Social Media & SEO

If you’ve noticed more announcements at the top of your Facebook feed, it’s likely due to Facebook’s latest rollout, Moments. For various events, from lesser-known holidays to news to cultural moments, Facebook has added a card to the top of users’ feeds to keep them in the know and spark conversations. The feature is similar to Twitter’s Moments, but if 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that Facebook won’t hesitate to poach competitors’ most popular features (e.g. Instagram Stories, Facebook Live). Facebook has also unveiled an e-card feature for posting holiday cards to friends’ feeds.

Customer communities can be a powerful ally to any brand, offering a multiplier effect for your message that resounds throughout the web. But how can a brand harness the power of unpaid spokespeople to amplify its message and reach as much of its target audience as possible? The key is to convey a sense of shared purpose, be authentic and speak their language.

Skype, Houseparty, your days may be numbered: Facebook has now entered the arena. Its recent announcement enthuses that “Chatting face-to-face live as a group is perfect for those spontaneous moments when text just isn’t enough… or when you have a major case of FOMO.”

Celebrities: They’re just like us. At least when it comes to Snapchat perks, that is. Unlike other social platforms that serve as advertising opportunities for celebrity influencers, Snapchat has kept the influencer marketing door firmly shut. A ban on all paid influencer posts on the platform has helped boost Snap Inc.’s reputation as a bastion of raw, authentic content. This vacuum of celebrity endorsements on Snapchat creates a perfect opportunity for brand communicators seeking to experiment with posting more spontaneous, raw content.

This week’s Data Dive, which looks at consumer engagement with U.S. B2C brands during Q3 (July 1-Sept. 30) on Instagram, is more proof that brands shifted their effort to the photo-based platform, as opposed to Facebook, where engagement was relatively tame during the quarter. The data, provided by Shareablee exclusively to PRNews Pro, also shows the power of video, even on Instagram, which was designed originally as a platform for mobile photos.

As organic reach increasingly becomes a thing of the past, winning a budget for paid social—and proving out its value—is a must for any brand’s social strategy. But that doesn’t have to be a scary thing for those making their foray into the paid social world. As Facebook continues to roll out product updates—and other platforms grow more sophisticated in analytics, tracking and even marketing automation—the opportunity to leverage paid social content into real-world results has never been better. Here are some tips on how to approach promoted posts.

The choice to use a picture without any dark-skinned people to pat oneself on the back for “diversity” is an odd and ill-informed one. The lesson that communications pros should remember is that visual storytelling is a language—a language that, though as rich and nuanced as any language can be, relies heavily on the first impression, the momentary glance.

Live streaming has seen a huge surge in popularity this year, and Facebook Live has provided communicators with a powerful new platform to share their brand stories. Despite its popularity, it’s difficult to show ROI with Facebook Live campaigns, and it can be tricky to ensure your audience is ready and waiting when you go live. Karen Vega, director of social and earned media activations at Viacom, has brought a potent combination of influencer marketing, measurement and media outreach to her Facebook Live strategy. She offers some tips here.

In previous editions, we’ve noted engagement with brands’ social posts on Facebook in Q3 has been modest or even down (see PRNP, Nov. 7 & 21, for example). The thinking then was brands were investing more effort in other social channels, such as Instagram. Data for U.S. B2B brands in Q3 (July 1 – Sept. 30) on Instagram, provided exclusively to PR News Pro by Shareablee, proves the point. Total consumer actions, or engagement, with B2B brands posts on Instagram increased a whopping 80% compared to Q2 2015. Engagement with photos grew a modest 4%, yet video engagement grew a healthy 74%. Actions are defined here as the sum of reactions and comments.

Among the keys to a successful Snapchat effort is an editorial calendar, says Larissa von Lockner, PR & social media manager at PwC. A sample of the brand’s editorial calendar for Snapchat is shared exclusively with PR News Pro readers below. PwC’s belief that using Snapchat must track with a brand’s larger PR and business goals is seen in columns 2, 3 and 5, as the campaign, stakeholders/requestors and strategy are listed.