Welcome to August
It's been a sweltering month! Thank heavens I have air con in the office. That might explain the amount of clients coming in to see me actually? The Fleadh began on Sunday and it remained dry pretty much until this morning as its currently lashing here. However, the events don't really start until 4pm most nights and it should be lovely by then
Let's get started..
I finally got the New Pages Experience that everyone online has been raging about. I'm happy to see the update and have loved the super, uber access to analytics. Be sure to check that your About information has been moved over, sometimes it doesn't. Mine had but I chose this time to update it.
Advantage+ Campaigns are Facebook Ads' new 'simplified' campaign model for conversion campaigns. Essentially, they are an easier way to set up conversion campaigns, reducing the amount of manual input required by allowing Facebook to automatically choose tailored campaign settings on your behalf. (Digitalgearbox.co.uk).
I did see what Jon Loomer thought about it and he didn't seem particularly impressed I must say. He said it appeared it was for beginner Ad people and hinted it was a glorified boost button. It's still early days though. We know Meta well enough to know that this is the first roll out and it's bound to be updated in the coming weeks, months and years.
This kinda made me scoff at the screen when I came across this article. It makes sense though. With Meta seeing a drop in business this year and not surprisingly losing a larger audience than it likes to TikTok, something had to give. Read about this rather surprising possible update. Not sure how far this will go.
Great bit of an update from Jon Loomer below. You most likely already have this in your insights. This means that your individual posts are now graded on a Worst-to-Best scale in three categories, compared to the performance of your prior 50 posts.
First head to Meta Business Suite, then pick your page, click Insights and then select Content. Now pick a post and you'll see this box below telling how it rated versus other content. Snazzy!
There is a small pool of beta testers using this facility as Instagram (finally) open up the API. It reminds me when Facebook Live was given a back door elsewhere and everyone got excited about OBS. Well now this is on the way too. For those Live Creators this is wonderful. For the rest of us, well it's nice but not madly needed. Learn more about it here.
I'll be completely honest here, I had to recheck the date and then realised it wasn't April Fools Day. Instagram has rolled out to a few people Instagram Notes. Its a short note that disappears after a while that lives in your inbox area. I can see this being as helpful as WhatsApp updates. Let me know if you get these and if you can think of a helpful way this can be used in the long term, do let me know... Check out the update for yourself.
I'm a bit confused by this because I always thought they were... However, they definitely are now apparently. Let's say you've set up your business profiles on Instagram and you add in the search bar businesses near me, you'll see everyone else and they'll see you! Check out the update in the blog post here.
It's been a mad few months for hackers on Instagram. I've had 2 clients in quick succession suffer from it. So here's some details you might find useful. Please opt to do these three things and hopefully they should help in a small way to protect your business.
1. Ensure you have setup 2 factor authentication.
(You'll be notified by text or email should someone (including you) try to enter. To do this head to the Instagram app and go to settings, then tap on Security, tap on 2 factor authentication and then turn it on of you haven't done so.
2. Revoke access to your account from 3rd party sites you don't trust.
Have you used your Instagram login to access 3rd party sites / apps or have you given any 3rd party tools access to your Instagram account eg maybe some tools that analyse your number of followers /unfollowers or maybe you have tried various apps to schedule posts etc)
If so they have access to your account and for your security it's worth double checking which sites or apps you gave access to in the past and revoke access to 3rd parties that you don't remember or 100% trust. However its not obvious how to do it.
To do this you need to go to the Instagram website using a browser and not the app. Log in to instagram.com.
Click your username and select "Edit Profile" in the drop-down menu.
Click on "Apps and websites" in the side menu.
Find the apps or websites you want to revoke access for in the list Click the "Remove" button next to it. .
3. Never login to your account after clicking on a link
If anyone contacts you via email, DM, Whatsapp - even someone you know well - with a link and when you click on the link you need to login to your Instagram account, never login. Quite often, the other person's account was hacked and they are trying to trick you into logging into an inappropriate site where they capture your logins.
Instead, always open the Instagram app directly or go to Instagram.com to login
Hope these tips help in keeping your account secure. Feel free to save and share with anyone you think might find this useful
I'll be honest I barely use Creator Studio these days but this update will force me back there I'm sure. As you know last month I shared that you can create clips of existing content and make them into Reels or stories. Well now you can schedule those. These videos need to be under 60 seconds and it can all be done in Creator Studio desktop (at the time of writing). Sadly no stickers or native tools currently available there but you can add the hashtags - very handy to schedule at the very least!
LinkedIn have seen how successful the Meta version was and have now created their own! In fairness, I think this is a great idea. I am personally on numerous LinkedIn Business Pages myself and it would make it a LOT easier to manage them all in one button rather than many. It's still in a Beta test sadly, when I tried to access it it didn't open but I will let you know when it does open fully. This could be a time management game changer! Read more about it in this article.
First up, apologies for the pop-up's that show up on the link. The information is very useful so don't let it put you off too much! In this blog post you'll learn about some organic if not particularly easy ways to use LinkedIn. Like most things, it gets easier with practice. Check out the blog link and read about Organic Lead Generation Form, Paid Promotion of LinkedIn Company Page Events, Company Page Engagement Features, Article and Newsletter Discovery and Visibility Features.
Pretty much anyone who has a business account can create and add a LinkedIn Follow button for their website using this free tool from LinkedIn. Check out the article here.
The Trading Online Voucher Scheme is designed to assist small businesses with up to 10 employees to trade more online, boost sales and reach new markets. Participating in this scheme can make the process of trading online much easier for you.
You get up to €2,500 (half paid by you) and get help with training and advice to get your business trading online.
These funds can go towards:
* payment facilities
* booking systems to your website
* developing new apps for your customers.
* subscriptions to low cost online retail platform solutions
* advertising
You have to meet a certain criteria for the vouchers:
Limited or no e-commerce presence
10 or less employees
Turnover less than €2m
Applicant business must be trading for at least 6 months
Businesses that have already received a Trading Online Voucher can now apply for a second voucher, where upgrades are required, contact them at The Local Enterprise Office for more information on applying for a second voucher.
Personally I see this as a great collaborators tool and it could be a nice way to create some FOMO too. What it does is allow two authors to share the spotlight and engage with more people. Its being beta tested at the moment - not here of course, never here. I do hope this happens! Read more about it here.
Something new showed up on my personal Twitter account last month. A Twitter Circle helps you send Tweets to a select group of people, and share your thoughts with them. You choose who's in your Twitter Circle, and only the individuals you've added can reply to and interact with the Tweets you share in the Circle.
It seems to only be available (at the time of writing) on private small pages. The account below is only my personal account with very few followers and my mate Esther mentioned that she got it the same day as me on her small, personal account as well.
Yep, the specific one for it anyway. So you can remove that now and use just your Google Maps one. I have to say its made the whole user experience a bit suckish and it took a while for me to work out how to post to it again via the Maps App. I personally still prefer to post using my laptop and using the back way into my profile. Anyway, hear the latest info on this change by reading this blog.
Special Report: European Tech Regulations by Melanie Boylan
The Fear of Putting Yourself in a Box (Being Pigeonholed) by Melanie Boylan
Lead Magnet Ideas for Product Makers and Creative Businesses by Christine Laureano
Did you want to get some of the essential tips to understand how to create your OWN Marketing Strategy. No need to feel baffled and left behind when it comes to social media. I have created courses and workbooks that you will find give you the foundation AND framework to build upon. These tools will keep you accountable as well.
From January 2022 I have been running a series of 6 week Workshops. If you would like to learn more about them, then please sign up for my next FREE Webinar which will be in September on Monday the 12th at 1pm UTC or 8am EST. Learn about the 6 Ways to Improve Your Marketing and Save Time and Money too!
Alternatively, If you're looking for a more one on one style of training to create a strategy for your social media and overall digital marketing and would like to know how to do this by yourself for your own business or for the company you work for, then you maybe interested in doing this training that I offer.
I help you create it at a pace you set, filling in the gaps in your knowledge along the way. You'll be given work to do between the sessions that you can manage and that won't be overly disruptive to your everyday workload.
This will give you accountability and you can contact me anytime during the training if you have any questions that crop up between sessions.
With half the year of 2022 now behind us, are you on track for your goals and targets so far? If not, then maybe you should contact me. I have set aside some regular time slots to offer this training and it can run either in 1 month, 6 weeks or even 12 weeks if you prefer! I can give you the dates to fit around both our schedules from day one so you know this in advance. If you would like to learn more about what this covers, then visit this page.
This course has been currently accepted by 5 Local Enterprise Office Areas as suitable for the Trading Online Voucher but you can also get this training directly. Check out all the lovely testimonials I have received regarding this course.
Podcast 132 - GA4 - What is it and why do you need to change over now with Aaron Ocampo
Podcast 133 - Why Pizza was more popular than Burgers because of Marketing
Podcast 134 - The Psychology of Marketing
Podcast 135 - PowerPoint for Marketing with Fiona Walsh
So here we are, its finally here, the Fleadh Cheoil began this week and I've had a listen, a dance and plenty of bad food since it started. I've also spent some time with me kids as well and hope to take some more time off this coming month too.
If you have any questions on any of this or would like to bring your own questions to me, then contact me today!.
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
