Tag Archives: community management

digital media, social media

What Does The New Facebook News Feed Mean To You? (an early look)

Earlier today Facebook announced upcoming changes to their news feed:

We’ve completely rebuilt each story to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that your friends are sharing. Photos, news articles, maps and events all look brighter and more beautiful.

Users will also be able to further customize their news feed experience:

To make sure you’re seeing all the stories you want to see, we’re introducing several new feeds to explore in addition to the same News Feed you have today:

– All Friends – a feed that shows you everything your friends are sharing

– Photos – a feed with nothing but photos from your friends and the Pages you like

– Music – a feed with posts about the music you listen to

– Following – a feed with the latest news from the Pages you like and the people you follow.

So what does this all mean for you?

Content reigns supreme.  

I know you’ve heard this story before. But now, more than ever, this is true. And for a couple of reasons too. 

  1. Photos. Facebook is going to have a news feed dedicated to photos. Your need to understand this if your personal page or brand page is looking to increase or maintain engagement. Sharing a link to a photo will not cut it anymore. You will now NEED to upload photos and share them this way. I also suggest using creative and compelling photos with a focus on great stories and superb quality.  Facebook will not change EdgeRank.  If your content is not shared, liked or commented on, you will find your content not being engaging. And if you’re a brand that means you’ll be spending more financial resources on ads than you should be.
  2. Engaging content. This includes content such as photos, videos, and even polls for instance. The only way to know what is engaging your friends or community is to read the numbers. What is your data saying? If you’re sharing content with friends, do your friends engage with your content or are you left wondering if anyone saw anything? If you manage a brand’s page take a look at your Facebook insights. What are they telling you? What types of content is being shared the most? Which content has high virality numbers?  

These are just a couple of reasons you need to pay attention to Facebook’s new news feed design. Over the next few days, more articles and thoughts are sure to be shared online and on social media. What are your thoughts on Facebook’s newly designed news feed? Share your comments.

 

digital media, social media, twitter

thirdoceanTV – in conversation with Andrew Jenkins

The following interview with Andrew Jenkins first appeared on the thirdocean website. As many of you now know, thirdocean is a boutique social media and digital communications agency that I am partner with. I also have the privilege of being the host of program called thirdoceanTV.

Andrew Jenkins is an emerging technology strategist with Volterra Consulting. Over the last five years, social media strategy has become an increasingly larger part of the work that he does. His focus goes beyond social media campaigns to the “operationalization” of social media and the ongoing efforts required to turn an organization into a social enterprise.

In this full episode, Andrew chats with me about:

– How he shifted from ICT consulting to social media consulting
– What is a social enterprise and what does it mean to operationalize social media
– Why banks and other financial institutions are interested in social media
– How banks measure Return On Investment (ROI)
– Why Twitter as a utility has become important
– What innovations we can expect in 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJx_1UrAX-0?rel=0]

Connect with Andrew Jenkins on his website at www.VolterraConsulting.com and on Twitter at @ajenkins.

Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel and stay up to date with our conversations with North America’s leaders in Social Media and Digital Communications. Follow us on Twitter @wearethirdocean, and Like us on Facebook.

digital media, social media

thirdoceanTV – in conversation with Jaime Stein

The following interview first appeared on the thirdocean website. thirdocean is a boutique social media and digital communications agency that I am partner with.  I also have the privilege of being the host of  program called thirdoceanTV.

This year’s first guest is Jaime Stein of ING.  Jaime currently leads the social media strategy for ING DIRECT here in Canada. Prior to that he was the Canadian Football League’s head of digital and social media where he was in charge of content strategy for CFL.ca.  Jaime also launched the CFL’s involvement in social media.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424rS2CWqu4?rel=0]

You can follow Jaime Stein on Twitter and on his website.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and stay up to date with our conversations with North America’s leaders in Social Media and Digital Communications. Follow us on Twitter @wearethirdocean, and Like us on Facebook.

Uncategorized

the problem with Klout (and other online influence measurement tools)

Earlier this summer I wrote a blog post about the importance of influence. And while I still believe in the idea of Klout and what they are trying (or hoping) to achieve they are still a little way off from a perfect product.  

Don’t forget context

I have come across a number of professionals and agencies who use Klout scores in the creation of influencer programs and strategies.  (Full Disclosure: I am a managing partner and co-founder of a social media and community management communications agency. We haven’t used Klout for our clients.)  And it astounds me that brands pay good money on account of a Klout score with no context.

Here’s what I mean.  What does a Klout score of 40, 76, or 29 (pick any number you want) actually mean?  Nothing in my opinion.  What does matter is context.

Market

What market is a brand targeting? For argument’s sake let’s say that the product is a fluoride-free kids toothpaste.  The brand wants to give away 250 tubes of toothpaste to parents of young children.  The hope is to generate valuable word of mouth buzz to help the toothpaste maker (and their agency) earn some online media mentions.  Does it make sense for the agency of record to work with Klout to identify 250 people with high scores? What if Klout could identify which Klout accounts were parents in a specific target geographic area?  Even if Klout could identify parents who love trying toothpaste and want to use a floride-free brand.

Influence doesn’t end (or begin) online

And herein lies the real problem.  Most parents concerned about floride-free toothpaste are not concerned with their Klout scores.  And this is wildly assuming that these parents are even registered on Klout.

Wait Karim! If these floride-free advocates have high Klout scores won’t that help the toothpaste maker generate valuable online mentions? Maybe.

Influencers

There is greater value, I think, in directly engaging in conversations with these people.  Here’s an idea: Connect directly with a dozen or so popular parent or mommy (even daddy) bloggers.  Find out what their needs are.  Find out what their readers (and community) are interested in. Work with them to create a program that benefits all parties involved: The blogger (or influencer), the blogger’s community, and the client.

During this process you may even find out that the influencer and their community you are engaging with are not interested in the fluoride-free toothpaste. Which allows you to move on to another influencer and engage with them.

Moving forward

The simplicity of measurement tools like Klout is that they tend to make people who work with brands’ communications and marketing programs lazy.  It’s too easy to take a bunch of influencer scores and blast them with messaging.  What’s not as easy, and therefore more rewarding in my opinion, is taking the time to properly engage with potential influencers.  Take the time to deliver a quality product and service to your client.  Don’t take the shortcut.

What is your opinion on Klout?

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