What to Do to Raise those Affinity and Content Weight Scores on Facebook

A few days ago I wrote about Facebook’s algorithm, or EdgeRank, that gives each of your page posts a score that determines how long it will stay in the newsfeed.  You may know what it is (if not be sure to go back and read KEEPING YOUR FACEBOOK POSTS ON TOP), but now let’s discuss what you can do to get those grades up!

 

Remember, Affinity Scores are based on the interaction between you and your fans.  If someone posts something on your page or comments on a post you wrote, be sure and thank them, agree with them or just post some additionally

Posting from a third-party application, such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite, or others will provide a lower score than posts placed directly on Facebook.  The reason behind this stems from gaming applications such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and those annoying, “Answer a Question about Your Friend” type apps.  Facebook didn’t want these apps to raise the EdgeRank of posts, so they lowered the score for ANY application…including third-party tools many use to post content across their social platforms.  Remember, Facebook would rather you go directly to their site so you can see all those lovely advertisements.

So as much as a pain as it seems, you can post your tweets and LinkedIn content from TweetDeck or Hootsuite but when it comes to Facebook, you are better off going directly to the page to post content, ask questions and reply to fans.

Using the new Questions tool gives you a nice Edge boost and YES that is technically an app, but it is a Facebook product so of course it gets preference!

Videos and Photos will give your post a higher score than a boring status update, so spruce up those status posts and add some secret sauce!  Remember a visual page will keep people engaged longer than one with just text posts…and YOUR PROFILE PICTURE doesn’t count as a visual…no matter how good looking you are!

So now it’s homework time. Take out that Big Chief notebook and your number 2 pencil to write your action plan to get your grades up this week.

Don’t forget to LIKE our Fun Geeky Facebook Page–it may not help your Affinity Score with Facebook, but it will give you a very high Affinity Score with US!   Check out the SCHRECKTECK ACADEMY classes we have starting soon.  This is a small group format–4 weeks via webinar to get you set up and running like a champ on your social channels.

What questions or comments do you have?  We love to hear them and start the conversation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keep Your Facebook Posts on TOP of the Newsfeed: Understanding Edge Rank

You spend a lot of time posting great content on Facebook only to check back the next day and find no one has LIKED or COMMENTED on them.  Before you throw your hands up in defeat (or your computer out the window out of frustration), you need to understand a few things about Facebook’s ranking algorithm.  You may be familiar with Search Engine Optimization, even if it is some mysterious and elusive target that Google continues to move making it harder for anyone to truly figure out.  Now we need to begin to understand the mysterious science of NEWSFEED OPTIMIZATION, otherwise called EDGE RANK.

Basically, Facebook ranks each of your posts and gives it a score.  If your score is higher than the score of the next person posting to the newsfeed of your fans, your post shows up above theirs.  If you have a lower score or the lowest score in the group, well, you are basically invisible.  Here are the 3 pieces to Facebook’s EDGE RANK:

1. AFFINITY SCORE:
   Basically, you are getting points for being LIKEABLE!  Facebook gives youpoints for the amount of interaction a particular person has with you.
   

   LOL

   It gets a bit confusing here, but if person A comments and likes my posts frequently and I engage back commenting chatting and LOLing together, my posts are going to get a higher score for person A.  The same post going out to person B might get a lower score if he never comments or banters back and forth with me.  That same post will show up in different positions on each fan’s newsfeed because of this AFFINITY SCORE.
2. CONTENT WEIGHT SCORE: The more others engage with your content the higher this score is…regardless of who comments or likes
   

   Clickity Click

   your post.  So if I post something and 50 people like or comment on it, this score is higher and it can help even make up for the affinity score if that was low.  So the more you can get folks to clickity click on that LIKE button, the better your score will be (I’ll share some ideas on how to do this on my next post!)

3. TIME DECAY SCORE: This one is simply how long ago you posted your brilliant content.  You start out with a high time decay score and the more time passes, the lower your score gets…period!   For this reason I recommend posting 2-3 times a day.  Stagger the time to keep your Time Score from Decaying!

If you need help making sense of all of this or you want a business translator for this new social media language, we can help! Loads of great content on our Facebook Page, 4 week SchreckTeck Academy class beginning May 16th (for those wanting to build a social business) or fun videos, articles and past episodes of our Geeky Show SchreckTeck! Let us help you CONNECT to your world!

 

 

 

 

 

Tackling the Social BEAST: How to Get Your Business Set Up on Facebook

So you’re tired of hearing everyone say, “Your business needs to be on Facebook!” “You need to become a Social Business!”  You are finally ready to tackle this social beast but you have no idea where to start.  Stay calm. Sharpen that pencil and let’s get going~

UNDERSTAND THE BEAST

Facebook is a social media platform and the key word there is SOCIAL.  As a business you are not necessarily trying to be FRIENDS with your community.  You want to be engaging, helpful and unique–This will bring FANS of your business who will bring their FRIENDS!  Once you do tackle the beast and get set up, you will need to continue to care for it by feeding it great content and engaging questions on a regular basis, but that is for another adventure at another time.

There are 2 heads to this beast, or 2 types of PROFILES you can sign up for on Facebook–PERSONAL PROFILES and BUSINESS ACCOUNTS. Before you can create a BUSINESS PAGE (used to be called FAN PAGE), you must have one of those two types of accounts.  You may already have a Facebook personal profile so you can jump right in.   (It is important that you understand–and possibly even read– the Terms of Agreement and Page Terms.)  Basically you are just providing Facebook with your name and an email address proving you are a real person and not a spam account in hiding.

Personal Profiles are for individuals to use for personal and/or professional networking.  A personal profile is for sharing information about yourself.

Business Accounts are for someone who does NOT have a personal profile but would like to set up a Business Page and needs an account first to get started.  *This will limit some of the features available to you as you administer a business page later on.

I recommend that you create a personal profile, even if you never want to actually USE it.  There is no harm, you can set the privacy settings to maximum and you don’t even need to load a mug shot of yourself to get rolling.

Now that you have your basic profile, the beast is less intimidating.  Let’s set up your Business Page.  Now you are not going to use a different email address and you don’t need to worry about people on your Business Page seeing your contact information.  You will log into your personal PROFILE and then create a stand alone page.  This is a hard feature for people to understand and many think the two will be linked.  They are NOT.  You log into your PROFILE and you can be the manager of many PAGES.  No matter what you put on your PERSONAL PROFILE, no matter who you are connected with there, fans of your PAGE are NOT able to see or connect with your personal information, unless you invite them.

Business Pages are for businesses to connect with fans and potential customers.  This account has no privacy settings, because it is open for the world just like a website is.  Anyone who googles the name of your PAGE can find and LIKE your page (this is your hope).  Every post you make from your PAGE is indexed and can be found by search engines.

To create a PAGE, log into Facebook (yes…your PERSONAL PROFILE) and then change the address at the top so it reads, http://Facebook.com/pages

When you hit enter you will be taken to a page that has the CREATE A PAGE button in the upper right.

(HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON)

Before you commit to your Business Page, decide on the name for your page.  Once you create the Page, you cannot change the name.  Consider the length of the name.  When tagging your business page around Facebook town, this will be awkward if it is too long.  You want it short enough for people to remember and search for.  This may be an easy decision if your business name is not taken, but for some, it is something to give thought to.  You can see if someone has the URL by typing in the address bar http://facebook.com/YOURNAME.  If no page comes up…it is up for grabs.  As of Sept 13, you can claim your Unique Facebook URL such as: http://Facebook.com/GettinGeeky  immediately.  (You needed 25 people to LIKE or Fan your page in the past before you can claim the URL), so give some thought to this before moving on, but don’t think too long.  

(OK…RESUME!)

Once you have your page claimed, the beast has been tamed.  It is now time to make it look good.  Add your logo, or photos. Put some posts with helpful information for the people you will soon invite.  Don’t invite people to an empty page.  Make it visually appealing with links to your website and photos of your products or team members.  Check out other pages for ideas.

Before leaving your Page, bookmark the page, or favorite it in your browser, so it will be easy to find later.  Also don’t forget to LIKE your own page.

Now CELEBRATE!  You have successfully created your business PAGE on Facebook!  Congratulations.  Stop by our Facebook Page and tell us the name of your page so we can all come over and visit!  

Let me know if this was helpful, if you have additional information that could benefit others or if you have questions.  If the beast starts acting up, drop me a note or post your question on  GettinGeeky!  Our team can also help you create a social stratetgy and even manage the daily social activities to ensure you continue feeding the beast!

Happy hunting!

Should My Company Start Using Social Media Marketing?

Hesitation is the quality your competitors most admire about you.

The first domain name was registered in 1985 (www.Symbolics.com) and in 1990 there were 15,000 domain names registered. Today there are over 200 million. Were you an early adopter or are you still waiting for this whole WORLD WIDE WEB thing to pass? Business websites changed the way business communicated with its customers.

We are experiencing a social revolution that is not only changing the way we do business once again, but it is changing consumer behaviors. Just like we go to a website today without any amazement or second thought, many are using Facebook that same way. Consumers ask their networks for suggestions or feedback before making buying decisions. “Does anyone know a great Plummer in Littleton?” “Has anyone had their kids at a charter school?” “I wish I knew someone who distributed pink sheet metal to commercial realtor.  Anyone know of someone?” (okay the last one would be pretty darn random, but you just never know!”

Yesterday a friend of mine was sharing his frustration over name squatters or cybersquatters, as they are called on the internet.  Cybersquatters are those people who go out and register domain names, Twitter account names and now Facebook Page names, just to prevent someone else from using them. My friend had waited too long and his business name on Twitter was already being used by someone else.

Here are 4 things I recommend you do today…right now.

1. Go register your business name and your personal name on Twitter. You can simply put a link to your website with a post directing visitors to learn more about you there.

2. Type your company name into Google and add + Facebook to see what comes up.  If you find a page, see what is posted and by whom.  Many businesses find that their fans did not want to wait for the company to take action and they created a page themselves.  Remember, people want to talk about you and with you.

3. If you already have a personal Facebook profile Create a Facebook Page For your business, post a few interesting tips and facts about how customers work with you and start telling your current customers to join you on Facebook. Once you get 25 people to join your page, or “Like” it, you can secure your custom company URL

4. If you own a smartphone, which is an Internet ready phone such as a Blackberry, iPhone, or any Android-based phone, go into the phone’s app store and download one new app today to explore. Check out the top apps, or the recommendations provided. Since mobile is the fastest growing trend today, you should start think of ways your customers may want to interact with you through their mobile device. Our phones are considered the “3rd screen” (the first two being the television and computer) and it’s the one we don’t leave home without.

So if you still find yourself resisting the use of new technology because it is time consuming or frustrating, you cannot afford to wait any longer.   Perhaps you should …go ask your competitors.

If you are having a hard time immigrating into this new social world, Gina and the team at SynapseConnecting can help you make sense of this foreign social landscape and determine which pieces make sense for your business. Give us a shout through that WORLD WIDE WEB Gina@synapse3di.com, or use the telephonic device and have the operator connect you to 303.978.0887

 

 

Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di

@GinaSchreck

Social Media Marketing for Your Business: 6 SUPER STEPS to DO SOCIAL RIGHT!

Perhaps your business has been trying to make sense of this new social world and searching for that elusive ROI to help justify the vacuum sound you have heard as your time has been sucked away.  You may have set up accounts, and tweaked the accounts, even had your college son or daughter post content for you on Facebook or Twitter, and still the frustration grows.  You wake up and ask “Is there anything interesting to post today for our business?”  You leave work asking, “Why can’t I get more people to follow our posts or take action on them?”  You are probably standing on your desk right now, crying out, “What am I doing WRONG?”  Okay, so perhaps that’s a bit melodramatic, but hearing your cry and rushing to your aid, we bring you 6 Super Steps to Do Social RIGHT!

1. Have a plan. Why are you wanting to set up social media sites? Do you want name awareness?  Will you use these avenues to be more responsive to customers?  Do you want the ability to share your expertise and be branded as the go-to person or company in your industry? Are you wanting more sales, or are you just wanting to make sure you aren’t the only person left on the planet who doesn’t have a Facebook Page for their business?  The answers to these questions will determine who should manage your social media (marketing, customer care, communications) and how you connect strategically on each site. 
2. Be Realistic with the Time it Will Take to do it Right! Many think if they throw a Facebook page or Twitter account up, people will flood to their doors.  It doesn’t work that way.  You must dedicate time each day to update sites, listen and respond to the community and be fabulously interesting…well at least somewhat interesting!  In the beginning this may just be 15-30 minutes in the morning and then 15-30 minutes in the afternoon, but when your business grows and the community starts engaging, you will need time to analyze where your community members are coming from, what links are getting the most click-throughs, what content gets the best conversations going and more.  Many organizations start by bringing in an intern to help with their social media marketing and find that they need someone with more of a marketing focus and it turns into a full-time position or they outsource a big chunk of the daily tasks.
3. Don’t BROADCAST! It is called SOCIAL Media, not BROADCAST Media.  Those who just post (and usually it’s automated…even worse) get tuned out quickly.  Unless it works for you to go to networking events and just stand in the corner handing out your business cards and postcards as you yell “BUY FROM ME!” it probably won’t work in your social networking either!  Here’s a list of 7 things you can share BESIDES your products.
4. Listen More Than You Talk. Like any good sales person will tell you, the key to success is to spend more time asking questions and listening to your community in order to learn how to best serve them.  Listen and respond to what they are talking about in your social circles.  Spend some time each day scanning and replying.
5. Be Interesting and Helpful. My rule in social media is, “Be interesting, be helpful, or BE QUIET!  Be sure your posts are worth reading and passing on. Too many people post content that is so over used or trite that no one will forward, share or ReTweet it.  And when people ask me how to get their information to be more viral or ReTweeted more often I simply say, BE MORE INTERESTING!
6. Use the right tools. If you took a pair of scissors and set out to cut your lawn, you could certainly do it, but it would take you all of Saturday and Sunday…for the next two months.  Using the right tools can make all the difference.  There are many to choose from and each one does something different.  For conducting searches, connecting strategically to your target audience members, tools like Hootsuite, TweetDeck (both tools to manage Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn), JustUnfollow (a service that shows you who you have followed or connected with on Twitter that has not followed you back so you can clean house a bit), SocialMention (a site that sends alerts like GoogleAlerts on information heard on the social vine), Analytics HD(iPad app to measure site traffic), or even good ol’ Google Analytics to see where your clicks are coming from and how to be more effective.  These types of tools will help you be efficient, strategic and much more effective.
7. Be consistent. Posting once a week or two times a month will not get you anywhere in the social media arena. Your customers and potential customers are out here everyday talking, sometimes about you and your topic and sometimes talking about or with your competitors.  You can choose to engage in the conversation or hang the GONE FISHING sign up in the window.  If you cannot commit to posting regular content (daily at minimum) hire someone to help you with this piece.  It is important that you find someone who can be “on” when your customers are “on” and that the person or company you hire understands your brands personality, values and policies for replying to customers. I did an earlier post about that.

What SUPER Tips do YOU have?  We’d love for you to share your superpowers with us!

 

Like Batman, Superman, or Tweeterwoman, Gina and her team of superheros are just a tweet or phone call away!  Let us know how we can help you succeed in this new social world!  Gina (at) Synapse3Di.com or of course on Twitter @GinaSchreck

 

Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di

@GinaSchreck

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