Brands are starting to see fewer impressions and less fan interaction on their Facebook pages, and the issue is now getting negative attention online. NST first shared this problem in a previous blog post that discussed how Facebook’s algorithm was preventing fans from seeing all of a brand’s posts. As Facebook expands its advertising products, brands that aren’t using Promoted Posts or other advertisements may see less interaction and fewer organic impressions.

Some of Facebook’s popular users are speaking out in frustration as they watch their impressions diminish due to Facebook’s algorithm. Per an All Facebook article, actor George Takei and basketball team owner Mark Cuban “… posted in anguish over their fans not being able to see all of what they post.” Takei asked his fans to add him to their Facebook “Interests” and Cuban vented on Twitter after a recent post was only seen by 27,000 of his 2.3 million fans.

Can Interest Lists help? Interest Lists, which allow users to group updates around similar topics, haven’t helped because they appear to the left of the New Feed, far down the page. It’s important to note “…you can’t replace your News Feed with an Interest List, and adding a brand’s page to an Interest List still doesn’t guarantee you’ll see all their posts.” 

Is there hope for brands? Facebook recently announced the addition of Page Notifications. Users will soon be able to be pinged about Page updates and then users will not miss updates from a specific brand.

Facebook is also testing a separate “Pages Feed” where users can view all the updates from the pages they like in a single stream. Per Adweek, a Facebook spokesperson said

“…the Pages Only feed won’t affect how posts get surfaced in the regular News Feed but is instead designed to surface posts that brands’ fans may not see in that feed. That doesn’t mean that every page post will be seen by every user checking their Pages Only feed. While brands should expect their fans who are fans of only a few other brands to see every post in the Pages Only feed, that won’t necessarily be the case for users who are fans of many brands. In those cases Facebook essentially weighs the page posts as they do any content to the regular News Feed, taking into account engagement signals to make sure the stream isn’t lame. ” 

The question is, will people want to be notified every time a brand page sends out an update? Will people switch between their regular News Feed and a Page Only News Feed to see what brands are posting? Do they really ant to see that information? Time will tell.

What can brands and Facebook page administrators do in the meantime? Create engaging posts by including an image and a link, use action words (watch, like, etc.), and write short attention-grabbing copy. Pay attention to the types of posts getting the most engagement. Some research says text-only posts,others say posts with images, which is why you need to pay close attention to your brand Page’s Facebook Insights. Also, pay attention to which days and times are best to post  and keep up to date on the latest information about Facebook’s News Feed algorithm and EdgeRank.  If you have questions, NST’s team is well versed in social media marketing and can provide thoughtful, researched guidance.

Facebook has given new meaning to words and phrases not previously associated with the Internet and social media, including: news feed, tag, poke and like. Soon we may be able to add other words to the Facebook repertoire: want and collection.

Facebook is testing a new feature with some big name brands, including Victoria’s Secret, Pottery Barn and Michael Kors. The concept is simple: brands create “collections” of their products in fashion similar to Pinterest; each item in the collection has a “want” button and a “buy” button linking back to the point of sale on the brand’s website. When a user clicks the “want” star the action goes onto that user’s timeline. (NOTE: When NST tested the “want” feature, we didn’t see the action appear on the news feed of friends. This could be a potential downside, because if users have to go hunting to see their friends’ wants, there are ultimately less impressions for the brand than if it appeared in news feeds automatically.) Facebook users also have the option to add a comment to the “want” action and are prompted with the question “Why do you want this?” These comments can give brands valuable insight into what customers like about their products.

When perusing the Victoria’s Secret Facebook page, I noticed the brand’s collections didn’t appear in the tab portion of their pages. Instead, the collections were only visible as news items on the wall. Facebook may be holding off on integrating collections into the tab until the testing phase for “want” is over. It would be a logical next step to give collections a permanent home on the profile so fans of the brands can find the feature as quickly and as easily as they can now browse photos, videos and other branded features.

The addition of a “want” button has enticed companies for some time as it adds another layer of brand engagement to the “like” factor already in place. But the “buy” feature is what intrigues me and it’s something Pinterest lacks. If Facebook analytics can shed some light into just how many people are purchasing a product after first engaging with the brand’s Facebook page, marketers may be able to more clearly delineate the ROI of social media.

Until this feature is rolled out to more brands, we’ll have to cross our fingers and hope one of the brands implementing “want” and “buy” right now will share some of their insight. In the meantime, be sure to check back to stay updated on the latest social media happenings.

It’s no secret public relations professionals aim to create content that elicits an action, especially through social media channels. It’s called “social media” for a reason – we want people talking about, engaging with and sharing our client’s content and messages.

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker co-hosted the “Content Marketing Insider Secrets” webinar last Tuesday with Social Fresh, a social media education company, that discussed content creation in-depth. The webinar gave attendees a glimpse of the dialogue that will take place at the Social Fresh WEST conference in San Diego on September 27-28, and featured conference presenters Anna Lingeris of Hershey’s and Zena Weist of Expion along with NST President Bill Trumpfheller.

The lively discussion focused on the importance of knowing your brand’s voice, prepping your content with appropriate research, and being an engaging participant and curator. Here’s a recap of some key points:

• Content shouldn’t repeat your traditional ad copy. Figure out what voice will resonate with your target audiences and tailor it accordingly per social media platform.
• Identifying a focused brand voice helps all employees within your company understand social media goals and activity. It also makes it easier for people to participate.
• Listen and respond to the needs of your audience.
• Create content, but also let others’ (your audience) voices and opinions come through.
• Metrics and data are available – use statistics and data to create a plan, and see what’s resonating with your audience.
• Cross-pollenating content per platform can increase the shelf life of your campaign.
• You want people to trust your brand – engagement helps build trust.
• Listen first; talk later.
• Create content that your audience can easily share on and offline.
• Engaging content must have a personal relevance. Find out what matters to your audience and create content that sparks a discussion around those topics.
• The top three types of engaging content are: personal questions, loyalty questions and call-to-actions with photos or links.
• Figure out how to make a local tie to your audience for increased interaction.
• Content marketing research is critically important and should be a large part of the resource pie.
• What experience are you trying to deliver? Use this to drive content creation, but realize in the end it, your content may not be all brand focused.
• Don’t succumb to “shiny object syndrome” each time a new platform emerges. Do your research before diving in.

Did you join “Content Marketing Insider Secrets?” What were your takeaways?

You may have noticed some numbers appearing under each of your Facebook Page’s posts. Facebook now shares post metrics at the bottom of each status update, and for many brands, those numbers are low.

Coincidentally, (read: likely not coincidentally) Facebook recently announced the launch of Promoted Posts. Brand Pages can now pay to have posts seen by more fans.

To create a Promoted Post, write a status update. Then, select the Promote button at the bottom of the post to get a list of prices. Each price point has an associated estimated reach – the percentage of fans who will see your post.

Facebook's Promoted Posts

After you make your price selection and post your status update, Facebook also recommends you Pin the post to the top of your page to make it more visible and accessible.

Per Facebook, promoted posts will show in the news feeds of the people who like your Page. If the people who like your Page interact with the post, it can show in the news feeds of their friends. These posts will be labeled as “Sponsored” in the news feed. Unlike ads and sponsored stories, Promoted Posts will not be shown in the right-hand column of Facebook.

We have been told Facebook fans are more likely to purchase, consider and recommend brands to friends. But since Facebook has admitted using an algorithm to rank content based on the likely interest to a user to deliver the most relevant content – a non-paid status update may not reach a large number of your fans.

The new Promoted Posts – and the growing inability to organically interact with fans to grow your Brand Page – shouldn’t be a surprise. Once Facebook went public, it had to keep investors satisfied through significant and continued revenue growth, which means Facebook needs to focus on advertising dollars.  The article 5 Ways Facebook’s IPO Affects Brands from Mashable points out,

…with a greater focus on ads, it will become increasingly more challenging for brand managers to fuel organic growth. Valuable, engaging content will always be vital, but without content working hand-in-hand with Facebook advertising, your brand will be unable to keep up in the social space. The days of brands getting significant traction on Facebook organically are over.

What does this mean for you and your brand’s Facebook page? Pay attention to Facebook’s ad offerings. Read case studies about what’s working for companies on Facebook and what’s not, and keep up-to-date on the latest Facebook changes by regularly reading NST’s blog. Create engaging content and try some of the different ad platforms including Promoted Posts, but watch the analytics carefully to see what is increasing engagement. What works for one brand may not work for another.

Will you try Promoted Posts? What do you think about the future of Facebook advertising and what it means for brands?

Besides the Timeline’s obvious two-column feature that pulls in content chronologically from the left and then the right, there are a few new features to be aware of in regards to where a brand’s content now lives on Facebook’s revamped pages. Emphasis is now placed on communication within the Timeline wall. However, there are a few ways brands can highlight important posts. It is widely believed that Facebook made these changes in an attempt to keep brands’ communication with individual users as organic as possible.

Here are a few of the features:

• Static profile information. Upon scrolling down the page and leaving the cover photo and “above the fold” features, you’ll see a new profile bar pop up on the top of the screen. This bar will stay static and allow your page users to access different page content without having to scroll back up to the top of the page.

• Post box. The first box on the left column will feature the traditional features needed to post or comment on the page. This feature looks and acts the same as the old layout.

• Friends box. The first box on the right column will feature pictures of the users friends who also like the brand page. Although the friends box will stay static across the platform, its content will be personalized for each user.

• Recent posts by friends and others. The box immediately under the friends box on the right side of the page will feature posts concerning the brand made by the visitor’s friends. Immediately following will be a box showcasing the most recent posts regarding the brand by other users. Brands can choose to eliminate the “recent posts by others” box in the Timeline if they wish.

• Featured content vs. pinned posts. Brands now have the ability to identify posts that hold significant meaning and make them appear more prominent on the Timeline. By hovering over the top right corner of a post, an edit box appears. You can now “highlight” a post to stretch it to the full length of the Timeline, covering both the left and right columns. This post will be larger in size, but stay in chronological posting order. Or, “pin” a post to the top of the Timeline and the selected content will be moved to the top of the Timeline where it will be listed first and stay for seven days before returning to its place in chronological order.

• Direct messaging. Users can now send direct messages to brand page admins allowing organizations to handle customer service issues or other sensitive matters in private. Note that pages are not able to initiate private messages with fans or any other user – users must initiate the direct message. However, the page admin can suggest a fan contact them through direct messaging to take a conversation offline and provide further support.

Not sure what type of content your brand should highlight or pin? We’re happy to talk strategy with you to make sure your optimizing Facebook’s Timeline features, or even a larger social media strategy, in a way that makes sense for your brand.

This blog post is the second in a three-part series. The first blog looks at Facebook Timeline cover photos and above the fold features.

It’s the announcement that everyone in marketing has been on the edge of their seat waiting for – Facebook Timeline for brands. Recently, a few NSTers were able to sit in on some webinars about the new features.  We had so many notes on the new features that we’ve broken them out into a three-part blog series, starting below with “above the fold” features.

Although the changes affecting brand pages will require us to make a few tweaks to our clients’ pages, overall, we’re excited!  Some of the features are downright cool, like the new cover photo.  Here are a few of the new elements you should be aware of:

• Default landing pages are no more.  Visitors will automatically go to a brand’s wall, or Timeline.  This, along with some of Facebook’s other changes, highlights the importance of posting and engaging with fans regularly.
• Brand cover photo.  Brands now have an 851 x 315-pixel area at the top of the page for a cover photo, which will be public to everyone.  This can be a fun or artsy photo or design, but cannot include:

• Smaller profile pictures.  At 180 x 180 pixels, the profile photo overlaps with the cover photo.  There are some creative ways to have this work with your cover photo, as these brands show, but the profile picture is still a prominent feature when interacting with a brand, so it’s important to have it work by itself too.
• Application changes.  The applications that were previously listed as tabs on the left sidebar will now appear as boxes below the cover photo (see Coca-Cola’s four applications above: Photos, Likes, Home, Your Stories).  However, there are only four spots immediately visible and one will be taken up by photos, which is a static feature.  Therefore, you should design custom icons (110 x 74 pixels) for at least three other tabs that will be visible “above the fold” without clicking to see more.
• Once visitors click on those application boxes, the tabs they see will now also have a larger area (810 pixels wide).  Current tabs (at 520 pixels) will be centered, but you should consider filling the extra space.

What are your thoughts on losing the welcome page option and gaining the cover photo?  Leave us a comment with your thoughts and stay tuned for Part 2 in our 3-part series on the subject.

At the recent Wine Wednesday networking event NST hosted with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, we asked attendees to tell us their burning social media questions.  Now, as a regular feature on our blog, we are going to answer these questions, in addition to any other social media related questions that get thrown our way.  Got a question for us?  Feel free to leave it in the comments below, send us an email or post it on our Facebook wall. Be sure to check back soon, because your question could be the next one to be answered.

Our first question comes from Kari: Do you recommend a customized welcome tab for Facebook Pages?

Answer: Yes, we recommend not only creating a customized welcome tab, but also creating other customized tabs and content for a brand or organization’s Facebook page.  With more than 800 million active users on Facebook, a customized tab will encourage people to “like” your brand’s page and help you stand out among the other pages.  A customized tab also allows you to highlight new promotions or activities (such as a contest), and gives your Facebook fans another reason to visit your page.  Think of customized tabs as a way to showcase your brand’s elevator speech online and have some fun in the process.

Here are some examples of customized tabs created by NST:

WD-40

Space Bag

Ocean Mist Farms

From optical illusion to Badger brand equity, in case you missed it, here’s a sampling of information shared this week by the gang at NST:

The next frontier in social media?  The booming Hispanic market. (Michelle Livermore)

An onslaught of digital technologies has laid waste to traditional media. The new year will bring a clearer picture of what will emerge from the rubble. (Greg Kershaw)

What’s worse?  Missing a curveball because of athletic ability or lack thereof or whiffing because your own brain fooled you? (Aaron Blomberg)

More people talk about the University of Wisconsin online than any other college or university.  We at NST think that’s mostly due to Natalie Haack, an avid Badger fan who watched her team fall to the Horned Frogs of TCU in the Rose Bowl.  We expect Natalie to personally boost SDSU’s online buzz.  She has dual allegiances, and if the two teams meet in any sport, plan for a bandwidth meltdown.

So a 20-something added a new twist to “the dog ate my homework.” She’s blaming Steve Jobs’ iPhone for not waking her up in time for work.  Maybe the Apple chief should send her a pocket-size mirror for her next blame game. (Yours truly)

Here’s a look at the best Facebook page strategies: http://bit.ly/fhYdZg. (Natalie Haack)

If you haven’t heard of Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice, you live in a cave. He’s been hired by Kraft and was reunited with his mom.  It’s only January.  Wonder what will top this buzz in 2011? (Mary Correia-Moreno)

Anyone who has ever set up a Twitter or Facebook account knows setting it up is easy, but knowing what to do once its developed or whether you should even have such accounts to begin with is much harder.

In today’s Social Media Monday article in The San Diego Union-Tribune, NST’s Director of Social Media Teresa Siles explores ways to build a strategy before launching yourself or your brand into the social media space.

If you want to learn more about how to strategically think about your social media presence, join us for the San Diego Social Media Symposium, Friday, Jan. 28 at San Diego State University’s Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center.

From PR pros wearing dunce caps to the top tweets of the year, in case you missed it, here’s a sampling of information shared this week by the gang at NST:

Here’s a list all PR professionals should avoid being on: http://bit.ly/e95rc8

Facebook’s Boy Wonder got Time magazine’s Person of the Year, but this little ditty says Twitter still has the marketing power: http://read.bi/gL7WJj

Maybe this is one of the reasons Zuckerberg’s college experiment can’t carry Twitter’s gym bag: http://bit.ly/eSPpQ9

This perspective on Wikileaks says it’s less about social media and more about encrypting information: http://bit.ly/ihj4y0

Peter Shankman, the keynote speaker of our second upcoming San Diego Social Media Symposium, shows us how to use fear to create awesomeness: http://bit.ly/fD2iIF

Today Show anchor Ann Curry’s plea on Twitter to let doctors land in Haiti heads the class of top 2010 tweets: http://on.today.com/eNIRv2