Why Using Facebook Hashtags Can Cost You Views

Hashtags have become an important part of promotion on a number of social networks, most notably Twitter and Instagram. They're a great way to find more information on a particular topic, which makes them useful for user and marketers alike.

Recently Facebook instituted hashtags into its network with the hopes that they would prove to have just as much as an impact as on other networks. The problem is it appears that on Facebook, using hashtags is actually counterproductive.

EdgeRank Checker recently conducted a study of Facebook hashtags and found that both viral and organic reach decreased when a post used hashtags. Viral reach is the number of people who saw a post when it was published by a friend. Organic reach is the number of people who saw it from a News Feed or on your page. What's more, even engagement decreased for posts with hashtags.

So while hashtags are proved to work on Twitter, they have a negative effect on Facebook. Luckily most people don't post using hashtags yet, but brands do. If you're an artist or are in a band, you're a brand, so remember - no hashtags on your Facebook posts!

4 Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes

It's true that Facebook has a huge upside potential for marketing, but there can also be a downside as well if it's not done properly. Mashable recently posted a great article about the 10 biggest Facebook marketing mistakes, and here are the ones that I thought were most pertinent to musicians, artists and bands, since they could have serious consequences on your marketing effort.

1. Using An Illegal Cover Photo. The first thing is to use a picture that's pertinent to who you are right now. Don't use a baby picture, a picture of Darth Vader or a famous celebrity. Visitors may think you're trying to cover something up. Also, Facebook has a number of guidelines as for your cover photo as well, like:

• no price or purchase information in the photo (like "50% off")

• a call to action to like, comment or share with your friends

• contact info like web, email or mailing address (there are better places to put this rather than in the cover photo).

2. Breaking Contest Guidelines. Facebook is very sensitive to contests and wants you to closely abide by their rules. Here's what you should know:

• Contests asking for submissions or votes via comments or liking are prohibited.

• All contests or giveaways must be administered within Apps On Facebook.com

• You can't notify contest winners through Facebook on wall posts, messages, chat or the like.

Kind of puts a damper on things, right? Fear not, there are a number of 3rd party providers that can help you run a Facebook promotion, like Wildfire and Offerpop, but they'll cost you. Before you decide on any contest, read the Facebook promotion guidelines first.

3. Overposting. Yes, it's true, you can post too much. Facebook suggests that one or two posts a day get the most response, and there's some evidence that posting any more (sometimes even twice a day) begins to become counterproductive.

4. Too Much Text. Once again, it's possible to be too chatty, and that can produce negative results. Facebook suggests that somewhere between 100 and 250 characters (which equals a line or two of text) gets 60% more likes, comments and shares. Researcher Buddy Media has found that posts of 80 characters or less have 27% higher engagement rates.

You can read the rest of the mistakes in the Mashable article, but start by following these easy ones, since they can make a big difference in the outcome of your Facebook promotion.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

8 Rules For Facebook Engagement

Here's an excerpt from the upcoming 2nd edition of Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age, which will be available on November 15th. This is a list of 8 rules for Facebook engagement. I've posted this before with only 5 rules, but rethought it for the book and expanded the list to 8.
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"A white paper about Facebook engagement from the research site Buddy Media Platform provided a number of interesting points gathered in a report is called Strategies For Effective Facebook Wallposts: A Statistical Review.

In the study they determined the 5 Rules for Facebook engagement, which are:

  1. Keep your posts short and sweet. Posts of 80 characters or less have 27% higher engagement rates.

  2. Think twice before using URL shorteners. Engagement rates are 3 times higher using full-length URLs.

  3. Post when people are listening. Posts outside of business hours (10AM to 4PM EST) have a 20% higher engagement rate.

  4. Some days are better than others. Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursday and Friday than the other days of the week, but Saturday and especially Sunday are good too. This can vary by industry though.

  5. Avoid the noise of Monday. There's too much going on after the weekend.

You can add a few more to this list that exactly parallel the email and Twitter advice.

6. Keep your posts relevant. You’re trying to promote your brand so stay on topic.

7. Don’t post unnecessarily. Too many posts can cause your fans to tune you out.

8. Keep the interaction high. Ask your fans for their opinion and advice. It will not only keep them involved, but you’ll immediately feel the pulse of the tribe.

If you're posting to keep in touch with your friends or to let them know what you're doing, then this data is of no consequence to you. But if you're posting strategically to promote your brand, then follow the above for better fan engagement."

You can read additional excerpts on this and all my books on the excerpts page at bobbyowsinski.com 

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

5 Rules For Facebook Engagement

A new white paper about Facebook engagement from a research site called Buddy Media Platform had some very interesting points gathered in a recent survey. The report is called Strategies For Effective Facebook Wallposts: A Statistical Review and can be downloaded for free.

5 Rules for Facebook engagement that came from the study are:

  1. Keep your posts short and sweet. Posts of 80 characters or less have 27% higher engagement rates.

  2. Think twice before using URL shorteners. Engagement rates are 3 times higher using full-length URLs.

  3. Post when people are listening. Posts outside of business hours (10AM to 4PM EST) have a 20% higher engagement rate.

  4. Some days are better than others. Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursday and Friday than the other days of the week, but Saturday and especially Sunday are good too. This can vary by industry though.

  5. Avoid the noise of Monday. There's too much going on after the weekend.

If you're posting to keep in touch with your friends or to let them know what you're doing, then this data is of no consequence to you. But if you're posting strategically to promote your brand, then follow the above for better fan engagement.
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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on music, engineering and production tips and tricks.