Someone recently said to me that there has been more innovation in the last year which has out matched anything we have seen in the last 10 years. Going by the size of these last few round ups, I can totally believe it! Seriously, it's reaching epic proportions right now.
With the weather raging against us more than we should really expect for early May (which made it a bit of washout) to now boiling away in 20 degree temperatures it's been a mixed bag, but at least more things are open now. My long, very long awaited visit to the gym is coming up next week!
I'm also finally able to get vaccinated, happening today as it happens - they finally got down to my age! I'm longing to see my Mum - its been 20 months this month since I physically saw her! Let's hope its going to continue getting better?
Anyway, enough of me, let's get on with it...
With the arrival of iOS 14 the anticipated changes have kicked in and now tracking can be switched off. Have you done this? Check out this article on the campaign from Facebook who are doing their best to discourage you!
If you're wondering how its going to impact your ads then check this article out from Facebook directly.
Yep, it's getting even worse. Mari Smith shared this blog post last month from Hootsuite that I personally found remarkably useful. It goes into some detail of the evolution of the Facebook Algorithm and what it appears to be today. Well worth a read.
Some work that Mari has recently performed and shared with us though, is as long as keep plugging away and monitor what works for our business pages and audience we can actually tweak it for ourselves.
She also mentioned that Facebook Live and uploaded native videos of 5+ minutes get the best reach and engagement but you have to keep doing it on a regular basis. She sourced Socialbakers for this data.
Mari also mentioned how the new Facebook Pages Experience is messing all sorts of things up and she's noticed a drop in reach as well for that.
I don't know about you but I hate change, certainly since Facebook seem to do it so often! Just as the Marketing and Training world have started to get a handle on the massive Facebook 5 event last year, now they do this.
So far I have only seen one page changed over to NPE and it was done by Facebook, not by them and already I'm struggling to see how to access the usual elements of the page. Others are finding they have been restricted to Moderator on their own page too?? It was resolved by Facebook Support but even so.
I'm a Creator Studio User, I know a lot of people who are and there's been a lot of glitches happening during the change. Its going to be like that for a while as well! Some of the problems people have been experiencing (as per Mari Smith):
However, Mari recently did her "my latest Facebook Live" then you may find this useful! She also suggested using this form if you have any bugs to report use this form. (But, if you get an error page, the form may not be available to all countries yet).
However, on the positive side, I am hearing from some folks that the NPE has given them an INCREASE in both reach and engagement. Plus, the new dedicated News Feed where you can engage AS your Page is a big hit so far.
https://business.facebook.com/business/help/267787810768958 IN stream reserve
If you run a group then a great way to interact and build strong engagement is to host a Q and A. This past month Facebook enabled this facility in an easy post format. Hopefully this can bring out the less than happy people who don't want to go on video but happy to post live instead. Check it out here.
If you're a Creator in Instagram, for a long time the only difference was the backend and maybe a wee bit of the Algorithm but now you can actually MAKE money! This would be by creating Creator Shops, affiliate commerce, and a “branded content marketplace.”
With a Creator Shop its not just attached to your business profile, its also attached to your personal one too. The affiliate side ill be a very useful tool for those that are using Influencers too. Check out the full article here for more information.
This rather immense, yet amusing blog from Jon Devo is well worth the read and the seemingly endless pop-ups that show up at the beginning (apologes). He writes like me!
Jon's passionate comments the algorithm I completely agree with. Have you heard of the Google Cloud API? I'll be honest - In hadn't until I read this blog! Jon's fix however is towards the end of this diatribe and up to the reader if they feel its worthwhile (I do obviously or I wouldn't be sharing it...)
I admit - I would not be the-next-best-thing when it comes to Instagram but I do post sometimes! I did however notice last month (after my daily apps update) that I now have a Captions Sticker.
You can edit the font, colour of the font and spell check it too - all you need to do is click on the words and it will open up for you. Check it out!
My previous go-to for StartUps and Scale Ups was always Hootsuite but since their rather crazy, mad price hike - I now suggest businesses try out the FREE AgoraPulse plan as a means to schedule to platforms.
As I'm sure you're aware you can schedule to Facebook Creator Studio for Facebook and Instagram for FREE but you can plonk a few other platforms in here too. Don't forget you can get 2 months FREE on the paid plan here if you want to move on and get more perks: http://bit.ly/Agora2MonthsFree
Now open to Android Users!! The rather amusingly, long await addition to the family rolled out early May and set the world aflutter! Actually it didn't sadly. There was a kinda muted "Oh so we can join now?" vibe instead. Honestly I think Twitter Spaces stole a lot of their thunder in making it possible sooner to add Android.
I think this might be a bit damaging for Clubhouse but time will tell. At the end of May I really didn't see the influx I was expecting from this release///
So like I said, Twitter Spaces has been quite the success of late and lots of big brands in the Digital Marketing space have picked up their potty and ran with it. With this in mind, they are now opening up Spaces to almost anyone! Well - anyone who has over 600 followers anyway. Are you there yet?
This is actually pretty good news, for the lazy editors out there (like me). The amount of times I've had to edit a photo for an article or a blog I've been working because on Twitter it would focus on the nose or chest! This means you now can see the whole vision of the image, no matter the size. Make sure you update your apps to see this feature!
Last month the Tip Jar was launched for certain accounts, Journalists were one of these! It's primarily for Creators I would imagine but the guys at Twitter added us too for some reason. It's a bit of an odd thing to add but I guess as Clubhouse did this some months ago they wanted to do the same. Learn more about this and check out any struggling Journalists :D
I just adore cheat sheets. It saves more having to poor over blogs, watch endless videos or listen to too much chatter in a podcast. So for other fellow lazy people, please find this rather useful cheat sheet from Forbes. Enjoy!!
Yep, there are now no less than THREE ways to get yourself out there - just on LinkedIn. I've covered all me bases since the roll out and I will be honest with you I am ACTUALLY getting more hits on my page. I kid you not. I'm also weirdly (personally) getting found in more searches too so I can only imagine it's connected.
Would you like yet another way to display your skillset and services? As of May 2021 LinkedIn are now rolling out another page dedicated to your services.
So the Facebook-ification continues. I don't suppose its a bad thing either. Its becoming the accepted norm that you just click-a-button to do stuff these days and with the actual rise in people using the platform it was a logical step. Have you seen this update yet?
Podcast 70 - Features Tell, Benefits Sell
Podcast 71 - How to Be a Thought Leader with Tracy Lamourie
Podcast 72 - Competition Vs Collaboration
Podcast 73 - How a VA Can Help You Market Your Business with Ellie Clogher
Podcast 74 - Social Movements and Social Media
This blog was actually longer but I simply didn't have time to add any more. The insanity of all the updates and things I'm meant to stay on top of right now!
It's impossible for any small business or indeed sole trader to do this all alone. To that end I actually thinking of engaging a VA this month! What ever you're doing in June, I wish you all the best of luck and I'll be back in July with yet another round up. Take care till then. Please contact me if you need anything!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
