State of Facebook 2014What do we do now?

Derek BeltSocial Media Specialist, King County, WAderek.belt@kingcounty.gov@derekbelt

In this presentation• How Facebook works

• BIG CHANGES

• So what do we do now?

• Understanding the algorithm

• Getting through to your fans

• Optimizing your content

• Tips for page admins

• State of Facebook (overall)

• Facebook ads & King County case studyies

• Resources and links to learn more

How Facebook works

I join Facebook I make friends

I make LOTS of friends!

How Facebook works

200 friends

20 friends

10%

But I don’t see posts from all of my friends. WHY NOT?!!

Facebook decides for you what you get to see.

Roughly 10% of your friends see the content you share.

Reach has decreased since ’12

20% drop in just over a year!

In this study, only 7.7% of fans received messages posted by a series of Facebook pages.

Source: EdgerankChecker.com

The hard truth (read all of this)• Two years ago, no one really got their news from Facebook. Now, they

do. Every publisher from CNN to Buzzfeed is producing content they hope readers will find and share through Facebook.

• At any given moment, there are approximately 1,500 stories that Facebook could show in the average user’s News Feed. The struggle is figuring out how to get the right stories to the right people.

• Facebook has changed its mind about brands. It has decided that users do not really want to see a News Feed full of updates from brands—this includes our King County pages.

• Facebook is aware there is a cottage industry built around helping brands reach fans for free through the News Feed. Facebook’s view is that these updates were plugging up the system, and it’s not going to allow that to happen anymore.

Source: Slate

So what do we do now?• Share great content that people really want—if you’re saying

something worth listening to, people will find you.

Reconsider your Facebook page as a customer service portal, not a communications tool. In many cases, residents see Facebook as a direct line of contact.

Focus on your community and less on your messages—Facebook is one of the world’s great market research tools. Start asking your fans real questions you want real answers to.

Promote your fan page and posts—if Facebook is a main communications and outreach channel for you, then you need to buy guaranteed reach: ads.

Move to an email list—use your Facebook page to raise awareness and encourage sign-ups.

So what do we do now?• Share great content that people really want—if you’re saying

something worth listening to, people will find you.

• Reimagine your Facebook page as a customer service portal, not a communications tool. In many cases, residents see Facebook as a direct line of contact.

Focus on your community and less on your messages—Facebook is one of the world’s great market research tools. Start asking your fans real questions you want real answers to.

Promote your fan page and posts—if Facebook is a main communications and outreach channel for you, then you need to buy guaranteed reach: ads.

Move to an email list—use your Facebook page to raise awareness and encourage sign-ups.

So what do we do now?• Share great content that people really want—if you’re saying

something worth listening to, people will find you.

• Reimagine your Facebook page as a customer service portal, not a communications tool. In many cases, residents see Facebook as a direct line of contact.

• Focus on your community and less on your messages—Facebook is one of the world’s great market research tools. What does that mean? Ask your fans real questions you want real answers to.

Promote your fan page and posts—if Facebook is a main communications and outreach channel for you, then you need to buy guaranteed reach: ads.

Move to an email list—use your Facebook page to raise awareness and encourage sign-ups.

So what do we do now?• Share great content that people really want—if you’re saying

something worth listening to, people will find you.

• Reimagine your Facebook page as a customer service portal, not a communications tool. In many cases, residents see Facebook as a direct line of contact.

• Focus on your community and less on your messages—Facebook is one of the world’s great market research tools. What does that mean? Ask your fans real questions you want real answers to.

• Promote your fan page and posts—if Facebook is one of your main communications and outreach channels and you don’t want to abandon it, then you need to buy guaranteed reach: ads.

Move to an email list—use your Facebook page to raise awareness and encourage sign-ups.

So what do we do now?• Share great content that people really want—if you’re saying

something worth listening to, people will find you.

• Reimagine your Facebook page as a customer service portal, not a communications tool. In many cases, residents see Facebook as a direct line of contact.

• Focus on your community and less on your messages—Facebook is one of the world’s great market research tools. What does that mean? Ask your fans real questions you want real answers to.

• Promote your fan page and posts—if Facebook is one of your main communications and outreach channels and you don’t want to abandon it, then you need to buy guaranteed reach: ads.

• Prioritize an email list or newsletter—use your Facebook page to raise awareness of this and encourage sign-ups.

Facebook reach vs. email reach

Sending a Facebook post: Sending a targeted email:

Reach 10% Reach 100%

Where are all my fans?• Research shows the “reach” of

fan pages like King County’s has declined 20-50% since December.

• It’s all pre-determined by Facebook’s computer algorithm, and there is no longer a clear way around this.

• Affinity—the relationship between a fan page and a regular user—is strengthened over time with every like, comment, share, video or photo view, and link click.

• Affinity is personalized to every user, so different posts will reach different people every time.

Stronger “affinity” means more content gets seen by fans.

From one giant ocean…• It used to be a rising tide lifts

all ships, where…

• The more engagement you got on all of your posts the better future posts performed (overall).

• Pages were rewarded for sharing good content that drove lots of interactions with fans.

• Thanks, Facebook!

…to many small lakes• But now, every person has

their own unique algorithm, and it’s complicated.

• I might like photos of pets, and if you show me a picture of a cute puppy I will see it.

• But if you post a link to a story from your website about puppies, I won’t see it.

• Because I constantly click on Facebook photos, not links.

• Ugh, Facebook.

Understanding the algorithm• Facebook’s algorithm, formerly known as “EdgeRank,” determines

what content people see in their News Feed.

• We spend 40% of our time in the News Feed, so this is a very big deal. News Feed is how people find information on Facebook.

How does Facebook determine who sees what in the News Feed?

There are four categories:

Graphics by PostRocket

Graphics by PostRocket

Graphics by PostRocket

Graphics by PostRocket

Graphics by PostRocket

Getting through to your fans

The goal with every post is to get here.

Sweet spot!

Getting through to your fans

The goal with every post is to get here.

Sweet spot!

The 10% who see your posts is different for every type of post (photo, link) and every

single topic (parks, public health).

Facebook’s weighted posts

Videos/Photos

Links

Text-Only

Posts have weight: Actions have weight:

Shares

Comments

Likes/Clicks

MORE WEIGHT

LESS WEIGHT

Optimizing your content• Example 1: Standard cut

and paste with just the link. This is not the ideal way to share content on Facebook.

Optimizing your content• Example 1: Standard cut

and paste with just the link. This is not the ideal way to share content on Facebook.t on Facebook.

• Example 2: Write a clear message and customize the copy to make the post more relevant and meaningful.

Optimizing your content• Example 1: Standard cut

and paste with just the link. This is not the ideal way to share content on Facebook.ast effective way to share content on Facebook.

Headline (make it count)

Sub-head (use the first sentence)

Copy (100-250 characters preferred)

Sharing photos is still a win• Example 3: Share a photo

and use a “short URL.”

• This works because photos are catchy, but keep in mind that photos with links in the captions don’t get the same boost in News Feed as photos w/o links.

• Facebook wants you to share content in the most natural way possible. They feel a picture with a link in the caption is not natural.

Sharing links… the right way• Pages that post links get preferential treatment

only if they use Facebook’s “link-share” system.

• See the next slide for an example of “link-share.”

• Tip #1 Don’t delete the embedded link box that automatically pops up when you paste a linkinto Facebook.

• Tip #2 If you’re sharing a photo, add the image first and then write your caption. But understand that a photo w/o a link included in the caption will outperform any photo with a link.

Facebook says text-only posts from regular people(not fan pages) increases engagement from other people.

However, text-only posts from fan pages don’t have the same effect.

Pages that post links get preferential treatment only if they use Facebook’s “link-share” system.

• Tip #1 Don’t delete the embedded link box that automatically pops up when you paste a link into Facebook.

Deleting this box will hurt your reach, meaning fewer fans will see it.

Why photos work: attention!

• Text-only posts aren’t very compelling.

Why photos work: attention!

• Photos get 120% more interactions, says Facebook.

• Because they’re flat-out easier to see!

Photos with text are catchy

• Use these tools to place text on top of photos:

• PicFont.com

• PicMonkey.com

• PicResize.com is handy!

Tips for page admins• Posts between 100-250 characters get 60% more likes.

• Photo albums (180%), photos (120%), and videos (100%) get way more engagement than links and text-only posts, according to numbers released by Facebook.

• Posts that ask fans to:

• Like = 3x more likes• Comment = 3x more comments• Share = 7x more shares

• Get to know Facebook’s size requirements. For example, 403 x 403 is the perfect image for Timeline photos, but high-quality 600 x 600 images are recommended.

Tips for posting• Post an interesting fact, or share a tip related to your work.

• Ask your fans a question. Hey, we’re thinking of opening a dog-washing station in such-and-such park. Thoughts? Facebook is an excellent market research tool for organizations.

• Tell fans what to expect if they have to click on something (e.g. if you’re sharing a video, tell them what’s in it).

• Provide inside access to King County programs. Give fans information they can’t get anywhere else, not just news releases or links to Seattle Times articles.

• Fill-in-the-blanks generate 90% more engagement because ______ .

State of Facebook 2014• Half of Facebook’s 1.3 billion users log in daily;

average visit is a whopping 18 minutes.

• 67% of Internet users in the U.S. are on Facebook, and 73% of teens use Facebook regularly.

• Daily use among teenagers is slowing, but don’t fret—ubiquity puts a natural brake on expansion.

• 45-54 age group has expanded 46% since 2012.

• 1 in 4 Facebook users are mobile-only (680 million mobile users).

• 7 million websites are integrated with Facebook.

• $6.1 billion in revenue in 2013.

Pay to play: Facebook ads• Outstanding targeting system, gets right to

the audiences you need to reach.

• News Feed ads that look like regular posts, small thumbnail ads, and mobile-only ads.

• Boost your posts to reach existing fans.

• Never pay more than your allotted budget. Facebook won’t charge you more than $100 if that is your limit.

• Instead of paying $100 on one ad, spend $25 on four ads, then use the top-performing ad for the next campaign.

• There are 2.2 million Facebook profiles in King County—this means we can be confident we’re reaching a large and diverse audience!

Target the right people

From all of Facebook

To people in your geographic area.

To fans in your target market based on age,

gender, education, etc.

To people who like specific topics and pages.

Case Study: Strategic Plan Update• King County Strategic Plan

update asked residents to tell us their priorities.

• MindMixer chosen for gathering online publicfeedback.

• Advertising strategy:• Ethnic media• Traditional media (online)• Facebook

• 3-month campaign gave us an apples-to-apples comparison between traditional media websites and Facebook ads.

Case Study: Strategic Plan Update• SeattleTimes.com Ads• Impressions: 1.8 million• Clicks to website: 2,232• Total spent: $12,000

• KIROTV.com Ads• Impressions: 5.3 million• Clicks to website: 2,740• Total spent: $12,000

• Facebook Ads• Impressions: 1.9 million• Clicks to website: 2,658• Total spent: $1,500

Same number of clicks to our survey page for a tenth of the cost.

Case Study: Strategic Plan Update• SeattleTimes.com Ads• Impressions: 1.8 million• Clicks to website: 2,232• Total spent: $12,000

• KIROTV.com Ads• Impressions: 5.3 million• Clicks to website: 2,740• Total spent: $12,000

• Facebook Ads• Impressions: 1.9 million• Clicks to website: 2,658• Total spent: $1,500

$5.38 per click

$6.50 per 1,000 impressions

$4.37 per click

$2.25 per 1,000 impressions

$0.56 per click

$1.19 per 1,000 impressions

Resources• Slate – The hard truth about how the FacebookNews Feed works now

• Forbes – The approaching demise of organic reachin Facebook

• Memeburn – Facebook: Pay up or get lost in the noise

• Moz – Make Facebook’s algorithm change workfor you, not against you

• Buffer – 9 ways to work with Facebook’s big algorithm change

• Business 2 Community – Facebook changes algorithm for business pages (again)

Thank you!

Derek BeltSocial Media Specialist,King County

Contact me:derek.belt@kingcounty.gov@derekbelt

Key takeaways:

• Facebook has changed, and not in our favor.

• What has long been viewed as a strong tool for “push” communications is no longer so.

• Time to rethink what we’re doing on Facebook:

1. Customer service

2. Market research (ask questions!)

3. One of the best advertising options we have, and the cheapest.

4. Move to an email list or newsletter reach 10% of your audience on Facebook, or 100% via email.