Some things in our lives are simply too big for lower case letters.
We should write that “my mom is great,” but just can’t help but afford her the respect of that capital M. “The President has arrived” isn’t correct, but it just feels right.
For many years, I have awarded social media an honor it seemed to deserve. Anytime I wrote the phrase, I always used capital Ss and Ms. I don’t know when or where I picked up the habit, it was just ALWAYS something that I did. And it felt right.
Eventually, I came to realize that it was just me. But I always tell my clients, mistakes are bad; inconsistency worse. I decided that sticking with this bad habit—with complete and utter consistency—could make up for the mistake it surely must have seemed to most.
I write today to admit my failure. The AP has not changed its style guide, the New Yorker has not adopted my spelling convention, there will be no dictionary updates on my behalf. While I still believe in consistency and staying true to oneself, I have finally decided that this is a habit I must finally kick.
I write this post for two reasons:
1) It helps to codify my decision. Change is hard, but all good things must come to an end [insert favorite bible/Shakespeare/Tony Robbins quote].
2) It absolves me of any past (mis)spellings you may encounter. I write a lot. I have been working my way backwards, editing them out (each instance more painful than the last). But the internet is huge and I’m sure I have missed a bunch. So societal or otherwise, I feel a level of absolution.
Social Media is dead; long live social media.
This is a current Dr. Pepper display, in the entranceway at the Hy-Vee on East Washington Ave.
Simply using cases of Dr. Pepper (red) set against cases of Diet Dr. Pepper (white), they found a really creative way to show their Wisconsin pride.
They didn’t need special bottling or a massive banner; they simply incorporated their own message (love of Wisco) into their regular display.
A sign declaring that “Hy-Vee loves Wisconsin” would certainly have come across as pandering.
But it’s hard to imagine this display creating anything but positive impressions. Where most would have simply stacked their cases, Hy-Vee saw an opportunity.
Striking the balance between inauthentic and genuine is the hardest—and most important—thing that any brand will grapple with. What are some ways you incorporate your story into your displays? How do you navigate the path between authentic and contrived? Share in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Whether your Facebook feed is made up mostly of your friends and family, organizations you support or businesses you like, chances are these days it’s full of lots of video. That’s not surprising. Facebook users are posting almost twice as much video to Facebook these days as as they did last year!
In any given scroll through my feed, I might see a video dealing with current events, one or two from a friend’s daily life, several of cats or dogs doing funny things… You know how it is.
But we’re busy, and can’t possibly find time to watch all of these videos while we should be working. Fortunately, Facebook’s got us covered.
Next time you see a video you know you want to watch, but just don’t have the time, simply “save it for later.” Go to the top right hand corner of the video and click on the dropdown menu (the v looking carrot).
Then simply choose “Save video.”
That’s it, your video is now in your saved folder.
But where’s my Facebook shared folder?
Go back to your home page. On the left side of the screen, you’ll see your “favorites.” It’s in there.
An engaged brand page on Facebook is a wonderful thing, it is a sign that people are engaging with you and your brand. They want to comment on your posts and share their thoughts about your content. It’s a positive sign that you are getting into their feeds.
But an engaged page can also be a lot of work.
There are many kinds of comments that you might not want visible on your page:
Maintaining the comments on a truly engaged Facebook page is like tending to a garden. You need to give it regular attention, pulling weeds early and supplying plenty of sunshine and love to your flowers (supporters).
But sometimes pulling those weeds can feel like a full time job. Did you know that your Facebook page has a profanity filter to help nip those weeds in their annoying buds?
That’s right. Facebook understands that not all pages approve of F bombs on their page. If you are selling baby food, there is probably never a situation where you need someone coming by and dropping profanity in the comments (not necessarily true if you own a bar). Turn on the filter and Facebook will prevent profanity from being posted to your page in the first place.
Okay, But How Do I Turn It On?
It’s simple! Go to your brand page. Click on “settings” (next to “help,” in the top right corner). Scroll about 2/3s of the way down the page and you’ll see “Profanity Filter.” It’s most likely set to “Turned Off.”
Click “edit” and Facebook gives you three options:
Medium is going to filter out some words; strong is going to filter out more. Pick which one is appropriate for your brand and enjoy your profanity-less page.
But my problem isn’t with profanity
As mentioned, profanity is not the only thing you may want to keep from your page.
Let’s imagine that every time you post about your baby food, some industrious troll comes by and shares with your reader that your mashed carrots aren’t as good as those of your competitors. You can delete the comment, or even block the troll. But what if many people keep sharing comments about your competitor’s product? It’s simple.
Go back to settings, and right above “Profanity Filter,” you will find “Page Moderation.”
When you click “Edit,” you will have an opportunity to add in any words that you want Facebook to prevent from being posted to your page.
Maybe it’s the name of your competitor’s or simply a word people associate with your brand which you find unflattering. Whatever it is: if you don’t want it on your page, keep it from your page!
If you run a Facebook brand page, there’s a decent chance that your page takes the same breaks as you. If you don’t work weekends, your page probably doesn’t either. That is a big mistake.
Your followers don’t stop paying attention on the weekend—if anything they are spending more time online. You can’t just walk away Friday afternoon and assume that your Social Media networks will be just as engaged on Monday morning.
Does it sound like I am telling you to never take a break again? I’m not.
Rather I’m offering you a simple way to set up all of your posts on Friday (or any other day) to run on their own until you get back. This way, the next time you take a (much deserved) break, your Facebook page doesn’t have to join you.
The solution is: scheduling.
Go ahead and write out your post, exactly as you want it to run. Then take a look at the “publish” button. Notice the small downward arrow to its right? Click it.
This is a VERY important point to remember. If you are a business and you are scheduling your posts for the weekend on Friday evening, you may have fans or customers (or trolls!) responding. Not every comment needs an immediate response. But if you are posting regularly throughout the weekend (through the beauty of scheduled posts), and your customers are getting ignored, they are going to notice.
There is no magic formula. But set it and forget it is never going to complete work to engage a Social Media audience. If you are posting a few times a day through scheduling, maybe check the page once or twice throughout the day. You can do it right on your phone. Depending on the size of your audience, you can also have Facebook notify you anytime you get a comment. This will help you decide which comments merit an immediate response which ones can wait until Monday morning.
One other note: it can look VERY inappropriate to be posting about a product or service if there has been an event going on that has everyone talking. If you are trying to sell shoes while everyone else is talking about a shooting or a plane crash (or the US women’s soccer team winning the World Cup), you probably won’t be putting forth the image you want. Just pay attention. You can stop, edit or reschedule your posts from running at any time.
The other two options in your dropdown menu were Backdate and Save Draft. Backdate will post something to your page anytime in the past that you want. It works just like a regular post: you write it, set it up and then instead of posting or scheduling in the future, you can backdate to the past.
Save Draft puts the post in your saved file so that you can come back and work on it—and post it—when you are ready.
If you have any questions drop me a note, ask them in the comments or hit me up on Twitter: @jlemonsk or @ReverbalC.