit to how long a status message can be, but after a few lines, it’s excessive.

People put all sorts of nonsense in here – including not only statements of their adoration for celebrities but also mundane minutiae such as the scintillating fact that they’re about to go pick up the dry cleaning.

If you want to use Facebook at all for your business, your status messages should really be short, somewhat on point and inoffensive. This is also true if you are looking for work and are not using Facebook for any of that – potential employers are watching!

Below is the wall itself, where friends can post replies to your status (they can also reply directly to the status), send you greetings, send you game requests, etc.

You can always delete or hide these messages, which can be a good idea if they are becoming something you’d rather not share with others.

People routinely answer all sorts of dumb questions about me (e. g. Do you think Janet Gershen-Siegel has kissed a boy? Gee, I’ve been married since 1992. You make the call, sports fans.) and I usually just hide or delete those.

You can also hide notifications from various applications so, if everyone you know is playing something like Farmville, and you don’t care about it, right-click on any Farmville notification and select the hide Farmville notifications button.

However, be aware that there are any number of similar or satellite applications (gifts, new gifts or whatever), so you may be doing a rather similar task more than once. Still, understand that you don’t need to ask people to stop sending you requests. Just block the app.

Info

You can add any number of tidbits here. At minimum, you should at least list your marital/dating status, your birth date (the year is optional) and your current city and/or home town.

This will draw people in and make it easier for them to find you, particularly if you have a rather common name.

You want friends and business associates to figure out that they want you, the Mary Lou in Hicksville, New York, versus the Mary Lou in Mars, Pennsylvania.

Marital status isn’t strictly necessary (and I’ve found it doesn’t stop guys from sometimes hitting on me – eek), but I personally think it’s a nice thing to include.

However, of course, no one can force you to do this and naturally it is illegal in the United States for a potential employer to demand this information.

Birth date is kind of nice to have, partly as an identifier and partly to give another piece of information out that’s just pleasant to see. It’s a minor revelation (particularly if you only give out the month and day) and is essentially harmless.

And an American employer cannot legally ask for the year. However, employees do have to be of a certain age in order to work full-time at all.

Still, if you get that far along in a job application, an employer won’t use Facebook to confirm your age – the employer will instead use official governmental records like your birth certificate for that.

Adding your birth date also means the inevitable onslaught of Facebook birthday greetings.

Biography

Biography is optional and, if you use Facebook for business, keep it short, on point and inoffensive. Work history is also not necessary but it can be helpful if you need for people to find you.

Are you the Mary Lou in Hicksville who worked at AIG, or at the Dairy Queen? Plus, that can add to the networking vibe but keep in mind that Facebook for networking remains a poor substitute for LinkedIn.

Educational information also helps to identify you. Graduation years are not necessary. Likes and interests will show up in part by your typing in here and also by you “liking” various pages.

Keep in mind that this can be found, so “liking” a page with a profane name is going to be something that can be picked up by potential employers and clients.

Profile Page Part 1: Photos

These are pretty self-explanatory. Any photographs that you’re tagged in them will show up here. You can collect photos into albums, of course. Also, if a photograph is unflattering, compromising or just plain not of you, you can always untag yourself.

Before my parents left Facebook, I was sometimes tagged on my mother’s photos so I could find them. I don’t mind this. My profile has enough photographs of me that it’s obvious I’m not her.

But you might mind this. So, if it happens, talk to whoever’s doing this. There are other ways of sharing photographs and albums which might suit your needs better.

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

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Advertising on Facebook

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 15, 2019

Let’s Look at Advertising on Facebook

Have you tried advertising on Facebook? It’s easier and more affordable than you might think.

Keep in mind that Facebook is constantly A/B testing (e. g. checking to see if any new layouts or color schemes, etc. will make you click more), so these instructions might be a little out of date after a while. This has worked in the past. It might not any more. Caveat emptor.

Getting Started

About half the time, Facebook will just come to you and suggest you start advertising. I can’t say what their algorithm is for selecting a post to promote, although they usually suggest a popular one. If they are not suggesting a post you want to promote (e. g. you would prefer to promote another one), or you are new to promotions and there are no suggestions, or you just want to see how to start one from scratch, go to your Author Page and go to Publishing Tools, then, on the right, pull down on Help and click Advertiser Support. This will get you to the Facebook for Business page. In the upper right corner, click Create Ad.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll choose Boost Your Posts as our campaign.

Selecting an audience for a post

Audience is important; you do not want to just send to everyone, as even failed clicks are going to cost you money. You will do a lot better with targeting as that will help assure a greater percentage of your clicks are meaningful and helpful. Click Set Audience and Budget.

You can choose an audience from demographics, or from preferences or from lookalikes, who are people similar to those who like your page. If you are just getting started, and a greater percentage than normal of your likes come from friends and family trying to help you out, do not use this option!

Select a location by navigating around the map and dropping a pin in your preferred location. The age ranges are also pretty self-explanatory. You can even exclude some people.

Setting an Advertising Budget

Start small. You can always add. The minimum is generally $1/day. I prefer what Facebook calls a Lifetime budget, which sets a total. It’s a lot easier to rein in than a Daily budget, I believe.

Scheduling

Go to your analytics and take a look at when more people are on than usual. Select those days and times for your ads! Next click Select Ad Creative. I recommend allowing everything unless you absolutely know your targeted audience is not in a particular area.

Choosing Which Post to Promote for Advertising on Facebook

Choosing a post to promote (if Facebook has not done so for you) is easy. So, select a popular one, representative of your brand. If you have a limited time offer, that could be perfect. Just make sure your ads don’t run after the offer has expired.

And finally, check out advertising on other platforms. FB isn’t the only fish in the sea. And in particular, with Facebook’s continuing problem of organic reach decline, you may do better elsewhere.

Good luck!

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

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Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 26, 2016

Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline

Are you responding to Facebook’s organic reach decline? Facebook’s organic reach is going down. That is, fewer people are seeing your posts (unless you cough up some dough. So, what’s a writer or social media marketer to do?

Social Media Today’s Pam Dyer has the scoop on how to respond.

Then in 2012, Facebook restricted brand content reach to around 16%. But in 2014, the figure plummeted to just about a dismal 6%.

Per Dyer

So, according to Dyer, “No one really knows for sure how Facebook decides what appears in news feeds, but some elements are well known as weighting factors:

† Post types that receive the most user interaction
• Posts that users hide or report as spam
† How a user interacts with Facebook ads
• The device that is used to access Facebook and the speed of its connection”

EdgeRank

EdgeRank has less importance than it had. But it’s not quite absent from the mix. So, it consists of –

† “Affinity: The closeness of the relationship between the user and the content/source
• Weight: The action that was taken on the content
† Decay: The freshness of the content”

Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline: Four Steps

Dyer lays out four steps.

1. Optimize Facebook content. Test what’s working, and what isn’t. What are people clicking on? And are they clicking through to your site? Look at Google Analytics 4 for your site, and determine which content is the source for your Facebook-generated traffic.
2. Create incentives for sharing content. Whether that’s offers, contents, or just can-you-believe-this types of posts, create the kind of content that people want to spread to their peers.
3. Work a multi-network campaign strategy. Use hashtags; they show up in all sorts of places, and not necessarily on Facebook. Also, put your hashtag in all of your promotions, e. g. blogs, television commercials, literature, etc.
4. Track data, and act on it accordingly! What’s happening with your links? Where is your audience coming from? Dovetailing with step #1, be the company that knows where your traffic is really coming from. Know where your audience is clicking.

Knowledge is power.

Seven Years Later, Organic Reach Decline is Even Worse

But that’s probably something to expect. The number of Facebook users continues to rise exponentially.

Per Hootsuite, Facebook is flirting with 2 billion daily users. Yes, you read that right. But also —

About 15% of Facebook Feed content is recommended by AI from non-followed accounts

Mark Zuckerberg has said that he expects that percentage to more than double by the end of 2023. That’s loads of potential for brands to get in front of new audiences organically. All the more reason to stay on top of the latest changes in the Facebook algorithm.

This is heartening. Maybe Meta has listened to advertisers. After all, that’s how they make their money. If advertisers aren’t selling, then they will go someplace where they will. That place may be TikTok, Instagram (another Meta property), LinkedIn, or the like. Or it may be a bit more outside the box, like Twitch, Quora, or Google ads.

If Facebook doesn’t want its competition to eat its lunch, then Facebook has to make it possible for advertisers to do well on its platform.

Want More About Facebook?

If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.

… And Facebook for All

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Online Advertising: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 31, 2014

Online Advertising: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn

Social Media Today several years ago compared these three types of online advertising, namely: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn. To find out who the top dog was, read on.

Google

Google’s ads got more expensive at the end, and their success often seemed to be hit or miss. Wide geographic ranges could give dramatic numbers but few results – narrowing things down geographically seemed to accompany a commensurate rise in click quality.

According to the article, Google advertising, “… works if you have a unique and popular product or service. The interface feels professional, with excellent reporting tools, great usability and many various options.”

Facebook

So, the Facebook advertising experience seemed to be the most satisfying to the writer of the article. With a demographic and geographic focus (and fast service by Facebook support), you can credit ads with near-pinpoint accuracy.

But when speaking of Facebook, which is much more of a leisure time site than LinkedIn or Google is, the article stated, “(t)he secret is not to become too serious in your ads and keep them simple.”

LinkedIn was seen as being great for ads intended to reach strictly professional audiences. However, the LinkedIn admin team took significantly longer to approve advertisements than their counterparts at Facebook and Google took. Also, the reporting also had some serious restrictions. And it only offers a CSV file for download.

Facebook Ads vs. Google, Etc.

I agree with the conclusions drawn in the article – Facebook was overall the best, Google would be helpful for targeted ads for specific, unique or well-known products. And LinkedIn lagged, big time.

To my mind, this also dovetails well with these sites’ overall purposes. Facebook is where people go for socializing. And so it seems to work with ads in the same way that we view television commercials. Google and LinkedIn have other purposes. And so we are less likely to expect such a marriage of content and online advertising.

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Category: Facebook

Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Happy Holidays, Social Media Style

Even More

Lovely Ideas Made Manifest for Your Happy Holidays

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Want More About Social Media?

Social Media in Our Society

Reviews of Books on Social Media

Working with Social Media

Social Media for Writers

Like this:

Working With a Facebook Page

Working With a Facebook Page

Adding images

Working On And Handling Updates

Setting Up a ‘Buy Now’ Button

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

… And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Home Page

Home Page Links

Your Feed

Column Three

Groups

Pages

Friends

Create Group

Games

Status Messages on Friends’ Pages

Your Home Page Still Shows Other Friend Activities

Events

Friends’ Birthdays

People You May Know

Targeted Advertisements on Your Home Page

Your Home Page has a List of Friends Available on Chat

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I

Profile Page Part 1: Basics

Wall

Info

Biography

Profile Page Part 1: Photos

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

Advertising on Facebook

Let’s Look at Advertising on Facebook

Getting Started

Selecting an audience for a post

Setting an Advertising Budget

Scheduling

Choosing Which Post to Promote for Advertising on Facebook

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline

Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline

Per Dyer

EdgeRank

Responding to Facebook’s Organic Reach Decline: Four Steps

Seven Years Later, Organic Reach Decline is Even Worse

About 15% of Facebook Feed content is recommended by AI from non-followed accounts

Want More About Facebook?

… And Facebook for All

Like this:

Online Advertising: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn

Online Advertising: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn

Google

Facebook

LinkedIn

Facebook Ads vs. Google, Etc.

Like this: