facebook marketing Archives

How to Measure ROI on Facebook in 3 Easy Steps [VIDEO]

November 9, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Measuring ROI on Facebook is essential to knowing the success of your program, and it is much easier than you think.

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4 Important Facebook Targeting Options

November 5, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Have you put together an ad campaign using the Facebook targeting options?

Have you ever tried to promote your content to a broader audience by developing a Facebook ad campaign? Boosting a post is one thing, but if you know how to properly use the Facebook advertising platform, you can reach very targeted audiences and get a specific message across to groups you know will want to hear them.

Below are four Facebook targeting options that are going to be very important when it comes to putting together a successful ad campaign.

Location, Age and Gender

These are the most obvious targeting options. We all know that we have the ability to target by location, age and gender, but we often forget that when it comes to advertising, the more specific we are, the greater the likelihood that our campaign will find success.

With Facebook, you have the ability to target not only countries, but states/provinces, cities and, if you are running a campaign in the United States, by zip code. Why is this beneficial? Well, if you are a local business, this gives you the opportunity to target only those people who are potential customers based on location. It also means that if you are running a campaign in the United Kingdom, for example, you could filter out any users outside of the UK and prevent your ad (and your dollars) from going to users that cannot benefit from the offering.

As for age and gender, figure out exactly who is going to be most responsive to this campaign. Maybe you don’t know – that’s not a problem. Use these targeting options to test different markets. Maybe you create one version of your ad targeted towards males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 39, and another version targeted towards females in Canada over the age of 45. (On a side note, that’s one versatile product!) You might be surprised by what you find.

Precise Interests

Now we’re getting into the real value that exists with Facebook targeting options. One of the great features that a lot of marketers tend to overlook is the ability to target audiences by interest. For those familiar with AdWords, this is something that Google determines based on search history and other criteria, but on Facebook, this is determined by a user’s expressed interests. They are telling you what they like!

You are going to want to include as many Precise Interests or pages (yes, company or brand pages) as you can – just make sure they relate to your ad and landing page (whether it is your Timeline or a page off of Facebook). Just begin typing and you will see a drop down menu of interest options along with the number of people that have listed this item as one of their interests.

Broad Categories

Interests are great for getting right down to what a person might like, but perhaps you will find that you want to target people with a number of diverse interests and one commonality. This is where Broad Categories comes in handy.

Here, you are able to target users based on broader criteria. One of the best characteristics to consider targeting is precise mobile devices. Over 70% of Facebook users access the platform via their smartphone. Don’t miss out on a chance to target those users with your campaign.

Choose Your Users

Maybe you are running a campaign that is targeted specifically to people that are already your fans; this could be something along the lines of a loyalty program. Maybe you are only looking to target users that have not yet liked your company, and are offering something to new fans. In any case, you are going to want to specify whether you want your ad to target users that are already fans, or potential fans.

If you have not already done so, then definitely take a look at the Facebook targeting options for ads. You might be surprised at how much more effective it can make your campaign.

Have you found any surprises with your ads? Tell us what they were in the comments below or on Twitter!

How to Optimize Facebook for SEO [VIDEO]

November 2, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Do you know how to optimize Facebook for SEO? It’s easier than you think!

5 Ways to Use Facebook Graph Search

October 23, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Do you know about some of the interesting ways to use Facebook Graph Search?

The Facebook Graph Search feature was rolled out a little while ago, but has not had quite the impact Facebook was hoping for. The social search tool geared towards providing people with personalized search results and competing with search giants is very impressive, but seldom used. It is a shame, because there are some great ways to use Facebook Graph Search.

While there are a number of features to the tool, we decided to pick five interesting ways to use Facebook Graph Search and highlight how they can be leveraged by individuals and/or marketers.

Search by Keyword, Interest and More

This is nothing new when it comes to search. You can use Facebook Graph Search to look for keywords and find results like Interests, Pages, Communities and more. The difference, however, comes with the personalization based on your profile.

Facebook Graph Search is designed to provide users with the most relevant searches based on their personalities (or, at least, the personalities that have been created in their profile). This is an obvious feature, and nothing out of the ordinary. The helpful aspects come when users start to drill a little deeper.

Filter by Location

Sure, when I do a Google search, it is going to give me the best results based on the location I have set in my Google+ profile. But with Facebook Graph Search, you can specifically indicate where you want your results to target and these results will, once again, be filtered according to your Facebook personality.

Personalize Searches

So, while your results in Graph Search are already personalized for your profile, you can narrow them down even further. Let’s say you look up ‘Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles’ and you generate a list of results. You can then use the filter on the right-hand side to further narrow those results by anything from the type of results to whether or not you, a friend or a group of your friends has ever checked in there.

Multi-Filtered Search

You want to find as specific a result as possible? Then Graph Search has you covered. When you use Facebook Graph Search, you can be as specific as you like and expect the results to be there. 91% of people trust the recommendations of their friends. That said, sometimes it is easier to search for something online than to text or call that friend. Luckily, Facebook Graph Search is designed to work as a pseudo-referral network.

What does that mean? Well, for example, you can search, ‘Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles, California my friends like’ and find a list of results. The idea behind this feature was to add value to the ‘Like’ a company received. It also discourages black hat techniques, where brands buy meaningless likes. Now, when someone likes your company, you stand a better chance of being found on Facebook.

Search Through History

Now your brand’s presence and activity is more important than ever. Go to Facebook and type ‘Photos of [YOUR BRAND]’ and see what pops up. Your content library is now directly searchable. You can also add those filters we talked about. Go ahead, try ‘Photos of [YOUR BRAND] [FROM/TAKEN IN/BEFORE/WITH/BY] [MONTH, YEAR/YEAR/LOCATION]’ and see the results. People can search for a whole lot with Graph Search, and that includes your activity, and their activity with your brand.

For brands, an active presence and a complete profile are now more crucial than ever on Facebook. Think of it like you would SEO. Without your page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags and other SEO must-haves, what would be the point? Would it even make a difference? The same is now true for Facebook. Graph Search is designed to increase the value of Facebook for consumers and brands. To take advantage of this value, you need to optimize your Facebook page the same way you would a website.

These are not the only features that exist with Facebook Graph Search. Users can do a lot more and the feature keeps evolving. While it has yet to make the impact Facebook was hoping for, it is still an impressive feature and one we can expect to see and hear a lot more of.

What is your favorite feature of Facebook Graph Search? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

The Best New Features on Facebook Insights

October 17, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There are some great new features on Facebook Insights that should get marketers excited.

Facebook has done a lot in the past few months in order to ramp up their Insights feature. Remember the ‘People Talking About This’ feature on Facebook? No more! Some of the new features on Facebook Insights provide marketers with some real, actionable data, and we have outlined the highlights of these new features below.

Where are people coming from?

The old Facebook Insights gave you a very basic overview of where some of your most recent activity was coming from. Now, one of the great features on Facebook Insights lets you see exactly when people arrived at your Facebook page, and how they got there.

What is working with your content strategy?

Your content strategy is going to be among the most important features of your bigger social marketing strategy. That said, if you can’t measure how your content strategy is performing, it is going to be very hard to know what is working and what is not.

Among the best new features on Facebook Insights is the evaluation of your content by the system. See what types of content reach the largest audience, what drives engagement and even when your audience is online!

What time period are you measuring?

Let’s not sugarcoat it: the old Facebook Insights were very confusing! There was not much clarity with what you were able to measure, and you simply had to hope that you were looking at the right data when making an executive decision.

A great new feature is the ability to pick a timeframe in which you want to see your data. An easy-to-use slider lets you select the dates you want to monitor, and you can simply look at posts, reach and engagement in that period of time. This specificity is much needed to know how campaigns performed and what needs to be nixed or modified in the future.

There is a lot more to love when it comes to the new features on Facebook Insights, and every marketer is strongly encouraged to take a look at them. While Facebook might not be your primary network for traffic or business, a billion people can’t be wrong. Now, it is nice to know that there are Insights available to businesses to match the power that the network has on its surface.

What is/are your favorite feature/features with the new Facebook Insights? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

How to Track ROI on Facebook in 3 Easy Steps

October 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Tracking ROI on Facebook and other networks is always among the top concerns for marketers. This is one great way to track ROI on Facebook.

Despite all of the methods that exist to measure ROI on Facebook – some more complicated than others – there are still marketers and executives that refuse to acknowledge that it can be done! One great way to measure ROI on Facebook is with Facebook’s easy-to-use Conversion Tracking. Below is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to create goals on the network and measure ROI on Facebook.

Step 1: Go To Your Ads Manager (or Power Editor)

This is about as simple as steps get. Get started by going to either your Ads Manager and clicking on “Manage Your Ads” (the green button on the right of the header image) or the Power Editor (depending on how familiar you are with Facebook advertising).

Step 2: Set Up a Conversion Tracking Pixel

The next thing you are going to need to do is create a conversion tracking pixel. This is a small piece of code that you are going to place on your conversion page (this could be a checkout page, a download page, form submission, etc.).

First, go to your Conversion tracking in your designated ads platform.

Then you are going to click on the green “Create Conversion Pixel” button on the right hand side where you will see this box pop up:

Fill it out with the name of your goal (in this case, we are creating a goal called “View Blog”) and what category that goal falls into. Above, we have selected Key Page Views (essentially, the conversion is made when a user views a specific page) but other categories include Checkouts, Registrations, Leads, Adds to Cart and Other Website Conversions.

Now once you click “Create Pixel” you are going to see a small snippet of code pop up. You do not need to know any complex degree of HTML to work with this. In the code, you’ll see a line that allows to add a value to this conversion (the line with the red arrow next to it below). It is here that you can denote how much this conversion is worth.

Say, for example, you are sending people to a contact form for more information, and you have determined based on some fancy accounting work that any lead that fills out the form is worth $5.00. So, you would change this line to read five dollars (the currency is in the line just below it) and save the code.

Step 3: Load the Pixel Onto Your Conversion Page

Now comes the part where you might need the help of your webmaster or code-savvy friend.

Copy the code you have generated and place it in the header of your conversion page (detailed in the instructions before the code, above). Now, when people have clicked on your ads and found themselves at your website, Facebook will register that they have taken action (a conversion) based on when they land on that page with the conversion pixel uploaded.

And there you have it. Three simple steps to help you measure direct ROI from Facebook.

What other ways do you measure ROI on Facebook? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Find out more about measuring your ROI on Facebook with our Consulting Services here.

Social Media Case Study: McDonald’s on Facebook

September 19, 2013/by Corey Padveen

A great example of practices to avoid in your Facebook strategy comes from McDonald’s on Facebook.

Have you ever visited McDonald’s on Facebook? The brand might look great by the numbers – nearly 30M likes, tons of check-ins, and plenty of engagement on their individual posts – but if you look closely, you’ll see that the brand is displaying some bad habits that smaller companies, without a household name, should probably avoid.

When it comes to McDonald’s on Facebook, there are certain things that the company can get away with based solely on the nature of the brand. Those golden arches are recognized the world over, and there is little the brand can do without getting a massive amount of attention for it – for better or worse.

There are three things that the brand does on Facebook, however, that might work for McDonald’s, but should be avoided at all costs by smaller brands without the commercial clout the fast food chain has to fall back on.

No Engagement

Despite the fact that every post shared by McDonald’s generates hundreds if not thousands of comments by fans of the brand, McDonald’s has virtually never responded to a single user.

Now when a post generates hundreds of responses in a matter of hours, it might be hard to respond to every one of them – that’s fair. But there is not so much as a ‘Thank You’ by the brand anywhere. Now pretend this was not McDonald’s. Let’s say it was a small, single-location restaurant with a loyal customer base. Would it not seem strange if people were sharing content and reaching out to the company and being completely ignored?

There should always be some form of Social Care in place – customer service on social media. Let your audience know that you are listening and being social, and not simply using the platform to promote your brands.

And that brings us to the second faux pas by the brand.

All About the Sale

Go through the posts shared by McDonald’s on Facebook, and you might be surprised to see that almost everything the company is sharing is promoting their products – and nothing else. With the exception of a few albums for some McDonald’s-sponsored events or Monopoly, everything McDonald’s shares has that sales pitch feeling to it.

Again, what would people say if a brand without the commercial clout that McDonald’s has started doing this? It probably wouldn’t go over so well.

No Thanks Given

Despite consistently high levels of engagement with their sales-based posts, there is nothing unique offered by McDonald’s on their Facebook page in order to reward loyal fans.

Take a look at what Cadbury did to thank their fans on Facebook, and you’ll see an excellent example of a brand showing customer appreciation. McDonald’s makes no effort to show gratitude, and one has to assume that if those golden arches were not behind it, would they find as much success on Facebook?

It might look good on the surface – hard to argue that close to 30 million fans is a bad thing – but in reality, McDonald’s exhibits several ‘Do Nots’ when it comes to Facebook. Smaller brands would be best to take the McDonald’s Facebook strategy as a list of practices to avoid.

What big brands do you think have done a great job on Facebook or other social channels? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Facebook Marketing: 8-Step Checklist to Getting Started

August 6, 2013/by Corey Padveen

When it comes to Facebook marketing, there are a few steps that need to be taken when getting started.

You have a company, you have a page and you are ready to get started with your Facebook marketing program – all great things!

But in order to find success with your Facebook marketing, there are a few things you need to do right at the outset.

Below is an 8-step marketing checklist for getting started on Facebook (in order).

1. Pick a Page Name (if possible, with a keyword)

If you are John Smith and you own a steakhouse, try and name your page ‘John Smith Steakhouse’. Keywords in the page name are among the few areas on Facebook where they can benefit SEO, so try and get it in there when you choose your name.

2. Create a Vanity URL

A long Facebook URL with a bunch of numbers at the end of it is not very nice to look at. Go to https://www.facebook.com/username and create a vanity URL for your page to maintain professionalism.

3. Optimize Your Sections for SEO

Your About section and your mission statement should have links and keywords close to the front in order to optimize your page for SEO. Do not leave any sections blank. It simply does not look good when people come by.

4. Add Photos and Videos

This includes your profile picture (Hint: 180X180px) your cover photo (Hint: 851X315px) and your page photos (Hint: They fit into 400X400px space on your Timeline). Get content up quickly so you do not have an empty company page.

5. Add Tabs to Your Page

A ‘Like’ box and a selection of photos is not impressive. People want to see that you pay attention to your Facebook page the same way you would pay attention to your customers. Add some custom tabs to your page and make it look great! (Note: Tabs should highlight your goals and expertise.)

6. Promote Your Page

It may sound silly, but people are generally a little hesitant to ‘Like’ a page that has no activity. Reach out to friends and existing clients and invite them to ‘Like’ your page in order to get the ball rolling. You might also want to create a promotion of some of your content for a few bucks to a targeted audience and build your audience that way as well.

7. Familiarize Yourself with Insights

Facebook recently updated their Insights, and there is a lot to learn. As a page owner, you should know what Insights are available, what they mean and how you can use them to increase the business you drive from your page.

8. Start Engaging!

Ask questions, share updates and encourage conversation on your page. Though the average engagement rate on pages falls somewhere in the 0.5%-1.5% range, you should be aiming to shatter that number with your page!

These 8 steps are crucial to getting started with Facebook marketing. However, once they have been taken, it is time to start watching business grow with the help of Facebook!

Which step do you think is the most important? Do you have any others? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Red Bull

August 1, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The Red Bull social media program is among the most impressive in the world, and it has been responsible for much of the brand’s success both on and offline.

While there is much about the Red Bull social media program that can be dissected and observed, it makes sense to start with the most prominent network in their social media arsenal: Facebook.

39 million fans is nothing short of amazing. And while ‘Like’ counts may not mean much, the fact of the matter is that Red Bull has created a brand that resonates far beyond the ‘Gives You Wings’ persona it created at the beginning. Sports, physical triumph and even record-breaking feats are now associated, almost by instinct, with the brand, and much of that is to the credit of their Facebook presence.

There are few key components of the Red Bull Facebook strategy that marketers can learn from. While Red Bull might be a large, worldwide brand, these are lessons that can be applied to both the largest and smallest companies on Facebook.

Let Your Persona Do the Selling

Have a look at the Red Bull Facebook page and try to find a promotional post. In fact, you would even be hard-pressed to find a post that featured so much as a logo.

The persona created by the Red Bull social media team is one that associates greatness with the brand. Red Bull has found its voice and tone and the social network, and has run with it to become one of the most entertaining accounts out there.

Though they are not bombarding their fans with constant content, each piece maintains the brand’s Facebook personality traits and is treated fantastically well by their extremely loyal Facebook fan-base.

Create Clear Distinctions

Red Bull has become famous for some of their viral content. More than one record was broken when Felix Baumgartner jumped from the Stratos and back to Earth. The YouTube record for live-stream viewers was also shattered.

While the Red Bull Facebook page featured content from the jump, it was not the primary source for fans. Red Bull created a standalone page for this endeavour, and it garnered over 850K fans. The only focus of this campaign (page) was the event and all the circumstances that surrounded it.

In this way, fans could find all of the information they could ever want in one central place, and wouldn’t have to hope and rely on Red Bull to post content to their main Facebook fan page when something new popped up.

This is a tactic that should be applied whenever a brand develops a new campaign. Whether it is something as small as an event page on your Facebook brand page, or a whole new page for your major event, something branded and separate from your primary social channels should be created.

Engage!

Look through the posts on the Red Bull Facebook page. The brand engages with their fans virtually every time it is appropriate.

Conversations and engagement are the driving forces behind successful social media strategies, and Red Bull has proven that. By engaging in conversations, it keeps not only the fans engaged, but extended networks can see and even participate as well.

There is a lot marketers can learn from the Red Bull social media strategy; these are just a few takeaways from the Red Bull Facebook program.

Which one of these tips do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Intel

July 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How did Intel subtly promote their new processor to Facebook users?

Creating interactive campaigns has long been an excellent way of engaging your audience and driving users to a landing page, your website or a store. It also makes for a great, open and shut social media case study. However, launching a campaign targeted at Facebook users to build brand awareness is a little more difficult, but Intel managed to do it right.

In 2011, Intel was preparing to roll out their all-new i5 processor. Naturally, this was intended to be the next generation in computer hardware, and they wanted people to know about it. Knowing that showing was much better than telling, the marketing team at Intel decided to put together the ‘Intel Museum of Me‘.

If social media has taught us anything, it is that we are all, to a certain degree, self-obsessed. In order to keep their brand at the forefront of your mind, Intel leveraged that fact and gave you your own museum, something that, quite frankly, is hard to look through only once.

Now, not every marketing budget will allow for such a vastly intricate and impressive campaign to be put together. However, there are surely a few things that marketers can learn from the great work done by Intel to promote their brand to the Facebook audience.

Sometimes the Soft Sell Works Best

The Intel i5 logo pops up at the very end of your museum tour. It is hard to understand where Intel fits into all of this, but it all comes together right at the end. And it leaves you with enough chills to keep the brand in mind for a lot longer than the 3-minute video.

The soft sell can often be the most powerful. Relate your brand to your audience on a personal level and they will remember your name.

Connect with Your Audience

This does not mean connect with them on Facebook or Twitter (well, do that too) but rather really connect with your audience. Give your campaign that personal touch and make each member of your audience feel like it was designed exclusively for them. This small gesture will go a long way when it comes to keeping your brand on the forefront of their minds.

Go Beyond the Brand

Much like the first tip above, your campaign should sell the brand by adding value to your audience’s experience. While touting your expertise, the benefits of your product over another or some other value added from your product or service might work well when it comes to one-time sales, brand loyalty is invaluable and benefits your business in the long-run.

Explain how your brand adds value to your customers and showcase that value with your campaign. This will go a very, very long way.

If you have no yet experienced the ‘Intel Museum of Me‘ we really encourage you to have a look.

What other lessons do you think marketers can learn from this social media case study? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!