Facebook now rewarding brands for tagging
Facebook will now allow brand pages to tag other pages in posts, a small but significant change that may increase organic reach on Facebook for marketers.
How tagging looks in a user feed
By tagging another page, a brand’s post may be seen by that page’s fans in addition to its own. For example, if a brand is working with a spokesperson on a campaign, it can tag that person’s public profile.
In a post on its corporate blog, the company used the basketball player Dwight Howard and the sports site Bleacher Report to illustrate how the tagging works. If Bleacher Report tags Dwight Howard in a post, Facebook users who follow Howard may then see the site’s post on the news feed with the text, “Dwight Howard was mentioned in a post.” (see right)
The catch, however, is that the pages have to have a natural overlap, according to a Facebook spokesperson who spoke to Digiday. If a page’s fan base does not have an overlap with the page they tagged, it won’t appear in the news feed of fans of the tagged page.
“It’s intuitive. If you’re Gap and you want to tag Old Navy, that makes sense. If you’re one baseball team and want to tag another, that makes sense,” the spokesperson said.
The change is good news for brands. Many marketers have complained in recent months that organic reach on Facebook is dipping. It also follows more marketer-pleasing changes the social network made last week that gave brands greater targeting abilities.
The last week has been huge for Facebook, with a keynote at the Mobile World Congress, its massive Whatsapp acquisition and a suite of new options for brands. Here are three more headline-worthy Facebook stories:
• Chatter: What’s behind Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp?
• Facebook rolling out new targeting options for marketers
• Facebook and mobile contribute to 21% Canadian RTB growth: report
Molson vs. Budweiser
As the Olympics came to a close, Molson took some shots at one of its chief competitors, Budweiser Canada, on its social accounts. Calling out Budweiser’s Red Light blimp, the brand posted an image on Facebook and Twitter with the text, “Your official sponsor made a giant blimp that lights up when Team Canada scores. Hope that doesn’t get in your head when the puck drops.” Click through for the full story, including Molson’s commentary on Budweiser newsjacking the Olympics without being an official sponsor.
Read the full story here.
NDP has greatest social adoption
They may not be leading in the poles, but the federal NDP is leading in social media adoption. The research firm Full Duplex crunched the numbers and found that 90% of New Democrats on Parliament Hill are on Twitter and a staggering 98% are on Facebook. Click through to see how politicians from other parties stack up on social.
Here’s the full story.
Quebec tried to lure Hootsuite away from Vancouver
In a new post on Medium, Hootsuite founder and Vancouver loyalist Ryan Holmes talks about why he’s kept the company in Vancouver despite multiple attempts from venture capitalists and governments to lure them to other cities. Holmes’ post included a pitch from the Quebec government, which is trying to foster its local tech scene. Click through for the pitch in full and further commentary from Holmes.
Read the full story on Medium.
The Numbers
In a bid for more ad dollars from small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB), LinkedIn commissioned a study by TNS research to show how SMBs use social media in North America. Here’s a top line look at the results.
81%
SMBs that use social media to drive business growth
9%
SMBs not currently on social that say they plan to be in the future
$5.5 trillion
Estimated revenue SMBs are making in North America
56%
SMBs increased their social media spend in the past year
49%
SMBs that use social media for learning
90%
SMBs in “hyper growth mode” (significant year-over-year growth) that say social helps with branding
