So here comes yet another bit of major news from Facebook HQ, following on from the recent announcements of Graph Search and a News Feed redesign (and rumours of them adopting hashtags).

With so many recent developments it can be hard to keep up. Luckily our 2 day Social Media Workshop is always kept up to date, so you can be sure you’ll be learning about the latest and most relevant topics, including all these updates from Facebook.

This time it’s the long awaited release of the Facebook phone (with a bit of a twist); a move which has been mooted for at least the last 18 months.

With the confirmation of its own device (called the HTC First) and ‘Home’ screen that can be added to most android devices, comes questions about the direction Facebook is headed. The potential for a whole new era of 24/7 connectivity is beginning to look more and more likely (if we’re not almost there already).

But what exactly does the phone (and Home) do and what makes it so intriguing?

Read the rest of "Facebook Phones ‘Home’ – Facebook App Takes Over Android"

Posted by Aaron Charlie in Mobile, News, Social Media on April 5th, 2013| No Comments »

The latest news out of Facebook HQ (it seems like there’s something new every week at the moment!) is that the social giant is considering trialling the use of hashtags, the now ubiquitous topic grouping symbol popularised by rival Twitter.

If Facebook does go ahead with the idea, rumoured to be intended to work alongside the new graph search feature to make topics and conversations easier to find, it will join Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and its own sepia-soaked photosharer Instagram as a user of the device.

Bearing all that in mind, we thought it would be worth having a refresher in how best to use hashtags for marketing on all the major platforms. Of course to really get to grips with marketing on Twitter, Facebook and the like, our Social Media Workshop is ideal.

If you want to see hashtags in action, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.

So how do we go about using hashtags for marketing? Well firstly we need to distinguish between two different ways they are used by businesses across social media:

1/ Using Existing Hashtags

One very simple and popular way to use hashtags for marketing businesses is to find trending hashtags related to your specific niche and use them in your posts.

If for example you write about Project Management, you could use the hashtags #pm #pmot to open up your posts to a wider audience who may be searching for content placed under that grouping.

Going down this route is generally seen to be the ‘safest’ option when using hashtags but you still need to be careful.

Read the rest of "Marketing With #Hashtags"

Posted by Jackson Rawlings in Marketing, News, Social Media on March 20th, 2013| 4 Comments »

More big news from Facebook HQ yesterday, coming just months after the announcement of the new Graph Search feature.

In order to provide a less cluttered and more organised user experience, Facebook will soon be rolling out a completely redesigned News Feed.

Initial promotional screenshots are quite revealing and give a clear indication as to the direction the company is taking. It’s obvious that the redesign has been made with the Graph Search in mind and so these two changes together signal one of the bigger shifts in the company’s history.

Luckily here at Silicon Beach, our 2-day Social Media Course is always up to date, so you’ll have no worries about getting left behind by these changes.

But what exactly is changing?

“Personalized Newspaper”

This is how Zuckerberg has described the intention behind the changes. Some are questioning the comparison but what is clear is that the redesign will bring about a more structured, delineated experience.

Read the rest of "Getting to Grips With Facebook’s News Feed Redesign"

Posted by Aaron Charlie in News, Social Media on March 8th, 2013| No Comments »

Last night Facebook announced Facebook Graph Search, putting to rest the many rumours surrounding the cryptic launch event in Los Angeles.

These rumours included Facebook Mobile & an external search engine, but the most popular rumour turned out to be spot on – Facebook has radically overhauled their internal search function in a move that should frighten other social networks, traditional search engines and privacy advocates alike.

There are already tons of posts about the new search function and very few people have access yet (you can sign up for beta here), so instead we are going to focus on how brands (and individuals) can optimise to appear higher and more frequently in search results. One of those lucky few to get early access was Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, so head over there for a full run down of how Facebook Graph Search works.

It’s very interesting that Facebook is the first social network to bring out a search engine like this. On our SEO courses and social media workshops we emphasise how you can use social media to help rank better in search engines, maybe now we’ll have to include a section on using SEO to rank better in social networks!

How Does Visibility Work with Facebook Graph Search?

Mark Zuckerberg may claim that Graph Search isn’t a direct competitor to Google, but it’s still a search engine and so there will always be ways to rank higher. Facebook have managed to produce something that Google have been working on for a while – an Internet of Things. Instead of a database of web pages, they have a database of information on things – likes, photos, businesses, people, jobs, locations and many more – and can distinguish between these items.

Your visibility rests on how your business is connected to searchers – the more of their friends have connected with you, the more visible you are in their search results. But this can be just one of many factors affecting your visibility, including:

• Total number of likes
• Total number of check-ins
• The level of engagement on your page
• How often people talk about your business
• The frequency that people check in/ engage
• The recency of check-ins/ engagement
• Your location
• Your potential reach (are your likes/check-ins just local or are people coming from further afield?)

There are likely to be many more I haven’t thought of, and the impact of each is determined by the type of search performed.

If a searcher is looking for businesses their friends like, then that will be the major factor. If they’re looking for businesses in their area then total likes and of course location will have more of an impact.

But it’s not just friends! You can search using an overwhelming number of factors. My favourite example of this is again from Danny Sullivan – “Search for Restaurants run by employees of a particular cooking school”. So it’s not just about number of connections, but about the type and value of those connections. Read the rest of "Optimising Business Pages for Facebook Graph Search"

Posted by Craig Charley in Marketing, News, SEO, Social Media on January 16th, 2013| 2 Comments »

Social media has really hit its stride this year. It is now embedded in our culture to that extent that life without it is unimaginable. In 2012 it has been triumphant, disastrous and downright bizarre, but it’s never been dull, and so here are our top ten social media stories of the year.

Want to learn how to make the most of your social media campaigns? Check out our Social Media Training Courses.

1/ KONY2012

This is the most viral non-profit campaign of all time and it started with a simple video. Invisible Children’s first KONY2012 video has hit 94 million views on Youtube to date, although 83 million of these came within the first 2 weeks of its release. Across all platforms, KONY2012 hit 100 million views within 6 days, making it the most viral video ever made.

But the story didn’t end there. Read the rest of "Biggest Social Media Stories of 2012"

Posted by Aaron Charlie in Marketing, News, Social Media on December 6th, 2012| No Comments »

Social Media Marketing is now essential for brand reputation and for SEO. But, more than that, it’s an effective way of connecting with existing and prospective customers, and providing customer service.

It’s not enough to set up a Twitter account and post daily about your products or services – you need to maintain an online presence and engage with your followers – just one example of how businesses aren’t using social media to its full potential.

We offer a 2-day Social Media course which is jam packed with advice, guidance, strategic tips, what-to-dos and what-not-to-dos. The course is continually updated with the latest developments in the industry, and you leave ready to begin (or revamp) your business’s social media campaign.

For those who are thinking of coming on the course, or those who can’t make it to Brighton (although we’re happy to train you on site!), here’s our Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing. We hope it helps!

Our #1 Ultimate Most Important Top Tip

The number one thing to be aware of is that social media marketing is not about you – it’s about them (‘them’ being your followers, those who like your pages, your connections and your circles). Never forget to ask yourself what you want to see on social media from a business – and that constant self-promotion is the quickest way to put people off. I see examples of this happening every day.

With that in mind, I’ll take you through how to apply this principle to the various social networks. Read the rest of "The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing"

Posted by Aaron Charlie in Marketing, News, Social Media on July 13th, 2012| No Comments »

There’s been a lot of outcry in the last few weeks about the new Promoted Posts feature on Facebook. Many companies who have been happily posting away for years were presented with a pop-up suggesting they pay for their posts to be promoted – and reach more people.

What has caused the most contention is the misunderstanding that Facebook are now holding your regular posts/updates from your subscribers and only showing them to a limited few. This is not the case – your regular posts go out to the same amount of people as ever. The critical point is that it never was the case that all your subscribers saw all your updates.

Edgerank

The following 3 points all determine whether your fans/subscribers see your updates:

• Facebook’s news feed operates a ranking system (Edgerank) which determines which posts to show
• Whether or not people have chosen to subscribe to your updates via their Facebook settings
• Time of posting/fan behaviour – some people like to read their news feed back to the last time they logged in – but many don’t Read the rest of "Why Not To Get Angry About Facebook’s Promoted Posts"

Posted by Aaron Charlie in Marketing, News, Social Media on June 15th, 2012| 4 Comments »

As of March 30th, all Facebook business pages will switch to a new Timeline layout to personal profiles. This has been expected since Facebook first unveiled Timeline back in 2011 but nobody thought it would come so soon after the personal Timeline rolled out.

Although the changes will be mandatory from March 30th, businesses can preview and publish their Timeline right now!

Use this guide to ease yourself in to the new page layout and update your page accordingly. For a more comprehensive guide to social media marketing, come down to Brighton for Social Media Training. Book with SEO Training, Google Analytics Training and Content Marketing Training for a full week of internet marketing training and save money in the process.

For a more comprehensive look at the latest Facebook features and a free cover photo template use our Complete Facebook Timeline Guide.

Step by step guide to setting up Timeline for Facebook Businesses

From today, page owners will be greeted with this message when they log in to Facebook:

You have three options here:

• Preview how your page will look (gives you a chance to get it looking right)
• Publish the Timeline straight away (you can edit it afterwards)
• Ignore it and hope it goes away (not a great idea for marketers!)

The first thing we noticed is a new admin area:

This is the new hub for business page owners for monitoring page performance and check recent activity. There are three tabs to get you started with improving your page before it goes live:

We recommend you spend a bit of time using the manage tab before the build audience tab so that you are inviting people to view a finished page. ‘Help’ is useful for learning about all the new features and how best to use them. The ‘Pages Product Guide’ is an 8 page guide written by Facebook and is well worth a read. Then you can begin editing how your page looks.

Read the rest of "Facebook Timeline for Business Pages: Step by Step Guide"

Posted by Craig Charley in Marketing, News, Social Media on March 2nd, 2012| 1 Comment »