How to Rock Your Personal Brand – Building Your Influence

If you have ever received a referral for a job or new business, you know how critical your

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – Building Your Influence

The Social Jack™ Team has helped thousands of business professionals develop their Influence and have put together a quick, easy to follow recipe to get on the right track. To make sure that people click on you when making that critical choice for a professional, read on.

Looking at Social Media as Events:

Although we aren’t supposed to “play favorites” we all have a social media channel we use the most. Some of us are Facebook, some are Twitter and others are Instagram. Regardless of what your favorite is, you should be looking at them as an “event” that you are going to. When you’re at an event, there will be times you really enjoy it and want to come back, and other times when you think it could be better (we’ve done hundreds of events, so we definitely understand!). You can apply this to you clients, as well. Every client has a different “event” that they like. To help your client, you need to find what “events” they like and help them refine it even more.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Companies you want to “bring to your event” (aka social media) usually like to hire social media experts who are experts of multiple disciplines, or channels. Take the time to experiment with different channels. The more you can master, the more likely a company will want you for social media execution!

Define Your Goals:

To get the most out of your social media, you need to figure out what your goals are for your social strategy. Maybe you are a Thought Leader who wants to get your name out there as an expert in your field. Maybe you want to bring more personality to a brand or event, or even advance your career. Developing your personal brand can achieve ALL of these goals. Once you have a clear idea of your desired outcome and learn the basics, you can build on your brand and reach those goals. Make sure that your goal is quantifiable and realistic! If you need help, we have plenty of worksheets in our Social Jack Academy to help you get started!

Tell Your Story

A brand is more relatable and personal when you bring your own story into it. Your personal accounts and the content you create tell this story, so it is important. To do this, think about some of the biggest turning points in your life. People want to know what got you to THIS moment, so you should be telling them the most defining moments in your life. Write things down over time so you can figure out the key points in your life that brought you here. When you write these down, you can also define the “theme” of your brand. This theme is your main idea – the thing you want followers to know about you. The key points are the roadmap of your personal brand; how you explain your journey from point A to Z. The more you write down, the more of your story you can use to execute your person brand.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: When writing things out, do what we call a “mind dump”. This simply means that you just write down whatever comes to mind about yourself. Do not leave out a single detail. From our experience, we’ve seen people come up with their own theme from even the tiniest details of their experience. More details, more personality for your brand! If you enjoy writing, think about taking up journaling.

Know Your Digital Impression:

When people come visit your profiles on social media, you want to give them the idea that you are approachable. If you have any pages that talk about you in third-person, it can be a BIG turn-off to people (aka potential clients) because it makes them feel like you are not personal or approachable. This is where you start to Google yourself. Google yourself. Do it. It’s not vain- it’s imperative. Make sure you go at least three pages back and see what is already out there for your personal brand. This search shows your “digital footprint” so you want to make sure it is as clean as possible! If there are any outdated profiles on you, make sure you fix that information ASAP and keep it current. This is especially the case for LinkedIn. If you need help, our Influencer Development Program has several modules that help you build a professional profile.

Your Profiles are Your Professional Brand

While it is quite clear that your profiles show your professional brand, many people forget to make sure those profiles are completely filled out. While this can mean having your most recent position listed, having a (recent!) profile picture, and updating your bio, you are more than your title. When people visit your page, it should start a conversation with people and answer how you can help and why you are the expert in your profession.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Feeling limited by the character limit of your LinkedIn headline? If you need more space to develop your personal brand in your LinkedIn, the mobile app extends the character count by 80 characters. Make them count!

The Power of Your Connections

A major thing to help you better connect with individuals and expand your network is constantly developing and updating your profile so you appear in searches. Your current and prospective connections may already be looking for someone with your specific experience, but if you give a generic title or headline they won’t be sure of your abilities. When your connections see a defined headline, it makes you more credible and trustworthy. They will also be more likely to view your experience and want to work with you.

Influencer Marketing Pro Tip: Remember, you may have only have 300 connections on LinkedIn but you actually have more thank you think. Your connections can lead you to other connections so make use of your network! When you connect more, it helps you build your personal brand.

Power Move – Add Other Influencers

Once you lock down and develop your brand, you should strengthen your network by adding more Influencers! If you want a better network, you want to attach yourself to powerful individuals in your industry. This will help you not only find kindred spirits, but also help you find people to speak at events or even work with.

Power Move – Conversation

You should connect to others, but don’t JUST connect – engage with your connections! You should be having conversations with these individuals, which can spark conversations with more individuals. This is what we call “social teaming”. When you have a good conversation with Influencers, you can boost your likes and engage with others. You can also see who else is talking about the posts and make a plan for what you should say. When you engage with someone in your field, they will see it and their connections will ALSO see it.

Measure Your Goals

You’ve updated your profiles, enhanced your brand and made use of those power moves. Now what? The only way you will see your improvements by measuring your results. This is what we meant earlier when we said to make these goals quantifiable. If your goal was to get more sales, keep a record of how many you made thanks to your social media presence. If you want to build more connections in your network, LinkedIn will show how many connections you have and how many people like what you post. When you measure your success, you will EASILY see your results.

In Summary

Remembers that your profiles tell your story. Our unique stories are what differentiate us from others. Use your profiles to bring your story to life and show people why they should work with you. If you need further resources, check out our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account plus browse the worksheets and classes currently available.

We will see your profiles online!

We hope to see you in one of our next classes! Check out the full list at www.socialjackflash.com

Jan 2018

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – The Start of Your Influence

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – The Start of Your Influence If you have ever received

How to Rock Your Personal Brand – The Start of Your Influence

If you have ever received a referral for a job or new business, you know how critical your online personal brand can be. People are only one click away from choosing you or moving on, and many times you will never even know. In our Social Jack Influencer Development Classes we teach the fundamentals to make that shift to be found and chosen first by your network. Let’s cover some of the core principals.

In our 8 step process, we start with a core story to build your personal brand. We first want to make sure we understand the desired outcome of our professional. Everything should drive to that destination or outcome.

Know or Define Your Authentic Self (Your Story)

We want to know the “what” our professional subject is going for and “why” being known is so important. We want this information as part of their story and to begin the creation of their persona and personal brand. Sometimes we have professionals and executives who are working on their career, so they may want to get to a certain level of career advancement or promotion. Some are looking for executive presence and thought leadership. Whatever goals you are wanting to accomplish, it is important to know this before you begin to work on yourself or with someone like us.

Knowing your story is critical, but it is perfectly okay to start with a draft and adjust along the way. Some people wait years to even begin writing their story; the key is to pick a point and simply begin. Find trusted allies that will provide feedback, and even some subject matter, and experts to help you as well. Generally speaking, people are very willing to help. You may also have colleagues you work with that might have gone before you. Ask yourself this question: “What do you want to be known for?” Use your answer to craft a short narrative, typically 300-500 words. Catch yourself: you will want to tack things on as you go, which is fine, but make sure they are relevant. Stay targeted. Keep your focus.

Watch our latest class on establishing your personal brand HERE

When writing and building profiles and bios we look at the story as a whole, analyze the target audience, and determine which words people will use to find you on the internet and how you want to be found. Sometimes the keywords are not always what you would choose, however, they are what people would use to find you. Keywords and phrases are typically made up of 1 to 3 words and the ideal profile has 10 keyword phrases. If that seems like a lot right now, start small- itt is okay to start with 5 and add from there. Once you have your keywords, weave them into your story. You should do this AFTER you draft your story so you can flow with your ideas before worrying about keywords. If you need more help with keywords, we have a whole course you can reference in our Basic Social Jack Account.

Know Your Ideal Target

Think about your ideal audience: these are the people you want to attract and who you ideally want to do business with. You should be able to identify your ideal target at a very specific level: industry, title, type of company, geographic locations, size of organization, years in business, whatever matters most to you. Narrowing it down can be tough for many of us as we sometimes want to keep adding, however, the tighter you make your ideal target the better your story will be. Plus, it will take less effort to generate new business or advance your career when your story is concrete and your target is narrow.

Even if you do not go into social selling, you should do this next step at least once a month for your own protection. First, Google your name and any variations. This could look like your name + your company name, your job title, etc. When you Google your name, you are looking for things that you are NOT aware of and making sure that all your Social Media profiles, websites and content are in alignment with your new brand (story). Look over at least the first two pages of your search results. The first things that should appear are any Social Network accounts, websites and high-traction videos. You can simply replace your old profiles with your newest profiles or update the information across platforms, but you absolutely want to delete any old, invalid profiles.

Next, set up Google Alerts with your name, brand names, company names, etc. With this free tool, you can have Google alert you at the frequency you desire (we recommend daily) any time your name pops up on the internet. I actually do this for my entire family! You will need a Gmail account to set this up, but that is also free.

Engage In Relevant Online Conversations

Anywhere online — blogs, video, pod casts, Social Media sites, online news articles, etc. — make sure you get your name and your brand attached to the content that’s most relevant to your story and that fits the keywords you want to be known for. This will take some practice. You can also engage (like, comment, share, retweet, etc.) with the content of other thought leaders. This will give you reach and visibility into their Social network, which can only be good for you. See the 7 likes and 3 comments on the post below. On average, this would reach thousands of views in news feeds as people keep engaging. Keep playing with this and have fun; it’s networking right from your smartphone.

It might seem like you have a long way to go, but remember you can start right now with these first few steps. It only takes a few hours to make basic changes and get out of the gate. If you don’t like where you’re starting from, you can make simple adjustments as you grow. Just remember any time you make changes to one profile you should make the same changes across your other profiles, too. Also, remember to do this with others! Our goal is that you take what you have learned and someone else; you are never alone- nor should you be! If you need further resources, check out our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account plus browse the worksheets and classes currently available.

We will see you (and your story) online!

We hope to see you in one of our next classes!

Join us for our next Online Flash Class: Personal Branding and Storytelling – How to Rock Your Digital Presence

Jul 2017

How You Can Be a Social Influencer – 5 Easy Tips to Get Started!

Notice I titled this ‘Social Influencer’, not ‘Social Media Influencer’. In our Social Influencer Marketing programs, we believe

How You Can Be a Social Influencer – 5 Easy Tips to Get Started!

Article, Blogging, Branding, Facebook, Google Tips, Social Jack Best Practices dean delisle, facebook, google, Google Alerts, Lean Social, linkedin, Social, Social Influencer, social jack Dean

Notice I titled this ‘Social Influencer’, not ‘Social Media Influencer’. In our Social Influencer Marketing programs, we believe that it is our job to have our clients become Influencers in their world, and Social Media is one vehicle for making that happen. Let’s see if you agree or disagree with me after this article…!

First, a definition: an influencer is, simply put, someone who carries influence over others. An influencer on social media wields influence through social media. You probably know that word-of-mouth is one of the valuable forms of marketing; in our digital age, word of mouth goes way beyond what friends and family recommend to you, and that’s where influencers come in. No matter who you are, if you’re a thought leader in your network, people think of you and come to you first.

Becoming a thought leader in your network is a process, and our standard plan for our clients has about 20 steps, but here, I want to give you the top five things that could give you a head start down this path, something to think about and gain some traction. Even if you do nothing more than this, you will be further ahead than when you started.

Even if you’re not aiming to be a solution provider, becoming a social influencer can help you advance your career; we actually teach this as part of our career advance program in universities. On a corporate level, showcasing a company’s culture on social media can build the company’s reputation. Even more, employees can become corporate advocates – you can empower staff members to share their own insights about their work on their own social media feeds!

#1 – Pick your niche or focus

To be an influencer people need to really be able to easily digest what you can and will do for them — how you will serve them and solve their problems. You are most likely a solution provider of some sort. If you can clearly address a need that your target audience has, and match the skills you have to what you can provide, then you’re well on your way. Make sure your solution speaks directly to their need so that you are addressing the lowest common denominator of the problem at hand.

Example:

Say you’re an accountant. There are thousands of accountants, what makes you different, what is your niche in this very crowded world? I have a friend who over the years has forged his reputation in property tax savings. He completed his law degree and represents his clients from both an accounting and legal perspective. While he has enough knowledge to do your taxes and many other services, he decided over 20 years ago to pick a specialty and maintain that position. He is now one of the most recognized property tax attorneys in Chicago and has a limitless flow of referrals. We are now looking at how to add the social media component to take him to the next level. You might be this same position. Once you know your focus, you’re ready to move to the next step.

#2 – Subscribe and Monitor The Competition

While you may not think there is any, there is always competition. How to find them? Simply Google search either by need or solution discussed previously, then look for blogs, webcasts, podcasts, and other sources of information. This will give you a perspective on how to either refine your message or, if nothing else, what to do better or what not do. This will only make you better. You can also set up Google Alerts with those words of ‘need’ or ‘solution’ as mentioned earlier, names of competitors, even your own name(s).

To setup a Google Alert you will need a gmail account and be logged into google, then simply go to: https://www.google.com/alerts , add as many words or phrases as mentioned above, define the frequency, and you’ll be alerted when this news hits the Internet.

Once you do find competitors or colleagues, make sure you subscribe to them and block out regular time to review the information you glean. This will only make you better.

#3 – Define Your Social Channels

You will never master all channels, so you need to really think of where your ideal target spends the most of their time, and decide what you can manage. We manage channels for many clients who want to be influencers and don’t have the time to make that happen, so you can consider that as well – hire and pay for assistance or find a volunteer help to build and manage. You can also reference our slide deck listed below.

Remember when doing this: one tip is to simply ask your clients where they spend their time on social media. This will give you a great start to making that choice.

#4 – Look like a thought leader (a.k.a. Social Influencer)

Please reference one of my last blog posts on Personal Branding, this is the critical next step. Google yourself and see how your digital footprint represents your position in the market place. Most likely, social media sites like LinkedIn, videos and personal websites with your name will be at the top. You’ll want to make sure the first two pages identify that ‘solution’ niche you selected in step one. Be sure to update all your profiles and remove or rename any content that is not relevant. Your past will catch you up here, so be sure to search, scan and clean it up! Mark your calendars at the first of the month as a reminder to yourself to do this on a regular basis; we create more social profiles by accident than we know!

#5 – Turn on your content machine – remember your focus!

Okay, don’t get overwhelmed here, but you’ll need to schedule and start posting relevant content about your niche, your focus. This can consist of videos, blog posts, podcasts, interviews, slide decks (like we have done above), photos, articles you write or are featured in, and anything else that can live on the internet. Remember, when you are posting any content, tie it back to your social media sites and websites, and always make sure you include client’s need and the solution you provide. One of the simplest tips here is that you can add videos, slides or articles to your LinkedIn profile. If you author something, make sure to claim it, add it to your profiles, websites, and then post about it on your social media channels. And if you do work with a partner like us, make sure you communicate to your partners and trusted allies that you are posting and want their support to jump into the conversion online with you.

In Summary – you are an influencer – time for the next level!

You are all influencers; sometimes, as we develop and migrate, we get lost in the shuffle of our business or lives, and we need to regroup, focus, reclaim our position, and tell the world. The great news is that Social Media allows us to do this faster and more efficiently than ever before. There are also millions of other people trying the same thing. The important thought to remember is to not get overwhelmed, start with these simple steps, and if you need help, ask those around you for support. If you would like to have a conversion with us, just email me and let’s set something up, you might be closer than you think.

To hear more on this subject, you can listen to a recent podcast where I was interviewed on Influencer Marketing: “Turn Attendees Into Super Fans Using Influencer Marketing with Dean DeLisle”

Social Jack™ is also a proud sponsor of the Virtual Event: Best Practices in Influencer Marketing, which will be taking place on Tuesday, August 1st, 2017.

Can’t wait to see you looking good as a social influencer online soon! – Dean

Jul 2017

Facebook Live – Three Easy Steps for a Successful Webcast

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, the video streaming world has been opened to everyone. While it’s been out

Facebook Live – Three Easy Steps for a Successful Webcast

Article, Facebook, Social Jack Best Practices dean delisle, facebook, facebook live, flash class, ForwardProgress, live broadcasting, Power Move, social jack, webcast Dean

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, the video streaming world has been opened to everyone. While it’s been out for a little while now, Facebook Live’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down. This is all by design, of course; Zuckerberg figured that if he could get everyone streaming from Facebook, then he could beat out Googleat their YouTube game and dominate video streaming, both live and recorded. He is so invested in this that his team built an algorithm: once you commit to a Facebook Live broadcast, Facebook will immediately start to gather an audience for you. Now this works better from a personal page than a business page, but below we will show you three easy steps — or as we like to call them, “Power Moves” — to help you prep either way.

Power Move #1 – Plan Your Production

Typically, no more than one day ahead is required for this, because these streams are meant to be short and entertaining. For us, our business is Influencer Marketing, so we make sure we add a little bit of education and inspiration to the formula, but this all depends on your brand and image you want to portray. For clarification, please see our previous articles on Personal Branding and Storytelling.

So one day ahead, plot your topic. Keep it easy to digest and engaging. Next, determine your target audience; if you have hundreds or even thousands of followers, determine who you want to attract and then tailor your message to that person or that audience This will make it seem personal, and your audience will better relate to it if your message speaks to them. Also think hashtags and tagging, no shame in using a couple of hashtags; even though it’s Facebook, it can still play a role in helping your video get found once it’s posted. We also recommend tagging others who might be in the video or mentioned in the video. It’s always best to get permission before you tag someone, especially in video; always remember that this business is all about the relationships. Don’t be a tag spammer (tagging a ton of people without permission). This is a huge turn off. Another consideration is that time is valuable, and it may be difficult at first to figure out who will take the time to do this, but ask your audience for feedback as well.

Once you have this process set and in place, tell your social network in advance what and when you are doing your subsequent production. This will allow them to plan to tune in, once Facebook notifies them.

Power Move #2 – Talk to Your Audience

The best thing we can tell you here is to make sure to remember this is a conversation with your audience, so acknowledge those who are tuning in, mention those who comment, and create a level of engagement so that others will be encouraged to chime in. Once they join, Facebook will notify their network that they are on the live stream with you and this will allow your audience to grow even more. This is wonderfully simple – and beautifully effective.

Power Move #3 – C.T.A. – Call to Action

Now that you have an audience, make sure you know where you are taking them next. Are you using this process to build community, take them to the next broadcast, have them download something, go to a landing page or website, call your office, you name it, it’s yours for the asking, just remember to ask.

Summary

Remember: thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, you are now in the live broadcast business, so use this to your advantage. Even when we do our large Influencer Marketing Broadcast Events, we do a few Facebook Live feeds to help drive engagement. Whether you are doing small production work or big production work like us, there is always a place to insert Facebook Live!

Remember the three easy steps:

1. Plan

2. Engage

3. Call to Action

I hope you found this helpful and we look forward to seeing your next online broadcast!

Here is the Power Point from one of our Flash Classes on this topic:

Facebook Flash Class – How to Thrive with Facebook Live

Jul 2017

Social Selling for Facebook: Two Easy Things to do Now to Generate Referrals

Those of you who know me know what my team and I do for a living: we train

Social Selling for Facebook: Two Easy Things to do Now to Generate Referrals

Business, Facebook, Social Jack Best Practices, Social Selling business, dean delisle, facebook, Facebook Chat, Facebook Messenger, social jack, social selling, social teaming Dean

Those of you who know me know what my team and I do for a living: we train and coach thousands of people globally on Social Selling through LinkedIn with our Social Jack Academy. We enjoy training enthusiastic professionals from Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and anything in between. What you may not know is that we also teach about Social Selling using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap Chat and others! We create and share what we call “Power Moves” which generate appointments or referrals — not just activity, and this is key.

Social Selling is not platform-dependent; sure, our friends at LinkedIn made it famous, and we love it in the B2B space, but remember we see your Social Team as people connected to you, not only on LinkedIn. So let’s cover three quick easy power moves, and if you want more we will happily oblige!

Home page scan – or as we love to call it, UNE (Ultimate Network Event).

What does this mean? When you log into any Social Network, we tell you “think of it like you’re at an event” Pretty easy, right? Facebook is a gathering of people who are talking, networking, doing business, sharing personal info, but this is a gathering just the same. When you log in you might see some people you want to talk to and some you don’t; remember, you only need to talk to those you want. If you see a lot of people who annoy you, you chose not to connect to them. You can easily optimize this by either unfriending them (don’t worry, they do not get notified) or quieting them, unfollowing them (you will stay connected, but not their posts), or hiding the post. For me, that’s too much work; I either unfriend or unfollow. And this is just an example, I am not unfollowing my cousin!

Let’s do the Home Page Scan, it’s super easy. Scan your page for an ideal contact, and then simply “Like” or “Comment”; remember, it makes them feel good and counts as a contact with that person. Their network will also see the relationship, so if there are other targets in that network, they will see you, too. Then, if you decide to share with your network, they’ll love you even more. You know this because you know how it makes you feel. The key here is that if you are really working the relationship, then make sure you have the intent to get an appointment after the exchange. We recommend having two social media exchanges and then taking the conversation off-line (call, text, message, etc.). Which takes us to our next cool power move!

2. The Chat Hook – With NEW Facebook AI personal assistant

The ‘chat’ function is on the right side; on Facebook they call it “Messenger”. We like “Chat” because the intent is to be more casual and social, less business-like. The cool thing is that even if the person is not online, they will get notified when they are. What’s more, if they have notifications on their phone turned on, they’ll see it on the phone. You can also use the new messenger AI personal assistant to set reminders for each other; this is a NEW feature to remind people to connect every few days or weeks, for example. Then you both get a reminder to catch up and connect, which has a much more social feel. So remember the ultimate goal is the get the appointment, so jump on it when you have can, keep it casual and social like below.

For more cool power moves like this, remember to head to Social Jack, it’s free at the point of this article, however that will end August 1st, so jump on quick.

Remember if you are new in sales or an expert, there are people on the other side of the click, not bots or icons, these are people, just talk to them and decide when to connect for that meeting, build relationship and jump to the referrals (in our training we show more detail on this). Watch for more blogs on power moves, and of course we have over 200 videos in our Social Jack Resource Center. You can access our Resource Center by signing up for our Basic Social Jack Account, which can be found under the pricing tab on the Social Jack Homepage.

See you online very soon!

Jun 2016

Triple F: Friends, Followers & Foes

The inspiration for this blog post came from two recent conversations I had with fellow colleagues, along with

Triple F: Friends, Followers & Foes

Article, Blogging, Business, Education, Facebook, Social Jack Best Practices, Social Media News, Social Selling facebook, foes, following, friends, linkedin, social jake, social media, twitter Dean

The inspiration for this blog post came from two recent conversations I had with fellow colleagues, along with life experiences that come along with working in the Social Media field. We currently live in a world that is ever changing, and we have access to so many different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) in which we can connect with our network.

Think about Facebooks new feature Safety Check, during major disasters the feature will let friends and family know you’re safe, and can mark other friends as safe.

Now let us discuss your entire network. Over your lifespan, your network has grown by connecting with people around us and we can classify these connections and put them into three different categories.

The first is “Friends.” My definition of friends is, people who we connect with, with the intent for relationship. They can be career connections, friends and family, or even the team you build for your life.

The second is “Followers.” That is defined by, people who have interest is us in some capacity, either professional, or personal and they literally follow what you do. As a professional, often times people follow your social media pages to stay up to date on what you are posting. Having followers is a choice, check your privacy settings on your social media accounts, because each platform is different.

Lastly, “Foes” can be identified as the people who connect or tune into your page, for reason of harm. Like theft identity, competition, or possible stalkers. When connections begin to feel disruptive they start to feel more like a foe.

Here at Social Jack it is purely about relationship building from connections and acquaintances with the intent to attract good targeted followers that someday will become friends and relationships we do business with. That stems from the practical business side of social networks. Once you have categories of friends, you can then decide how you want to operate those friends and networks, we define this as your Social Team. These networks and collection of friends can help you with building a business, marketing a brand, and having a good life team.

Remember that there are positives and negatives when connecting with people from your past, but above all it is your choice if you stay connect. Never feel obligated to stay connected if it is not a mutually beneficial.

Feb 2015

Facebook Organic Reach Decline | Next Steps

Facebook Organic Reach Decline | Next Steps Does the Facebook organic reach decline have your business' marketing plan

Facebook Organic Reach Decline | Next Steps

Facebook, Facebook Advertising advertising, boosted posts, facebook, facebook for business, facebook organic reach, joe karns, organic reach, promoted posts, social jack Dean

Facebook Organic Reach Decline | Next Steps

Does the Facebook organic reach decline have your business' marketing plan turned upside down?

Facebook Organic Reach – The What and Why

According to Facebook's VP of Ads Product Marketing Brian Boland, the organic reach enjoyed by countless small business owners on Facebook is going away, potentially down to zero. Put in plain terms, your fans and audience on Facebook will not see your posts anymore unless you pay to “boost” them. Wait – WHAT?! Yes, this organic reach decline is coming as a shock to many business owners, especially those who have invested tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a massive following on Facebook. Many Facebook business page owners are rightfully angry that they now have to pay just to get in front of their own fans.

The main impact of the Facebook organic reach decline:

According to the latest reports from Facebook,

your “Facebook organic reach” on fan pages is now only 5%.

Facebook Organic Reach – What's The New Push Look Like

According to the latest reports from Facebook, your “organic reach” on fan pages is now only 5%. Yes, this means that every time you post approximately just 5% of your total fans will be shown your post in their news feed. Pretty awful, huh? It seems like just yesterday that Facebook had no ads on it and there was no sign that it was every going to try and suck money out us. Well times have changed, Facebook is now a publicly traded company, and it appears they are doing absolutely everything they can to track our every move and use that data as justification to business owns as to why they should pay money just to get their posts in front of their own fans. So where do we go from here and overcome the now virtually non existent Facebook organic reach? Read on to the next section:

With Facebook's organic reach basically gone, how do I thrive in this new model?

You can still get the absolute cheapest, targeted traffic from Facebook to your posts and/or business's website using Facebook. You just need to pay for it now so it is crucial that you understand some general best practices for getting the cheapest clicks. First, understand that the more you use all of the Facebook ad platform's features, the cheaper the clicks get because the more likely the audience is to like your post or ad, the better it is for everyone. Specifically, Facebook gives you the ability to create a “tracking pixel” which is basically just a snippet of code that you can copy/paste into the “head tag” of your web site and that enables Facebook to begin building a list of your website's visitors to market to on Facebook. Since that new “custom audience” are all past website visitors, they are most likely to click on your ad and therefore Facebook will charge you the least to get in front of your own website visitors.

Next, you can save money by testing up to 6 images with each ad and monitor which image converts the best. You may be surprised to discover that the image you think will work best almost never does. The images that usually work best are those that include people and specifically one with a person's face looking at you.

Finally, its smart to launch your first ads using only small amounts of money so you can test to see what gets cheap clicks, and then increase the budget for ads that are converting the best and for the cheapest amount of money. Targeting-wise, its cheapest to have the widest audience, yet one that is still pretty targeted. For example, one service we sell is sales coaching so we might run a Facebook ad to all Facebook users who list “LinkedIn” as one of their main interests. You can combine multiple “interests” when targeting your audience in general Facebook ad campaigns but your conversion will nearly always be the best when you target your custom audience in the form of the past website visitors (using the tracking mechanism mentioned above).

In conclusion, yes it stinks that Facebook has become a major sell-out and is restricting the organic reach of your business page big time however there are definately cheap ways to leverage Facebook in the form of boosted posts and cheap ads.

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