As a void is created in search by the changes that the mobile web has brought about, social media is filling the gap by becoming the “go to” location for reviews and personal recommendation.
“Is Search (As We Know It) Dying” is an excellent point of view and a great read for today. As the author notes, social media icons like Facebook are deep into development for the next generation of search and mobile use. One of the biggest pushes are for artificial intelligence and personalized assistants; keeping users tied in and connected.
Take into account activity on social networks, where queries like “I am visiting London, England next week, what have you done or loved that I should make sure to put on my to do list?” are commonplace and readily answered by friends, family and acquaintances.
Although users have loved, then hated, and now appear to love again social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, I am seeing more businesses and consultants feel that it is now time to get serious about establishing and keeping a presence on these social media sites.
Courtney Danyel (the author of the aforementioned article) puts it all succinctly in this ending comment, “In the long run, brands and businesses focusing the majority of their energy on optimizing for search will face the inevitability of stunted reach and growth.” I could not agree more.
For several of our key clients we are testing out if adding images to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ posts increases customer engagement. With a visual statement winning out over just pure text, we wanted to find out if adding images to tweets and Facebook posts enhanced engagement?
For Facebook, if you insert an image versus letting Facebook simply import an image from the page content that you link to, you get two things.
A larger image will appear on your Facebook page.
You get to select the image versus only being able to select an image that appears on a page you link to. So you get greater control.
For Twitter, if you insert an image, get ready to re-write your post to that by the time the link is shrunk and the image URL is shrunk as well you have about ten to twelve words of text. That means you’d better have something great to say or you are just making your page look pretty.
This is what I have found out so far:
Having images in Facebook and Twitter updates does make your pages on Facebook.com and Twitter.com look nicer.
But, do images translate into more engagement – so far the answer is no.
What gets engagement is still what you write and not necessarily not even what you link to and not the image you insert.
So content is still king, but having images does make your page look more appealing visually. My recommendation is where meaningful add an image like twice a week on Facebook and every several tweets on Twitter, but I would not recommend putting images into every update. Instead make your updates interesting and you’ll get a higher level of engagement.
Learn From Our Experience How to Add Images Fast to Social Media.
Our clients are asking for images in their social media posts. Sounds easy right, but not so fast. Here’s what I’ve learned and wanted to share it with you.
For HootSuite users it is easy to add an image to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+. You just open the writing panel, click the paperclip and then browse to the image you want to save. But what about when you are doing bulk loading and scheduling using a spreadsheet or when you are wanting images in Twitter?
Bulk Loading
You cannot add an image using the bulk load spreadsheet method in HootSuite. So if you want images, you will have to bulk load your updates and then manually go to each social media account and edit your post manually and add your image. Not so simple, but not so hard either.
Twitter
For Twitter, your content will need to be only about 10 to 15 words and if you have a link to shrink, know that the link will take up character space and so will the image. We are trying to stick with about 10 words or so.
You still have to do the manual upload of images and may need to rewrite or edit your post to have it once the image is in to be within character count.
Notes
All images you add to Facebook have to be under 5 mb. A good rule of thumb is that an image compressed for the web and no bigger than 600 pixels wide with a resolution of 175 dpi will meet this 5 mb criteria.
Don’t Make a Big Mistake, Make Sure You Monitor Social Media!
Here’s the situation… my husband and I ordered two Astria Envy Fireplaces (InnovativeInnovative Hearth Products) from our builder back in August. That’s over 13 weeks ago, we have been given a number of shipping dates. Here’s what we have been told:
Today: “Astria has informed him that the fireplaces will not go into production until Thanksgiving week.”
On October 26th: “The 2 fireplaces requested by the customer were ordered on 8/25 with a ship date of 6 weeks per the manufacturer. On 9/21 we requested an update on the fireplaces and were told a production date of 9/28 and then 2 mores to receive them.”
“On 10/12 we were told the units were to ship in 1 week. When we had not received the units on 10/19 we called to check an update. At that time we were told the production date was pushed until 11/1 and they would be shipped after production. The units are still on order and we are still anticipating installing those units as they are the ones requested by the customer.”
To understand the situation more fully my response in email to the marketing department (as that was the only address on their website) was as follows, “Our home closing is now being held up with these two fireplaces that my husband absolutely loves. My concern is that we are now being told these two fireplaces will go into production the week of Thanksgiving. If this is not true, please tell us now so we can find something else so we can close and get into our home before Christmas, we have already now missed Thanksgiving.
“We really do not want to wait again to simply be told to wait again without a realistic production and shipping date that we can really trust.”
“Could you please let me know the reality of actually getting this product? My concern is that the factory is really wanting to discontinue them but does not want to say to dealers and is stringing them and therefore us along. We have now waited 13 weeks still do not have a shipping date. This is taking longer than to build our house!”
Of importance is that the vendor’s website does not have a customer service phone number or email address. So what did I do? Most likely the same thing that your customers would do, I turned to social media. I posted a nice private Facebook note to the vendor, I posted publically and nicely on their Facebook wall, I searched on Twitter to find them and then hashtagged all over the place to try to get their attention. Customers who get frustrated would most likely not be as nice as I have been with my communication.
I am hopeful that the factory and customer service department, that I know that they must have, will respond back to me.
Now, here’s the takeaway… are you personally making it hard on your own customers to find you, get an answer, or ask a question? Have you removed phone numbers and emails from your website hoping to not be bothered. Are you not engaged in social media? Most customers will look to Facebook first and then Twitter if they are really connected. If they don’t get satisfaction, they will go to Google+ and Yelp to write a review.
Well, I have to say from my perspective, the longer this vendor waits to respond the worse the reviews are that I will post online about their product and deliverability. Are you frustrating your own customers with the same inability to contact you to resolve a problem?
Check back on Wednesday for more about social media being the new customer service portal. Friday this week may just end up being the day for my candid review of the Astria Envy Fireplace by Innovative Hearth Products.
