Hello and welcome to our Social Media News of the Week section. These are the stories we’ll be digging deeper into in this article:
Meta’s New Insights On How To Maximize Your Content Reach On Facebook
Reddit Shares Its Key Engagements Trends And Brand Opportunities
And
Meta Launches A New Kind Of ‘Collaborative Ads’
Meta’s New Insights On How To Maximize Your Content Reach On Facebook
Meta has just published a new overview of how creators can maximize their reach on Facebook and connect with potential fans via the News Feed distribution.
And although these tips are mainly directed at creators, they are pretty universal, too. So, if you’d like to use them to boost your business account, these notes should work just as effectively.
So, as Meta has communicated numerous times in the past, the Facebook News Feed algorithm primarily relies on these key notions when deciding who sees what:
- What content has been posted? What posts are available from friends, other creators, and Pages that we can show?
- Who might like this content? We consider a multitude of signals such as who posted the content, when it was posted, what was the topic, and past user behavior, among others.
- How likely are people to engage with the post? We try to predict how likely a given person is to engage with your post and find it meaningful. We make a variety of these predictions for each piece of content.
- How interested will the audience be in this post? Based on all of the data we have gathered on the post, which pieces of content should get priority?
So, the Big Four mainly emphasizes content’s engagement rates – the more the piece is clicked on, liked, commented on, or shared, the more likely it’ll reach its maximum potential.
However, it isn’t clear whether the algorithm prefers posts that are commented on over those with more likes. But there’s a semi-explanation about that, too, from Meta, and it turns out they see engagement in two ways:
- Connected Distribution – Your posts are seen by those who follow you on Facebook. This is your core audience on the platform.
- Unconnected Distribution – Your posts are seen by those who don’t follow you but may be interested in your content. This type of distribution can come through other users sharing and resharing your posts or from our recommendations in our “Suggested for You” sections.
And while these two types of engagement have existed on Facebook for quite some time now, the latter one seems to be getting more and more attention, with Meta trying to pump as much AI-recommended content into your feed as possible.
So, to put it simply, the Unconnected Distribution is set to become a much bigger factor in determining your Facebook post reach. And although some deeper digging into the broader processes of this affair is needed, Meta has also provided some new guidance on maximizing your Unconnected Distribution:
- Make Original Content: Creators receive the greatest distribution when they primarily post content that is filmed or created by them. Original content contains your unique voice and demonstrates the unique perspective you bring to Facebook. Original content is distinctive, engaging, and is what our users prefer.
- Optimize for shares: Make content that other users want to share. This kind of content can spark meaningful dialogue, respectful discussion and attracts more likes and reactions.
- Get Recommended: Make sure your content complies with our integrity rules and guidelines for recommended content. These guidelines outline what we will and won’t recommend.
So, basically, to reach the full potential of your content, you need to get people talking about your original content. Of course, the easiest way to do so would be to spark controversy – we all know people tend to react to something that angers them more than to something that makes them happy. However, that probably won’t pass Facebook’s guidelines. So, until we figure out how to keep that fine balance of shocking and joyful, we should all probably stick to more positive posts in hopes of them reaching their full potential.
Reddit Shares Its Key Engagements Trends And Brand Opportunities
It’s no news that Reddit is all about communities and the sense of belonging among its users. And so, Reddit’s newest research report not only emphasizes the fact we already know but also gives us precious insight into how brands could use this notion for their own benefit.
To conduct their research, Reddit interviewed over 2,000 social media users wanting to find out how they are using social media to connect and, in particular, Reddit’s role in all of this. Based on the answers, Reddit delivered 13-page-long research, and we’ll be talking about its key elements here.
First off, Reddit says that its platform is ‘synonymous with the community’ and that it strongly outperforms all other apps in the sense of community-building and engagement.
“Our participants agree that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok lack both a strong sense of belonging and emotional security (Need Fulfillment). And while Pinterest and Snapchat do offer some emotional security, users don’t feel a sense of belonging to a community (Membership).”
And that only makes sense as Reddit hosts over 100,00 active and engaged communities, focusing on a wide range of topics with probably the most outspoken and devoted fans anywhere on the Internet.
Not to forget about the transparency of these groups – as you might know, it’s the community moderators who take care of the quality of the content and not some algorithm that decides whose posts are visible and whose aren’t.
That leads to the next note on users seeing Reddit as ‘additive, rather than addictive’:
“For our study, we asked half of the participants to stop using Reddit for three days. Without access to the communities, they look forward to engaging with, users reported feeling isolated from their communities and out of the loop. They wondered what they’re missing out on because Reddit is an important part of their routine and where they turn to stay informed.”
In conclusion, Reddit says that its platform was found to be beneficial for its users’ mental well-being by fostering a spirit of inclusion and community. And there’s also the human touch in moderation and feedback, favoring a democratized access:
“While what you see on most platforms is unique to your algorithm, on Reddit, everyone sees the same content within the subreddits they are a part of, as well as the popular page. Because all redditors have the same access to content, it minimizes the social media silos that tend to become echo chambers.”
And that, naturally, is very appealing to anyone using Reddit, except brands. As you might’ve heard, Reddit used to be known as a bit hostile on brand approaches, but it is now saying that brands are very welcome to participate in subreddit discussions:
“Reddit users welcome brands into their communities. In fact, redditors want brands to actively participate in their communities and interact with them directly, offering brands the opportunity to cross the bridge from “outside advertiser,” to “members of the Reddit community,” and make more meaningful connections with their audience.”
That likely relates to discussions around products with direct insights from creators that facilitate a deeper conversation about it. That could either enhance the discussion favorably for a brand, but it could also turn sour with a negative discussion to which a brand cannot provide adequate answers. Be as it may, such communication might be the key for brands hoping to enter the world of Reddit. That is if done the right way, of course.
So, if you’re looking for new ways to expand your digital presence, it might be worth trying to figure out Reddit. Suppose you do manage to become a part of a community. In that case, the members will likely give you invaluable insights into the markets and the products you are working with, and you might also have the chance to advertise yourself, too.
Meta Launches A New Kind Of ‘Collaborative Ads’
Meta has released a new ad type that enables brands to collaborate with local retail partners that sell their products in order to maximize direct response to their ads on Facebook and Instagram.
They are called ‘Collaborative Ads,’ and they allow a brand to promote its products, with the subsequent sales process then redirected to a partner in the consumers’ local region.
In this example, you can see that tapping on the ‘Shop Now’ button in this ad refers the user to their local delivery partner. This simplifies shopping even further and allows businesses to meet consumer demand for direct action from their ads.
This is what Meta is saying about it:
“These ads allow local businesses and consumer packaged goods brands to create awareness for their products next to options for people to order those same products from a local delivery service. This makes it easier for you to purchase the grocery items you need or your next meal when you discover it.”
To run a Collaborative Ad, businesses need to first find a participating business in each region that sells their products. This can be done via Meta’s retail directory or by contacting Meta’s sales team.
“To run ads, your retail partner will share a catalog segment with you. You’ll need to review and accept the terms and conditions via the notification in your account. Make sure that you are using a Collaborative Ads ad account or create a new ad account that you’ll only use with Collaborative Ads. If you are using a non-Collaborative Ads ad account, you can either convert that account or switch to an existing Collaborative Ads ad account that’s dedicated to your retailer partner.”
This way, Collaborative Ads support awareness, traffic, and sales objectives, while the process also ensures that your ads only show products that are actually in stock.
And that, in fact, might be a good solution for brands looking to drive more direct sales. And with 57% of grocery shoppers looking to buy products directly on the sites they have found them on, it also aligns with emerging shopping trends.
And that’s it for this week – thanks for reading, and until next Tuesday when we’ll be back with a fresh dose of social media stories.
