Promoted tweets and profiles on Twitter have only been available to larger agencies and a select group of small businesses. Until now.  Twitter announced their ad platform is generally open to all advertisers!

If you’re in a hurry to check it out you can go here to do that.

It’s been a slow roll-out process for Twitter ads over the last year. Thankfully for you and I that means the version of their ad platform that we get to play with today has been greatly improved.

Over the past year we’ve listened carefully to feedback from the thousands of businesses and individuals who’ve had access to the self-serve tool, and made enhancements based on their suggestions, including more targeting and reporting in the UI.
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If you’re curious how you might use Twitter ads in your own business there is a section of case study success stories here

You can look at those case studies in a lot of different ways. Breaking them down by “tactic” reveals a direct response section where you can see how people drive more leads and sales using the self serve platform.

Personally, I found the Marketo case study interesting, found here.

Twitter ads could be a huge new opportunity for those that test it. It’ll take time to figure out what kind of promotions that Twitter followers engage with. The case study section will be helpful in figuring out a campaign plan.

Have you used Twitter ads yet? What did you think of the platform? Let us know in the comments below. The only thing left to do is to start testing!

The recent bombings in Boston were tragic, sad, and another chapter in recent American violence. The whole event was absolutely abhorrent and one we all hope to never see happen again.

We live in a world where there are companies that look to leverage current events. Trending events can often be a good way to drive traffic. Unfortunately some companies don’t know when to just say no.

The uber popular food website Epicurious sent out the following tweets the day of the Boston bombings:

Then after immediate backlash they attempted to apologize for their insensitive promotional tweets with these tweets:

So… what’s going on here? Why on earth would they have thought it ok to promote their product in the same tweet as a message about the bombings? And then, as if to add insult to injury they send out boilerplate apology tweets.

We’re looking at a public relations nightmare. Let this be a lesson to any and all social media rockstars out there. This how NOT to do social media.

So what’s next for Epicurious? Is there a way to salvage their social media reputation?

Mr Media Training had this to say:

1. They can start by engaging with readers individually—and offering human responses instead of form ones.
2. They can learn from KitchenAid’s crisis example from late last year, when that company’s brand manager personally jumped in, stated that the person responsible for the tweets wouldn’t be allowed to represent their brand anymore, and offered on-the-record interviews.
3. They should pledge that they will provide everyone on the staff with social media training; and, if they don’t already have a social media policy, that they will create one immediately.
4. Epicurious should pledge a donation to victims of the Boston tragedy in an effort to make something good come out of this experience.

Conclusion

Brands, affiliates, and social media profiteers have responsibility to uphold on these sites. There’s got to be a line in the sand. Beyond this line you do not cross. Using current events in your marketing is a great idea…just not when it involves a national tragedy. Not now, not ever.

Not too long ago it was announced that FB will be rolling out a hashtag feature similar to Twitter’s. It’s been a long time coming. There has been a litany of discussion over the topic too. Some are excited while other’s are skeptical.

Either way, here is the complete story on what’s going on with Facebook’s hashtag announcement.

Wait, Is This Like Twitter?

Actually, yes. Yes it is like Twitter. In fact it’ll be exactly like Twitter. The hashtag has been a long time staple of Facebook’s rival. Here’s how it works in case you don’t know (and if you don’t – WTH?)

the hashtag—a word or phrase preceded by the “#” pound symbol—is a way for people to collate many Twitter messages about a single news event or topic, like the selection of the Pope (#PopeFrancis). The hashtag is closely associated with Twitter, and fans of the service use the hashtag as short-form creative expression.
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Why It May Be Great For Marketers

There are a few fairly BIG reasons why this may impact your marketing positively.

#1 Locating Niche Specific Conversations

Just like on Twitter you’ll now be able to search for niche related hashtags. You’ll be able to find the conversations that your niche are talking about on Facebook with ease. Sure Graph Search is great and all – but let’s face it – it’s not the dead simple tool hashtags will be.

#2 Starting Or Joining Chats

Hello real world psychographic research. There’s no word on whether or not this will actually be in effect or not. But imagine creating live chats with people interested in your niche by using hashtags. There’s so much you could learn and do with this it’s insane.

#3 Competitor Research

This is the obvious one. With hashtags implemented as they are on Twitter, you’ll now be able to gather competitor data from Facebook. It’s possible to do now but in a much more convoluted process. This simplifies the process making your job easier.
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Criticism

As with any Facebook news the critics come out in droves. Here’s what they’re saying

#1 Less Unique Content

The best thing about Twitter and Facebook being two separate audiences is the motivation it gave marketers to create unique content for each individual channel. The adoption of hashtags on Facebook has the potential to discourage creativity.
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#2 Another Hurdle For Small Business

The small business owner is very busy—with little time to figure out each and every new trend. I know there are many time-starved small business owners who have felt overwhelmed with the thought of hashtags in general. And (if the rumor is true) hashtags will create a new way to think about posting Facebook content.
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#3 It’s Only About Money

Several sources have cited the potential for increased advertising opportunities with hashtags. Twitter does it. Why shouldn’t Facebook get some of those ad bucks too? Here’s what CNN had to say about it.

Facebook is surely interested in the additional vector they provide for advertisers. On Twitter, advertisers can pay to promote their own hashtags alongside Twitter’s list of most common hashtags.

The aggregation pages showing posts associated with a hashtag is another natural point for advertising. On Facebook, advertisers could hypothetically “promote” user posts that contain particular hashtags just as they now promote “likes” of their business pages.
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Conclusion

In reality it’s all fuss over the inevitable. Yes it will increase ad dollars Facebook generates. Yes it will have it’s marketing uses. And yes, it will most likely become a reality.

What we’re ignoring here is the hashtag itself. It’s a form of communication. And that in and of itself isn’t platform specific. The hashtag will most likely outlive either platform in the future.

When you think of building an email list through Facebook you probably think of very traditional ways of doing that. For example you might ask people this question and they’d tell you to run ads to a forced optin Facebook page. Or alternatively you might get people that suggest running ads to webinar optin pages.

Both of those scenarios have proven effective. But as they saying goes – there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Let’s take a look at an example of how one  niche player is killing it with Facebook and driving leads.

The Viral Slow Play

Slow play is a poker term. It’s a strategy that is pretty much the opposite of bluffing. When you have a great cards you bet minimal amounts each hand to keep the other players in the game. It builds up the amount of cash in the pot. Then at the end you bet aggressively to take it all. It surprises everyone because you were betting as though you didn’t have very good cards.

This strategy is similar in the sense that you don’t “bet” heavy on Facebook with aggressive marketing tactics. No forced optins on your FB page. No paid ads pointing to your page no paid ads of any kind.

This strategy relies entirely on the “shareability” of your pages content. You’ve got to create posts that illicit intrigue, humor, shock, and amazement. I recently came across the most incredible example of this. Someone I know shared one of their posts and it immediately grabbed my attention.

The niche is ancient civilization. It’s a niche I happen to think is really interesting in general, but these guys make it FASCINATING. They know what’s cool in their niche. They know what really get’s a response from their followers.

Every post they make consists of the same formula.

V = 1 Part Story + 1 Part Image + 1 Part Call to action with URL
**V stands for viral

Here’s an example of one of their posts

Here’s the expanded story.

How cool is that little story? Who knew there was a pyramid of similar size to the Great Pyramid of Egypt in Burma? I sure as hell didn’t and I’m glad they shared it with me. It’s shocking. It’s cool. And best of all it’s super viral. That post got 58 shares, 126 likes, and 8 comments. It was posted less than 24 hrs ago.

Notice the call to action and the URL. Their url is the same as their page name, it’s descriptive, and it’s intriguing (adventure is cool). When you click the URL you’re brought to this squeeze page.

No big red headline there. No benefit bullet points. No fake video pointing to the optin. No tricks. No games. Just a straight up “sign up here if you like our stuff.” It’s perfect for the niche.

Now let’s take a look at what they’re doing with email.

The first email I got from them was a thank you for signing up, a request to share their Facebook page, and a teaser about an upcoming documentary they’re making.

The second email I got was a few days later. It contained another thank you because their page had received over 5K likes since they started 3 weeks ago (it’s now over 6.4K and the email was only a day or two ago). It then went on to share images and links to stories on their page that were getting a lot of attention.

Here’s what that looks like:

There were a couple of images with a call to action link that said “Join the Conversation.”  Each one lead to the exact post on their page where they talk about that story.  Now that’s what I call driving engagement.

It’s all about engagement.

If you can get people to like, share, comment, and other wise INTERACT with your content you will see massive gains.  These guys are building up social validation and engagement every step of the way. And on top of that they haven’t tried to sell me anything yet.

Pinterest has launched their very own Pinterest web analytics tool. It’ll allow you to track each and every pin and like users have with your content. Finally you’ll be able to tell how cool Pinterest users think your content is.

How pinteresting indeed Pinterest. Here’s a screenshot of what the analytics system looks like.

If you want to get access you’ll have to jump through a couple of hoops first.

1. Get early access to Pinterest’s new look.
2. Make sure you have a verified website. If you have a website listed on your profile with a check mark next to it, you’re verified. If not, follow these steps to verify.
3. Once your website is verified, go to the top right menu and click on Analytics.

Some are saying that this analytics launch is simply a step toward monetization for the image based social network:

The analytics tool is an early stage effort to monetize the content-based micro social networking service. Pinterest’s blog post even hints at a rapid expansion of this sort of service: “Over the coming months, we hope to add new tools and more detailed insights, so let us know what else you would like to see.”
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The announcement has made waves already. Amongst the speculation of monetization has also been a major hurdle for an existing Pinterest based analytics company. Formerly known as Pinfluenzer they have rebranded and are now called Piqora.

Piqora owner Sharad Verma had this to say about the name change:

Though Verma insists that the name change isn’t a departure from its core offering as a Pinterest-centric tool, the new name and new product indicates Verma’s continued efforts to broaden his company’s offerings.
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Whether Pinterest is on the move toward monetization or not – we all get the benefit of analytics. Finally you’ll be able to see exactly what people appreciate about your content from a Pinterest perspective.

Recently Facebook announced that they’ll be unveiling a new Newsfeed for it’s members. The move comes after a deluge of user complaints that the current newsfeed is too cluttered.

What To Expect

You may have even noticed some changes taking place in your newsfeed already. For example images are now being displayed in larger more “rich” looking thumbnail versions.

One of the biggest changes though is the addition of the newsfeed “feeds” section. It’ll be located in the upper right corner when you login via desktop. In the exact location where ads can be seen today.

The feeds section will operate sort of like filters. You can click the photos feed link and see all of the recent photos added. You can click the all friends link and see all of the recent posts that your friends have made. It’s a user interface change designed to make browsing Facebook content easier. Here’s what that’s going to look like:

What Facebook Says About It

How To Get Your Hands On It

It’s not something you can sign up for like the Graph Search beta. This roll out is going to happen slowly over a number of days. Here’s what Mashable reported on that timeline

Just how long you’ll have to wait, however, isn’t quite certain.Facebook said at its big unveiling press event Thursday that the new look will begin rolling out to users that same day. So some lucky folks will be exploring the new features before bed tonight, while others will have to wait a bit longer. We’ve asked Facebook for a ballpark range, but so far haven’t gotten a response.
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For now just sit tight. You may have seen changes happening and not realized it. For example I’ve noticed uploaded images are taking on a new slightly different look. I don’t have the feed filters yet, but it’s probably not far off.

Conclusion

The new feed looks good. It’s nearly a seamless upgrade with a huge addition to functionality. What I’m personally curious about is how it’s going to affect the ads section. Will they simply be pushed down? Most likely. Will it affect ad costs? Time will tell.

Facebook’s ad exchange (aka FBX) is getting bigger, badder, and more lethal by the day. They’re serving a billion impressions per day through their system. On Wednesday AdExchanger broke the story that Facebook is adding more outside data to their system to improve targeting options for marketers.

This is a big move. FB is adding first party data from a company called blueKai. This is in addition to 2 other outside data providers Acxiom and Epsilon.

Here’s what that’s going to do for advertisers

Marketers have two options for identifying Facebook audiences using these new data sources. First, they can leverage existing relationships with outside data firms by importing audience segments they may previously have used to identify shoppers on other websites. Or they can go through Facebook directly to leverage pre-defined segments, for instance “frequent cruise travelers” or “mortgage shoppers.” The latter option may be more appropriate to small to mid-sized ad buyers without existing relationships with data companies.
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There are several other ways advertisers will be able to utilize this data. Another example of how that would work looks like this:

BlueKai’s integration will also allow for ads delivered through cookie matching to show up as sponsored stories or other formats, whereas FBX ads are only shown on Facebook’s right-hand rail.

For example, an automaker can potentially target people who visited its website a year ago to configure a car, according to a Facebook spokeswoman.
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This news is breaking just one day after FB announces that they’ll be giving AOL access to their adexchange. If you buy ads through advertising.com you’ll now be able to include Facebook ad inventory in that purchase.

As more of these data and network partners come online FBX becomes an undeniable, must have, advertising solution. What do you think of these FBX additions? Excited to see more? Could care less? Let us know in the comments below.

So it’s been a solid week since Facebook announced Graph Search.  Everyone wants to know what it is, how to use it, how to optimize, and if it’s going to kill Google or not. The truth is that this thing is big. We spoke about it briefly when it launched.

How Graph Search is Different Than Google Search

Graph search is a new user experience, there are abound to be differences.

SearchEngineLand.com says this about the difference between the two.

With a typical Google search, the objects we search for are Web pages, with the connections (or graph) that help determine the pages that rise to the top primarily being links from across the Web. Links, simple form, are like votes, helping Google decide which are the most popular pages to show for a particular topic.

With Facebook Graph Search, the objects we search for aren’t Web pages but instead virtual representations of real world objects: people, places and things. The connections are primarily Facebook Likes. Did such-and-such a person like a particular photo? A particular doctor? A particular restaurant? Those likes are the ties that bind the information in Facebook together.

Facebook Graph Search allows for “Multidimensional” searching.  Instead of just finding a sub shop in Chicago, IL in Google – you can find a sub shop in Chicago, IL that your friends like.

Here’s an example of a Graph search that’ll really hit that “multidimensional” aspect home for ya

Shared by Andrew Warner

How cool is that? Try doing that on Google.

Optimizing Your Facebook Page for Graph Search

The keys to Facebook page SEO have been written down for a long time now. There are multiple resources you can check out for great tips on that.

The difference with graph search is that there is more emphasis on keyword, category and connection as John Haydon shares.

John recently published a very good guide on optimizing for FB Graph Search.   Here are his 8 tips in short form.

• 1. Tweak Your Page Category
• 2. Tweak Your Page Sub-categories
• 3. Complete your Address
• 4. Complete Your About Section
• 5. Tag Your Photos
• 6. Pay Attention to Photo Descriptions
• 7. Create a Username
• 8. Continue Creating Killer Content

Visit his site for image examples and more detail on each items.

How Does This Impact Affiliates?

If your page has no engagement you’re not going to show up very high within the search as it is today.  Social is the name of the game in the future too. How many affiliates are guilty of throwing up a page without actually filling out every bit of page info available? Take a second and complete all of that. Tag those photos. Tweak those sub categories. It’ll all count in the end.

Right now a lot of Graph search examples are location based. That’s not the only use for Graph search. Imagine someone searching for “inspirational images my friends like.” That’s one of an infinite examples of how a non brick and mortar might be found with Graph search. If your photos are tagged “inspirational” and you have engagement – you win.

How have you been using Graph search? Have you come up with any cool searches you want to share? Hit the comments below.

There’s been whispers and rumors for a several days about what Facebook’s new announcement would be about today. After intense speculation it’s finally been revealed. Today Facebook announced their new product Graph Search.

What Is Graph Search?

Well, Mark Zuckerberg wants us to believe it’s not a “web search service.” Instead it’s a way for users to search content that has been shared with them or that they are connected to in various ways.

Facebook’s CEO says that every piece of content on Facebook has its own audience with most of it not available to the public.
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Examples of ways you might use Graph Search as per their page

• “Restaraunts in London that my friends have been to”
• “Pictures I like”
• “People who like cycling and are from my home town”

What Does Graph Search Mean To Businesses?

Right now it’s limited. Because of all of the privacy concerns they’ve had to work around it’s taken quite a long time to get to where they are. So the roll out is going to be slow. But in the future there will be some interesting opportunities.

The first thing a business should be aware of is making sure that their page is optimized for proper search results (sound familiar anyone?). Tagging, categorizing, and keyword optimization will all play a role in how a page shows up in Graph Search.

Another aspect of FB Page optimization in the future will be “attracting the right fans” as Zuckerberg puts it.

In addition to assuring that their pages are accurate and up-to-date, it is also key to attract the “right fans” to their page and give them reasons to interact on their page on an ongoing basis. “This ongoing interaction is key for Graph Searches since the system will rank results based on how many friends like a page, how often it has been commented on and other activity,” it said.
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But where it all comes together in one giant Google smackin’ package is when one considers how businesses will be able to leverage the search behavior itself – much the same way Google has for years.

And down the line, as the product enters general release, one can imagine a future where Facebook allows advertisers to leverage commercial intent expressed through their Graph Search queries to deliver more targeted ads.
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It’s that “intent” piece of the puzzle that Facebook ads lack currently. It’s that exact piece of the puzzle that Google has reigned supreme with over the years. Now it’s starting to come together for FB.

Conclusion

The whole thing has Google Killer written all over it. While they may not ever take down the search giant they’re doing their best to chip away at it. Graph Search will bring both user value and commercial value to their platform that they’ve not had in the past.

Just remember though as they grow and implement these things there will be opportunities to take advantage of. For example optimizing your pages and increasing social activity on a daily basis will set your pages apart from the competition.

There’s going to be a lot coming down the pike when it comes to Graph Search, I’m sure. We’ll keep you updated as it happens.

The good ol’days of creating a FB page, building likes, and driving traffic via your page are over.

Facebook is killing social media.

FB page owners have seen a dramatic drop in reach % recently. Brands, influential figures, affiliates, and small business publishers alike are being affected. It’s a site wide change. In Facebooks continual attempts to keep it’s stock price from plummeting they’re making the move to a “promoted posts” model.

In short Facebook wants you to pay anywhere from $5 to $50 to increase how many of your fans see your posts.

Instead of allowing the USER to decide which posts they want to see in their news feed – Facebook has clenched onto the reigns of control in order to drive new revenue. Businesses that were once flourishing via their FB channel are now seeing a fraction of the reach % via the news feed.  Of course users can always go directly to the FB page to view posts.  What we’re discussing here are the organic views from the news feed.

It’s a drastic change.

Granted there was never a contract put in place that promised free reach to the fans you worked so hard to build. But there’s a bit of a “bait and switch” feel that’s got business page creators heated.

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal Lindsay Gonzales, a small business owner and FB page user had this to say

“It’s a waste of money because even if you pay they still regulate who sees your posts,” she says, adding that her business, Making Memories Photography, has about 1,400 Facebook fans.
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Are promoted posts worth it?

Well that’s tough to say. There are a lot of factors to analyze like your average conversion rate on FB click thrus and average commission/sale earned per conversion. Figuring that out will help you get a feel for whether or not paying for reach is feasable.

One thing’s for sure though – Facebook is changing the rules of the game without much regard for whom it hurts. Will it work? Right now it seems as though it is. Only time will tell. If that kind of thing works for Google, why not Facebook?