The Danger of Over Posting

Social Media Phoenix Tip of the Day

SocialMediaPhoenix@cox.net  602-492-7272

The Danger of Over Posting

You'll annoy your followers. If you post too much, your followers may start to ignore your posts or even unfollow you.

Your reach and engagement will suffer. When you post too much, your posts are less likely to be seen by people. This means that you'll get fewer likes, comments, and shares.

You'll damage your reputation. If you post too much personal information or controversial content, you could damage your reputation.

#socialmedia #SocialMediaMarketing #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing #marketingtips 

If you use Social Media for Marketing, you're doing it wrong

Social Media is designed to create relationships... not sell your stuff!

Before I begin, and my phone starts ringing off the hook from my SEO and Social Media guru's... let me explain. There is a big difference between Marketing on Social Media... and advertising on Social Media.

The largest complaint I get on Social Media is the return on investment (ROI) is very small. You pay a lot of money, do a lot of work for minuscule results. (I see your head nodding now)

What most of us forget is WHY people use Social Media.

We'll use Facebook as our example. (With over a billion users it's a great place to set up shop)

You have to ask yourself why people go to Facebook?

Mostly to get a no brainer laugh or two. See what they're friends are up to. Look at some silly videos... and whatever else catches their fancy. The last thing they want is to purchase anything from anyone.

Yet all day long they're bombarded with ads for just about anything they've ever wanted or looked at. Have  you ever searched anything on Amazon or Ebay and all of a sudden... ads are popping up and down your timeline and crammed into your side bar.

That being said... Amazon and Ebay are large corporations with established trade marks and product recognition... I'll assume if you're here, you're a small or medium sized business looking to grow.

So our first assignment will be to gain the recognition the big boys have... and actually it's not that hard if you just get in the habit of forgetting what you sell... and begin giving people what they want. Confused yet?

Basically people are on Social Media to be entertained and perhaps look at relevant information on whatever they may desire now... or in the future. Let's give 'em a show!!!

My friend John owns a Luxury Cruise distributorship... how is he going to compete with all the big Cruise Companies and Travel Agents all advertising great sales and discounted trips to all those people on Facebook.

Simple actually...

He set up his Facebook Business Page and went to work. He rarely mentions discounts or vacations...

What he does is give daily advice on what to do and what to look for...

• Great Hotels
• Fun places around the world
• Great shopping districts
• The safest places to travel
• 30 second videos of people having fun in fun places. 

You get the idea.

His business page gives his contact information, what services he's supplied... no reason to repeat the obvious. But what John did was, in the mind of his audience, positioned him self as The Expert in the Transportation industry.

After a month or so, he started getting comments on his posts asking for information about anything to do with travelling... he was smart enough to answer them all. What he didn't know he found on Google.

Now John was ready to do some Social Media Advertising... he had an engaged audience  He asked me if it was time.. I said 'Go For It!'

John then purchased a Facebook Ad... he spent a whopping $20 ($5 for 4 days)  He targeted it to People who 'liked' his page and their friends. During this period, he sold a $3000 cruise to someone who had not only seen his Facebook posts... but checked him out on Google where they saw some of the pictures he had posted on his page.

John had never asked for a sale until he had an engaged audience.

Bottom line...

Slamming Facebook with a bunch of ads with no Social Media 'Credentials' will turn out to be very costly exercise in futility.

Next week we'll examine what content is best for reach, and creates the most engagement...

Don't miss out!

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Big Buck Blogging

Blogging Doesn't Cost A Dime

Just Follow These Simple Steps

1. Set Up Your Blog For Free

You don't need to be a web savvy techie to create a blog. Just head over to Blogger.com
It's easy, it's free and they have dozens of templates to get the look and feel you want.
Decide on a topic your passionate about, choose a name and click Create. Your done!

2. Google Will Pay You! 

Create an AdSense Account at Adsense.Google.com. Choose the types of ads you wish to display.

Google will provide you with complete instructions on how to enter them into your blog, and they'll take care of the rest.

Every time someone clicks one of those ads Google will share it's revenue with you. Gotta love it!

3. Affiliate Marketing

This is where crazy money can be made. There are many affiliate sites out there, but the best known is Amazon.

Set up a free Amazon Affiliate Account, and once again, they'll set up the code, display it on your Blog. When someone clicks and buys from Amazon, they'll give you a share of their profits. (Usually about 3 - 6%) 

You don't want to fill your page full of links, you want to sprinkle them around. Plus they should be products and services that support the topic of your Blog for the best click through rates.

4. Build Your Following

We all want hundreds of thousands of people to start engaging with our blog. We at Social Media Phoenix have built a team of people just like you and I to create traffic and engagement from Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and the rest.
And the best part, it only takes less than an hour per day.

Whether you want to Blog daily, weekly or monthly, we will show you how and where to get the Perfect Content for your posts. Click our logo below to see what we do. 

Plus register for our Free Webinar.

Facebook Message to Business: Shut Your Pie Hole

Facebook Will Close For Your Business January 2015

For years now we have enjoyed the FREEness of the Facebook playground. We had the advantage of promoting and advertising our businesses or venues to 1.3 billion people without spending a dime! Facebook Ads were merely a way to add to our followers... or appear in the sideline as a 'call to action.'

2014 will definately go down as the year Facebook kicked us in the proverbial ass. Our reach went down to 2% (if you're lucky) of our audience. They reduced our memes (pictures) to 20% text. It literally became 'pay to play.'

GUESS WHAT'S COMING THIS JANUARY TO YOUR NEWS FEED?
(hint: it's not your business)

It's over folks... Facebook will reduce the visability of any post it deems 'Salesy' (is that a word?) In other words no one will see if you "ask to purchase", the features and benefits of your wonderful product, any call to action will now be reduced in the "already too expensive to advertise" timeline.

And the worst part... they're probably right!

Let me explain:
I own a Karaoke company and we have shows nightly in local bars. We party a lot and have a pretty good time. We're enjoying each others company and the atmosphere isgreat.

Then it happens...

Here comes John with a new business venture and starts telling me he wants to promote it through my Social Media channels. He's wondering about his Facebook Page setup, his Google+ presence... yada yada yada.

Not only didn't I want to hear it... I could barely understand it. (Did I say I work in bars?) But none the less... on and on he went.

I wasn't there to work my Social Media Business... I was there to sing some songs and enjoy the company. Flirt with the girls half my age and pretend they like me. The last thing I needed was listening to John and his business.

NOW!

Think of the Facebook timeline and why people are there. Pretty pictures... funny cat videos... who's doing what to whom... and the latest drama from Aunt Sue.They're not there to hire a specialist, buy a house, or listen to you spout off about the great opportunity for your MLM of the week.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the MySpace experience can tell you...
MySpace was a way better platform than Facebook will ever be! It was like having a mini webpage all about you. Just as easy to interact as Facebook, but totally customizable to your personality and feature rich.

Alas... the marketers (aka spammers) took over and we all rushed to Facebook where you could connect without being intruded upon. Facebook was really lacking (IMHO)... but it had a bright, new fresh design albeit boring.

Facebook doesn't want history to repeat itself.

There's a wave of teens already abandoning the platform. And just like MySpace... in Facebook's eyes... we'll be following them soon enough unless they clean up the Time Line.

At the same time... Facebook has stated it will not reduce the number of Paid Ads you will see in the Time Line... it's just that the real estate value will go up exponentially. (The price of poker has just gone up)

What does that mean for Social Media Marketers?

You can always buy Facebook Ads... but other than that you need a plan of action to reach people congruent with Facebook's new algorithm.

Your plan will have to be precise and targeted.
Be careful of what you say... or Facebook won't show it.
Last but not least... you'll need to subscribe to this blog to get the updates on our testing and show you how. ;)

Cheers To All!
"Top Hat" Terry
Social Media Phoenix
602-492-7272
SocialMediaPhoenix@cox.net

Another Facebook Change

Have you ever noticed how many times you '"like" "comment" and maybe even "share" a Facebook post from your friends... then all of a sudden you realize it's more than just a few days old?

Facebook just announced a change in it's News Feed to show you fewer, if any at all, older posts. In other words, today's posts will be like Twitter's... once it's presented... down it goes into News Feed oblivion.

Facebook will now show you what it considers to be more "timely posts" as opposed to how much engagement it created. You may be able to grab a spot up there if Facebook... in it's infinite wisdom... feels your story is "trending."

“There are also times when a post that is a day or two old may not be relevant to you anymore,” Facebook said in its announcement. “Our latest update to News Feed ranking looks at two new factors to determine if a story is more important in the moment than other types of updates.”

It's always been easy to stay at the top of the News Feed by creating engagement (those comments, likes and shares I speak of.) However it's all about to end. It's not that it won't help... but to marketers specifically, your going to see a fall in engagement from your customer base, unless, of course, you fork over some of that hard-earned-cash you have just standing by to pay for more Facebook ads.

Ah yes... there it is again... It's all about the money.

Generally speaking, there will be less older, and more newer posts in your News Feed which will please most users. However, it's a blow in the head to marketers. Plus Facebook is trying to woo the News Media to use its platform which the general public seems to engage with more regularly. aka: Trending

Good for them!

Bottom line... It looks as if that 1 - 2% of our fan base that Facebook allows to see our content, is going to shrink further.

As you all know... my strategy has always been to create "Relationships" in Social Media in order to connect with them in other avenues... having already done this, Facebook doesn't scare me.

They just validated my new love for Google+!

Cheers!
Top Hat Terry
Social Media Phoenix
terry@SocialMediaPhoenix.org

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The Truth Behind Facebook Click Baiting

Baiting for clicks to websites have been around ... well since as long as the Internet. So what's with Facebook's sudden urge to kill the most used tool on your computer and phone today. Aren't "links" the very lifeblood on online marketing.

I've done it myself... whenever I believe there's news in the Social Media world I've clicked on links that say "Click Here for More Information." without any idea who is providing the content, and how valuable the actual information will be. (Let's just say I close hundreds of windows daily)

Links like "YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS ONE" or "GUESS WHO JUST QUIT SMOKING" ... Links that have no description nor actual information on what you're about to view.

In a bold move, Facebook now will reduce your ability to 'see' these links in order to "weed out" the "noise" in the timeline. (Unless they pay for a Facebook Ad of course)

Facebook defines Click-Baiting:
"Click-baiting is when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see.
Posts like these tend to get a lot of clicks, which means that these posts get shown to more people, and get shown higher up in news feed,"
writes Facebook research scientist Khalid El-Arini and product specialist Joyce Tang in a blog post. 

It's the headlines Facebook is objecting to... not the link or content. They want to be sure your getting information you really want... not just some random site with nothing to offer.

SO THEY SAY!

Here's the Real Scoop!

A few weeks ago, Facebook introduced the "SAVE" button. It was a way to save content on Facebook for viewing later. Remember that?

It was actually a remarkable idea for Facebook... what better way to get you to log in again to see information you could have easily bookmarked in your browser.

The same thinking goes behind the Click-Baiting change.

Facebook wants to be all inclusive in your life. It wants you to spend every possible microsecond on its website. (Sometimes we forget Facebook is a website)

Click-Baiting takes you right off Facebook into the rest of the world... where there's a wonderful world of valid information. Ideas and content you would absolutely love to devour... without Facebook's permission.

(Remember... Facebook only provides your content to 1- 2% of your Friends and Followers unless you pay for Ads)

The more time you spend on other sites, the less time your on Facebook... and the less chance you'll click on a Facebook Ad... and the less money Facebook can collect from it's advertisers.

This is not a new concept. Remember Compuserve? Remember AOL?

If you smiled when I mentioned them... you understand.

If you don't know who they are... you understand.

Cheers!
"Top Hat" Terry
Social Media Phoenix
SocialMediaPhoenix@cox.net

Introducing Facebook Save!

Don’t you just love it when you’re watching your Facebook News Feed… something catches your eye… and off it goes spinning down your timeline like a Duncan Top.

Fear no more! Within the next few weeks Facebook is rolling out to Android, iOS and yes… your desk top.

It’s a bookmarking feature that will allow you to view the content later. There will be a ‘Saved’ button on the left side of your News Feed, and you’ll be able to watch all those funny videos, share the pictures, and plagiarize the best comments you can find.

The reasoning is simple… Facebook doesn’t want you to leave the site to find the content later. Instead of saving content to your Google Drive, Pocket, various note savers and even it’s own Pinterest… you’ll be able to stay on FB and watch, copy, or share it later. We all remember how well being all inclusive worked for AOL… don’t we.

But the bigger benefit to Facebook is you’ll be able to book mark Places as well… view menus and other features… and write reviews once you’re done. ( Better watch out Yelp )

 

So watch your timeline… there’s a new ‘Save Button’ coming soon.

More info here:

New Facebook Save Button

 

The New Twitter is the Old Facebook

The NEW TWITTER is here!

Some of the highlights…

• A fresh and easy interface.
• The ability to ‘Pin’ you tweet.
• A notification bar that let’s you know someone is engaging with you.
• Tweets that have received more engagement will appear slightly larger, so your best content is easy to find. (And as Social Media Experts we know how important engagement is.)

In short, Twitter’s profile pages now use browser-space more efficiently, fitting more in without cramping your view.

As I wandered through, playing with it today, I had this incredible déjà vu. I got flash backs to years ago when I was an avid MySpacer. It was a tough choice to switch over to Facebook at the time… but that’s where everyone was going so I had to jump ship. (In other words, I didn’t want to go down with the ship)
What I saw then was basically what I saw today. A very simplistic, easy to use, FRIENDLY, common space for people to engage with each other…. just like I felt when I moved to Facebook.
Twitter has come beyond what I used to call “Online Texting” with it’s 140 character limit. (You can get more if you pay) Now you add pictures, check-in’s are available. and best of all…
Filtered Tweets: Now you can choose which timeline to view when checking out other profiles. Select from these options: Tweets, Tweets with photos/videos, or Tweets and replies. This is one area Facebook missed the boat. Instead of limiting the reach of your posts… the user get’s to pick out what he wants to see.

Look familiar? Just add your profile pic, upload a banner and viola! You have your old Facebook back.
For all you photo techies who haven’t checked it out yet…
Your best inset picture size is 400 X 400
Banner Size 1500 X 500
The New Twitter hasn’t reached mobile capabilities yet… it’s being tested as we speak… so expect it in the not-to-distant future.
So to all of you I say, “Welcome back to the old Facebook” … WHOOPS… I mean “Welcome to the New Twitter!”

Cheers!
Top Hat Terry
Social Media Phoenix
602-492-7272

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Facebook Forces You To Use Messaging App

Who Didn't See This One Coming?

Facebook is deleting the messaging capabilities from it's Android and iOS applications, forcing you to download its priority Messaging App.

Facebook messaging goes "EXTREME"

In a move that should surprise no one Facebook is taking the messaging capabilities of it's standard app out, and forcing iOS and Android users to download it's battery hogging Facebook Messenger.

Notifications have already started going out for you to download it now... and you'll continue to receive them for about 2 weeks before the next Facebook App update.

Now users, who don't like the drain on their phones, will be forced to use the Mobile Web, or one of the many apps that do, in order to keep their messaging activity.

Facebook claims that it's app is too bulky, and wants it trimmed down.

Facebook has become a cash cow... it is monetizing every aspect of it's Social Media platform.

Watch for paid messaging in the future. IMHO

Top Hat Terry

602-292-7272

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