January 20, 2013

Bigger Facebook Link Images For Increased Engagement

January 20, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

Facebook is beginning to introduce a new look for shared links on the social network, which typically have not received very high levels of engagement from users of the site. Marketers obviously don't like this, often preferring to upload an image to dominate a news feed post and place a link in a status along with it.

In a move to improve this situation, shared links now display with a larger 154 x 154 pixels image, and several more lines of 'teaser' copy from the destination URL. Check out a comparison of the new and old in the video above.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

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January 15, 2013

What Facebook Graph Search Means For Marketers and Small Business NOW

January 15, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

Today, Facebook announced Facebook Graph Search. It arrived following a week or so of fervent chatter about a 'big announcement' from the social network giant, which also rumoured a news feed overhaul and a smartphone device - neither of which materialised.

Facebook Graph search allows users to search for people, things, and places their friends and friends of friends are interested in, as a way of making new connections and experiencing new things. The new search bar relies heavily on “Likes” and other connections to determine what to show as the most relevant search results for each user. It also offer a number of search filters — the ability to search based on the vast user data that Facebook has in its system. As the company puts it:

"Facebook Graph Search and web search are very different. Web search is designed to take a set of keywords (for example: “hip hop”) and provide the best possible results that match those keywords. With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z”) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook. We believe they have very different uses."

Search results will be personalized, although Facebook says that more generic queries should produce fairly common results for most people. Importantly, search results won’t reveal anything that was previously kept private; you’ll only be able to search for content that’s been shared with you.

Initially, Facebook Graph Search will only include people, photos, places and interests. I imagine Facebook Pages will eventually be added to that list, but that doesn't mean a void of relevance for businesses and marketers right now.

Local search and recommendations (likes and check-ins from friends at bars, restaurants, retail stores, etc.) barges into the territory of services like Foursquare and Yelp, bolstering Facebook's approach following the recent introduction of the Nearby tab on its mobile app. And integration with Bing means traditional search results will also be available, keeping users locked onto Facebook for longer, away from big rivals like Google.

If your Facebook Page still isn't set up to appear in Facebook Places, it is now more imperative than ever to do so than ever.

Facebook Graph Search is currently limited to a few hundred thousand people today, although you can register your interest here. There is no current timetable for a full roll out.

January 14, 2013

How to Optimize Pinterest Pin Descriptions for SEO

January 14, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

A stellar description is one of the most important elements of a pin on Pinterest, but something that businesses either do not spend much time on, or neglect completely. Both can damage the pin's SEO credentials, so it's well worth spending some time to craft a few hundred keyword-rich, relevant words with a link and hashtags to really make your pin stand out from the crowd.

Check out the video above for more information and tips about optimizing your Pinterest pins' descriptions for SEO.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
http://www.fa cebook.com/500socialmediatips/
https://pinterest.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.twitter.com/500socialmedia/

http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips

January 10, 2013

500 Social Media Marketing Tips 2013 'Trailer'

January 10, 2013/ Andrew Macarthy

It's been a long time since I put together the first 'trailer' to support 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, so I thought it was about time to give it another go. Here is the result:

The presentation was made in Prezi, and screen recorded to create the video. Not sure about using my own voice for the narration, but it'll have to do for now. A few people have suggested I include review excerpts to make the product more appealing I definitely agree with that and will look to feature them in the next version.

What do you think? I'm fairly happy with how it came out, considering it only took a couple of hours and was produced on a budget of zero. Now to share across social media for some extra feedback and promotion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Macarthy is author of 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, the #1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller:

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
http://www.fa cebook.com/500socialmediatips/
https://pinterest.com/500socialmedia/
http://www.twitter.com/500socialmedia/

http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips

Social Media Tips, Social Media Marketing Tutorials | Andrew Macarthy

Andrew Macarthy - Social Media Marketing