Call us! 732-784-8890
Call us! 732-784-8890
If you're using Instagram or Facebook for business, you have probably asked yourself how often you should be posting stories. Some businesses are posting anywhere from 1- 7 or even more stories per day on Instagram. So how much should you be posting?
The answer is complicated and, of course, depends on your audience and industry. However, most social media sites recommend posting to stories anywhere from 1 time per day to 7.
The idea is to spread out your posts throughout the day, and not to post one long video breaking it up into 10 different segments. If you have to post a longer video and segment it, that's ok, but just don't make it routine!
Consistency is of utmost importance when posting. Make sure you are posting at similar times each day, and don't suddenly ghost your followers. It doesn't take long for your followers to find what you're not offering them from someone else online.
One of the best parts about posting stories is that followers expect minimal, unstaged content. They are looking for natural, spur-of-the-moment glimpses into your everyday life, not professional videos made in a Hollywood studio!
So if you are developing stories, feel free to make them with your phone and improvise. Don't worry as much about production quality with your stories. Your viewers consider them as a backstage pass of sorts. The main show is on the stage, your Instagram account. Your stories are the backstage feature.
If you do want to shoot several more professional stories, add them to your highlights and keep them on your page. But don't worry when posting daily stories as much!
An important aspect of stories is community, and one of the best ways to impart that to your followers is by tagging people, brands, and places in your stories. That also increases the chances your stories will be shared on their Instagram pages as well.
Don't forget to use all of Instagram's tools and techniques to make your stories more attractive and interactive. You can add stickers or polls to your stories to help engage your followers. Countdowns are another effective tool to make your customers keep track of your special events such as sales or product releases.
If you're looking for help with your Instagram story feature, contact us today!
You're confident. You're savvy. You're smart.
You're one of those people who thinks, "In the time it takes for me to communicate what I need or want done to someone, I could have completed the task myself."
You take ownership of your business and staff.
You're an entrepreneur and you have a clear vision of your goals.
You understand your message AND your target audience.
You have a real understanding of your buyer personas.
You listen to your current customers, and you speak their language.
There's a specific lingo you speak in your industry and you know it best.
You understand the ins and outs of everything going on in your profession.
You have a real vision of your organization's look: colors, photography, video.
You're good with computers and managing programs.
You understand budgeting and auctions.
You're good with Excel and/or Google Sheets. CSV, you think, I totally understand what that means.
If you think you possess any of these qualities or even ALL of these qualities, you have probably thought to yourself, "I can manage my own Facebook Instagram Business Manager." In fact, maybe you already ARE managing your own Facebook Instagram Business Manager if you have these qualities.
But if you are this savvy, you probably haven't gotten there thinking you know everything. You understand that even the best of us need help now and then. And that sometimes (maybe occasionally) we make a misstep in our programming or set-up.
Or maybe you haven't even made a miscalculation, and you're looking for reassurance, a supportive person to tell you you have set your programming up correctly. Such reassurance can give you confidence.
Yes, Cote Media can help you.
How so?
Cote Media runs workshops of various sizes for anyone who wants to manage their own Facebook Instagram Business Manager. The response to these workshops is overwhelmingly positive. Take this review for example:
“This class is game-changing!! Thought provoking, inspiring, and exciting, so much inside knowledge I had no idea about before! I learned how to use new tools for better content, how to use tools I had and didn’t know were there-how to use the tools to make the fun side of social media work for business and attract the people you want! Russ has such fun, down to earth and hilarious energy-love him, love the class, love the time spent. Thank you so much!” - A. Horsewood.
Or this one . . .
"Nobody is more passionate about this topic than Russ...buckle up, take his class, and watch your ROI soar." - Shawn R.
Which type of workshop is right for you depends on your experience with the Business Manager. If you're a beginner, you should probably start with our Beginner Workshop. We then have a more experienced Workshop for those who are more knowledgeable. But we will assess that before signing you up for either!
We also organize small and large group workshops for entire organizations. This is a good option for teams and businesses who want several members of their staff to contribute to their online advertising strategy. Depending on the size of your group, you can come to us, or we bring the workshop to you!
If you are inclined to manage your own Facebook Instagram Business Manager, look no further. Call Cote Media today at 732-747-4300.
Choose assets that make sense together when combined: You can choose up to 30 assets for your dynamic creative ad. However, we recommend that you prioritize quality over quantity. It's better to combine 2 strong assets than several assets you're not as confident about. If you don't have a lot of image and video assets yet, you can also combine multiple text assets as an easy way to get started.
Use multiple call-to-action buttons: What do you want people to do after they see your ad? Try a few different buttons to find out which are effective.
Reach the right people: Combine dynamic creative with Facebook Pixel so you can track the results of your ads and understand who's visiting your website. Learn more about Facebook Pixel.
Keep text short, clear and to the point: People scan Facebook and Instagram Feed and stories very quickly.
Draw attention to your image: Create ads with a single point of focus. Check out our design tips to get started.
Make images more noticeable with movement: Add time-lapse, looping and animation with free and easy-to-use apps like Hyperlapse, Boomerang, Legend, Videoshop, Adobe PhotoShop Express and Adobe Spark.
Avoid text on top of images: Use the text, headline and link description fields instead. You can also add a text overlay. Learn more about best practices for text in ad images.
Put the most captivating elements of your video in the first few seconds: Showcase your brand identity right away so people see and remember it, then bookend with your brand at the end. Trim your video to 15 seconds or less.
Design video for sound off but delight with sound on: People choose to watch videos with sound off in many situations, such as in public places. To design for sound off, use text and graphics, tell your story visually and use captions where you can (either with auto-captioning tools or an SRT file).
Choose the best aspect ratio for the placement: Most people hold their phones vertically so choose a vertical aspect ratio for Facebook and Instagram Feed and stories to cover more screen area.
Dynamic Ads can be previewed. In order to preview variations of your ad. Click View More Variations to preview your ads.
If you're looking for ways to take the guesswork out of ad combinations and to start putting machine learning to work for your ad campaigns, dynamic content is one way to start.
Dynamic content does not replace split A/B testing for your campaigns, as only some of the data on dynamic users is available. If you're looking for more rigorous information on how users interact with different ad sets, you will still need to use A/B testing with your content.
What's A/B testing? Simply put, when you serve two different ads to audiences and see which ads more positively impact them. You can do the same with home pages and landing pages on your website.
No matter what you're working on, it's important to not put all your eggs in one basket as the saying holds. Try split testing and dynamic ads to make your ad campaigns more aggressive.
Looking for help with Facebook Dynamic Content? Call Cote Media today!
It may seem like a massive amount of data to account for and manage. But with the right tools and guidance, the process can be streamlined and simplified. Plus, if you are already using a point-of-sale or CRM system, Facebook may have already set up an integration system.
Don't be overwhelmed by Facebook's Offline Conversion Tracking. We can help! Reach out to us today for some guidance on implementing this feature.
Been longing to start appearing in Facebook Search ads? The time has arrived!
When in late 2018, Facebook announced it would be opening Facebook Search Ads again to a select group of industries, many businesses started clamoring to find out when they might also be able to optimize their campaigns with search ad placements. After a year of testing the feature, now all advertisers can appear in search ad placements.
Facebook announced:
"All new ad campaigns using Automatic Placements will automatically include the Facebook Search Results placement. You can also manually select the placement when setting up your campaign. Once you opt-in, ads will be eligible to appear on search result pages which includes general search and Marketplace search - and will both respect the audience targeting of the campaign and be contextually relevant to a limited set of English and Spanish search terms."
So what does this mean for advertisers on Facebook?
One factor is that the change benefits businesses who are looking for less intrusive approaches to reaching their customers. Facebook has been carefully tweaking its ad formats to make the newsfeed less overrun by sponsored ads. And many advertisers share their concern; they are hesitant to clog newsfeeds with too many sponsored listings lest it may annoy them. By approaching new and existing customers in their search or marketplace, they can rest easier knowing that customers are seeking sales guidance potentially.
Perhaps far more compelling though is Facebook's opposite assertion: more placement options lead to far more conversions. Their research shows that the more an audience sees your ad, the more they are likely to convert to your brand. Facebook reports:
What are the limitations of the new search feature?
For now, ads can only be run for topics with commercial interest. For example, you might appear in search results for jewelry stores, if that is your focus, but you would not be able to appear in result for terms like "Pearl Jam" or other, similar proper nouns.
The placement is also now limited to mobile searching. Users will have to perform the search on their mobile phone for your placement to appear. Advertisers will still have to wait for the desktop search roll-out on a later date.
The ability to specify your exact search terms is also limited. Users will have to trust Facebook to recommend and assign related search terms to your business placements.
If you're ready to start driving conversions with Search Ad Placements, contact Cote Media today! We can design and manage a campaign for your business to thrive on Facebook and everywhere!
To create an Augmented Reality Ad:
It all seems quite easy when you read the steps outlined above. And it is. Your only hurdle is custom creating an AR experience with an AR studio.
And that's where design agencies like Cote Media can step in. Not only can we design the ads, but we can take the legwork out of researching and budgeting for your AR experience studio project.
We can brainstorm AR experience concepts for your advertising project and work with a studio to make your dreams a reality.
If you're looking to launch your next ads campaign with the latest Facebook functions, give us a call today. Our ability to take over the management of your Facebook Business Manager is seamless and efficient.
Let's get started implementing your next AR experience project today.
How are you collaborating with your organization to design and implement your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns?
Are you accessing all of Facebook's plethora of tools to manage your online campaigns? Accessible via your Facebook Business Manager is a number of resources that can greatly improve the quality of your advertising campaigns AND the way that your group collaborates to design and manage them.
This past week, Facebook announced a few updates to better your organization's ad design process. Within Facebook's Creative Hub, you can now, as a group, compare your campaigns across multiple channels simultaneously and efficiently.
Specifically, you can now as a group:
Not using Creative hub yet? Reach it while logged into Facebook here:
https://business.facebook.com/ads/creativehub/home/
If you're only starting the Hub for the first time, Facebook will automatically launch an introductory wizard to walk you through some of the platform's benefits. You can also quickly toggle between tabs and features to view all of its functions.
What can you do within the Hub? Now, basically everything you can within Ads Manager itself and then export your work into the ads manager to begin running your ads.
Facebook describes its benefits:
Get Inspired. See creative ad examples across a range of ad formats, including Instagram Stories, Instant Experience and collection ads. Learn about ad specs and recommendations.
See ads through the eyes of your customers. Preview mockups on Facebook and Instagram. Test your ads on mobile to optimize for display and effectiveness.
Speed up the approval process. Show coworkers and clients exactly what an idea will look like on both desktop and mobile. You can also start a Creative Hub project so you and your team can collaborate on mockups.
Why work collaboratively within the Hub and not just directly within Ads Manager? It depends on the project and the organization. An organization that has several collaborators and managers who approve and edit ads, may find working in the Hub to be more productive than screenshotting or glancing over your shoulders.
Limiting access to the Ads Manager--which is linked to paid advertising--may also be beneficial and protective of budgets. An organization may want to limit those who can authorize billing for a particular project, but may want those very same collaborators to be able to edit design and copy for the ads.
It's an extremely practical feature that helps you refine your ad process. The mockup feature is the star of the Hub platform. Within the feature, designers and managers work together to perfect your ad campaigns, previewing the campaigns before launch.
The mockup feature allows groups to:
Share professional mockup previews: Send mockup previews that represent your business, not just you. The links you send will be shared from your business name, instead of your personal Facebook account.
Collaborate on mockups: Business users can organize mockups into projects for easy collaboration. Invite anyone on your team into a project, so that multiple people can work on a mockup together. File access also protects you in case a team member goes on sick leave or leaves your business.
Create video tests: The Creative Hub video testing tool lets you test up to five video ads to see how they engage audiences after 72 hours, spending US$400 for each video ad included.
If you're looking to optimize your Facebook Business Manager for your organization or to outsource its management to a capable firm, message us today. We have the experience and knowledge to make sure your organization is up to speed on all the latest Facebook Business Manager tools and features.
In the run-up to the 2019 election this November 5, 2019, both Facebook and Twitter have made announcements that will impact advertisers and advertising trends. The controversy is sure to heat up even more in anticipation of the 2020 election, which will draw more voters and attract more advertising dollars to the platforms. How will this impact non-political business advertising? Mostly with transparency settings.
The controversy began brewing even more in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, when foreign powers came in to question for ad purchasing strategies that may have influenced American voters. Since then, all social media platforms have been embroiled in the controversy, with very real concerns for potential sanctions by the United States government for their advertising policies.
The controversy has grown this week with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey announcing that Twitter will not run any political ads, a safe move that may protect them from more government oversight or even potential prosecution were election tampering discovered on their platforms.
Twitter has long been a safe home for objective journalism. Some writers and publications are willing to forgo or even decry Facebook or Instagram, but are unwilling to quit Twitter. Twitter's announcement to ban political ads appears a protective move to safeguard this reputation.
While most businesses advertising on Facebook and Instagram are not politically focused, the controversy continues to impact any and all advertisers on Facebook. The Page Transparency Settings on Facebook are where business owners can see all the details of how these changes will impact them.
For example, starting November 7, 2019, the name of the verified business owner will begin appearing on every business page. Heretofore, Facebook users had strategies to not disclose the main party running or even owning a page. Now Facebook is moving to make such information public.
The page verification process began in October 2018, with Facebook announcing:
Today, we’re also announcing that people who manage Pages with large numbers of followers will need to be verified. Those who manage large Pages that do not clear the process will no longer be able to post. This will make it much harder for people to administer a Page using a fake account, which is strictly against our policies. We will also show you additional context about Pages to effectively assess their content. For example, you can see whether a Page has changed its name.
While these enforcements are mostly designed to prevent foreign entities from purchasing extensive ad campaigns in the United States under false or deceptive business names, legitimate US businesses are still feeling the impacts. For example, if you run political content on your page, Facebook's artificial intelligence programs may receive an alert depending on the language that you choose.
In that instance, your business may receive an alert asking if you intend to post or run political content on your page. If your page is not focused on political content, and only making an infrequent announcement, it is best to make sure that you are not classified as a page that addresses political or social issues. Accepting such a classification may impact your advertising in the future.
Many businesses don't realize that any ads you are running on Facebook are public information. In order to see what ads you or your competition is running, just check the following:
If you're working with an ad management company that doesn't understand all of these nuances of Facebook advertising, it's time to call Cote Media.
Why not just boost a post? Because within the Facebook Ads Manager, you can be far more specific with where your ads will appear and to whom. The entire breadth of the Facebook footprint and even beyond can be adjusted by you. When you boost, you're kind of spitting into the wind as they say.
This begs the question, are you using Facebook Ads Manager? Do you have the Pixel installed?
If you are only boosting posts here and there, it's time to expand your horizons and start thinking bigger. Boosting posts is commonly considered as a waste of spending by most savvy advertisers. It's time to start learning the Facebook Ads Manager.
There are plenty of useful tools for learning and applying the Facebook Ads Manager online, but if you're looking for more 1:1 guidance, Cote Media leads LIVE, IN-PERSON workshops where we help business owners learn to manage their ads accounts like the pros.
Our next workshop is scheduled for 10/11/19 in Red Bank, NJ. But if you can't make it, we can bring the workshop to you! Email us at [email protected] with your interest in a private or group workshop.
What to expect at the workshop?
Attendees receive a general advanced training on using social media to maximize engagement, including basic social media advertising best practices. They’ll get a birds-eye view of how and why their entire digital media “presence” can work to produce compounded results. This will encompass website tips, tracking mechanisms, analytic dissection and Google.
Ready to sign up to attend? Here is the Registration Link:
https://cotemedia.com/products/holiday-paid-advertising-workshop-10-11-19
The 10/11/19 Workshop is focused on preparing your Business Manager Account for holiday advertising. Especially Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. If you want to promote your business online this year for the holidays, this is the workshop for you!
Check out this review of one of Russ's recent workshops:
“This class is game-changing!! Thought provoking, inspiring, and exciting, so much inside knowledge I had no idea about before! I learned how to use new tools for better content, how to use tools I had and didn’t know were there-how to use the tools to make the fun side of social media work for business and attract the people you want! Russ has such fun, down to earth and hilarious energy-love him, love the class, love the time spent. Thank you so much!” - A. Horsewood