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4 Tools to Research Competitors on Social Media http://ift.tt/2htFS8a Do you want to learn more about your competitors’ social media activity? Looking for tools to help? Competitive research tools let you see at a glance how your social media marketing compares to similar businesses. In this article, you’ll discover four tools for researching your competition on popular social media platforms.
#1: Benchmark YouTube Channels With MWP’s Video Marketing Comparison ToolMost social analytics and social listening tools have plenty of platform options but they often leave out YouTube. MWP’s video marketing comparison tool is the perfect solution to this problem. With this free, easy-to-use tool, you can see data that compares your YouTube channel to up to 10 other channels. To use it, go to the tool’s home page and enter the URLs of your channel and the channels you want to compare. Note that the URLs must be YouTube channel URLs (not URLs to specific videos). After you enter all of the URLs, click the Compare Now button. Generating the data can take some time, so you’ll see a pop-up window that gives you the option to receive the analysis in an email instead of waiting for it to load in your browser. When you receive the results, you’ll see how the tool ranks your channel against the competing channels you entered. For each channel, click the Get the Details button to see detailed analysis on these competitors, including the following information:
You can also view each channel’s top video and specific video statistics. #2: Research Content and Audience Data Across Social Media Platforms With KlearKlear is a fantastic social listening, influencer tracking, and competitor research tool that lets you scope out your competition on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The free version provides limited data and searches compared to the full plan, but you still get useful information. After you sign up for Klear, you’re ready to start researching a competitor’s social profiles. In the Social Profiles section, simply enter the competitor’s name in the search box and use the autocomplete feature to select the competitor you’re researching. With the free version, you see only the Overview of the selected brand’s social profiles, but even here, Klear can give you incredible information. In the Overview section, you can find:
Klear also gives you information in the form of Insights. For example, the Super Active insight means the business posts a lot. The One Trick Pony insight suggests most of their content is similar, like lots of links or images. These to-the-point insights can be extremely beneficial. For instance, to get an edge on a “not responsive” competitor, you could interact with followers more. You can view a profile’s top posts to see where those posts appeared, how the brand engages on each post, and when the content was posted. Klear also shows you detailed demographics about a competitor’s audience, which you can use to evaluate how the audience they’re targeting differs from your own. You might be able to identify a niche audience that you’re missing and come up with strategies to reel them in. #3: Watch Competitors’ Facebook Pages With Facebook InsightsFacebook’s Pages to Watch feature is a great tool for keeping an eye on your biggest competition over time. You have access to this feature if your Facebook page has at least 100 likes. To find Pages to Watch (assuming your page meets the criterion), go to your Facebook page and click the Insights tab. In the Overview section, scroll down to Pages to Watch. You can add competitors’ pages to your watch list and view information about their activity on Facebook, as well as other useful details. At a quick glance, you can see which competitors are likely to be your biggest competition on social media. The information you see includes:
Facebook will recommend pages for you to watch, but you can also add a specific page. Next, search for the page name, and after you find it, click Watch Page. Now you’ll see the page name among the other competitors’ pages you’re already watching. To see a page’s top posts from the week, click the page’s name. You can view what content engaged their audience and how their audience responded. Also, when all of the top posts are shown together, it’s easier to detect what types of content get the best results. With each post, you can see how the page interacts with people who engage with a post via comments. As you evaluate your competition, look for ways to improve engagement with your own followers. #4: Analyze Competitor Snapchat Content With SnaplyticsMany marketers find the lack of metrics on Snapchat frustrating, especially when compared to most other sites’ native analytics tools, but Snaplytics fixed this metrics problem. This analytics tool offers amazing insights about your competition. Snaplytics gives you a 14-day free trial and they have an awesome demo on their site you can check out. To get started, sign up and connect your Snapchat account. Once you’ve logged in, Snaplytics has an entire section of analytics for competitor research. Click Competitors in the left column, and in the pop-up window, enter the Snapchat username you want to analyze. On the main competitor research dashboard, you can see a list of the competitors you’re tracking and information such as:
Click on an individual competitor to view detailed information about their posting history, including when they’ve posted. If you notice they post most often between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM and get great results, try posting at those times for your account. You can also view the date and time when competitors’ individual stories were posted and see what content got the best results. Even though Snapchat deletes content after 24 hours, basic Snaplytics plans store your competitors’ public activity and content for up to three months. Final Thoughts Researching your competition’s social media activity will give you insights into the types of engagement they’re getting, the campaigns they’re running, and what is and isn’t working for them. You also might discover tricks to use for your own business and ways to fill your customers’ needs that aren’t being served anywhere else. If you adjust your social media marketing accordingly, you could grow your followers and your customer base. You might even swipe some people away from your competition. What do you think? What tools do you use to research your competition? How has your research helped your social media marketing? Please share your thoughts, knowledge, and experience in the comments. Social Media via http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 25, 2017 at 05:08AM
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Twitter is testing a Twitter Lite Android app, first in the Philippines http://ift.tt/2wJxvzO Twitter today has nearly four times as many monthly active users outside the U.S. as it does in its home market — 260 million versus 68 million — and this week it quietly launched a new app in an effort to boost those numbers further. The social network is testing a Android app for Twitter Lite, a native app version of a mobile web site Twitter launched earlier this year that uses less mobile data to work. The lighter data load means that the app is especially useful for emerging markets where data networks are often slower and more expensive for consumers to use. We were alerted to the new Twitter Lite app by analytics firm SensorTower, and we’ve seen a few mentions of it out in the wild: Twitter has confirmed to us that the app is being run currently in test mode in the Philippines (which is where the Twitter user above is located). There, it appears as a separate app in the Google Play Store for devices running Android 5.0 and up; has language support both for English and Filipino; and is usable on 2G and 3G networks. “The test of the Twitter Lite app in the Google Play Store in the Philippines is another opportunity to increase the availability of Twitter in this market,” said a Twitter spokesperson. “The Philippines market has slow mobile networks and expensive data plans, while mobile devices with limited storage are still very popular there. Twitter Lite helps to overcome these barriers to usage for Twitter in the Philippines.” He further described the app as “an experiment” and that Twitter was still evaluating whether to launch it in further markets. The app itself appears to have many of the same basic functions of the main Twitter apps — “breaking news, sports scores, and entertainment updates. Interact with brands and your government, easily market your business, quickly provide or receive customer service” and options to view your Timeline, Notifications, the Explore tab, Messages and to customise your profile. But alongside these are a few tweaks that will make it less of a data hog for users: for example, you can switch to a media-free mode to be able to select specific images and videos for downloading. Indeed, it’s details like this that point to why Twitter expanded the Lite version to apps in the first place: not only do people like to use apps, but the platform gives Twitter a wider set of tools to tinker with the user experience further. Giving users the option of which media they would like to actually see is a pretty crucial feature for emerging markets. Twitter has over recent years reoriented itself as a media company, for example cutting deals to livestream events in hopes of capturing more audience and advertising alongside that. But that full version of the service would be potentially unusable (and probably frustrating) as a result for many people in emerging markets, so Twitter has taken the decision to show these users less in hopes of getting them to use the service more — and to better monetize them on more localized terms. Ironically, it may not only be emerging market users who flock to the app, as evidenced by who uses Twitter Lite the web app:
Twitter today tells me that the Lite web app offers a significant weight reduction on its standard apps: it uses up to 70 percent less data, is smaller than 1MB in size, and launches up to 30 percent faster. The Android Lite app, meanwhile, when installed uses “under 3MB.” Twitter has not released any numbers on how much traffic comes from its Twitter Lite web site, built as a Progressive Web App. However, it is not too surprising to see Twitter expanding Lite after CEO Jack Dorsey highlighted its importance for the company in its emerging market and international strategies.
Considering how many people use Twitter outside the U.S., and considering Twitter’s numerous and early efforts and wins in emerging markets, the company was somewhat late to the game when it came to launching an official Lite web app, which it did only earlier this year. But for social networks that are hitting a wall in their domestic and mature market growth, having an app that’s designed for users on lower-end phones and networks is essential. You can see the pattern of social sites that have followed this route: LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Lite as an Android app earlier this year, and Facebook Lite was at one point the company’s fastest growing app. Twitter of course, has had a growth problem for years now, so it’s possibly even more urgent that the company rolls the dice sooner rather than later on this one. Featured Image: DragojaGagiTubic / iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com September 23, 2017 at 10:56AM
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Facebook Ads Dynamic Creative, Instagram Visual Backdrops, and YouTube Fan Sponsors http://ift.tt/2xZMypi Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show with Michael Stelzner, we explore Facebook ad updates with Amanda Bond, Instagram updates with Jeff Sieh, YouTube fan sponsors with Steve Dotto, and other breaking social media marketing news of the week! Watch the Social Media Marketing Talk ShowIf you’re new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, September 22, 2017. You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS. For this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above. Facebook Introduces New Way to Match Creative Assets With Target Audiences and Ad Placements: Facebook rolled out Dynamic Creative, a new way for advertisers to automatically match what creative works best for a target audience or placements. This new system is “geared towards performance-driven marketers who use manual techniques to find the best performing ad creative to use for a target audience.” Dynamic Creative is now available through Facebook’s marketing APIs with an “initial phased rollout” for Power Editor and Ads Manager. (5:17) Facebook Introduces More Ways to Drive Offline Outcomes: Facebook introduced “more ways to help marketers better connect with their customers by re-engaging their offline audiences on Facebook.” These updates include the ability to build custom audiences from offline conversion event sets entirely comprised of people who have previously purchased offline and store visits reporting based on location service data from customers’ mobile phones. (12:10) Facebook Rolls Out Ability to Track Recent Ad Activity: Adweek reports that Facebook has “quietly rolled out a feature that enables U.S. users (desktop and mobile) to revisit ads they have interacted with” on the platform called Recent Ad Activity. Found among bookmarks, the new Recent Ad Activity button allows users to find a list of ads they’ve clicked, liked, commented on, or shared “over the past three months” and a tab that shows if other users have saved those ads. According to Facebook, this new feature provides “a way to come back to ads with an eye toward potentially making purchases” and “enables users to share feedback with Facebook about their experiences when making purchases via Facebook ads.” (15:51)
YouTube Introduces Fan Sponsorships to YouTube Gaming: YouTube rolled out a new sponsorship program that allows gamers to earn money and connect with fans through their YouTube Gaming channel. Through these new sponsorship opportunities, fans can purchase digital goods directly from a channel or send recurring monthly payments of $4.99 (US). In exchange, sponsors will receive “cool insider perks” such as custom-designed badges or emojis, have access to sponsors-only live chat, immunity from “slow mode,” and other perks. The new YouTube Gaming sponsorships are now broadly available to all eligible creators on the YouTube Gaming app. YouTube also announced that it’s currently testing sponsorships with a handful of non-gaming creators on the main YouTube app. Creators who are interested in participating in this test can apply online. (20:00) YouTube Serves Ads on YouTube Red: YouTube Red viewers were “peeved” to spot ads on the platform’s paid premium YouTube Red service, which promised to deliver “original content unobstructed by any promo materials.” YouTube explained that subscribers “shouldn’t be seeing iBanner ads, image ads, pre-roll ads, … banner ads, search ads, and video overlay ads” while signed in with a YouTube Red account. However, branding or promotions embedded in creators’ content that isn’t controlled by YouTube is therefore still likely to appear in the form of product placements, incidental branding, or third-party ads within videos. (29:19)
Instagram Enables Video to Autoplay Audio: Instagram is rolling out a new update that enables all video to autoplay with audio once the sound on one video is turned on. The app will still open with video autoplaying silently until the user taps to turn on one video’s sound. After that, all subsequent videos will autoplay with sound until the videos are muted again or the app is closed. TechCrunch reports that this new feature works for all organic videos and ads; however, every Instagram story will continue to play muted until it’s tapped. (31:51)
Instagram Offers Visual Backdrops in Direct Messages: Instagram now allows Android users to pair their messages in Direct with a colorful background or a “disappearing” photo backdrop. Once users type a message, they now have the option to tap the camera to capture a photo or select a colorful background “to match [their] mood.” This new feature is available as part of Instagram version 14 and above and is “coming soon” on iOS. (33:36) Instagram Launches Directly From Facebook App: Facebook is rolling out a direct link from the main navigation menu of its mobile app to the user’s Instagram account. TechCrunch reports that this shortcut can be found “just below the link to your personal profile in Facebook’s app and above the links to any Facebook Pages you may manage.” When clicked, the button launches Instagram’s main feed, “just as it would if you had launched the app from your home screen.” (35:29)
Instagram Adds Fourth Column to Photo Grid on Profiles: The Ringer reports that “a number of Instagram users across the Web” have spotted the addition of a fourth column to the platform’s long-featured 3×3 grid of photos. (37:11)
Instagram Rolls Out New “Follows You” Feature on Android: Instagram users have spotted a new alert that instantly indicates whether a particular user follows them on the platform. This alert appears beneath the user’s name and bio of the profile and currently seems to be available only on Android devices. It hasn’t yet been spotted on the Instagram app for iOS. (39:37)
Pinterest Taste Graph Expands Interest Categories for Ad Targeting: Pinterest launched a new ad product within the Pinterest Taste Graph that has the power to surface over 100 billion pins based on a pinner’s interests. With the rollout of this new tool “in the coming weeks,” advertisers will have access to over 5,000 interest categories with which to target campaigns. Adweek reports that initial testing has shown that these new “super-targeted” ads increased click-through rates by 50% and dropped the cost per click by 20% for brands like Nordstrom.
Pinterest Rolled Out New Shortcuts With the iOS 11 Update: Pinterest has made it easier “to save and share Pins from your freshly updated iPad or iPhone” with several new shortcuts for the Pinterest app for iOS. With the recent iOS 11 updates, pinners can now save a pin to Pinterest just by dragging and dropping, drag pins and boards out of Pinterest and into other apps like iMessage, and more. Google Rolls Out New Content Discovery Tool in the Google App for iOS: Google debuted a new exploration and discovery feature that will recommend articles related to what you’re currently reading on the Google Search app on iOS. Suggestions for additional content will automatically appear when the user scrolls down to the bottom of the page. This new recommendation tool is currently only available to iOS users in the U.S. Apple Introduces Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari 11: Apple rolled out a new macOS feature that blocks cookies from third-party ad networks and imposes a strict 24-hour time limit on those tracking tools’ lifespans on Safari 11, which is the default browser across all Apple devices. This will essentially restrict all advertising to any iOS users. Apple unveiled the new feature by saying, “It’s not about blocking ads, but your privacy is protected.”
Facebook Tests New Snooze Feature for the News Feed: Facebook is testing a new feature that allows users to “temporarily unfollow friends, Pages or Groups for 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days” and “stay connected with the stories they find most relevant.” TechCrunch reports that this “snooze button” has been spotted on desktop sites in the U.S.
Facebook Messenger Now Boasts 1.3 Billion Monthly Users and Messenger Day Hits 70 Million Daily Users: Facebook Messenger Day now boasts over “70 million daily users posting and viewing photos and video slideshows six months after launch,” while the Messenger app now reaches “1.3 billion monthly users” globally. TechCrunch reports that this is up from 1.2 billion in April and 1 billion in July 2016. Facebook Tests WhatsApp Shortcut in Main App: In addition to a direct link between personal Facebook and Instagram accounts on mobile, Facebook also appears to be testing a dedicated shortcut to WhatsApp from the main Facebook app. This new feature has been spotted on Android devices in the main navigation menu of the Facebook app.
Facebook Adds Requests to Join Live Broadcasts: Facebook appears to have rolled out the ability to “request to join the broadcaster as a guest” on a Live video. Facebook rolled out the ability for broadcasters to invite a friend into their Live video earlier this year, but this is the first time that audience members can request to join a live broadcast. Facebook Introduces Option to Get Messages on Page Posts: Facebook appears to have added the ability to contact a page on Messenger directly from a post with a new Send Message button. Admins have the option to “get messages” on page posts once an image or video is added to a post.
Facebook Adds New Interactive “Rad” Greeting for Posts and Comments: Facebook appears to have rolled out a new interactive feature in which the word “Rad” is highlighted in purple in posts and comments and generates an animated burst of likes that are shot upward like rockets across the screen when clicked. This new feature appears to be available on the news feed, as well as in groups and on pages. Twitter Rolls Out Popular Articles Tab on Mobile: Twitter released a new Popular Articles tab that highlights the top news items currently being shared or engaged with by people you follow. This new feature shows the article’s link preview but excludes any comments about the stories. Twitter confirmed that Popular Articles is now live globally on the Twitter apps for Android and iOS and can be found on the Explore tab.
Google Applies Natural Language Processing to Google Cloud Search: Google announced that it’s now possible to use natural language processing (NLP) technology in Cloud Search to track down information such as documents, presentations, or meeting details. NLP offers a “natural, intuitive way” to request information in the workplace using everyday language while machine learning helps find and access information quickly. VIDEO Snap Inc. Debuts First Ads Shot Entirely With Spectacles: Burger King and Sainsbury’s are the first two Snap clients to use Spectacles to shoot ads that appear on Snapchat. Adweek reports that the brands’ ads went live this week, with Burger King’s ad appearing via the app in the U.S. for National Cheeseburger Day. Sainsbury’s, a grocery store chain, has an ad that’s rolling out in the U.K.
Google Earth Features Crowdsourced Images: Google invites users “to explore a global map of crowdsourced photos in Google Earth” on both the desktop or mobile. Google shared that it uses finely tuned machine learning “to pull the most beautiful and interesting photos from the millions and millions already shared in Google Maps by Local Guides and other contributors.” Users can contribute their own photos to the platform. Facebook Tests Online Activity Updates on Profiles: Facebook is testing a new feature that “broadcasts your friends’ online activity status right on their profile page.” Mashable reports that “the feature shows that friends are either ‘Active’ in bright green letters or gives an estimate of how long it has been since they’ve been on Facebook in gray.” Online activity updates have been spotted on a handful of iOS devices but haven’t been seen on Android or desktops.
Facebook Developing Voice Chat Device and Smart Speaker: Facebook is reportedly working on a video chat device for the home that will feature a large touchscreen and smart camera technology. A prototype is already being tested in people’s homes and is expected to be debuted as soon as next spring’s F8 developer conference. Facebook is also working on a stand-alone smart speaker that would compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home. This week, Facebook “came out bullish on the promise of voice commands” and touched on ways this technology can be applied in daily life such as search and navigation.
Facebook Expands AI Research and Engineering: Facebook is expanding its AI research and engineering efforts with the opening of a new AI research lab in Montreal. Facebook announced that the Montreal lab “will join more than 100 scientists across Menlo Park, New York, and Paris in working to advance the field of artificial intelligence” and “house research scientists and engineers working on a wide range of ambitious AI research projects.” Want to catch our next show live? Click here to subscribe or add our show to your calendar. Social Media via http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 23, 2017 at 05:04AM
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How to Vet a New Marketing Channel in 3 Days or Less http://ift.tt/2jOgzSN I get this question a lot.
There are many make or break decisions in business. This is one of them. The thing is, I can’t give you a cut and dry answer. The nature of your business matters. So does the audience you wish to target. What I will do instead is give you a method for figuring this out for yourself. If you’re starting a new business, this decision is critical. Focusing on the wrong marketing channel can set you back months and maybe even years. If you’re expanding into a new market, selecting the wrong channel can also have massive ramifications. You’d be putting your existing operations at risk for a new channel that may not pan out. Just take a look at all the challenges marketers have to overcome: You can imagine that each channel comes with a unique set of difficulties. This speaks to the importance of vetting your marketing plan before you set it in motion. There’s too much at stake. In this article, I’ll show you how you can evaluate your options and narrow down the best choice quickly. You don’t need more than three days to get this done. But first, I have a bit of wisdom to share. Resist the urge to diversifyYou know that voice in your head that says you need to be everywhere at once? That fear of missing out if you don’t at least try everything? It’s a diversion. Resist it. It is imperative that you focus on one marketing channel. At least in the beginning. You’ll shortchange your success if you spread yourself thin. Here’s why:
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying you should go all in on one channel and forget the rest. But multichannel marketing is complex. Only 30% of marketers are confident they can deliver on such a strategy: That’s not a lot. What I’m advocating for is starting from a position of dominance. Put your energy into one strategy until it succeeds. Then, piggyback on that success to achieve wins in other areas. Does that make sense? The steps in this article will be geared towards helping you place a bullseye on the ONE channel that will serve you best. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin. Step #1: Know your optionsThe first thing you want to do is brainstorm all your possible options. This isn’t something you have to conjure up out of thin air. You can connect with your target audience and spread your message in many different ways. Better yet, each channel has several subsets that you can zone in on. Here’s a good representation: Many of these overlap. Some have even morphed into each other. It can get confusing, quickly. For example, some people consider SEO to be one marketing channel. But I can’t imagine a world where SEO and content marketing aren’t intertwined. You can’t do one without the other. The same goes for social media and paid advertising. They’re different channels. But there’s a convergence. Let’s imagine you decide to focus on Facebook as your primary social media platform. It would be unwise to not experiment with Facebook Ads. Considering that Facebook has developed one of the greatest ad products out there, you’d be underutilizing the full power of the platform. Marketers agree. Almost 57% plan to increase their social media ad spend. I say all this to make a simple point. While you may zone in on one channel, you’ll see lots of overlap you shouldn’t ignore. Go where your audience takes you. Let’s look at some of your options. Content marketingThis is about creating and promoting material relevant to your target audience. Content marketing is central to your success. It’s been reported 90% of businesses market using this channel. It means that no matter what strategy you use, content will be a part of it. You can narrow your content down to blogging, guest blogging, podcasts, webinars, email, etc. Social media marketingYou can use social media as your platform to get noticed, build authority, and grow a community. You can also use it to drive traffic to your main site. Or you can do both. It’s effective either way. Paid advertisingMuch of marketing is organic and will take time to generate results. Paid advertising is one way to accelerate that. The downside is, you have to pay to play. Facebook ads, other social media ads, print ads, PPC, and direct response fall into this category. Public relationsPR is about building relationships and capitalizing on the optics of your business. It can be both online and offline. Press releases, conferences, events, interviews, and sponsorships are a few examples. As you can see, you have no shortage of options when it comes to marketing. I’ve given an overview of the main ones, but you are not limited to them. Step #2: Choose the channels aligned with your business goalsYou now have an idea of what’s available to you. It’s time to make a list of all the channels that will serve your business. Start with your business goals. Some marketing channels are better suited to achieving a particular goal than others. Goal setting is a flexible thing. You can make changes as your business evolves. This means that the marketing channel you use right now may not be viable in the future, once your business progresses. Consider what stage your business is in and what your goal for the next 90 days is. According to Jay Abraham, there are only three ways to grow a business:
Your business goals should serve one of these three phases of business. If you’re still at the first stage, your goals might be brand awareness, lead generation, and customer acquisition. If you already have a list of buyers, your goal might be to increase sales. What if you already have a reliable stream of sales? There’s no such thing as too many sales, but your goal at this point might be to maximize profits and retain customers. Here’s what most businesses are prioritizing: These may or may not apply to you. Just focus on what your business needs at the moment. This way, you don’t set goals that aren’t yet attainable. By extension, it ensures you don’t waste time and resources on a marketing channel that won’t serve your business well. How do you select a channel that’s right for your business goals? Before you even start testing, do some elimination. I’ll give you a few examples, and you’ll have to apply this knowledge to your business. Let’s say your goal is brand awareness. PR, social media, content marketing, and even paid advertising can be used for this purpose. The easy solution? Eliminate the channels that would be less efficient. For instance, paid advertising won’t be the most useful for brand awareness. But for sales or lead generation? It can crush it! (If you know what you’re doing, that is). Take a look at some of the business goals that apply to the content marketing channel. It will give you an idea of what to aim for: It’s also important to take into consideration what feels the most organic for your business. If you’re selling something like hoverboards or bicycles, would blog posts serve you the best? Not likely. These products are lifestyle-based. You’d be better off using a visual channel that will allow you to provide an experience to potential customers. Immediately, social media comes to mind. Then you begin to narrow it down to Instagram or YouTube. This is a logical process that won’t take you more than an hour to figure out. You don’t have to find that one channel yet. Just eliminate what won’t work, and rank your remaining options. Step #3: Narrow down the list by going where your audience isAt this point, you’ve got a few options. It’s time to prioritize. This one is easy. Find your potential customers. A marketing channel can serve your goal, but there are many platforms you can focus on. If your customers are not hanging out there, you’ll be wasting your time. Note: The point of this article is not to find you a slam dunk marketing channel right away. That would take testing and experimentation. The goal here is to help you validate your chosen channel. This way, you know it’s viable before you start testing it. Here’s my best advice for finding out where the attention is:
Let’s look at each of these. SEOA majority of online interactions begin with a search engine (mostly Google). The first step is to evaluate the SEO landscape by searching for keywords in your industry. You’ll find out what your audience is searching for and how often. This is not just essential for finding out what’s happening online. Let’s say there aren’t that many monthly searches for your keywords. You may want to focus on an offline channel. Or you may decide this is a gap you can take advantage of. You won’t know until you do some basic keyword research. A simple tool like the Google Keyword Planner will work. Type in your keyword to get search volume data. Competition researchIf you want to know where your customers hang out, find your competitors. First, identify the competitors. A simple Google search will do the trick. The biggest players are those who rank on the first page of SERP. Once you’ve got a solid list, use a tool like SimilarWeb for your research. Enter your competitor’s website and press enter: You’ll find a range of data. Pay attention to “Traffic source:” For Quick Sprout, the highest traffic source is search. Naturally, my primary marketing channel would be SEO and blogging. Direct is a close second, but it’s a bit trickier to figure out. It represents people who type in your URL directly. It doesn’t tell you where these people first came into contact with your business. The next step is to check out the individual breakdown of each traffic source. You can see where referrals are coming from: Since SEO is my dominant traffic source, I’ll pay particular attention to my top organic keywords: You can also see which social media platform is the most popular. Mine is Facebook. Social mediaI like to take social media research a bit further. The tool to use is BuzzSumo. Type in your competitor’s domain. You can also search for a keyword: You’ll see all the top performing content on the site and which social platform generated the most shares. Using SimilarWeb, we saw that Facebook was Quick Sprout’s top platform. BuzzSumo tells the same story: If you want to take this a bit further, you can go to these individual platforms and do some sleuthing. Check out the groups with the most members, listen in on the conversations, and get a feel for what your audience is focusing on. When you go through this process, you may find you have two or three reliable options. Which do you select? I have three criteria. Cheap. Fast. Easy. You want to pick a channel that won’t cost you too much, if anything, to get started. You also want a channel that doesn’t have a steep learning curve. Otherwise, you may spend too much time and money trying to figure it out. Lastly, pick the channel that will allow you to make the most headway, quickly. You must pick one, so use these criteria as the final litmus test. ConclusionSelecting a new marketing channel is a tall order. It’s important you take some time to validate a potential channel before you focus on it. Marketing requires time, which can easily be wasted on ineffective strategies. It also requires cash. It means you’d want to see a solid return on both your time and money investment. The surest way to secure an attractive ROI is to vet potential marketing channels first. You can then test and double down on what’s working. Most people don’t go through this process of validation and testing. As long as you keep experimenting and tweaking your strategy based on your results, you’ll have a significant advantage over your competitors. What is your most effective marketing channel? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/UU7LJr September 22, 2017 at 10:00AM
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Product Evangelism: How to Evangelize and Create Advocates http://ift.tt/2wKXUIP Want to create an intensely loyal fan base for your product? Wondering how a product evangelist can help? To explore how product evangelism supports the sales process, I interview Guy Kawasaki. More About This ShowThe Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Guy Kawasaki, the chief evangelist at Canva, a brand ambassador for Mercedes, and formerly the evangelist for Apple Computer. He’s written many books including The Art of the Start and Enchantment. His new course is called The Art of Evangelism: How to Promote Your Product, Service, Company, or Idea. Guy explains the benefits of evangelism. You’ll discover the most powerful tool for an evangelist. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen NowListen now: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show: Product EvangelismEvangelizing for Apple Guy started working for Apple around 1983 or 1984, during the introduction of the Macintosh computer. As a software evangelist, his job was to convince developers to write Macintosh software and peripherals. Apple used the term evangelism because the company viewed Macintosh as not merely another personal computer platform, but as good news. “Evangelism” comes from Greek, meaning “bringing the good news,” so Guy brought the good news of Macintosh to developers and explained how it would, in the words of Steve Jobs, “dent the universe.” Initially, the response was enthusiastic because Macintosh was so different from the Apple II and the IBM PC. Macintosh offered a way for many developers to write the software they always wished they could use. The graphic user interface and color provided a brand-new palette. After the positive initial reaction, the honeymoon period wore off. Developers found writing Macintosh software difficult because they lacked tools and documentation. Anyone who was used to developing 80×24 column-based software had to work with MacPaint and MacWrite. Also, developing for a graphical user interface required a completely different mindset. Guy explains how his background in jewelry sales (an intensely personal business) helped him with evangelism for Macintosh. Because Macintosh was new technology, it required the suspension of disbelief. People needed to believe this new personal computer platform could succeed. Instilling developers with that belief is also a very personal interaction. Today, the concept of evangelism is similar to how it was back then, whether you’re creating graphics with Canva or computing with Macintosh. The difference is a product evangelist has so many more tools now. There’s social media, video conferencing, all kinds of things that break down distance, barriers, and costs. Listen to the show to learn what tools Guy had for evangelism back in the day. Benefits of Evangelism The difference between evangelism and sales is an evangelist typically has the other person’s best interest at heart. It’s not about fulfilling a sales quota and earning commission. When Guy worked for Apple and asked people to support Macintosh, he believed it would empower them and add a new line of revenue to their businesses. Today, as the evangelist for Canva, when Guy asks people to use it, he truly believes it will make them better graphic designers and enable them to create graphics that will increase their effectiveness as a communicator. If someone uses Canva, bought a Macintosh, or wrote Macintosh software, it was good for him, Guy adds. However, it was also good for the other party. That’s the crucial difference between evangelism and sales. Guy also emphasizes that evangelism requires a great product. Today, social media makes product evangelism fast, free, and easy. As long as you have a great product, you can show how it works on live video and reach people all over the world quickly and effectively. The downside is that evangelists have more competition because more people are evangelizing products. Listen to the show to hear Guy discuss whether he’d rather do product evangelism before or after social media tools became available. How to Evangelize To be an effective evangelist, you need to find or create a great product or service. After that, the most powerful tool for an evangelist is the ability to do a great demonstration. When you demo a product, you’re saying, “I think you’re smart, and because I think you’re smart, I’m not going to bludgeon you into becoming a customer. I’m going to let you decide by trying the product or service.” The key is enabling people to see and test-drive your product. For instance, many companies ask people to download an app. Guy likes how he can reach millions of people and ask them to download something, rather than visit their office and install it on their computer. You can also create videos rather than do a demo in someone’s office. Live video gives you the best of both worlds because it allows people to respond and ask questions in real time. Video is also archived so you have something you can continue to share. For live video, Guy likes using Wirecast because it enables you to switch cameras during a demo. With Wirecast, you can first use your MacBook Pro camera for your face, switch to show an open window on your Macintosh, switch cameras to your iPad or iPhone screen, and so on. Except for an in-person, small-group situation, using Wirecast on Facebook Live is probably just as good, if not better, than doing a demo in a large auditorium on a big screen. And live video is much better than lugging around a Macintosh 128k from place to place, as Guy did working for Apple in the early days. I ask Guy if demos are effective for a complex sale, where you’re asking people to put work into something new. Guy says yes and recalls that the most effective part of his product evangelism for Macintosh was his demos of MacPaint and MacWrite (Mac’s early image editing and word processing programs). Remember, at some point all of this evangelizing needs to turn into a sale. It’s ABC, Guy says: always be closing. However, evangelizing focuses on why the features you’re showing are good for your audience (emphasizing the good news), rather than just showing how features work. When I ask about using testimonials, Guy says it would have been difficult with Macintosh because the product wasn’t out yet and everybody was under a non-disclosure agreement. However, if he was trying to evangelize Social Media Marketing World, Guy might say, for instance, “Here is Sally Smith. She runs social media for Procter & Gamble.” And her (hypothetical) quote is, “The effectiveness of Procter & Gamble social media doubled because I went to this conference.” Who wouldn’t come to a conference if Procter & Gamble said that? Canva shares profiles of all of the organizations that use it. For instance, Canva has a use case of Huffington Post that lets the world know one of the most popular web content sites uses Canva to create social media graphics. Testimonials help other people feel comfortable using your product. People believe large brands know what they’re doing and demand great results. If those brands are using Canva, or if they’re attending Social Media Marketing World, people think the product must be good. Listen to the show to hear how Guy suggests we could demo Social Media Marketing World. Ethics of Evangelism Here’s the moral compass for evangelism: “Is the product truly good for the other person?” You need to have some degree of intellectual honesty, especially because you might need to tell people that your product or service isn’t right for them. For example, Guy asks me how I would answer if somebody said, “My primary concern is SEO. Is your conference the right place for me to get a ton of knowledge about SEO?” I reply, “Absolutely not. Go to a Moz conference.” There’s power in saying no and explaining your reasoning. Say, “Don’t come for SEO.” And then say, “Do come to learn how to use Instagram for marketing.” Because you told them not to come for one reason, they believe your recommendation to come for another reason. Listen to the show to learn what Guy would say if someone asked about designing a logo in Canva. Evangelism for Companies Evangelism is one path to success, but not the only path. It’s not suited for products that aren’t great. For example, if you’re in a commodity business and you’re fighting only on price, evangelism clearly isn’t the way to go. The most important quality of an evangelist is that the person loves the product and has an infectious enthusiasm for it. Even though Guy was a Macintosh software evangelist, he had no technical background. He’d never written a program in his life but was working with developers because he loves Macintosh. That’s what enabled him to succeed. When a company selects somebody to work for them, they look at education and work experience. For companies hiring a product evangelist, Guy suggests looking at a third quality: Does the candidate “get” the product and love it? Someone could have the perfect education and experience but not love the product. Case in point. If Microsoft asked Guy to be an evangelist for Windows, he has the perfect background but he couldn’t do it. He doesn’t believe in it. A great evangelist needs to know what good news is for a person or at least for that person’s function. For example, Macintosh evangelists needed to understand they were looking for people who were frustrated and found computers difficult to learn and use. The evangelists wanted people who didn’t want to be controlled by a central IT department but did want to explore and learn by themselves. Anyone who didn’t want to expand their capabilities or the capabilities of their job probably wasn’t a good fit. Listen to the show to discover more about Guy’s evangelism course. Discovery of the WeekPercentageCalculator.net is a timesaver for social media marketers who calculate percentage increases and decreases for their reports. If turning raw data into percentages isn’t your strength, the sentence-based input for this online calculator might be helpful. Instead of having to remember how to structure a correct mathematical formula, you enter the numbers into the calculator’s sentence-based structure. Click Calculate and PercentageCalculator.net does the computation for you. For instance, the first sentence in the calculator says “What is ___% of ___?” Input 5, then 25, click Calculate, and the result is 1.25. The calculator can also help you determine how much a percentage has gone up or down. For example, “What is the percentage increase/decrease from _____ to _____.” The calculator is free and online, so you can use it on any web-enabled device. Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how Percentage Calculator works for you. Listen to the show! Listen now: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:What do you think? What are your thoughts on product evangelism? Please leave your comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 22, 2017 at 05:02AM Product Evangelism: How to Evangelize and Create Advocates http://ift.tt/2wKXUIP Want to create an intensely loyal fan base for your product? Wondering how a product evangelist can help? To explore how product evangelism supports the sales process, I interview Guy Kawasaki. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Guy Kawasaki, the chief evangelist at Canva, a brand ambassador for Mercedes, and formerly the evangelist for Apple Computer. He's written many books including The Art of the Start and Enchantment. His new course is called The Art of Evangelism: How to Promote Your Product, Service, Company, or Idea. Guy explains the benefits of evangelism. You'll discover the most powerful tool for an evangelist. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen Now Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Product Evangelism Evangelizing for Apple Guy started working for Apple around 1983 or 1984, during the introduction of the Macintosh computer. As a software evangelist, his job was to convince developers to write Macintosh software and peripherals. Apple used the term evangelism because the company viewed Macintosh as not merely another personal computer platform, but as good news. "Evangelism" comes from Greek, meaning "bringing the good news," so Guy brought the good news of Macintosh to developers and explained how it would, in the words of Steve Jobs, "dent the universe." Initially, the response was enthusiastic because Macintosh was so different from the Apple II and the IBM PC. Macintosh offered a way for many developers to write the software they always wished they could use. The graphic user interface and color provided a brand-new palette. After the positive initial reaction, the honeymoon period wore off. Developers found writing Macintosh software difficult because they lacked tools and documentation. Anyone who was used to developing 80x24 column-based software had to work with MacPaint and MacWrite. Also, developing for a graphical user interface required a completely different mindset. Guy explains how his background in jewelry sales (an intensely personal business) helped him with evangelism for Macintosh. Because Macintosh was new technology, it required the suspension of disbelief. People needed to believe this new personal computer platform could succeed. Instilling developers with that belief is also a very personal interaction. Today, the concept of evangelism is similar to how it was back then, whether you're creating graphics with Canva or computing with Macintosh. The difference is a product evangelist has so many more tools now. There's social media, video conferencing, all kinds of things that break down distance, barriers, and costs. Listen to the show to learn what tools Guy had for evangelism back in the day. Benefits of Evangelism The difference between evangelism and sales is an evangelist typically has the other person's best interest at heart. It's not about fulfilling a sales quota and earning commission. When Guy worked for Apple and asked people to support Macintosh, he believed it would empower them and add a new line of revenue to their businesses. Today, as the evangelist for Canva, when Guy asks people to use it, he truly believes it will make them better graphic designers and enable them to create graphics that will increase their effectiveness as a communicator. If someone uses Canva, bought a Macintosh, or wrote Macintosh software, it was good for him, Guy adds. However, it was also good for the other party. That's the crucial difference between evangelism and sales. Guy also emphasizes that evangelism requires a great product. Today, social media makes product evangelism fast, free, and easy. Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast helps your business thrive with social media http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 22, 2017 at 05:01AM
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Facebook and Twitter play bigger role in Congressional election-hacking probe http://ift.tt/2ygAgVH As congressional investigations into Russia’s role in manipulating the election for President deepens, tech companies are assuming a more central role in the inquiries. Both Twitter and Facebook are stepping up their efforts to cooperate with Congressional investigations into Russian interference with last year’s Presidential election. For Twitter, that means agreeing to a briefing with the Senate Intelligence Committee chaired by Virginia Democrat Mark Warner next Wednesday on the role foreign agents operating on the company’s social network may have played in influencing the election. Meanwhile, Facebook has agreed to release the 3,000 ads it had identified as having been purchased by accounts associated with a Russian organization called the Internet Research Agency (and which might have played a role in shaping results of the election). The moves are significant for several reasons. They underscore how not just the central role that these social media sites have played in political events. But they also highlight how that role may have been in part a negative and illegal one, rather than the exclusively positive and educative one that the sites would have you think they do. The moves also highlight the tensions that continue to exist — and will not soon disappear — between data privacy and proprietary platforms, and producing information when mandated by authorities, and to what end those are justifiable requests. In a statement posted to Facebook’s site, company General Counsel, Colin Stretch, announced the reversal of the company’s initial decision not to share the ads.
The Facebook general counsel said that it was not a decision that the company took lightly, in part because the company considers ads user content, Setting aside anything that might be problematic with that approach, Facebook also made the argument that the initial decision to withhold the ads was done so the company wouldn’t set a troubling precedent for future information requests from any government. That logic also begins to look specious in light of the company’s reported approach to restricting and monitoring content in other nations with more authoritarian governments. But here, again, are Stretch’s comments:
What ultimately swayed the company’s mind (officially) was the fact that the investigation goes to the integrity of the nation’ selection process… and that the tools used were so sophisticated that “understanding those efforts requires a united effort, from across the technology, intelligence and political communities.” At Twitter, meanwhile, executives from its Washington DC office will appear before the Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the election. “Twitter engages with governments around the world on public policy issues of importance and of interest to policymakers. We are cooperating with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its inquiry into the 2016 election and will meet with committee staff next week,” a spokesperson for the company wrote in an email. “Twitter deeply respects the integrity of the election process, a cornerstone of all democracies, and will continue to strengthen our platform against bots and other forms of manipulation that violate our Terms of Service.” It has been reported that Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading an investigation into the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump’s associates, is also interested in probing Twitter as part of that investigation, but for now the social media site has yet to testify or provide documents. There had been reports that Twitter would appear before Warner’s committee, and Warner had stated his desire for the company to do so, but this is the first time that Twitter has confirmed its involvement directly. Featured Image: Danny Huizinga/Flickr UNDER A CC BY 2.0 LICENSE Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com September 21, 2017 at 05:05PM
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The internet can't make sense of 'mother!' and it's hilarious http://ift.tt/2xVT28E A new film from writer and director Darren Aronofsky, mother!, is confusing audiences expecting a typical horror flick with a heavily symbolic biblical allegory. Read more... More about Entertainment, Movies, Social Media, Horror, and Jennifer LawrenceSocial Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 21, 2017 at 02:45PM
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Facebook is sending Jewish New Year messages to people who aren't Jewish http://ift.tt/2xkwjQq As much as Facebook ostensibly wants to be your friend, it mostly just wants to be a growing, massive data cache of your life, filled with loads of information about you—some true, some false. The latest comic evidence: some Facebook users were greeted with a "Happy New Year" message on the top of their News Feeds Wednesday and Thursday in celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish holiday celebrating the New Year. It wasn't available to everyone, though, and some of the users saw it shared on Twitter that, nope, they weren't Jewish. Others said, at the very least, they never self-identified to Facebook that they were Jewish (which they would've done by listing it as their chosen religion on their Facebook profiles).
With all of its data, Facebook might be able to correctly identify who is Jewish and who isn't. The algorithm knows a lot about its users based on what they click on and what Pages they follow and what Groups they are in. Maybe they follow a Jewish summer camp, or have a bunch of friends who did. Maybe they have friends who started a Facebook group after they all went on a Birthright Trip to Israel. Whatever assumptions Facebook's making, they're not hitting the mark with plenty of people. 'Not a good look. Especially given how the company's perpetually in a defensive PR war over their ad targeting, and all it implies—especially as of late. For example: A recent ProPublica report found that advertisers could target ads to "Jew-haters" or "how to burn Jews." Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg responded to that report in a lengthy post Wednesday: "The fact that hateful terms were even offered as options was totally inappropriate and a fail on our part," she wrote. Facebook's shareable cards (like the aforementioned Rosh Hashanah one) are part of the company's broader efforts to create a warmer, fuzzier experience for its 2 billion users, plenty of whom use the social network to share fake news and hurl hate speech at one another. Gary Briggs, Facebook's chief marketing officer, told Mashable last year that they've been working "for some time" at coming up with "experiences for [users] to share." The big idea here, according to Facebook's content strategy lead Alicia Dougherty-Wold, is "a good statement of investment for caring for people and wanting to express that to our community." She said this last year. The kicker? Per Doughtery-Wold:
Welp! Guess we'll be waiting a little longer. Because, uh, people aren't exactly feeling that quality:
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 21, 2017 at 10:07AM
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How to Use Facebook Audience Optimization for Better Organic Exposure http://ift.tt/2fch2ZJ Want to increase your Facebook news feed exposure? Looking for a solution that doesn’t involve ads? In this article, you’ll discover how to improve your organic visibility via Facebook’s Audience Optimization feature.
Why Use Organic Post Targeting?Facebook gives businesses access to a large global audience, but the platform is becoming increasingly saturated with branded content. This makes it difficult for businesses to get visibility in the news feed and deliver engaging content that’s tailored to a core audience. With audience optimization, Facebook’s organic post targeting tool, you can target your posts to specific segments of your page’s audience based on their interests. This creates an opportunity to personalize your Facebook content and optimize its potential for engagement, both in terms of subject matter and how it’s written. Here’s how to use organic post targeting to help reach specific segments of your page’s audience. #1: Enable Audience Optimization for PostsTo find out if the organic post targeting feature is activated for your Facebook page, start to compose a new post. Below the “Write Something” field, look for the targeting icon shown below: If you don’t see the targeting icon, you need to activate this feature for your Facebook page. Click the Settings tab at the top of your page to access your page settings. On the General tab, click Edit to the right of the Audience Optimization for Posts option. Next, select the check box to allow you to select a preferred audience and restrict visibility for your posts. Then click Save Changes. The targeting icon will appear whenever you compose a new Facebook post. #2: Apply Audience Optimization to New or Published PostsOnce you’ve activated Facebook’s organic targeting feature, you’re ready to start using it when you publish new posts to your page or with posts you’ve already published. When you compose a post, click the target icon below it. In the pop-up window that appears, you’ll see two tabs: Preferred Audience and Audience Restrictions. These tabs allow you to define a target audience segment based on their interests, age, gender, location, and more. Define Your Preferred Audience On the Preferred Audience tab, choose the audience you’d like to reach with your post. Facebook lets you define this audience by adding up to 16 interest tags. People who have these interests will be more likely to see your content. Once you type in your first interest tag, Facebook will automatically recommend others. Whether you accept these suggestions is up to you, but it’s important to make informed choices based on your target demographic. Restrict the Visibility of Your Post The Audience Restrictions tab works in tandem with the Preferred Audience tab. It lets you limit the visibility of your post to only specific demographics. People who fall outside of these demographics won’t be able to see your post anywhere on Facebook. You can restrict your post’s target audience based on age, gender, location, and language. For example, you can specify that you want your Facebook post to be visible only to women between the ages of 20 and 30 who live in the state of Illinois. When you’re finished defining your audience targeting criteria, click Save. Now finish composing your Facebook post as normal and click Publish. #3: Analyze Insights and EngagementNow that you’ve started targeting your posts to segments of your page’s audience, it’s time to see if your efforts are paying off. To evaluate your success, head to the Insights tab on your Facebook page and click Posts in the left navigation bar. Here, you’ll get insights into how much reach and engagement each post has received. This data includes the number of people who have interacted with the post. You can also see whether people have commented on, shared, liked, or simply clicked through the content. These insights are invaluable because they reveal the types of content that are resonating well with your target audience. If you’re not satisfied with your results, you can always go back and tweak your audience. Conclusion An estimated 65 million businesses operate a Facebook page, each of which posts an average of 1.48 times each day. This equates to more than 74 million branded posts daily, which in turn equates to an organic reach of just 2%. While the sheer volume of business posts has disoriented users and frustrated marketers, you do have an opportunity to improve your outreach efforts. With audience optimization, you can target your Facebook posts to the segments of your page’s audience that are most likely to be interested in it. What do you think? Do you use organic post targeting to help reach relevant audience segments? Has it worked for you? What tips can you offer? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 21, 2017 at 05:04AM |
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