Facebook News Feed
Optimization: How to
Dramatically Increase
Your Visibility and
Engagement
Design ©2011 Social Media Examiner •
Content Copyrighted by Presenter
Presented by
Mari Smith
The size of Facebook
672,949,580 - the first billion is coming!
Over 30 billion pieces of content shared
each month!
How do you get your content SEEN?
Source: SocialBakers.com
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Facebook’s news feed
Brilliant invention!
Patented
NFO (vs SEO) is now the name of the game!
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News feed demystified
Most recent vs. top news
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News feed – on mobile
Default = “live feed”
Over 250 million active
mobile users.
Twice as active!
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EdgeRank explained
Affinity score
Weight
Time decay (recency)
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Educate your fans?
Make use of Friend Lists
Add fan pages (see next slide)
Ask fans to bookmark your page
Adjust settings to see maximum
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Create friend lists
Add fan pages
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Adjust news feed settings
Default = Friends and
pages you interact with
most
Change to: All of your
friends and pages
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Tipping point
500-1000 fans
Build momentum
Facebook
Online
Offline
See http://bit.ly/21waysfb
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Strategies for
Effective Wall
Posts
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Where is your content seen?
Your fan page wall
The news feed of your fans
Social plugins
(e.g. Like Box)
Other plugins
(e.g. Wibiya toolbar)
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Types of content
Photos
Videos
Links
Status updates (wall posts)
Questions
Apps
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Length of posts
KISS – keep it short and sweet
The longer your posts, the lower the engagement rate.
Keep posts to under 80 characters to increase
engagement. [Source: BuddyMedia.com]
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Use long URLs
Avoid link shorteners.
Use long URL’s
Engagement rates are three times higher. [Source: BuddyMedia.com]
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Post in high traffic windows
Post between 10am and 4pm EST (7am-1pm PST).
Experiment; find your own sweet spot.
Also, post outside business hours.
Engagement rates on Thursday & Friday are 18% higher
than other days of the week. [Source: BuddyMedia.com]
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Optimize Fridays!
Facebook’s “Happiness Index” spikes by 10% on Fridays.
The less people want to be at work, the more they are on
Facebook!
See http://apps.facebook.com/gnh_index/
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Frequency of posts
2 – 3 times per day
Space out by several hours
Fans with few friends
and connected to few
pages
Big brands: once every
other day! (Dan Zarrella)
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Manual vs. third party apps?
Manual posts
receive slightly
higher EdgeRank
score
Third party apps
are often collapsed
in the news feeds
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Most likes within 1hr 20mins
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Pre-schedule?
Mix it up, use sparingly
HootSuite.com
Postling.com
[See also 22 tools at: http://bit.ly/22smtools]
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SEO tip
Import your blog posts automatically via both:
Networked Blogs app, and
Facebook Notes app
Uncheck post to wall
Then, manually publish
new posts to your wall
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Networked blogs settings
Edit Page > Apps > Networked Blogs > Go to App
Uncheck Publish to Wall & Show on Tab
Check Show on Tab Only
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Notes app settings
Edit Page > Apps > Notes > Additional Permissions >
uncheck
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Per post insights
Impressions?
Number of times your content is rendered in the stream
Likes
Comments
Formula = # impressions/(likes + comments) = feedback percent
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Track engagement
Per post insights (daily)
Plus, daily story feedback (totals)
Plus, unlikes and unsubscribes
Unlikes: Insights > Users >
third graph down
Unsubscribes: Insights >
Interactions > purple line
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Engagement strategy
Facebook fan page policy
Reply within two hours
Every post gets a reply
Strip out spam, @ tags
Friendly, helpful
Use first names
Encourage “neighborhood watch”
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Build your page culture
Reputation for providing
consistent valuable content
The place to get answers,
solutions for _______
challenge(s).
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Ideas to Jumpstart Your
Facebook Page Visibility
Design ©2011 Social Media Examiner •
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Fan Page Friday
Allow fans to post links, @ tags
Share on Twitter
Create buzz
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Expert Friday
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“Office hours”
Set times you’re live on your Page
Incorporate into your Page banner and/or photo-strip
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Live video, chat
Vpype
Livestream
JustinTV
Ustream
Linqto
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Takeaways
Build beyond 500-1000 fans
Experiment with high traffic windows
Less is more in terms of frequency and characters
Implement “jump start” ideas
Consistency is key
Track and test daily
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Got questions?
Join Mari on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/marismith
Tweet Mari: @marismith
Subscribe to Mari’s blog: www.marismith.com
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