NowThis News

If you haven't heard of the Instagram account, NowThis News, you most certainly will soon. With over 50,000 followers, NowThis News is changing the way people receive breaking news. NowThis specializes in using Instagram to deliver breaking news in 15-second video clips. Since its introduction last June, Instagram video has mainly been used to promote upcoming stories, events or campaigns, rather than breaking the actual news itself. This has been a pretty successful model for certain brands who have taken advantage of Instagram's latest feature, but what about news agencies? We all know that Twitter is the leading social media platform for breaking news, so why can't Instagram follow suit? Take a look at some examples of what NowThis News has been bringing to Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/fnhmiGM925/

http://instagram.com/p/fk_pWDs9_h/

This must be the most condensed, no-nonsense delivery of news in the history of reporting, and with our generation's ever shortening attention spans, nothing is more important than brevity. This is one of those ideas that is so simple it's genius. Not only does NowThis get you the facts quickly and efficiently, the videos are also very visually appealing.

We believe the introduction of NowThis will almost certainly impact the way traditional media breaks the news. How long until we see similar tactics from outlets like CNN, NPR, etc? If they are smart, and want to stay relevant with today's youth, the sooner they better. It will be exciting to see how fast NowThis grows and how much of an impact it will have.

-Mike & Samantha

How to Take Advantage of Facebook's New Algorithm

Facebook's Edgerank is evolving: There are now over 100,000 criteria that factor into what a fan sees on their Newsfeed on a daily basis. Details on such factors are hard to come by, but there is new insight on what goes into Facebook's latest algorithm/ranking system based off of a survey of current users.

To summarize, Facebook is making it easier to determine what content is higher quality -- and what is not. Now, digital marketers will need to keep an extra close eye on content that is trustworthy, pertinent and useful for the fan in order to stay at the top of a Newsfeed.

Here's how you can make sure your content stands out:

1. Create Quality Posts: Facebook is an incredibly intertwined community and therefore, the content pushed out to fans should help keep it feeling that way. As a result, the copy that goes along with a photo or link should be engaging and keep your audience wanting more. Does your company answer the following questions (as asked by Facebook)? Would you share it with friends or recommend it to others? Would you call this a low quality post or meme? Would you complain about seeing this content in your News Feed?
2. Concentrate on True Engagement: Before, asking fans to "Like" a post or "Share" a link typically got fans to engage. However, Facebook has now implemented rules around such requests of fans which may come with negative metric results. Therefore, be extra mindful of the content that you are posting, as it should organically get fans to engage -- and come back for more in the future.
3. Offer Various Types of Posts: If you didn't know, many Facebook Pages relied on image-heavy post to obtain great engagement in the past and thus, received more eyes on their content. Today, Facebook has made many changes to how other types of content is being seen. For example, they recently updated how links are displayed in the Newsfeed (FB increased the size of the image in the links), hence why marketers need to rethink the type of content that they are typically using. If your company only pushes images, you may be negatively effected by not reaching the majority of your fans who may prefer text-only or posts with links.

Lastly, there have been additional edits to Edgerank that may also effect if and how your content is being seen by fans on Facebook. Story Bumping, for instance, moves past posts to the top of a fan's Newsfeed if they did not see it before. Such stories are chosen based on who posted the content and the connection between said company/person and the fan at hand. For now, we've only seen it being used between fans, but this is evidence of the direction that Facebook is currently headed. As we've noted, Facebook is now providing fans with the posts that they find most useful or entertaining, versus a random Newsfeed of information.

Takeaway: Although we're thrilled that Facebook is making the necessary changes to make sure the content a fan sees is relevant and valuable, this makes it more difficult (but not impossible) for a marketer or company to be successful on this popular platform. Take the above tips into consideration and the Newsfeed will take notice!

-- Samantha & Mike

#TooMuch?

After reading our last post on how to take advantage of hashtags, we are sure you are eager to implement your new knowledge. While hashtags are an important tool in social media, beware of becoming the dreaded over-hashtagger. Remember, hashtags are great, but use only in moderation. Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon demonstrate the aforementioned overuse below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA

-Mike & Samantha

How to Use a #Hashtag, for Beginners

Hashtags (links with the pound sign -- # -- in front) are everywhere. From Twitter to Google+, to Instagram and most recently Facebook, the proper use of hashtags can be somewhat confusing! Having said this, they're an important part of social media and should not be taken lightly when applying them to your brand's digital strategy.

To start, a # will make any word or phrase directly behind it into a completely searchable link. In essence, hashtags help aggregate content across many platforms and allows for better organization around a topic or conversation.

• Text following a hashtag should not (and cannot) include spaces, periods, commas, question marks, apostrophes, exclamation points or any special characters.
• Numbers are allowed.
• There are no limits to hashtags, so feel free to make up your own -- or better yet, enter in on a current conversation to stay extra relevant!

As mentioned above, hashtags can be used on a number of social platforms.

• Twitter: This is where hashtags first started. Be sure to check out the Trends section on the side of your Twitter feed to see the current list of hashtags that you may find interesting, typically based on your tweets.
• Instagram: Hashtags on this image-focused platform help you obtain new followers and also provide great sources of finding new users and interesting content.
• Tumblr: On here, there is a specific Tag area where you can input certain terms, which basically act as hashtags and organizes content around conversations.
• Google+: Similar to a Google search, clicking on a hashtag will show results relating to the topic at hand and will also give you the option of searching the # on Facebook or Twitter.
• Facebook: Although only introduced a few months ago, hashtags on this popular site have not done as well as originally expected. Although hashtags on Facebook serve a similar function as Twitter or Instagram, many digital marketers question the actual benefits of including hashtags in posts.

In addition to helping your company create or join a conversation online, hashtags often better help define a brand's personality. With a tone that may include sarcasm or humor, etc. hashtags can create a unique brand voice, which will ultimately keep your company top of mind for users. Note that you should not add too many hashtags to your posts/tweets, as more than 3-4 can often be seen as spam.

Lastly, creating a hashtag that your company or brand can own is crucial. Whether or not you decide to create your own or simply take over an existing one is up to you, as both have great benefits. Keep in mind the following:

• Creating a #: Be sure to do research before you choose. If you decide to join a conversation, make sure you pick a hashtag that has many users already using it. If you decide to make up your own, make sure that it's unique by checking to see if anyone has used it previously.
• Be consistent: After you decide on a hashtag(s), be sure to use them consistently across all of your brand's social platforms and marketing materials. Teaching your audience to expect certain messaging that will (hopefully) get them to tweet or post with your hashtag in the future!
• Make it short & to the point: Keep your hashtags short so they are clear to users and are easy to use by others. Also, be sure that the hashtag isn't too generic to keep it as effective as possible.
• Stay relevant: Be sure to follow current trending hashtags and be sure to use hashtags that relate to your business. If they're not relevant to you, don't use them as it'll end up looking like spam.
• Utilize your hashtag: A great way to kick off a new hashtag is by introducing it via a contest or promotion which will get the attention of your fan base. Do so in a creative way that will immediately make your fans think of your brand when they see it!

Comments, questions? Feel free to add them below and we'll get back to you!

-- Samantha

5 Ways to Make Successful Social Content

Let us break it down for you: Here are 5 ways to make successful content on social media. Although we could come up with a handful more, we think these will help your company get on track -- fast. 1. Create reasonable social goals. Goals are important for any marketing strategy to be able to measure success -- and discover areas for improvement. Coming up with goals that are attainable is a totally different story, so make sure yours are possible to reach!

We suggest coming up with goals (regarding analytical data) for each piece of content created. Start with X number of Likes on Facebook, increase number of RTs on Twitter by X amount, have X number of people share your piece of content per day/week, increase engagement on social platforms by X amount over the next month, etc.

2. Get to know your audience. Fully knowing who you're talking to is key to creating the best content to promote your brand. Start by completing research on your target audience and determining what they find interesting and sharable.

As we've mentioned in previous posts, enter the conversation that your fan base is already having. Track hashtags, search keywords and truly practice "social listening." With this data, you can more appropriately create content that will inherently fall into place with what your audience is currently interested in. Therefore, your brand will be pushing creative that feels natural and approachable.

3. Make valuable content. After you determine what makes your audience passionate, come up with content that is useful and/or taps into people's emotions. By providing content that adds to a fans life, such as helpful tip or funny joke, your fan will not only share it, but they will most likely come back for more. Don't forget to switch it up! Try images, videos, true or false questions, fill in the blank, etc. to keep your audience engaged.

Manage a restaurant? Try sharing an easy, delicious recipe that your fans will want to try. Run a cleaning business? Try giving your fans a useful, unique tip for picking up around the house. Own a baby clothing company? Tap into the funny moments when raising a child to evoke emotions that most parents may feel.

4. Be consistent. You'll hear us talking about consistency a lot. Why? Because creating consistent content better defines who you are as a brand within the social space and keeps your fans loyal and interested (versus disloyal and confused).

If you use Instagram to create your imagery, make sure that you stick with similar filters for each post or tweet. Do you speak to your fans with a specific tone of voice? Make sure that you define it completely and continue to use it across all platforms.

5. Keep your content easy to share. We all want our content to go "viral," but the first step is making sure that content is easily sharable. Make sure social buttons are visible on your website, blog, etc. -- especially above the page break on a website. If posting or tweeting, your copy should be short and concise so people are more inclined to share on their wall or with a friend.

Lastly, remember to brand your images. When your logo is on your creative, your brand will be shared when your content is shared. Note: keep your logo/branding small, so people are more inclined to share the piece of content and don't feel as if they're simply promoting your brand.

Got more tips? Share them with us below!

-- Samantha

Teens on Facebook Can Now Post Publicly

Before, teens with Facebook accounts could only share content with friends, friends of friends and specific custom groups. As of Wednesday, teens 13-17 years old will be able to post publicly and gain 'followers' on their profiles, just as anyone over 18 years old has the ability to do so.

Facebook recently blogged saying, "Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard. While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services."

To post publicly, teens will need to manually change their audience preferences on each post to 'public' before sharing. Note that the platform's audience settings will remain the same for all posts for all users, including the newly added teens. Having said that, a secondary reminder will pop up for teens after they choose to post publicly a following time.

Although we agree that younger generations are incredibly tech-savvy, we are curious to see how the recent changes will impact the current Facebook base. Teens naturally gravitate toward social platforms, but with the increase of the ability to share, will this simply add more noise to our already full newsfeeds, or will it simply mean that our community is better connected?

Tellus: How do you think this new freedom for teens will impact Facebook?

-- Samantha

Top 5 Ways to Tweet Like a Pro

Many digital experts believe that a presence on Twitter is a key piece in a successful social media strategy. We can't help but agree! Read on to find out how you can amplify your tweets to make the most of this popular platform.

#1: Be short & sweet. You only have 140 characters, so use them wisely! Like many journalists or writers, think about what is most important about your message and use words or terms to succinctly get that idea across to your followers.

#2: Enter the conversation. Don't make the mistake of tweeting in a vacuum. Join events taking place in real time by using a pre-existing hashtag and providing useful info to your fans. Don't forget to RT (occasionally) to show your support of others as well!

#3: Don't over hashtag. Although hashtags are a great way to aggregate content, be mindful of which ones you use -- and how often. Stick to two or three and make sure they pack a punch. For example, #social may be too broad, where as #socialmedia or #socialmediamarketing will carry more weight and will get more eyeballs on your content.

#4: Request a RT. Asking your fans to RT your content (every now and then) is acceptable and could bring your RT rate up by 12x, versus not asking. Make sure you leave enough characters in your tweet for your followers to add their own two cents!

#5. A photo is worth a 1000 words. If you have a relevant image to tweet with your message, do it! A tweet with an attached photo receives up to two times more engagement than those who don't.

Some more tips?

• Be consistent when tweeting! Once you tweet, it literally disappears in seconds on a follower's feed. As a result, make sure that you're tweeting several times a day, throughout the day. Use a platform like HootSuite or Tweetdeck to schedule tweets!
• Make sure that your company is following the right people. There are many fake accounts out there, so choose wisely by looking for quality content -- not just people looking for more followers!

Got more? Let us know in the comments below!

-- Samantha