Month: February 2018

How to overcome the Facebook News Feed changes

MOMENTUM Business Support Business Support, Digital Marketing
A computer mouse pointing at a Facebook sign in page

If you have a Facebook page for your business, you may have heard of the Newsfeed changes that have been recently announced by CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook plan to display more of users’ friends updates while displaying less content published by brands and business pages.

The whole idea of this change is to bring back the core focus of why Facebook was originally created, to connect and share moments with family and friends all over the world. The re-vamp is being carried out to enable “meaningful interaction” on the platform, encouraging users to interact more with their Friends and less with business pages.

The result of this change may see engagement of posts on your business page decrease, however, we’ve pulled together some things you can do on Facebook to help you stay visible.

Select The ‘See First’ Setting

Engage with your Facebook audience and let them know about the upcoming news feed shift. Let them know that to keep seeing your content, they need to select the ‘See First’ setting for your page in their News Feed preferences

By doing this, your posts will be prioritised and start to appear at the top of your audience’s News Feed. A step-by-step guide on how to do so can be found here

Livestreaming

It’s well known that sharing video content on Facebook is great for engagement, but did you know sharing live video is even greater? On average, live videos get 6 times as many interactions as sharing a pre-recorded video would, so if you haven’t already considered implementing live videos into your social media strategy, this is definitely the time to think about doing so.

Share Meaningful Content

Share meaningful content on your page that will encourage conversation with not only you, but also between your followers. Stay on top of the game by sharing trending content in your sector and genuine useful top tips that will benefit your followers.

Get Creative With Your Content

A picture paints a thousand words… Make use of high quality images, gifs and videos in your posts to help encourage clicks, interactions, comments and shares on your page.

Make Time For Interaction

As well as encouraging interaction on your own page, you’ve got to interact with others from your own page too. Make time each week to like, comment and share content that interests or is relevant to you. This will get your page seen by others who are also interacting.

Facebook Advertising

To be sure you’re reaching your desired individual or sector, making use of Facebook advertising is the way to go to get the results that you want. With the news feed shift, it may result in your business page making use of this feature more often. Why not try one of these beneficial types of Facebook Advertising if you haven’t already – there’s something for everyone:

Boosted Posts: Make your post reach go even further. Tailor and target your audience with a specific budget.

Custom Audiences: With this option Facebook can allow you to reach people who have a relationship with your business, whether they are existing customers or people who have interacted with your business on Facebook or other platforms. The different options include:

Customer File: Use a customer file to match your customers with people on Facebook and create an audience from the matches. The data will be hashed prior to upload.

Website Traffic: Create a list of people who have visited your website or took specific actions using Facebook Pixel.

App Activity: Create a list of people who launched your app or game, or took specific actions

Engagement: Create a list of people who engaged with your content on Facebook or Instagram.

At MOMENTUM, we can help your business Facebook profile stay visible and effective with our flexible social media management packages. Get in touch with us to find out more by emailing makeithappen@mbsmih.com or call 01903 688789.

Make the most out of Pinterest for business

MOMENTUM Business Support Business Support, Digital Marketing
Scrablle blocks spelling out the word PINTEREST on a wooden surface

The world of Pinterest allows users to share inspirational ideas, products and services with others across the globe. It’s a great platform to generate engagement and traffic for your business – so if you want to know how to make more use out of your business Pinterest account, follow these pointers and you’ll be a Pinterest Pro in no time!

Pin Regularly

It’s important to share regular content on Pinterest, just like you would on your Twitter and Facebook profiles. Pinterest recommend posting at least one pin per day, during peak engagement times that they have identified as evenings and weekends. We tend to find that 5 pins a day spread throughout the afternoon works for us, but have a little play and see what works best for you. Don’t go on a pinning spree though – be consistent and split them up throughout these times rather than sharing all at once. You don’t want to bombard your followers!

Follow Other Users and Interact

The key to gaining engagement on your Pinterest profile is to interact with others. Start following any pin-boards or accounts that you may find relevant or interesting and engage with them by liking and commenting. This will get your profile recognised and is likely to gain you page views and follows.

Make The Most Out Of Visuals

As Pinterest is a visual-based social media platform, it’s important that you take the time to gather and share good quality visuals to feature in your pins. Whether that’s by taking your own photos or using free use photos, make sure that they are clear, crisp and showcase the product or service that you are talking about well. Make sure your visuals follow Pinterest’s image ratio guide (600 x 900 pixels) to avoid your lovely images getting cut off. Don’t be afraid to use text in your visuals too – something short and sweet like a title works well layered on top of an image, to give others an instant idea of what your pin is all about without looking too overpowering.

Top Tip: If you don’t want to take your own photos, there are many free for commercial use photo sites out there, check out Pixabay for example.

Describe

Even though visuals are a huge part of Pinterest, using just these alone won’t generate the engagement you want to achieve. Each pin contains a ‘Description’ section – make sure you fill this out explaining the visual using any relevant keywords as hashtags. By taking the time to do this, you will then expand your reach – getting picked up in relevant search results.

Use Rich Pins

Rich Pins are great because they show extra information directly in a single Pin. There are 4 different types of Rich Pins, brilliant for all types of businesses to use. These include:

App Rich Pins: Have you got an app you want to promote? Or want to share an amazing productivity app with other businesses? These Pins show an install button so people can download the app that you are sharing without leaving Pinterest.

Product Rich Pins: Talk about what you sell! This Rich Pin includes real time pricing, availability and info on where to buy your product directly in the Pin. You can also tailor these to any services you offer too.

Recipes Rich Pins: This is great for all recipes, clearly displaying cooking times and serving sizes all in one place so it’s easy for users to follow.

Articles Rich Pins: Share useful hints, tips and tricks with the Articles Rich Pin. This type will show a headline, author and story description. This feature is brilliant when sharing any of your own business blogs, as it is easy to use and has a clear call to action with a “Read It” button that links back to your article.

Look Into Analytics

Set time aside and look into your Pinterest account’s analytics – this will help identify  which pins are working well on your profile. It will show you which ones are driving the most traffic and the interests and demographics of who is interacting with your content. Once you have reviewed these insights, moving forwards, you can make small changes to target your content better.

Pinterest Adverts

Pinterest has a paid advert feature called Promoted Pins. You may like to experiment with this feature to create an even broader reach and gain fresh interactions.

If you’re business isn’t active on Pinterest, well, let’s face it – it needs to be! Here at MOMENTUM, we pride ourselves on our first-class social media management. We can help you set up, manage and maintain your Pinterest account.

Simply get in touch by emailing makeithappen@mbsmih.com or call 01903 688789 to find out more. We’d love to help!

Getting Things Done More Effectively

MOMENTUM Business Support Admin, Administration, Business Support
Two people working together at a wooden desk with two open laptops and a shared paper document which they are writting on

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Effective: To successfully achieve the results that you want

In most cases, the result we want is to get [the task] done and get it done well, and knowing what it is that you need to complete or are trying to achieve is the first hurdle. From small tasks to big projects, the key to being most effective is to identify everything you need to do in the form of a ‘to do’ list. Start by making a note of everything you need to get done, not just the larger jobs, but the little ones as well.

Takeaway Tip: Always start with a ‘to do’ list

Make your to do list more effective by including timescales for every task you plan to complete (e.g. 10 minutes; 2 hours etc.), and then include timeframes for when they need to be completed by (e.g. 1 week; 2 days etc.). You now have a much better idea of exactly what you need to do, by when, and how long it will take.

Takeaway Tip: Ensure your ‘to do’ list includes realistic timeframes for every task

You want to be as effective as possible from the beginning of each new day, so give yourself a helping hand by knowing exactly what you’re going to achieve before you even sit at your desk or work station. Write your to do list the day before or at the beginning of each week to eliminate any procrastination at the start of your day.

Takeaway Tip: Know what you are going to achieve the day or week before

Finally, including set time slots in your calendar each day for getting key tasks and general admin done is vital to ensuring you make the time. Blocking out set days each week specifically for conducting meetings (such as a Tuesday and Thursday) will also help you to be more effective as you won’t be rushing around trying to juggle travel and work at the same time. This also applies to the larger tasks you have to do regularly, such as your month end processes or invoicing. Setting aside specific time each month in your calendar will help you focus on getting these done.

Takeaway Tip: Set aside time in your calendar for admin jobs, set meeting days, and month end tasks