What a month it's been! Leading up to my trip to San Diego, I was squeezing in as much forward planning and scheduling as I could, in order to give myself time to digest everything I had learned at SMMW23 and am so glad I did that!
Looking back a fortnight ago I remember feeling so tired. The journey, the time shift and the huge swathes of information I was trying to retain. It was a lot but it was totally worth it and its given me ideas for days and so much content to share for my clients and podders alike.
Let's get started:
Every year I have clients telling me they think Facebook is getting deader for them. I won't lie, organic reach sucks! But only on your business page! If you pay for ads though your business will do well I assure you.
In this update from Tom Alison the Head of Facebook he brings us up to speed with where they are and what they are focusing on for 2023 and beyond. Well worth a read.
It's been around for a while now but it doesn't mean its the end of advertising YOUR business. Have you been finding careful ways to put your phrasing to copy in your ads? Its not as necessary as you might think. I love the way Jon Loomer phrased this blog, very useful and easy to read. Have a read for yourself.
I'm not giving away everything I learned in San Diego but this is a doozy! I've been very "Meh" about Professional Mode and then it become available a week before I left for San Diego and headed to Social Media Marketing World.
While I was there I noticed that my reach and traction had increased some what (actually quite noticeably) and I was also attracting new people to my personal page. During the opening address / keynote on the first day I found out why. Apparently the algorithm has been shaken up by Meta and we now are getting more "unconnected" traffic to our personal pages, thus encouraging further social interaction.
Let me make this clear. This is not now a tool for you to use to build up business on your personal profile. Professional Mode is meant for Creators who can engage their audience and even monetise it with the engagement. Its not where they sell, its where they engage! Read this update from Meta back in November 2022.
So are you Creator? If so, then this platform will be very useful for you.
Something that surprised me a little at the Social Media Marketing World was that more people than ever are viewing our content on Facebook. This report came out in the final quarter of 2022 and I suspect its only going to better and better for people we are unconnected too. Does this surprise you? This is referred to as the Meta Transparency Report and comes out each quarter. I'll get the next one next month and we'll compare them when they come out.
A new tool ahs come out in the US right now that has changed the way Creators communicate with their audience. This Broadcast Channels helps you as a creator message many and helps build rapport directly with your audience.
Meta is actively encouraging the Creator to give behind-the-scenes chats with their followers and subscribers so you can give more value than ever to them. You'll be able to share voice notes, texts, photos, videos and even polls using this tool. It's initially being trialled but the hope is it will be rolled out more fully before the end of the year.
Learn more about this new update here.
AI is here to stay, it's not going any where and we have to learn to embrace it. Over the last few months I have seen such a big shift in attitudes to it and I have had to change mine too! I know it's uncomfortable having to get out heads around yet another thing, but if we don't - there is every likelihood we'll be left behind. Our competitors are going out of their way to get ahead and we have to stay the course. So if Web3, NFT and Metaverse are all over your head (me too) then at least spend some time to get your head around some of these tools. A lot are here to save us time and reduce process time.
Some of the doomsayers are saying that we'll lose lots of jobs, it's possible but not immediately, others are saying AI is becoming sentient, also possible. We have survived everything that has happened before and we'll survive this to.
Go at your own pace, commit some time each week or month to business development and some of this should include time to upskilling yourself on weak areas. Being afraid runs the risk of being left behind.
As much as I personally won't use AI to write my blogs, I just can't bring myself to do that! I will be using it for ideas, garden planting plans and image creation! Work within the realms that keeps you comfortable. Adopt tools early and quickly and you might get the discounted price.
"Nothing will work...unless you do"
Canva has some presents to give you! If you're currently a user you may have spotted this image when you opened your Canva recently. I'll be honest, I didn't see these until I read this article, so you're not alone if you did miss it. I found these "parcels" actually below the "You Might Want to Try..." list.
What they are trying to do is encourage more use of the separate offerings they've been rolling out over the last couple of months and brought it to the main screen that people see. It's well worth exploring each of these. It's a great example of how AI is working in Canva!
OK - yes it does look like the machines are taking over here but it just shows you how important it is we step up and upskill. Mid March we heard from LinkedIn that they have created Collaborative Articles. You can find them via the a keyword search using a skill-related keyword or of course just in your notifications and feed. You'll also be able to find the in an external search using your favourite provider.
"Collaborative articles are knowledge topics published by LinkedIn with insights and perspectives added by the LinkedIn community. These articles begin as AI-powered conversation starters, developed with our editorial team, but they aren’t complete without insights from our members. A select group of experts have been invited to contribute their own ideas, examples and experiences within the articles."
Have you seen these yet or indeed participated in them? Learn more about them in this update.
Like most of us you probably find filling out the blurb about your past roles very uninteresting. It makes you wonder why you did that job for years and years. Now with the help of an AI (Currently only available to Premium Users) you can get some assistance with this.
What it does apparently is scan your profile and create the copy for you. I've not seen this in action myself but if you are a Premium account holder, this will be rolling out as an option in the months to come! Learn more about this in this blog.
It's quite the conundrum isn't it? Like a yoyo Elon has added and removed the benefits of paying for Twitter Blue over the last 4 weeks, no one's really sure what's going to become of Twitter Blue. After much personal debate though, I decided to pay towards Elons debt - sorry Twitter Blue and I figured I'd get some of it back anyway because of the VAT I saw no harm.
I can hardly form an opinion or train on this platform without having some knowledge on it though can I? It took a few days and eventually I became "verified". I was actually Verified before - but only because I'm a Journalist. Aside from an extra section that wasn't there before my options don't
I'd love to know what your plans are for Twitter? Will you be staying free or going for the verified version, with whatever that lands us with? Check this article for some details.
Everyone's asking if TikTok should be banned on work phones and electronics, have you heard this? I do understand and there is some justifiable reasons for this but I wonder if all of these presidents, prime ministers and general leaders fully appreciate that there are other platforms that probably know us even better than TikTok? OK, the platform I have in mind in Google and is wholly owned by Alphabet Inc situated out of Mountain View, California but just because it's a Chinese company that owns it doesn't make other platforms better or safer.
Over here in Ireland earlier last month our Taoiseach was debating this exact issue. It's time to watch what we say and do more than ever on our channels! Learn more about the announcement here.
Last year Google announced that Universal Analytics (UA) was being sunsetted on the 1st of July 2023. This means you need to move over to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) as soon as possible to allow data to be collected in the interim months. They can work in tandem in the intervening period, while you get more familiar with the new process. It does look quite different and needs to be navigated in a whole new way. Learn more about the changes in this blog from Hubspot.
11 Lessons Learned from Short Form Video Creation by Jon Loomer.
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.
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.
From January 2023 I am running a monthly Accountability 1:1 for 30 minute per week. These are the basis of my weekly Business Strategy meet ups. These meetings are pre booked by you at times that work around your own schedule.
You will first complete a pre qualifying form so I know where you're starting from and we shall then speak weekly and have a private 1:1 Facebook Group that keeps you pushing forward and getting stuff done.
How they work:
What do you need help with? Creating Goals, starting or finishing a project, creating an event, writing a book, marketing?
Book weekly dates for the next month that we can talk straight into my calendar.
Pay the monthly fee - visit the webpage
You will then receive an email from me with a link to the Facebook group and we shall meet either in person at my office if you're local or via zoom, the choice is yours.
Episode 166 - Instagram for Business
Episode 167 - Does Your Product or Service Solve Problems?
Episode 168 - LinkedIn Profile with Naomi Johnson (The Profile Company)
Episode 169 - What are Hashtags and why should you use them?
Making it to San Diego was a dream come true for me and I'm so thankful that it met my many expectations. I was blown away with the calibre of speakers and their presentations have improved my techniques and my "knowledge bombs" that I will indeed be using to surprise and delight my own audience with as well.
I hope you find this months round up useful and look forward to bringing you more updates in a few weeks time. If you need anything n the meantime, don't hesitate to contact me.
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
