-
Facebook Charging To Post Is Fake News - But What If It Had Been True?
October 24, 2017
-
Journalists jumped to conclusions this week when it was discovered Facebook had been running tests in six countries where they were removing content out of the main News Feed from publishers and businesses, and placing their content into a separate, hard-to-find area called, "Explore."
Nearly every single digital publication jumped on this story with scary click bait headlines:
The fake news became so all consuming, Facebook issued this statement:
In part, "There is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore. Unfortunately, some have mistakenly made that interpretation - but that was not our intention."
But what if Facebook ever does charge?
Just because Facebook is free (for now) does not equate with it being easy.
Social is a way of being, it's not a trick.
It's not about gaming fans, pushing out what we want to say (or our prize wheels).
It's about coming at content fromtheirpoint of view; personalizing acknowledgement.
It's about understanding liquid content - creating stories people crave - triggering reaction.
Creative Must Be An Experience
User action (or as I call it, "touched content" - liking, commenting, sharing, etc... content) determines how well you're moving the audience.
If people aren't "touching" your content - it's not an experience.
Show Don't Tell
Nobody cares about the station's tent & wrapped van. What they want to know is what it feels like to hang around you.
Every Second Matters
People go quickly on mobile - giving you on average 1.7 seconds to hold their attention with video on their phone; 2.5 seconds on desktop
Is there value at the start?Visual Cues
While text on photos is a bad move, always create videos with captions.
85% of all videos are viewed with the audio off. Videos with caption pull the viewer in and create an easier way to process the video when we can't turn the sound on.
Social media is the metric of emotional response.
When done well, (organic or paid) social:
- Boosts brand perception
- Excites fan expectations
- Creates listening occasions
Which in return:
- Stimulates revenue
- Extends reach
- Builds on the brand's long-term health
One day the "Facebook To Charge Publishers" headline may not be fake news.
Work on resonating - being so good they miss you in the News Feed, and end up looking you up on Facebook each day.
Reach out to me anytime on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
Please enjoy MERGE archives here.