Every day, 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook. If this stat makes you reach for the keyboard to quickly write a post on your Facebook business page, stop right there. When it comes to Facebook, less is more. Here’s why you need to focus on quality over quantity with your Facebook marketing.You’ll show up in more newsfeeds It’s hard to keep up with Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm, but there is one thing you can be sure of: the less interactions a post gets, the less likely it is going to be seen. Facebook displays the most relevant stories and posts to a user in their newsfeed - and considering there’s around 1,500 stories from friends and pages filtered per day on an average user’s feed, Facebook have to carefully consider what they display. So if Joe Bloggs’ friends are always liking posts about chocolate, chances are those posts are going to show up in Joe’s feed. Similarly, if Joe himself is always commenting on pages about unicorns, then you guessed it - Joe’s feed is probably going to have quite a few posts (whether sponsored or not) about unicorns from a variety of pages. Facebook prioritises stories you’ll engage with - posts you like, comment on, share, or click.You’ll have a quality Social Media Strategy Remember when social media just started becoming a part of your business’ digital marketing strategy? You’d post the same thing across Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But you can’t keep lumping everything into one anymore: it’s time to consider what content is suitable for each channel. For example, if you’ve got some HR news or a job posting, LinkedIn may be more ideal than Facebook. Savvy customers who see you’ve got the same post across all channels are probably not going to want to follow all of your social accounts, as they’ll think they’re not going to get unique content from each channel. Considered, strategic social media management is key to getting more followers and engagement.You’ll keep your customers happy Before you hit ‘post’, look at your draft. Read it out loud. Ask yourself, “Do I care about this?” If the answer is “Meh”, don’t post it. If you don’t care, your customers won’t either. This will lead to less page engagement, resulting in less news feed exposure. Long term, it could impact on brand loyalty. Post stuff that’s funny, or engaging, or important - not super-long updates, posts that ask people to ‘like’ it for no apparent reason, or mundane information that’s better suited to your company’s intranet. It may be time to rethink your Facebook marketing strategy and start posting better updates, less often. Remember, quality posts = more engagement = more followers.

What's happening in 2018 in the ever evolving world of Social Media? It can be hard to keep up with the latest trends, such is the dynamic nature of this contemporary communication behemoth. But in order to stay relevant, knowing how to use your social media platforms effectively is a must. Take a look

then at the top five things-to-know about the wonderfully fluid world of Social Media.....Storytelling Selling a story - not just a product or service - has always been an important and powerful element of Social Media but with Mark Zuckerberg emphasising the importance of "community" when announcing his recent changes to Facebook, storytelling has become key in 2018. As Facebook goes back to its roots this year - rewarding with good reach those Users whose posts promote and celebrate real, human relationships and connections - it is more important than ever that a business tells its stories. Failing to do this by posting faceless promotions and sales pitches will doom your business to the bottom of the newsfeed. Want to engage the community? Then you need to become a part of the community. The more your business mimics real, human form, the better your reach will be.LinkedIn

After years of being the kid brother to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, LinkedIn is finally growing up and taking on the big boys. Recently, LinkedIn added video to all personal accounts, began testing geofilters for videos, and made some seriously impressive updates to its messaging platform. It’s also anticipated that LinkedIn’s ad platform will come into its own, and begin offering better value for money than Facebook. And then there's the talk of video ads being made available for business pages in 2018.Ad Costs With Facebook’s - and so also Instagram’s - decision to return to building communities based on real, human relationships and connections, businesses using these platforms to sell, promote or advertise will be effectively reprimanded with increased advertising costs over the next 12 months.

So to ensure your product or service gets heard and seen across these platforms, be prepared to spend more. And to reiterate, ensure you're optimising your increased spend with strong advertising campaigns that have a clear, real and human message.Instagram Instagram is set to be a star performer in 2018. 15 million businesses worldwide were using Instagram mid-2017 – expect that figure to rise significantly with the increasing popularity of Instagram Stories, and the new addition of Story Highlights, which allows accounts to showcase their favourite stories. And why IS Stories such a winner for Instagram? Because the stories are short, unpolished glimpses of life behind the brand - a little rough around the edges, they offer a real, honest, behind-the-scenes look into a business. It won't surprise you then that Stories gets you literally to the very top of Instagram. Hidden titbit here is: if you’re not yet on Instagram, you should be!Videos The use of Video Content in Social Media grew exponentially in 2017, and that growth looks set to continue over the next 12 months. Hidden titbit #2: if Video Marketing is not already an integral part of your Content Marketing strategy, it should be. Did you know that videos on Social Media generate 1,200% more shares than text and images combined? To reiterate, that's 1,200% more shares!!! Wondering why? It's a such a powerful storytelling medium, that's why. In fact research shows that viewers retain 95% of a message when they see it in video form, compared to only a 10% retention rate when it's in written form. And what's more, it's estimated that by 2019, video will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic. 2018 is going to be an exciting year in Social Media. A year when we all get a little bit braver and more confident sharing our stories with one another, businesses included. So here's to letting down the guard and getting real!

Written by Tully Toledo is the senior content writer for LUCYMY media.

If you want to keep your reach and engagement high, then create engaging content that’s relevant to your target audience. It really is as simple as that. Gimmicky tactics that trick your audience into engaging and clicking on your content won't work anymore. It's time to roll up your sleeves and focus on creating real relationships with your audience and provide engagement-worthy content over engagement-bait content. Moving forward, people are going to see more content from their inner circle. That doesn't mean that publishers and pages aren't part of your inner circle. As a Page, that means you don't just want to sell. Start with why and how, and after those you can sell your 'what' to your customer.

Build engagement-worthy content that nurtures real relationships. Take a content strategy that tells stories and builds brand trust and relationships first, with sales tactics playing second fiddle. Focus your content more on telling stories, being human, and creating conversation. Be unique.

Drop regurgitating the same content and news over and over just for the sake of traffic and clicks. Provide your own insights and data, and not just something a reader could get from a simple Google search.

Focus on your strengths and areas of expertise and you'll find ways to remain relevant and build trust and thought-leadership in the industry. Consider the questions your audience is asking and build content around informing and educating them! Be honest. Drop the "hooks" and "clickbait" titles. In today’s world of #fake news, it's important to be honest and drop the trickery. Answer questions in a genuine manner and don't use titles to scare people into clicking. People respect transparency! Be gracious. Don't be silent on social. Engage with your audience by asking questions, and thanking them for being involved with your community and business. Share content of other people in the industry who are also providing value, and be an active member of the community! Don't live and die by the metrics.

Not every piece of content will see an immediate return, but it all goes towards building that relationship and trust with your users. Have public faces of your company.

Build Public Figure pages. Do your C-Suite executives and sales leadership have Public Figure pages on Facebook? We suggest it as a great new tactic to try to both get familiar with Facebook's engagement-based algorithm and to build trust with your clients.

Anyone who's a figurehead for the business—anyone who can see what you're doing, where you're dealing with customers and that has content and expertise to be shared—should create a public figure page on Facebook. Follow what George Leith is doing. If you want to drive more sales, build more reach and create engagement with customers, create a public figure page and create a 1-minute video around who you are. Saying something about you as a person, not selling. Tell the story. 1 minute, it's not that hard to do. One 1-minute video about who you are. One 1-minute video about what you do and why, about your company. One 1-minute video about the expertise that you have, on how you do something or something that people would find interesting. Three 1-minute videos. Start with why, then how, then what. If you want to succeed, do this with your public figure page. Then, if you like each other's pages and create engagement and give feedback on creating better videos, you can demonstrate to clients how to do this. That's how you'll get reach and build better relationships Very important to remember: the new algorithm changes will only affect organic posts and content, and your paid Facebook advertisements will remain largely unaffected. If your com

pany is not publishing clickbait or fake news content the new algorithm change will have very little effect on you. But, if you are using these types of engagement strategies, then indeed this is a bombshell.

Conclusion. In conclusion, the only real companies that should be worried about this big Facebook algorithm change are the ones who are using disingenuous, engagement-bait methods on their Facebook page. Additionally, companies that do not make engaging with their audience a focus of their social strategy, and rather have a "post and ghost" type of content strategy, will experience a very small reach with their organic content. To address this issue and keep your engagement and reach high, make sure you adopt a social content strategy that focuses on building brand trust and relationships with your consumers. You want to become part of your audience's "inner circle," and you do so by sparking real conversations and human interactions on the Facebook platform. Plus, hone in on your paid advertising strategy to fill in any reach gaps you may have and hit your perfect target audience. See you on the News Feed! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dew Smith Dew is the Managing Editor at Vendasta, but will also respond to “content juggler,” “blog wrangler,” and “internet explorer”. Speaking in fluent pop culture references, and Googling at the speed of sound, she is always looking for new and innovative ways to stretch her creative muscle.

“Damnit, Facebook has changed their algorithm again!” How many times have you or your business friends uttered this phrase? Actually, the recent changes to Facebook encompass more than just algorithms. Here’s how Facebook’s latest updates can impact your Facebook content marketing.

Facebook replicates Snapchat No, you haven’t accidentally clicked into Snapchat. Facebook rolled out ‘Messenger Day’ in March, and at first glance you could be forgiven for thinking it was a Snapchat Stories clone. This addition allows users to post video and images that are live for 24 hours.How this could impact your Facebook page: This could have a huge impact on how people interact with Facebook. Since Messenger Day sits at the top of newsfeeds, users may prefer to stay right there and view their friends’ stories, rather than scrolling. This is something to consider if your client or company favours in-feed ads and boosted posts.

Sound in newsfeeds In February sound started playing automatically in videos in newsfeeds (provided users had the volume on).How this could impact your Facebook page: Videos can paint a picture visually, but now you’ll want to pay closer attention to audio: you’ll need to grab viewers in those first few seconds by their eyes and ears.

Video prioritisation Since the start of the year Facebook have started to analyse the ‘percent completion’ rate for videos a user watches. If all or most is watched, then Facebook will prioritise similar videos in that user’s future newsfeed.How this could impact your Facebook page: If your videos are long, but have a high engagement rate, this may benefit you as potentially more people will be exposed. However, if your videos are already struggling, prepare to see a further drop in exposure.Ad breaks It’s still in testing mode, but this could have a huge impact on you (and your wallet!). Facebook pages that post live video may be able to start including ‘ad breaks’ of up to 15 seconds long. The page will then earn a share of the resulting ad revenue.How this could impact your Facebook page: This could be both good and bad: your followers may be annoyed at ads, but if they’re not annoyed, then you could be looking at a brand new income stream.

Blogs, review sites, social media: these are no longer small platforms where a bunch of strangers talk about their opinions and no one cares about it. Well, not entirely: there are still a bunch of strangers voicing their opinions, but the difference now is the platforms are huge and people do care about the content that is shared. Online reviews should really be considered part of your business’ digital marketing strategy. Here’s why.They build your rep If a customer has never transacted with or visited your business, they understandably could be a little wary. By hopping online and seeing that other people have, in fact, had favourable exchanges with your company, they start to view you in a new, trustworthy light. Plus, online reviews will help get the word out about your business for people who have never heard of you.They give you valuable feedback Sometimes people are reluctant to tell you face-to-face that you suck. Put someone behind a keyboard however, and watch the opinions fly. We’re not just talking about criticism, we’re also talking about helpful suggestions: both positive and negative online reviews will give you valuable insight about what’s working in your business and what needs some attention. Stellar reviews can also be shared on your own website and social pages, giving you something to boast about.They act as free Content Marketing A good content strategy will usually strive to create online content that’s shareable, entertaining, and gives customers a good insight into your business. Bloggers and contributors to sites like Yelp can do a lot of this hard work for you, generating free quality content about your product and brand. You can actually create wonderful web marketing partnerships this way: you share their content on your social page, they share it on theirs, and instantly you’ve both exposed the other’s work to new followers. These partnerships are something you might like to include in your social media strategy. Any small business needs to start taking online reviews seriously. It’s vital that you educate yourself on the various online review platforms in order to reap the most benefits that this content can bring.

Every day, 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook. If this stat makes you reach for the keyboard to quickly write a post on your Facebook business page, stop right there. When it comes to Facebook, less is more. Here’s why you need to focus on quality over quantity with your Facebook marketing.

You’ll show up in more newsfeeds

It’s hard to keep up with Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm, but there is one thing you can be sure of: the less interactions a post gets, the less likely it is going to be seen. Facebook displays the most relevant stories and posts to a user in their newsfeed - and considering there’s around 1,500 stories from friends and pages filtered per day on an average user’s feed , Facebook have to carefully consider what they display. So if Joe Bloggs’ friends are always liking posts about chocolate, chances are those posts are going to show up in Joe’s feed. Similarly, if Joe himself is always commenting on pages about unicorns, then you guessed it - Joe’s feed is probably going to have quite a few posts (whether sponsored or not) about unicorns from a variety of pages. Facebook priorities stories you’ll engage with - posts you like, comment on, share, or click.

You’ll have a quality social media strategy

Remember when social media just started becoming a part of your business’ digital marketing strategy? You’d post the same thing across Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But you can’t keep lumping everything into one anymore: it’s time to consider what content is suitable for each channel. For example, if you’ve got some HR news or a job posting, LinkedIn may be more ideal than Facebook. Savvy customers who see you’ve got the same post across all channels are probably not going to want to follow all of your social accounts, as they’ll think they’re not going to get unique content from each channel. Considered, strategic social media management is key to getting more followers and engagement.

You’ll keep your customers happy

Before you hit ‘post’, look at your draft. Read it out loud. Ask yourself, “Do I care about this?” If the answer is “Meh”, don’t post it. If you don’t care, your customers won’t either. This will lead to less page engagement, resulting in less news feed exposure. Long term, it could impact on brand loyalty. Post stuff that’s funny, or engaging, or important - not super-long updates, posts that ask people to ‘like’ it for no apparent reason, or mundane information that’s better suited to your company’s intranet.

It may be time to rethink your Facebook marketing strategy and start posting better updates, less often. Remember, quality posts = more engagement = more followers.

The world of social media and content marketing can be tumultuous, rife with the pressure to constantly create fresh content that will generate high engagement rates. You might think you’ve exhausted every avenue in your quest to produce quality, popular content - but there’s one resource you might not have tapped into yet. It’s closer than you think...

Here’s how you can boost your content strategy with employee advocacy.Sharing is caring Simply getting your employees to follow your Facebook business page is a good start. Even better is if they share posts - the same goes for Twitter and Instagram too. In the land of social media algorithms, popular content is king, so posts with higher engagement rates are more likely to be seen by a wider audience. Employees sharing posts can give you a headstart in boosting your engagement rates.A friendly face Consumers want to see the voice and the faces behind your brand. Your employees being the stars of your content can help humanise your brand, and it’s a great way to positively boost your company culture. So share some insight into the daily workings of your business. The form this takes will vary depending on your company, but it could be featuring employees in photos and stories on Instagram, welcoming new employees to the fold on LinkedIn, or having employees demonstrate new products in YouTube videos.Calling all wordsmiths! You’ve probably got a few writing superstars on your team who would love the chance to mix up their day-to-day role a bit. Using employees to write some of your company blog posts can build brand credibility, introduce clients and customers to the people behind the work, and give employees an opportunity to showcase their skills. It’s a great way to give people who love writing the chance to have a professional outlet, all while building great content for your company’s website and social channels. There’s also a good chance that the writers will share what they create on their own social pages. Employee advocates can help increase your reach and boost your brand’s reputation, all with minimal cost to your business. Help employees see the value in it too, and encourage them to flex their creative muscle and help out with blogs and other social posts.

Facebook is changing its algorithm yet again, and this time it wants to show you more things that you’ll actually spend time reading or watching. Like Google, its only concern is User experience and this is always the driving force to changes in its platform.

Whilst Facebook looks at a plethora of data when deciding which posts you actually see on your News Feed, until now it hasn’t cared too much about what you actually do when you click away from Facebook. This is all about to change.

“We’re learning that the time people choose to spend reading or watching content they clicked on from News Feed is an important signal that the story was interesting to them,” commented Software Engineer Moshe Blank and Research Scientist Jie Xu, in a post on the Company’s website.

As a consequence, the site is now optimised to pick links which have a higher viewing time. “We will also be looking at the time spent within a threshold,” the pair said, “so as not to accidentally treat longer articles preferentially.”

Facebook algorithm influenced by outside data

It seems that part of the reason for the algorithm change is that only recently has Facebook had enough data on User behaviour off-site to create the right metrics. The site still can’t tell what happens to Desktop Users who click a link that takes them outside Facebook, but the steadily increasing proportion of Users who are on the Company’s mobile apps, as well as the introduction of Instant Articles, means that Facebook can now hoover up data about a critical mass of its Users.

It is this that also enables Facebook to be smart in terms of how it measures reading time. For instance, the new algorithm won’t count loading time towards average time reading, only actual time spent reading and watching content.

Keeping more people on Facebook, not off it.

These recent changes in the algorithm are the latest example of Facebook tweaking the News Feed in ways that it hopes will encourage Users to spend more time on the site. Last summer, it put a similar change in place, promoting those posts which were read for more time even if no links were clicked. And in 2014, it changed the algorithm to penalise 'clickbait' – links which Users opened then immediately closed.

“We learned that this often happened when the article someone clicked on wasn’t what they had expected from the post or the headline,” Blank and Xu wrote.

A further change to the algorithm will also be rolling out alongside the reading time tweak, as Facebook begins to force more diversity into the News Feed. The company will roll out “an update to reduce how often people see several posts in a row from the same source in their News Feed”.

Staying abreast of Facebook algorithm changes

As User traffic is obviously of critical importance to any business choosing to market through Facebook, any tweaks in the algorithm are undoubtedly worth remaining abreast of by following Facebook's newsroom and reputable social media new sites. With these changes having a direct effect on what gets seen by Users, it is the businesses who are most savvy in navigating the algorithm that stand to achieve the greatest results in terms of successfully reaching Users with their Facebook posts.

If you're continuously frustrated with Facebook's constant algorithm changes, why not let LUCYMY Media look after your Facebook marketing for you? CONTACT US to find out more!

Results for Facebook Q1

1.28 billion people use Facebook every day, while monthly active users are up, having reached 1.94 billion. This is an 18% increase year-on-year in daily active users and a 17% increase in monthly active users. 1.2 billion people use Facebook Messenger monthly. Advertisers spent 51% more in the first quarter ($7.85 billion in total) compared to last year, and the Company served 32% more ad impressions thanks to its efforts to block the adblockers. 85% of all revenue comes from mobile advertising. More than 5 million businesses are advertising on the platform every month. This number was at 3 million in March last year and at 4 million in September last year.

Growth and engagement in April Page Likes growth in April was at 0.1% of the total audience. Page Likes growth has seen a 41% decrease compared to March and it’s the lowest page growth we’ve seen since May 2015 when we started doing our studies. An average post reached 11.42% of the Page Audience in April. This is 9% lower compared to March but the post reach is continuing its good performance since that great 39% bump we saw in February. There might be more good news for post reach. Facebook has debuted the “Latest Conversations” feature within its search results that lists posts about timely topics. This feature could allow those pages that post about timely topic to reach a new audience. Post engagement rate in April was at 4.72% of people reached, which is a 2% decrease compared to March. Facebook April 2017 Stats: 14.38% of pages we looked at used Facebook Advertising in April paying for 33.37% of their total reach.

Video continues to be the king of post formats

Live videos now stand for 20% of all Facebook videos. An average video post in April reached 12.05% of the total page audience, while photos reached 11.63%, links 7.81%, and status updates only 4.56%. Video content engaged the most people. An average video post engaged 5.39% of people reached, photos engaged 4.59%, links 4.16%, and status updates 4.08%. Fidji Simo, Facebook’s Head of Video, has announced that 20% of all Facebook videos are live broadcast and that the daily watch time for live videos has grown by more than 4x in the last year. Facebook April 2017 Video Stats: “We’ve focused on making the Facebook Live experience more engaging, more fun, and more social. We’ve added live masks and new creative effects, built features that give publishers more control and flexibility over their broadcasts, and rolled out exciting new formats like Live 360 or Live Audio. And now, one in every five Facebook videos is a live broadcast – and over the past year, daily watch time for Facebook Live broadcasts has grown by more than 4x. Every day, we get to enjoy new use cases for Live that we would never have thought about.”

Keen to add video content to your digital strategy? Call us now, we have 20+ years experience!Summary of our latest Facebook video study

Facebook is also launching a new ad type called Collection. It allows marketers to add product images to a video ad in new feeds. When the image is clicked, the user gets to see the product catalogue on Facebook and from there can click on to buy the product on the brand’s website.

Our latest Facebook video study was published in April too and it looked at the video activity in the first quarter of the year. In case you missed it, these are the main findings: - 96.9% of all videos published were native Facebook videos, 3% were YouTube videos, and 0.1% were Instagram videos.

- 64% of pages we looked at published 10 or fewer videos in the first quarter of the year.

- 14% of all video views were paid for using Facebook advertising and 67% of all pages paid for at least one video view during the quarter.

- The average length of a video published in the first quarter was 3 minutes and 48 seconds, but the average time watched was only 10 seconds or only 4% of the full video length.

- Only 7% of all video views were clicked to play sound. In other words, 93% of all video views we looked at were auto-played as users scrolled through their news feeds and didn’t have any sound on.

Don't miss the opportunities video content can bring. Call LUCYMY Media for experienced video marketing in Melbourne.

Briefs are no longer about The Big Idea, a few clever phrases, and a mockup. When it comes to quality content marketing, data rules - and it can mean the difference between your target audience never seeing your material, or getting brilliant cut-through. Briefs that take the importance of audience data into account are the first step to delivering highly shareable content. Briefs should now be driven by questions like: where does our target market shop? Where do they live? What phone do they use? You can consult a variety of sources to build a data-driven brief, either by collating the information yourself or by working with external agencies that specialise in data and analytics. Even if you’re not a conglomerate with the tools to collect a slew of data in-store, there is still hope. The three questions below are a great start for any digital agency or business looking to create data-driven briefs.Who are your customers? You probably have a demographic in mind, one you’ve quoted as your target market from day dot - you know, something like “Female, 18-25, inner-city dwellers, university educated”. Maybe it’s time to actually analyse the data available and see whether that still rings true. Try using survey tools to collect this information; offering an incentive is usually a good way to encourage participation. Or, consider industry reports from organisations like Nielsen, who research different consumer groups and uncover insights about their shopping habits and behaviour. Google Analytics also provides basic demographic information on website visitors like age, location, and sex.What devices do they use? Google Analytics and Facebook Insights give you information about the percentage of your visitors using mobile, desktop, or tablet. It’s important to see whether a particular device is soaring higher in popularity: for example, if 80% of people are using a mobile device, you could consider short-form video, short blog posts, and other content that’s better consumed on-the-go.What’s their browsing behaviour? Do they visit your site or Facebook page in the evening, or on the way to work? Again, this data is readily available on Google Analytics or within your email marketing software and will influence the timing of your content strategy. Release fresh blog content, post on social, and send email blasts at a time your audience is likely to be online. Data-driven creative briefs don’t have to just be for huge organisations with a slew of analytics teams at their disposable. Get started by taking advantage of the free tools available to answer the three questions above.

After being on air for more than 30 years, the much loved American late-night TV sketch comedy and variety show 'Saturday Night Live' is about to undergo a significant change. It's not, however, the Show's time-honoured format that will be tweaked. Rather it's in the commercial breaks that viewers will notice something different. Broadcaster NBC has announced that it plans to cut nearly 30% of ads in favour of replacing them with 'Branded Content'. In real terms, this equates to two commercial breaks over the course of the one and a half hour show. That's quite the dramatic decrease, and no doubt one that the average viewer will eagerly welcome.

Why branded content will replace traditional TV advertising

So why the change? The Network says it hopes that it will result in more sustained viewership. Less ads. Yep. That'll help. But what's the thinking behind the move to Branded Content? Enter Stage Left, the new kids on the block - Netflix, Stan, Putlocker and Co. Thanks to this cohort, we're now officially living in an era of 'binge watching'. Netflix et al provide us with a constant online stream of the TV shows and movies that we want to watch, when and where we want to see them, and here's the newsworthy headline - all ad free! Not surprisingly, these days an increasing number of viewers are relishing the experience of watching shows with no ad interruptions at all.

TV advertising in disguise

As we become the generation of 'mini ego-Networks' - where each individual is their own pint-sized NBC or ABC, in charge and in control of their own evening of ad-free programming thank you very much - what leg do marketing departments within TV networks have left to stand on? The answer is in repackaging - and arguably disguising - ads as Branded Content segments. Branded Content done well holds currency all its own. In the case of Saturday Night Live, the segments will be more co-branded such that SNL and the brand will work together to come up with a skit talking about a particular product. In this way, it is anticipated that viewers will understand they are in on the joke and will enjoy playing along.

It is expected that SNL won't lose money with this change as there'll be just six branded segments so they'll come at a premium. And NBC has gone on to say that if Branded Content segments work, they'll start using more of them in the Network's prime time shows. With people craving a TV experience free of interruptive advertising, the use of Content Marketing in commercial breaks is certainly a viable and attractive alternative to traditional TV selling. Further to this, it is another exciting example of how 'people power' can drive significant

change.

Want to see how branded content can work for you? Contact LUCYMY Media TODAY!

Most content marketing strategies these days will have a heavy emphasis on digital, whether that’s blogs, Facebook marketing, or websites. But what about online video? It’s often overlooked, especially by smaller businesses, as it’s quickly thrown into the “too hard” basket. But video content is powerful, and one that virtually any brand can (and should!) utilise. Here’s why.

It can be more engaging

Concentrating solely on written content is understandable: after all, long blog posts can be written in mere hours, whereas a one minute video can take weeks to complete. However, video has a healthy return on investment. A 2015 study showed that four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it, and they’re also nearly 50% more likely to read email newsletters that include links to video. Why? Well, people are lazy. Depending on the subject matter, a high quality video can get the point across, fast. That, coupled with its visual and emotive nature, makes it a medium that’s powerfully engaging.

It can be more accessible

Not everyone can read English (or whatever language you’re writing in). Not everyone can read that well. And people are not always in a position to be engaging in the act of reading. Video can be more accessible to some audiences who are facing a barrier due to language or an impairment, as well as to those who are unable or simply not wanting to stop what they are doing to read. Web accessibility matters, and when correctly addressed and considered in your content marketing, can actually benefit your business.

It has huge potential

Last year Bloomberg reported that Snapchatters watch 10 billion videos a day. People love to watch, and that can mean big returns for your business. One study last year found that people spent on average 2.6 times more time on pages with video than without. For businesses that rely on e-commerce and online lead generation, video could be the difference between losing a sale or gaining a customer.

It doesn’t have to cost the Earth

“There’s no way video marketing is in our budget”. How many times have you told your digital marketing agency that? Yes, video production can be pricey, but depending on the story you’re telling. At LUCYMY, we'veproduced over 500 hours of video content for the ABC. Channel 9, Sky News and many other broadcasters. As we know video can be expensive, we decided that for SME's we would make it as cost effective as possible so you can create a volume of content and not sweat over how much it's going to cost.

In the content game it's about volume but it has to be high quality and relevant. There's no point making something that no one wants to watch. The video production company you end up using should not be 'yes people'. In other words, they should help and guide you to tell the best story possible that will be engaging, informative and entertaining.

If you do not have a video content budget then try doing something yourself. There is one element however that you need to ensure is as good as you can make it: SOUND. Poor quality sound can be the death of any potential self-produced video content. Buying a lapel mic or a good shot gun mic could be one of the best investments you make. Again always consider your subject matter and your audience, and choose accordingly. Filming an ad? Using a professional is probably ideal & recommended.But a short, fun, quirky piece for your Facebook business page? Grab your iPhone and get filming, just make sure your script and concept are solid and that your idea fits in with your digital strategy. And don't forget the sound!

Video can be a powerful part of your content marketing strategy, and it doesn’t have to eat up your entire budget. Don’t be so quick to discount this medium, as it could have awesome results for your business.

Google is still pretty vague about whether its rankings are influenced by Social Media. But our experience as a social media agency is this: put simply, the Content in Social Media which has great engagement has much more SEO value than the Content with low engagement.

If you stop and think about it, it's logical. Given that Google’s algorithm is designed to find and rank high-quality, useful content for each search query, it obviously requires a way to measure the value of sites. Social Media engagement provides Google with exactly what it needs: external validation of a page’s value. Because, like every other Social Media user, you’re not going to like a piece of Content on Facebook or share a link to it if you think it's worthless. And you’re not going to spend your precious time watching videos that aren’t entertaining and/or informative. At least we hope so!

This is great news if you value your Social Media Pages as a way to market your business.

Precisely because Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation work in tandem, by publishing Social Media posts with high-quality, useful Content, your posts will also be working for you to improve your SEO.

How to ensure your social media marketing is helping your SEO:

1. Be Clear About Who You Are, and Put It Out There Clearly

The Web is a competitive and crowded place. To get noticed, you need to build a robust, authentic, and highly engaging brand presence and the best way to do this is by publishing only optimized Content on your Social Media Pages. We recommend a Content Marketing Media Plan as best practice in this regard because it is an invaluable tool for strategically setting out your Content. With your Plan at the ready, it is then a case of making sure you draft Content which your fans will be able to instantly recognize as yours because of your distinctive character and tone. Added to this, be sure that all your Content includes an on-brand message so that its relevancy, consistency and cohesiveness is maintained.

By utilising these methods not only will you get searched more often, you'll benefit from organically increased awareness of your business which is obviously so much more valuable than any advertising as it's cost efficient and once established, it keeps working for you.

2. Mass Matters

No surprises here. The total number of followers of, and connections to, your Social Media profiles has a significant influence on your rankings. The more, the better. But important to note: quality matters here. Only genuine followers are quality followers as they are the ones who will engage with your content... and remember, engagement is key. So no fakies please!

3. Get Loved

Your goal with your social network, of course, is sharing. And research shows that likes, comments, and shares are the most significant action for SEO. Because your shared Social Media posts can end up in all kinds of places beyond Social Media - blog posts, articles, other Social Media, ebooks, etc. - the more your community shares your Content, the greater the increase in your SEO visibility.

So make it easy for people to engage with your Social Media Content. Use hashtags to include your Content in other conversations and increase your audience. Always respond to all comments on your Content as a way to generate further engagement. And don't be afraid to initiate conversation by asking pertinent questions aimed at encouraging discussion.

4. Optimize Your Social Media Content

Like your website, your Social Media platforms are searchable. As a consequence, you need a social SEO strategy in order to assist people to look for and find your Content. Do your keyword research, plan out your content accordingly, and include the right keywords in your headings, posts, and hashtags. Also remember to optimize your profiles the same way your website should be optimised - with SEO keywords in summaries, links, biographies, captions, and in the text itself.

When it comes to an Internet search, keywords are the bread crumbs guiding people to your high-quality, useful website Content. A Facebook or Instagram user may comes across your Content because of them and like it, share it, or even become a follower.

Want to make your social media work for you? Find out about our social media management packages by contacting us NOW!

How do you know if your Facebook Ad is getting maximum engagement? How can you determine which creative elements in your Facebook ads are most effective for achieving your goals? Have you ever wanted to compare the performance of two different ads for the same campaign? Have you ever wondered if the creative in one ad is providing better results than the other ad?

The answer to all of those questions is Facebook A/B testing.

What is Facebook A/B Testing?

If you're not yet familiar with it, A/B Testing is sometimes called split testing and it's a simple yet highly effective method for figuring out which of your Facebook ads are delivering the results you’re looking for. By enabling you to test the impact of your advertisements with changes made to different elements of an ad, A/B testing lets you see what works best, helping you achieve maximum advertising reach.

How A/B Testing works

"Okay", I hear you possibly say, "I'm getting it but can you just get down to the nuts and bolts of it. How the heck does it actually work?". Sure. No probs there, 'cause this thing certainly 'aint rocket science.

A/B testing is essentially an experiment where two or more versions of a Facebook ad are shown to Users to see which one performs better. To run an A/B test, you choose a target audience and post different versions of your ad. Statistical analysis is then used to determine which variation performs better for a given conversion goal. The one that gives a better conversion rate, wins!

With A/B Testing, you can experiment with changing and testing ad titles, copy, images, calls to action, and targeting options to see which ads perform best. And it can be used to test not just Facebook ads, but everything from website copy to sales emails to search ads.

Advantages of Facebook A/B Testing

The advantages A/B testing provide are enough to offset the additional time it takes. Well planned A/B testing can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Narrowing down the most effective elements of a promotion, and then combining them, can obviously make your marketing efforts much more profitable and successful.

The bottom line for any Facebook ad strategy, is to create content you think will resonate with your audience, ideally giving them an experience they can't get anywhere else - so that they'll come back for more, and even seek your brand out for specific topics and themes. The next step is to see if you're right by A/B testing your ads. Who knows what you'll discover along the way about your brand perception, opportunities and audience members!!

Does the sound of Facebook Ads and A/B Testing make you cringe with fear? LUCYMY Media is an experienced social media marketing agency in Melbourne. Let us make the experience less stressful. CONTACT US TODAY!

If you're still unsure whether Facebook Ads can help your small or medium-sized business, perhaps you're unaware of the extensive targeting options a Facebook advertising strategy offers and the significant leg up this gives SMEs as they compete with big business for their slice of the market.

Nothing beats advertising on Facebook.

Once upon a time we all spoke of mass marketing - because once upon a time, and for a long time, this was the sole nature of marketing. It was indeed an exercise in disseminating a business's message to the greatest number of people possible in the hope that the few who were potential customers would be paying attention. Think roadside billboards and TV or radio commercials. With these mass marketing ads, you did indeed get a massive audience reach but you were lucky if 5% of that audience was interested in your product or service - the rest was what is known as "wastage". And when you also consider for example that 87% of those watching TV programs fick channels when the ads come on, these traditional forms of advertising were clearly failing to make good use of your marketing dollar.

Once upon a time though, these mass marketing platforms were all businesses had to speak to Consumers - these and letterbox drops, and there was just as much 'wastage' in those too! Moreover, given the excessive cost involved in utilising this media, it was big business with their big bucks who were best positioned to benefit from mass marketing. Only the big guys could afford prime time or prime space. And it was only the big guys who could afford to pump out as many - and as big - ads as were necessary to overcome the inherent wastage of mass marketing and still get their brand out there.

The little guy though? Or the medium-sized guy? How impactful could they be, limited as they were with their relatively small advertising budgets?

Thanks to the arrival of digital media, how times are changing. With Facebook advertising and its advanced targeting options, by allowing you to select the specific Facebook Users you want to see your ad, it ensures that those individuals who are most interested in your product or service are those who are being engaged.

Facebook Ads get down to the nitty gritty of targeting Look at just how comprehensive the targeting categories are that you can work with.

- Demographic: including education, ethnic affinity, financial, generational, home, life events, parents, politics, relationship and work.

- Interests: including business, entertainment, family, fitness, food, hobbies, shopping, sports and technology.

- Behaviour: including automotive, B2B, charitable donations, consumer classification, digital activities, expats, financial, job role, media, mobile device user, purchase behaviour, residential profiles, seasonal and travel.

As if those weren't enough, you can also target Facebook ads to people who have visited any page on your website (or specific pages), people on your email list, people in your customer database, people on your SMS list or other customer databases owned by your business.

Facebook advertising is affordable Petty cool stuff, huh?! And it's cooler still when you realise that what we're witnessing here with targeted advertising, is not only the heralding in of a new and significantly improved way of marketing, but one which small to medium-sized enterprises can afford.

The figures speak for themselves. A targeted Facebook ad costing as little as $100 a week will reach a select audience of over 7,000. A hundred dollars a week in the world of TV or radio advertising? Or on a billboard? What bang for your buck is that going to get you? Literally nudda. Indeed it's easy to see why many SMEs believe that by using Facebook targeted ads, they are not only putting their advertising budget to optimal use, they are at last taking on the big guns and getting squarely into the game.

Not sure where to start when it comes to Facebook Advertising?

Contact us at LUCYMY Media and we can help you get started.

The possibilities are infinite when it comes to the stories we can tell with content marketing. And often it's the simplest things we share that makes for the most meaningful and impacting content.

By touching us deeply, content has the power to leave a lasting impression, particularly video. To endure in the psyche long after the story has been told. This video ad from Belgium for Coca-Cola is case in point...

Keen for your brand to make a lasting impression through video content? Contact LUCYMY Media for quality video marketing in Melbourne and surrounds.