Posts tagged Facebook

Facebook Bans “Like-Gated” Promotions, and Restaurant and Franchise Marketers May Not “Like It”

9 years ago
by wellish in , , , , , , ,

In a significant change from its existing policy, effective November 5, 2014, Facebook will no longer permit the common social media advertising tool of “like-gated” promotions. “Like-gating” requires that consumers “like” a brand’s Facebook page to enter a contest or sweepstakes, to gain access to a deal or a coupon code, to obtain early access to merchandise, to download or view app content, or to get other savings.

In Summary: “Like-gated” Facebook promotions had their run, but their time has passed for a few compelling reasons. The Facebook policy change is another reminder that restaurant and franchise companies should know a social media platform’s terms and conditions – and should be aware of changes to those rules – before running a social media promotion.

What Will Change
Facebook’s announcement, in its Platform Policies, was quite straightforward. It stated, “Effective November 5th, 2014, you may no longer incentivize people to like your app’s Page [(the brand’s Facebook page)].” In a blog post, Facebook explained the development in somewhat more detail:

You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, checkin at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.

Facebook’s Rationale
Facebook’s personnel have indicated in interviews that incentivized likes are poor indicators of consumer engagement and bad for user experience on the platform. Given that the Facebook display algorithm has already deprioritized likes in favor of engagement, this change should not surprise marketers, and may actually lead to better return on investment (ROI) on Facebook advertising, and increases in engagement among “likers” of brands’ Facebook pages.

What the Change Means
As a practical matter, like-gated promotions that commence or extend beyond November 4th must comply with the new Facebook policy.

There is much, however, that the new policy does not change. Thus, marketers still can use:

  • Apps;
  • App logins (note that any information retrieved via an app should be relevant to the reason for using the app, and that Facebook is implementing a “login review” that verifies whether any information beyond the basic categories of public profile, friends list and email address is appropriate);
  • Check-ins (in which an advertiser informs a Facebook user that the user “checked in” at a particular place and is entitled to a particular benefit); and
  • Page contests, and can publicize promotions on a Facebook page.

Moreover, marketers can continue to request that people “like” a page – only like-gating has been barred.

The policy change is likely to accelerate the change from like-gating to “action-gating” (where users must take some specific action before entering a Facebook contest), though marketers should still be careful to comply with Facebook’s existing usage guidelines.  Nonetheless, action-gating should lead to increased consumer engagement, and marketers using the proper login techniques can gather email addresses of consumers and additional feedback via engagement. Campaigns may become more unified, with social media, email, and other efforts bringing consumers to one page where they can enter the contest or promotion.  The number of entrants may be lower than with like-gating, but the quality of the entrants may be higher.  Of course, to the extent that companies simply want more “likes,” marketers will have to rely on methods other than “like-gating” to obtain them.

Marketing Your Local Business: Make Sure Potential Customers Can Find You On-line

12 years ago
by wellish in

It is so common today to see local businesses of all types focusing on social media and generating “likes” for their business on their Facebook page, followers for their business on LinkedIn or Twitter and forgetting all about optimizing their primary on-line vehicle, their website. And when they do think about their website, they are worrying about what the website looks like and not on how it performs.

If you have a local business and are trying to generate new customers, patients or guests, it will be difficult to do so if they don’t know you exist, know little or nothing about you, have no idea where you are located or how they might do business with you.

Building a properly developed website is of critical importance to establishing an on-line presence and should be your primary area of focus.

Here are 12 tips on developing a website that performs — where you will be on the first page of relevant searches and in many cases at the top of the pages.

1. Set objectives for what you want your website to accomplish

While it is important how your website looks, it is even more important how it works. I hope the objective is not to “look cool” (or something like that), but rather to allow people looking for your type of goods or services to easily find you and learn something about your business and how you can help them.

2. Develop a strategy for your message

Your communication strategy should link directly to your brand positioning. Your target audience should be able to relate easily to your website and understand what business you are in and what your point of difference from your competition is. You must also identify what specific web pages are appropriate and needed to implement your strategy.

3. Start with a powerful domain name for your type of business and geographic location (and it is not usually the name of your business)

Select a domain name that combines the business you are in, your geographical area and an adjective that people would use when conducting their search. For example, if you were a dentist in New York or an Italian restaurant in Alpharetta, effective domain names might be NewYorksBestDentist.com and PopularAlpharettaItalianRestaurants.com.

4. Use a design platform that is not proprietary to the company that builds your website

You want the freedom to be able to move your site hosting and development wherever and whenever you desire, and you should be able to make simple updates and enhancements to your site by yourself. WordPress is a great free platform to consider.

5. Build the website around Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Define search terms (combinations of words) that you think someone looking for your business would type into his or her search browser. Then develop unique META (title, description and keywords) for each page of the site. Make sure to follow a strict character count for each; too many will negatively affect your search results.

6. Integrate Social Media into your website

Design Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and a blog into your site when applicable and when it fits comfortably. Remember that if you integrate with a social source, you need to have a presence on a regular basis to be relevant. And make sure your employees are aware of and engaged with your social efforts.

7. Build your website to be mobile and tablet friendly (across platforms)

Make sure people can use your site no matter where and how they link to the Internet.

8. Generate online reviews and link them to your website

Ask current customers, patients and guests to write reviews for your business. Postings to Google Places and other local review sites will boost your search ranking. Offer easy links to these different review sites within your own website and boost your ranking even further.

9. Establish yourself with Google Places

Make sure you sign your business up with Google Places (which will become linked to your site).

10. Optimize before going live and posting your website

Don’t trust a company developing your site that tells you once the site “looks good” to go live and post your site and then they will work on content, META, SEO optimization etc. Optimize everything before going live.

11. Keep your website current

Once you launch your site, your work is not over. Good sites that rank high constantly enhance their content and coding.

12. Track and learn from your website

Be sure to use some form of analytics tracking built into each page of your site. Google Analytics is a great free option. If you have a business that generates call inquiries or requires reservations or appointments, utilize a unique phone tracking number on your website that will allow you to track responses accurately. You can even have the calls, forwarded from this unique tracking number, recorded for training purposes.

For more information on how to quickly and affordably market your local business to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, visit www.ellishmarketing.com, or reach Warren directly at 303-762-0360 or moc.gnitekramhsillenull@hsille.nerraw.

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