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Last month, one of our shopping centre clients found that they’d been frozen out of their own Facebook account. Unable to post anything for their own scheme, they were left high and dry. They weren’t alone…
Unbeknown to them, the geeks at Facebook had changed the platform’s ranking format which had a direct effect on how the shopping centre’s social media posts performed. This wasn’t a one-off either. Facebook is now in the regular habit of moving the goalposts to suit themselves but leaving users in the dark about the pitfalls they’ve put in place.
It’s the sort of tech challenge that calls for expert insight. To a social media pro there is always an upside to a situation such as this. AL’s Digital Marketing Strategist Nesli Avci explains:
“It’s like a social media version of Snakes & Ladders. The trick is finding the ladders while dodging the snakes, and leaving nothing to chance.”
Gone are the days when all posts on Facebook were seen by everyone who had signed up. Now only around 5.2% of users will see them, leaving shopping centre asset owners perplexed about low levels of engagement.
Nesli adds: “Facebook and Instagram are chasing profit, so they want to encourage business users to pay to boost their posts in order to broaden their reach. It’s tempting to do this, and on occasions it’s advisable. But there is another way. Organic posting (in other words, not paying to boost) can still be made to work, but you have to be in the know with a few tricks up your sleeve:
For example, the regularity of your posting matters. Posting with a planned consistency builds the ‘trust’ of the algorithm and lifts you up another ‘ladder’ in the game. But beware – breaking the daily rhythm will send you spiralling down another snake! So you need to plan meticulously”.
As one of our Centre Managers put it to us:
“Digital marketing is one of those dark arts that I simply can’t profess to know about in detail. If I’m shown a new advertising concept, or a media plan I can have a pretty good stab at on opinion. The more we get into the detail of social media performance the more you realise you do need to draw on expert advice. Gone are the days when I could ask my PA to post on Facebook as she’d just left college! If we are looking to hit digital performance targets we need a more robust approach.”
So if you’re still in doubt about how to ensure strong digital results, try asking your social media manager these five essential questions:
If your social media contact doesn’t know the answer, then Nesli and her team will gladly help.
If your contact doesn’t understand the question, then please call us as soon as you can. There’s a very large snake ready to slide down and it’s right in front of you!
Digital Marketing Strategist
D +44 (0)1707 808162
T +44 (0)1707 275050
M +44 (0)7592 598748