Below is live coverage of the Building Buzz On Facebook: Getting Liked & Shared panel from the SMX West conference. This coverage is provided by Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick.
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3:25:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Starting in 5 minutes, lots of cookies up here.
3:26:37 PM Barry Schwartz: Yea I am serious
3:26:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Marty's fault
3:31:55 PM Barry Schwartz: Marty at aimClear is a sponsor of this panel and he has to give a sponsor message in a minute, so he is hoping to distract everyone with cookies.
3:35:09 PM
Barry Schwartz:
First up is Tami Dalley, Vice President of Analytics and Insights, Buddy Media (@DataDivaDalley)
3:35:21 PM Barry Schwartz: Tips for driving likes and comments
3:35:36 PM Barry Schwartz: (1) Keep your posts short, the more characters means the less engagement
3:36:12 PM Barry Schwartz: (2) Post on Thursday and Fridays
3:37:01 PM Barry Schwartz: But this doesn't apply to all industries
3:37:29 PM Barry Schwartz: (3) Photo and plain status posts work well
3:37:46 PM Barry Schwartz: (4) Have clear call to action
3:38:04 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Ask them to like something
3:38:28 PM Barry Schwartz: (5) If you are going to sell, do it softly
3:39:08 PM Barry Schwartz: (6) Place questions at the end of your post
3:40:02 PM Barry Schwartz: (7) Ask a question well
3:40:22 PM Barry Schwartz: Questions with "Why" engagement is very loww
3:40:51 PM Barry Schwartz: (8) Use fill in the blank posts such as I like X
3:41:31 PM Barry Schwartz: (9) Be topical and relevant
3:42:50 PM Barry Schwartz: There is success in posting around tragedies
3:42:58 PM Barry Schwartz: it helps a brand build a dialog
3:43:17 PM Barry Schwartz: (10) Win the super bowl it helps
3:43:43 PM Barry Schwartz: Tips For Driving Shares in Facebook:
3:43:57 PM Barry Schwartz: (11) Understand it's a bigger ask to ask them to share vs like
3:44:16 PM Barry Schwartz: (12) If you want people to share your content, you must ask them
3:44:50 PM Barry Schwartz: (13) Post visual content! Videos, photos, etc
3:45:20 PM
Barry Schwartz:
How do you drive shares outside of Facebook:
3:45:31 PM Barry Schwartz: (14) Add social sharing buttons to your web site
3:45:58 PM Barry Schwartz: People are more likely to trust info emailed or shared on a social network from a friend
3:46:12 PM Barry Schwartz: The average FB sharer has 240 friends
3:46:21 PM Barry Schwartz: That is 83% higher than the average FB user
3:46:35 PM Barry Schwartz: On average, a single share drives 6 new visitors
3:46:53 PM Barry Schwartz: But you need to measure the impact of a social share, otherwise you have no idea if it converts.
3:47:10 PM Barry Schwartz: (15) Tie Shares to Sales and ROI
3:48:09 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Next up is Aaron Friedman, Content Strategist, Resolution Media (@aaronfriedman)
3:50:36 PM Barry Schwartz: #1 rule, you need to be passionate about what you do. If you sell life insurance, don't write about insurance but write about life.
3:51:06 PM Barry Schwartz: EdgeRank is Facebook Algorithms
3:51:55 PM Barry Schwartz: Best way to grow your audience, by ads from mark
3:52:07 PM Barry Schwartz: Not
3:52:10 PM Barry Schwartz: Do not buy likes
3:52:22 PM Barry Schwartz: Buy ads directly on Facebook
3:52:37 PM Barry Schwartz: facebook.com/ads/create/
3:53:14 PM Barry Schwartz: Case study, Bass Fishing Favorites http://www.facebook.com/BassFishingFavorites
3:53:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Over 60,000 fans through buying ads... It was a cost of $0.15 per fan for the first 40,000 fans. They spent a total of $6,000. So when they do launch a site, these people will engage.
3:54:28 PM Barry Schwartz: Tools: They use Kenshoo Social, it is quick, advanced targeting options, lower cost per fan
3:54:49 PM Barry Schwartz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-level-demographics
3:55:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Open Graph: It controls what people see in Facebook (meta data)
3:56:16 PM Barry Schwartz: Control which image shows up in the post
3:56:38 PM Barry Schwartz: The second image has nothing to do with the article
3:57:14 PM Barry Schwartz: Would you do this in Google, i.e. leave your title tags blank? If not, then leaving you pictures blank on FB is the same thing.
3:58:55 PM Barry Schwartz: @ipullrank helped him on building a new tool
3:59:24 PM Barry Schwartz: A Bookmarklet to help you monitor your facebook open graph tags, see http://www.ipullrank.com/open-graph-helper
4:01:04 PM Barry Schwartz: Dan Robbins, Director of Marketing, Fox Racing Shox (@reachdanro) is now up
4:04:24 PM Barry Schwartz: He is talking about passion
4:06:14 PM Barry Schwartz: They don't sell direct... They use Facebook to support their core marketing initiatives
4:07:23 PM Barry Schwartz: They developed their Facebook audience purely organically. They never paid for a like.
4:08:42 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Types of Content They Post:
(1) Photo galleries and videos both raw and polished
(2) Links to web site content, product reviews, event coverage and videos
(3) Contests and special offers
(4) Market research with their fans
(5) Fan calls to actions
4:09:27 PM Barry Schwartz: Their contests and offers are after they become a fan, they dont use it as a bribe
4:11:19 PM
Barry Schwartz:
How they handle user posted content:
(1) Answer every question in a timely manner
(2) They ignore the antagonists
(3) Remove only pure spam and hate posts
(4) Leave questions directed at the community for the community
(5) Check hidden posts daily
4:12:54 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Their 3 Philosophies
(1) Post only quality relevant content
(2) Once posted, forever posted (never take it back)
(3) Time is not of the essence
4:13:16 PM Barry Schwartz: Take the time to fact check, etc.
4:15:31 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Top KPIs
(1) Weekly Like Growth
(2) Likes, comments, shares and clicks numbers
(3) User posts metrics
4:15:45 PM Barry Schwartz: They also have their own branded short URL
4:16:15 PM Barry Schwartz: They look at their direct competitors as a bench mark
4:17:03 PM Barry Schwartz: They also look at the industry
4:20:00 PM Barry Schwartz: They want to see more mobile integration such as admin functionality, tabs, and post sharing
4:20:45 PM Barry Schwartz: Page communications to "Likes" and message users as a page
4:20:58 PM Barry Schwartz: That is all, Q&A Time
4:21:19 PM Barry Schwartz: Next sessions in about 45 minutes:
4:21:21 PM
Barry Schwartz:
5:00pm – 6:15pm
How Siri, Search By Voice & Search By App Are Changing The Mobile Landscape by Barry Schwartz
Duplication, Aggregation, Syndication, Affiliates, Scraping And Information Architecture by Avi Wilensky