The room was packed, the salmon was dry and Facebook was in the air yesterday at the PR News Facebook Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. Before going any further, I’d like compliment the speakers and panelists who did a fabulous job of imparting their wisdom to an audience they knew little about. Not an easy task for any speaker. Applause for these folks who came from PR firms, major corporations, digital marketing teams and even a cupcake shop.
Editors Note: I’d also like to thank the event sponsors – PRNews, BurrellesLuce and mBlast.
With that in mind, I wanted to post a short list of informative items that I was glad to take away from this event:
1.) Should I be embarrassed to say that I didn’t know what “like-gate” meant? It’s the terminology for a fan having to “like” your Facebook page before they are able to view content, participate in conversations and contests, etc. This term was explained by Jason Winocour.
2.) Do you know what content becomes “Top News” in your Facebook feed? It’s created by an algorithm (not drawn on a frosty window in a Harvard dorm) called EdgeRank and is comprised of affinity, weight and relevancy. I’ll be using these phrases more often, thanks to Greg Roth of Buddy Media.
3.) You don’t need to give away prizes to be successful in engaging fans in contests or trivia. These simple words of wisdom from Kim Miller from Time Inc.
4.) According to Buddy Media, Thursday is the best day of the week to get eyes on your Facebook posts.
5.) If you post during prime time (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST ), you risk your content getting pushed down by news feeds and other traffic. Get your big stories out early!
6.) Apparently you can measure others’ bit.ly links. I’m serious. Major props to Johna Burke for that one. I know what I’ll be doing all day now.
7.) Speaking of bit.lys, don’t use them on Facebook. Fans are wary of abbreviated links, with full-length URLs being 300 percent more likely to get clicked on.
8.) When posting time-sensitive information, use words like “today,” “limited time only,” “weekly special,” etc. Keywords indicating urgency increase the aforementioned EdgeRank.
9.) There is a difference between a “Like” button and a “Send” button that can be built into a website. I suggest using both to achieve different goals. This from Joe Becker.
10.) To engage the audience, ask who, what, where, when … but not why. Why? People want to write back with short answers, not long explanations.
11.) Fifty percent of all social media traffic in the United States comes from Facebook. (Is this good proposal material or what?) Got that one from Geoff Livingston.
12.) Make sure you claim your Facebook place before you create a deal. This should be a no-brainer, but it’s not. From Doug Winfield.
13.) Social media policies mean nothing if you don’t implement the training to accompany them. This is an easy but important one from Melanee Hannock.
14.) I loved this one. If you’re trying to get social media buy-in from the higher-ups try showing them what their peers are doing. I actually did that this morning. Thanks to Frank Eliason for that one.
15.) Any good digital media campaign requires measurement from the very beginning. How else do you show your client that you’re making a difference?
Pingback: BeckermanVoices: 15 Must-Knows From the PR News Facebook Conference | In The News | Newsroom | Buddy Media
Nice round up Eric. Sorry I missed you at the conference but appreciate the summary.
Thanks for reading Larry. If you have any questions about the conference, you’ve got my info. When are we grabbing a beer again?
Very nice post, Eric. I would’ve liked to have seen a little more detail for some of the tips, however. For example, #6 says you can measure bit.ly links, but you don’t tell how. (Copy and paste the bit.ly link into the address bar and add a +). The extra info would’ve been nice.
Thank you for the kind words Lisa. It’s interesting you bring that point up. #6 was the only item that I wish I had elaborated on. I try to keep my blog posts short, as stats and feedback have shown “the shorter, the better.”
If I could do it again, I would have made (as you showed) that one sentence addition.
Glad you did it for me and it created some discussion. Thank you again.
Great summary! Thank yo so much!
Glad to help Debbie
Thanks for the great summary. I have a question about #7:
Does that include posts that use the preview feature? You have the option to either post a status update with text only or to post with a preview of the link, a few lines of copy and generally a thumbnail from the link. For example, take a look at the post from PR News’ Facebook page that directed me to your blog: http://www.facebook.com/prnews They use a bit.ly link, but I didn’t notice it initially–I clicked the headline text the bit.ly link generated to get here.
Does #7 apply to the first option, or both?
Thank you for the informative blog post and for your time!
Josh, thanks for reading and commenting.
Actually, the presenter made that point. If you use a bit.ly – describe it appropriately with the title. Like you said, it’s important to have a preview or the thumbnail.
My take is that the statistic stands for itself. You won’t see me post another bit.ly for my agency, my client or my own page.
Thanks again for asking.
300% more clicks definitely got my attention. Great to know!
Thanks for your response, and again for this post.
Fabulous post – I love tips that can be used immediately. Even my clients, who are busy running businesses, not figuring out advanced social media marketing on their own, can use some of these tips. I can use ‘em all. (That bit about bit.ly – intuitive, but bears repeating.)
Thanks for reading Annie, glad you can use some of them.
Eric, I apologize, Larrys Name, the first person who replied, got stuck in my head. No disrespect intended. I’m appreciative of your post.
Would you mind deleting my previous post so that I can post again with your correct name? Thank you.
Great Post Eric,
Thank you for the break-down. I’m curious about any stats regarding the like gate’s affect on engagement. What’s the clickthrough rate compared to those without a like gate? Sorry I missed the conference, will it be an annual event?
No problem at all. I’ll look into stats around like gating and drop you an e-mail. Not sure if the conference is going to be annual, but there is definitely one coming up in San Fran – August 9. http://bit.ly/iqaQ7n
I’m going to measure this bit.ly later…
Pingback: 8 Essential Tricks For Publicists Using Facebook
Pingback: Imitation, The Most Annoying Form Of Flattery | BeckermanVoices
Pingback: 15 Must-Knows From the PR News Facebook Conference | BeckermanVoices « WAFFiL: In-Store, Online & Mobile Social Marketing
Hey there, You’ve performed a great job. I will certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this site.