For many small businesses, paying to promote their content on a site like Facebook or Twitter is a concept they haven’t been sure of in the past.
But a new report this week shows that more business owners are giving ads another look.
Read about this top story and find out how the newest change to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm could impact your posting strategy in the not-so-distant future.
Here are this week’s top stories…
1. 80 percent of socially active small businesses plan to increase or maintain advertising spend in 2014
According to a report from Ad-ology, 80 percent of small businesses already active on social media plan to increase or maintain their social media advertising budget in 2014.
The report also found that while 41 percent of small businesses have never used ad products like promoted posts or sponsored tweets, 13.8 percent plan to introduce them into their strategy in 2014.
Bottom Line: As social media continues to play a more prominent role in the way small businesses communicate with their audience and attract new customers online, the use of paid social ads will become more of a norm in 2014 and beyond.
Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are likely to accelerate the use of these tools by making them even more accessible to small and mid-sized businesses.
2. Facebook tweaks news feed algorithm, limiting visibility for text status updates
Facebook revealed this week that text-only updates from pages are now receiving less visibility in the news feed thanks to a recent change to the site’s algorithm.
In a post explaining the change, Facebook said that text updates from friends will be given increased visibility, along with other forms of content like media and link posts from pages.
Here’s how Facebook explained the change:
“This will help us show people more content they want to see. Page admins can expect a decrease in the distribution of their text status updates, but they may see some increases in engagement and distribution for other story types.”
Bottom Line: While the news feed algorithm and the constant changes that come with it can certainly be frustrating, it’s important to pay attention to these changes develop and adjust your strategy accordingly. It’s also important to be diligent about looking at your Facebook Insights when determining which content is getting the best response.
This again introduces the question of paid social media advertising, and what role, if any, it should have in your social media marketing strategy. If you haven’t already, it may be the right time to look at the social advertising options available to you.
The initial investment won’t need to be huge, but it will give you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with these tools and make more informed decisions about how you should invest your marketing dollars in the future.
3. Study: 92 percent of the top brands on Twitter tweet 12 times per day
New data from social media analytics firm Simply Measured found that an overwhelming majority of the top brands on twitter (92 percent) tweet at least twelve times per day. These brands saw an audience increase of 20 percent in Q4 2014.
When it comes to the most successful content, Simply Measured found that posts with links (which includes photos and videos) see a 150 boost in engagement. Photos continue to be the best performing link posts, with an average of 210 engagements per tweet.
Bottom Line: For small businesses on Twitter, we recommend a minimum of five tweets per day. These could be link to your own content, photos or videos, or content from other sources you think will be helpful for your followers.
It’s important to point out that on Twitter, there really is no set maximum. While you don’t want to spam your followers, the important thing is that you’re paying attention to your engagement, and adjust your posting volume accordingly.
You always want to make sure you’re monitoring your Twitter activity, to make sure that you’re able to respond in a timely manner.
Need help keeping up with your Twitter activity? Here are some tools you can use to increase social media productivity.
What top stories caught your eye this week? Let us know in the comments below?
The post Small Businesses Give Social Media Advertising Another Look…And Other Hot Topics appeared first on Constant Contact Blogs.