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Fran Stephenson December 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

What Does Your Facebook Insight Chart Say About You?

You are, of course, looking deeply at your Facebook insights to see how your fans are interacting with your organization, and analyzing what content resonates with your community. But you can make some instant observations by looking at that little chart which is nestled just above the cover photo and between the “New Likes” and “Page Tips” section.

If you are managing more than one page, this is a quick benchmark to see how your pages stack up against one another.

As a refresher, the purple circles along the bottom of the chart represents posting frequency by the page owner.  The green trend line above it represents actions taken by fans. This includes liking the page, or a post on the page, sharing something from the page or commenting on the page. The blue trend line above that is what Facebook calls Reach.  It’s a complicated Facebook formula but basically take your fans and multiply it by how many people they are connected with or have “friended” on Facebook and you get a sense of the magnitude.

Here are some samples from client pages I have managed with some observations I used to examine next steps with the client.

On a Roll

This chart shows an organization with frequent FB contributions

This organization is doing well with creating frequent posts and interacting with their fan base.  Their fan base is engaged.

Hiccup

Chart Showing Glitch in Facebook Activity

This organization may have been on a roll, but recently had some kind of hiccup with their content strategy. Go back to the date to see what suddenly changed and see if it can inform better decision-making in the future.

Abandoned

This chart shows that a page has been abandoned

Someone gave up on this page. It happens to many organizations. Usually it means the page owner got reassigned or too busy to keep the home fires burning.

Smokin’ Hot

This chart shows an organization that is doing powerful FB content

This organization is burning up the charts with strong content and continuous growth.

Burnout

This chart shows a FB page with infrequent postings

This little chart shows how easy it is to reverse the “on a roll” trend.

 

Have you seen a page like one of these? Did it help you make new decisions? I use this short exercise once or twice a month to see where I need to look next for insight.

Filed Under: Social Strategy Tagged With: content strategy, Facebook insights, Step In Communication

Fran Stephenson November 27, 2012 4 Comments

Myths about Digital Natives-On My Mind

Blogging discussion in class on the Day of Archaeology
I hear it at least once a week.  A grandiose statement about how savvy twenty-somethings are and that they are the experts in exploring and using technology. I interact with that generation every week at the college level, and see a different type of native. In the past two years, I have had students who:

  • Did not know how to upload a document into an online dropbox;
  • Have never read a blog
  • Have only used Facebook, Reddit and YouTube
  • Are afraid to use an online learning system or take an online class

I don’t want to make a similar grandiose statement to say that all twenty-somethings are digitally averse, but it’s clear to me that we should not make assumptions either way and use every opportunity to share the rush that comes from learning something new in the digital universe.

Conversely, my students have also taught me about what’s important to them in their digital lives.

This has broad implications for school systems, for employers AND for students.  It’s not about your age. It’s not about whether you are a Boomer or Gen whatever, it’s about teaching the next generation to learn by exploring.

Photo by Anthro 136k on Flickr. Published under Creative Commons license.

Filed Under: Social Strategy Tagged With: digital natives, learning, Step In Communication

Fran Stephenson February 13, 2012 1 Comment

Confessions of a Contest Entrant

I was certain I would get a phone call last month to say that I had won the contest.  Not just any contest, but the Williams-Sonoma, Real Simple Holiday Sweepstakes Extravaganza or something like that.

The prize was awesome. A $5000 gift card to shop at Williams-Sonoma.  There were so many things I needed for my kitchen, I was a sure winner.  (After nearly 20 years of marriage, the pots and pans are sad looking and not all our dishes match anymore.  And the towels….don’t get me started!)

Enter daily to win, the online form explained.  Excellent.  So each morning for nearly 30 days, I would open the bookmarked form and record my entry.  There was only one problem with this strategy — every time you entered, you had to fill out an entire entry form.  All of it.  Name, address, city, state, zip, e-mail, opt-in, submit.

Are you kidding me?  That’s a lot of work, but okay, in this case, I persevered.
It was a fun diversion each morning, thinking of how I would spend the gift card.  I even went so far as to go onto the Williams-Sonoma web site to look at their dishes and pots and pans.

Can you hear their digital marketing team cheering in the background?

Williams-Sonoma Contest Form

Not all Contest Forms are Alike!

So, congratulations to the Williams-Sonoma marketing team.  I was completely sucked in.

Earlier last year, I was equally sucked in to a contest sponsored by Southwest Airlines called Let ‘Em Fly and Win where each day you had one roll of the dice and if you got one of the published Yahtzee dice combos you got a bajillion frequent flyer miles.

“This is fabulous,” I thought.  With our son about to go off to college, this would certainly lighten the damage of all those college trips on our pocketbook.  Like the Williams-Sonoma contest, you could enter daily to win.  So I did.  Every day for 30 days.  There was one key difference between the two contests.  After you entered all your information on the form on the first day, on subsequent days, you only had to enter your email address to roll the dice.

Brilliant.

Not once did I get a combination worthy of frequent flier miles, but it certainly got me thinking about what makes a great online contest.

There’s only two things you need to have a great online contest.  First, you need a great prize.  Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the value of a contest prize is determined by the participant.  If your fans, friends or network perceive the prize to be of value, then it is.  For others, it might be a gift card or an iPad.  Frequent flyer miles and kitchen equipment were my motivators — I can confess without blushing that these prizes were sweet enough to motivate me.

The second component of a successful contest – keep it simple.  Too many form fields or requirements will drive entries away.  If the prize for the kitchen equipment was, say $500, I may not have gone through the trouble each day to fill out the form.  Except I REALLY need new dishes.

The Southwest Airlines contest was far easier. And Fun.  Like going to Vegas, without the smoke-filled casinos.

Great prize.  Simple entry.  That’s the key to a good contest.

What types of contest prizes motivate you?

Filed Under: Social Strategy Tagged With: contests, marketing, online contests, strategy

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