Surprised?

As a social media and content director handling some of the biggest global accounts I can tell you that internet use in non-English speaking countries is growing rapidly. That means that if you’re managing an international follower base on social media and you’re only doing it in English, you’re missing out on a huge piece of the pie.

Eastern Europe, Asia, Russia, Latin America and the Middle East have hundreds of millions of social media users. Social media is already multilingual, but is your brand meeting the needs of its audience?

The evolution of Facebook’s language

When we talk about the evolution of language on social media, there is no better example than the number one social media network, Facebook. Facebook now has over two billion users but back in 2007, Facebook was only available in English. Of course, this was a significant barrier to Facebook’s mission to connect every person on the planet.

A hackathon at Facebook produced a community translation tool that allowed users to translate the service into their native tongues. Released in 2008, the tool asks native speakers to submit translations of phrases and then calculates their votes on which is the most accurate. Fast forward 10 years and Facebook is now available in 101 languages with over 300,000 users helping in translation. It provides multilingual targeting options, posting and page support.

The statistics

(Charts by Visualizer Lite.)

Still not convinced? These stats recorded in March 2017 paint a very clear picture:

• English is the most popular language online, representing 25.5% of worldwide internet users.
• Chinese ranks second with a 22.2% share.
• The top ten languages accounted for 77.5% of global internet users.
• 731 million Chinese users access the internet
• India ranks second with over 462 million internet users.

Five tips for managing an international follower base on social media

Here are some of my first-hand tips for making sure you’re rocking your multilingual marketing plan on social media:

1. Know your demographics

Before you get all excited and decide to start publishing your social media posts in Indonesian, stop and look at your target social demographics. If you’re an online shop providing global shipping then there’s a good chance your followers won’t all be English speakers. If, however, you run a cake shop in England, then your target customer is one who lives close by and will probably be English. This is an important point to note because you shouldn’t be marketing in multiple languages unless you need to. Check your social media demographics for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin by visiting your page settings and viewing your users. This is the Facebook user demographic for my agency Contentworks and the Twitter user demographic for me.

Pro Tip: It is also worth noting down the gender insights – with 85% of my Facebook page fans being male, this could be significant for future campaigns.

2. Don’t rely on machines

If you’re planning to run multilingual marketing campaigns then don’t rely on machines or novice translators.  Even with the advances made by Google, these translations are often incomplete or very confusing. I once used Google translate to email a colleague in Romania and my inputted phrase “Happy Birthday, it’s a pleasure working with you” became “Wishing you a happy pregnancy”. He’s male and it became the office joke of the week. Thankfully it wasn’t a client! If you are going to target multiple languages then you need to consider all associated costs for doing it properly. These could be an in-house or remote translator or a translation agency. You also need to consider the time involved in managing these translations.

EXAMPLE – Pepsi

When Pepsi translated their message “Come Alive with Pepsi” for an ad campaign in China, it became “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!”

Pro Tip: Always perfect your English update before sending it out for translation. That means running it past your legal or compliance teams if you need to. At least then you will know that the translations are based on something that is correct and approved. Avoid English colloquialisms or phrases such as “Kill two birds with one stone” or “make hay while the sun shines”, trust me, they won’t translate properly!

3. Know your target cultures

Great multilingual marketing is all about thinking global and acting local. That means that you need to really understand your target audience and pay attention to their trends, sensitivities, celebrations and customs. In most cases, translating your message into 50 languages just won’t be good enough.

A good translator or multilingual marketer should take cross-cultural and linguistic considerations into account. Here’s a few of the cultural differences I learnt in recent years:

• In China, clocks and watches represent death and are given to others to remind them of their mortality, especially at funerals.
• In some parts of Turkey there is a belief that if you are chewing gum at night it is actually rotting, dead flesh.
• In Russia, there is a belief that if a bird poops on you, your car or your property, it’s a sign of good luck and may bring you riches.

Pro Tip: If you’re planning to run one marketing campaign in numerous languages then pay attention to each culture to ensure you will not damage your brand.

4. Filter your messaging

Facebook users select their language preference when initially setting up their account, which means that as an advertiser, you can accurately target based on language. Similarly, Twitter has language filtering available in 20 languages, determined by both the users’ selected language and the language of their activity on Twitter. When you are posting on your Facebook page, you can select global, perhaps for all your English messaging. You can also choose to select custom languages, as shown below:

Pro Tip: If you’re managing an international follower base then don’t forget to localize your images too! Posting a French update with an image showing English text shows that you don’t really care. A quick fix for this is to design images that only contain your logo or that illustrate a point without words. Similarly, over on Twitter, your hashtags would need to be in other languages too!

5. Don’t make multiple pages unless you need to

Creating multiple social media channels for your different audiences can be amazing, but it can also be a disaster. I know a number of big brands do this, but there’s your first clue, “Big Brands”. You can be sure that they have additional resources for managing their regional pages.

BuzzFeed is a great example of a brand that has multiple pages. Here you can see their pages for French-speaking and Japanese-speaking markets.

Notice how the regional pages allow BuzzFeed to localize their designs, messaging and video content. However, it can be a disaster for brands with a smaller budget or those with only one social media manager (I’ve been that person!). In fact, if you don’t have the resources, all that will happen is your additional pages will be neglected, or you will just be copying content from one page to another, which really defeats their purpose.

On the plus side, having localized pages allows you to celebrate local customs, holidays and news stories. This might mean that your English page runs Christmas, Easter and Halloween campaigns whilst your Middle East page runs Eid, Ramadan and the Islamic New Year.

Pro Tip: Let’s lay it down. If you have less than 50,000 social media followers on your page, don’t make another one. Once you pass 50,000, look at your language demographics and carefully consider your resources. Only create a new page if you’re confident that your business can maintain and grow it.

Tools for managing an international follower base on social media

Video

Video is one of the fastest growing social media platforms and whether you are uploading straight to your social feed or via YouTube, you can localize your videos to reach different audiences. Firstly, make sure your video doesn’t involve speech as this can be insulting or annoying for non-native speaking viewers. You also want to follow general best practices for Facebook video marketing.

Next, add translated video titles and descriptions to your videos to make them more accessible to fans outside of your home country. Your fans can then find them via search on the platform and anywhere else on the internet. Learn how to upload localized text files right here. When posting videos to your Facebook Page, you have the option to upload .SRT files for multiple languages. This will allow your video captions to be translated into your viewers’ preferred language.

Images

I’m a huge fan of Canva, the free image creation tool which is just perfect for social media. One of the big benefits of Canva is that it’s easy to replicate an image and then change the language for each one. Check out my example below:

This means that you don’t need a designer to quickly and easily create images for your multiple language social channels. Remember, the only text that can be the same in all languages is your logo, if your website is available in different languages then you should add the relevant URL.

Time zones

If you’re managing an international follower base then you need to watch your time zones. With social media feeds moving fast, posting at the wrong time will leave your message buried and can massively reduce interaction – and the best time to post on social media is different in various parts of the world. This is where you will need to schedule your posts and social media updates to hit your target audiences when they are awake and ready to respond.

Revive.Social offers a great tool for sharing your content to multiple networks at different times, check it out here. But remember that there’s only so much you can automate your social media without killing engagement. You need to check these pages every day, and the best way to drive international engagement is to have a customer service agent working in their time zone so they can respond in a timely manner.

Other networks

Remember that the mainstream social media networks such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook are not available in all countries. For example, Chinese users are blocked from using Facebook and whilst many access it using a proxy, it’s not the most popular social network for this region.

Similarly, in Turkey, the current regime frequently blocks Twitter and Facebook making it a somewhat unreliable means of communicating with fans. If your main audience uses an alternative social media network such as Weibo in China, then you will need to sign up and familiarize yourself with the rules.

Final advice

Managing an international follower base on social media will require additional resources, which include time and budget. It’s important to do your audience research first so that you can ascertain exactly how you will proceed. You can then make a plan which involves budget for design, translations, posting and video. Create a localized social media team, and watch your international engagement grow.

The post The Secret to Managing an International Follower Base on Social Media Without Making a Fool of Yourself appeared first on Revive Social.

Why you need to handle bad PR on social media when it happens

Bad PR could range from a poorly executed advert, a rogue executive caught doing something they shouldn’t, right through to more serious incidents such as those which endanger public safety.  Public perception is everything during a PR disaster and social media can and will allow the public to speculate, therefore spreading the PR oil slick fast.

Before bad PR happens

It’s a good idea to nail down your PR procedures BEFORE anything bad happens. That’s because bad PR can spread so quickly that there won’t be time for planning or lengthy discussions. Here are some of the things you should be doing right now:

1. Develop a strong brand culture

Many PR disasters are caused by employees. Remember when a McDonalds employee decided to have a little “fun” on their corporate Twitter account? Whilst the company denied the incident, it’s not the first time a disgruntled employee has tried to sabotage a brand. This is where it is important to develop a strong brand culture in which you treat your employees fairly. Of course, you want to do this because you’re a nice brand but you also don’t want any terrible stories popping up online.

An organization that treats its employees poorly is asking for trouble so be sure to foster positive working relationships, teamwork and brand loyalty.

2. Be prepared

Before anything bad happens, you need to establish your internal protocol for dealing with bad PR and who will handle bad PR on social media. Who should (and definitely shouldn’t) speak on behalf of the company, who will post to your social media channels, who will gather the team together to explain the situation.

One of the biggest problems for bigger organisations is miscommunication during a PR crisis. Your shareholders are saying one thing, your CEO is saying another and your employees don’t know what’s going on.

You should also know in advance where all your social media passes are located, how to log onto your site quickly and how to contact your social media or PR agency in an emergency. Remember to include your social media and PR teams in your plans because they will be the ones executing them should the worst happen!

3. Hire the right social media team

Handling social media accounts during a bad PR incident is an incredibly difficult job and one which requires an expert person or team. Depending on the severity of your faux pas, your channels will erupt with bad reviews, negative comments on every thread, tons of private messages, forum threads, tweets and images.

This can be incredibly stressful and an inexperienced social media manager could be left floundering or worse still, retaliating. You need a calm, confident social media manager who is able to liaise with senior management to handle the crisis effectively.

CASE STUDY – CAROLINA GIRLS

A teenage girl named Casey decided to visit Carolina Girls in South Carolina to purchase a new wallet. According to Casey, as she entered the shop, a saleswoman looked up and allegedly said “shoplifter” to one of her colleagues. For context, Casey is black. Following a complaint from the girl’s mother which was posted to Facebook and over 1,100 social media shares, Carolina Girls publicly responded:

The above statement seemed to be a reasonable response to the incident, however, the additional actions of the brand put them in the firing line again. Carolina Girls censored and deleted all negative comments and then when the heat got too much, they deleted their page entirely.

Takeaway

Never delete valid complaints or comments during a PR crisis as you will only enflame the situation. Provide a well thought out response and allow people to vent. Closing your Facebook page is pretty much business suicide so unless you’re closing your company, you shouldn’t do it.

During a bad PR crisis

Fasten your seatbelts because it’s about to get bumpy. Operating at ground zero during a PR disaster is hard work and you’re going to need to support your social media team with great communication, coffee and donuts! Here are some of the things you should be doing when you need to handle bad PR on social media.

1. Take responsibility

First off, don’t try to cover up the bad PR, it will only worsen the damage. It’s happened and you need to call on the key members of your organisation to assess the damage and formulate a response.

By taking responsibility quickly, you will lessen the spread and endear the public to your brand. You need to issue a swift press release and post it to your channels to control the situation and get the message visible.

Be honest and accountable as opposed to spinning a web of lies which will entangle you later on. If your brand did something terrible then you need to apologise and begin to look into the incident to show that meaningful action will be taken.

2. Remember to be human

The words you use during a PR crisis are key to the way you will be perceived. Saying “our team is so sad to hear about what just happened” is certainly preferable to “a regrettable incident has occurred”.

Declining to comment, refusing to put a human face to your organisation and shunning public comments will make your PR crisis so much worse than it already is. If you need to handle bad PR on social media then this is the time when your spokesperson needs to make a statement or a video expressing how sorry you really are.

3. Avoid knee-jerk reactions

Companies, brand representatives or influencers often react quickly and regret it later. Social media is fast moving so the temptation to quickly get a statement out there can be overwhelming. However, you need to be sure that the first external communication following the crisis is a well-thought-out response and not something that isn’t really reflective of your brand. Similarly, angry retorts to customers on social media are never ok.

Remember Amy’s Baking Company? Don’t even go there.

4. Pause RSS feeds and scheduled posts

If, like many companies, you schedule your social media in advance or use an RSS feed from other sources, you need to pause them immediately. There is nothing worse than a chirpy or seemingly insensitive scheduled post popping up in the middle of a PR crisis. Saying it was scheduled won’t mean anything to your social media audience who will just see it as your brand being crass and failing to care about your responsibilities.

CASE STUDY – United Airlines

It was a bad year for United Airlines whose stock plummeted after videos of a passenger being violently dragged off an overbooked plane circulated on the internet. United Airlines however, made the PR disaster so much worse due to their poor handling on social media. At first, United agreed with the forceful removal of the passenger amid furious backlash on their social media channels. Company CEO Oscar Munoz then issued a cold apology:

Yes, he actually said “re-accommodate”!

After intense backlash and boycott threats, United eventually said

By this point, it was too late and United’s consumer perception dropped to a 10-year low. The company became the subject of numerous internet memes and of course other airlines cashing in on their monumental failures!

Takeaway

This was a classic example of how not to handle bad PR on social media. Within an hour of the horrific incident occurring, the world had seen a confused and bloodied passenger dragged from an aircraft simply because of an overbooking. Unquestionably a sincere apology should have been made immediately after the incident. In fact, the CEO should have been horrified and immediately tweeted it. The mixed messages, lukewarm response and lack of internal resolve was a disaster for United.

After the bad PR crisis

The worst may be over but if you have had to handle bad PR on social media then this isn’t the end. Following a PR disaster, you need to tread a fine line to rebuild customer confidence and avoid creating an aftershock on your channels. Here are some of the things you should be doing after the bad PR on social media.

1. Emphasize your business’s positive track record

A bad PR incident can leave your customers and social media followers believing you are the worst thing in the world but that wasn’t always true. If you have apologised and vowed to remedy your mistake, then it’s time for some positive reinforcement. You need to put the bad PR in context to remind the public that this was a one off.

A good example of this was the Virgin Trains crash in Cumbria in 2007. In response to the incident, Sir Richard Branson said:

2. Don’t delete comments

Following a bad PR incident, it is natural for some negative comments to continue. The general public is not too forgiving and depending on what your brand did, perhaps you shouldn’t expect them to be. Perhaps you posted an update about your brand’s latest charity contribution and your post was hijacked with comments reminding you of your PR incident. Decide internally if you wish to respond to the comments or draw their attention to your previous apology. Either way, don’t delete them and certainly don’t get into a slanging match. This will reignite the whole incident.

3. Provide an update

During the bad PR, you told the public that you were sorry, had learnt lessons and were investigating the incident. Did you investigate it? If you did then it may be a good idea to update your fans on the outcome to show that you really did take action. Perhaps you implemented a new procedure, fired a member of staff or created a new safety rule. If you took steps to prevent it happening again then be sure to communicate this.

The post How to Handle Bad PR on Social Media appeared first on Revive Social.

It might have taken a while for marketers to really start utilizing Facebook Live, but now, with millions of users live-streaming on Facebook around the world and Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm favouring Live videos, business owners are looking at the best ways to make the technology work for their brands.

Done right, Facebook Live is a great way to communicate with fans, tell brand stories and build engagement on your page. Done badly, it’s basically car crash tv.

Five ways to use Facebook Live for business

1. Provide a demo

I love demos and the more enjoyable the better for Facebook Live! Demos work if you have a product or service that you can actually demonstrate on camera. For example, a new kitchen device, gadget or a beauty product. A good demo will show the audience how the product works whilst also answering questions along the way. If nobody is answering questions, then have your co-presenter ask some.

PRO TIP

When you are running a demo, your camera shots may be close up so you should pay attention to the details. Are your hands clean and manicured? Is the background spotless and free from distractions?

Take this video, which was showcasing a delicious recipe. Unfortunately, viewers were distracted by the state of the man’s fingernails!

Pay attention to the details as you don’t want anything to distract or detract from your product.

2. Show people behind the scenes

Fans love “behind the scenes” videos because they show a real insight into your company’s culture and the human side of your organisation. This is social media after all!

Behind the scenes videos work really well if you are having a company event, for example, a charity day or perhaps an expo. They also work well for the fashion industry which can show the real makings of that stunning catwalk makeup. Behind the scenes videos are really effective at making your international community feel like they are there with you. Bonus points if you can actually answer your fans’ questions as they come in.

PRO TIP

I know from experience that in big organizations it can sometimes be difficult to get approval to run “behind the scenes” videos as part of Facebook Live for business purposes. This is because in many cases, your CEO doesn’t really understand how Facebook works and is worried that you will appear unprofessional. This is where planning is key. Your video will be behind the scenes but it will still be planned. The benefits of behind the scenes include improved brand perception and an increase in new employee hires so your HR team will love you! Present the benefits and the plan before you announce that you’re going Live.

3. Answer fan questions

Some of the best Facebook Live videos are the ones that answer fan questions. AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) have become really popular and for good reason. Your community wants to feel that you are listening to them and what better way to do that than to actually listen to them and address them by name when answering their questions!

There is no product, no behind the scenes footage and yet the engagement and fan response to the video was really high. In order to successfully rock a Facebook Live stream answering fan questions, you have to do a very important thing first… ask them! Be sure to promote the upcoming Q&A on all your channels and compile a list of fan questions. You should also prepare your answers in advance to avoid waffling or freezing.

PRO TIP

When planning to use Facebook Live for business, speak to your customer support team and ask them what questions they are receiving. Be sure to address these and let the audience know that your support team has received the question. This shows that you are communicating with other departments and really listening to your customers.

4. Tease new products

There’s nothing like a bit of hype to promote your upcoming products and Facebook Live is the perfect place to do that. By giving your viewers a “sneak peek” into what’s coming, you are creating demand before your product is even on the shelves. This will work for any new product but the key to your success here is to show enthusiasm and create excitement. That means that you need a perky presenter and plenty of information about what the product will do and why it’s going to be so popular.

PRO TIP

Be sure to include a sign up or “buy now” link on your video. If your product isn’t out yet, then create a waiting list to further hype the demand. Use words like “limited stock” or provide a small discount for the first 50 purchases.

5. Host an online party

I just love Facebook Live for online parties. Get it right and your viewers will all be hanging out with you, discussing your products and probably buying them too!

Take LuLaRoe, a brand that sells a variety of women’s clothing (especially leggings). The key to their recent success lies within Facebook Live as they sell their products through exclusive Facebook parties held by their network of 35,000 independent sales consultants. WOW! These tactics propelled LuLaRoe to become a billion dollar company. The brand even partnered with Disney for new prints.

If you’re planning on promoting and hosting a Facebook Live online party, you really need to nail down your plan. First you need to make an event and promote it or you will be the only person attending your party. Then, you need to think about what you’re going to talk about and how you’re going to present yourself. Women attending Facebook Live parties with LuLaRoe are encouraged to pour themselves a drink and join the presenters as they showcase their items and chat about them.

PRO TIP

Don’t be too salesy or you’re going to turn viewers off in the first few seconds. Yes, you want to sell your products but this is also a party! Chat with viewers, have some fun, talk about the latest celeb news and be natural in the way you present.

Before you go live

If you’re using Facebook Live for business then you really need to get the basics right before you start streaming. After all, you are live, right? Here are five actions you need to take before you do:

#1: Promote your Facebook Live

There’s not much point in doing a Facebook Live if your fans aren’t online and don’t know it’s happening. After all, you are doing this for them! Be sure to promote your Facebook Live ahead of time (at least one week) and offer a few reminders before the event. In my experience, asking for your fans for input ahead of time really helps to get them involved.
 

#2: Plan, plan and plan some more

Of course, you don’t want to sound scripted but you should have some sort of script or game plan before you go live. Who will speak first? Who will ask the questions? What topics are you going to talk about? You should also have your Facebook Live video title and caption ready so you can just press live when it’s time to begin.
 

#3: Consider the viewer experience

Before you go live you should be thinking about the viewer experience. Will the sound be good enough? Have you thought about your background or the props you will use? Are you going to be providing a video that people will want to watch?
 

#4: Test the technology

You don’t need a fancy tripod, camera and mic to be able to run Facebook Live (although many big brands do have those). Even if you’re just using a phone camera, you still need to check your technology. Be sure that your internet connection is stable and strong, your sound is good enough, background noise is minimised and that you are setting your posts to public.
 

#5: Have a contingency plan

What will you do if the live feed cuts out? What about if viewers are asking awkward questions? How about if a passer-by interrupts your broadcast? Discuss your contingency plans and remember that it’s LIVE so you will need to keep rolling whatever happens!

Facebook Live presents many exciting opportunities for businesses, so if you haven’t ventured there yet then it might be time to do so.

Are you inspired to experiment with Facebook Live for business? Which tip will you run with? Comment below and let us know your thoughts.

The post 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live for Business + 5 Things to Do Before You Go Live appeared first on Revive Social.

Common Facebook Page Issues:

1. Your Facebook ad account is blocked

This is literally the worst message a page admin can see when they log into their account. The worst. Not because you have done something terrible, but because you have just entered the murky world of Facebook customer service. Facebook is renowned for its clever innovations and advertising strategies but definitely not for its robotic and often non-existent customer service.

The challenge

Let’s assume that you weren’t trying to sell guns or drugs on your Facebook page. Let’s also assume that your ad account hasn’t been hacked and you are not using a stolen credit card to place your ads.

First of all, you need to understand that your account may have been blocked for a number of innocent reasons. These may include accessing your ad account via a proxy or using an image which Facebook deems to be unacceptable. Note, this could just be an innocent photo but still one that Facebook’s computerized approvals process deemed to be inappropriate.

A suspension is bad news for page admins because all of the following will immediately occur:

• You will learn that Facebook does not have a telephone number.
• All your running ads will be paused, yes, even the ones that were doing great!
• You won’t be able to access your reporting panel.
• You will be unable to add a new payment method or place new ads.
• You will realize that the thousands you spent in advertising doesn’t mean you get preferential treatment.

The solution

As I mentioned before, Facebook’s customer service is not the best. Basically, appealing an ad account suspension involves filling out a form and then waiting and waiting and waiting.

So here are three ways you can get your ad account up and running again:

Connect another profile

If you really do need your ad account running quickly then you could try using another profile connected to the page with a different payment method. You won’t be able to resume your paused ads but you can create new ones. However, a word of caution, don’t rush into this as it may flag further suspicious activity on your account.
 

Appeal, but only once

Resending the appeal form over and over just moves it to the bottom of the queue. So, send it once and then be patient.
 

Comment on the official page

As page admins, we know that the fastest way to get the attention of a brand, however big, is to comment publicly on their page. Visit Facebook Business and leave a polite but firm complaint on one of their posts.
 

The best way to deal with Facebook’s customer service is not to need them in the first place. Therefore, it is a good idea to read their advertising Dos and Don’ts right here beforehand. If you have been suspended then stay calm and follow the tips above. Most accounts are unsuspended … eventually!

2. Your organic reach declines

If you’ve been a Facebook page admin for a while, you will have noticed a big drop in the number of fans interacting on your organic posts. Check out this snapshot of organic reach from my site, Charli Says, between January 2016 and now:

Actually, this decline was picked up by numerous marketers back in 2014, prompting a response from Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology, Brian Boland who commented:

So, what was the outcome? Boland concluded that there’s simply too much content being published on Facebook, making News Feed visibility, increasingly competitive. In addition, Facebook is trying to show users the content that is most relevant to them.

Fast forward to 2016 and Facebook adjusted its News Feed algorithm again – to further prioritize content from friends and family over Pages. In the blog post announcing the algorithm change, Facebook Engineering Director Lars Backstrom warned that Pages could anticipate a dip in organic reach. Research from Social@Ogilvy, now suggests that for Pages with more than 500,000 likes, organic reach is indeed as low as 2%.

The challenge

The drop in organic reach has really hit Facebook page admins hard, especially the ones who are not able to fork out mega bucks for high reach advertising. Some of the challenges associates with a low organic reach are as follows:

Fewer interactions

It’s really tough coming up with engaging ideas for your Facebook page when you’re not getting a response to any of them. Fewer interactions also means that your page loses algorithmic power and Facebook will show it to less of your fans.
 

Fewer new fans

Facebook’s algorithm is set up to show posts you’ve liked to your friends. If you stop liking a page’s posts then your friends will stop seeing them too.
 

Lower web traffic

If you are posting website links to your Facebook page in the hope of driving traffic then the dip in organic reach will certainly have hit you hard. It has probably hit your pocket too as less web traffic equals fewer sales.
 

The solution

Knowing the reasons behind the drop in organic reach is good, but what can Facebook page admins actually do to overcome this one of the common Facebook Page issues? Here are my favorite methods for organically raising your Facebook reach:

Post less

Less is more when it comes to increasing your organic reach. Remember that spamming your fans with too many posts may cause them to unfollow or mute your updates. Instead of posting mass updates, take your time and think about accompanying images, videos and high-quality content.
 

Ask fans to change their settings

By asking fans to make a simple adjustment and tick “see first”, your posts will be prioritized in their feeds, thus making user interaction more likely. Remember that your fans may not dislike your page, they just aren’t seeing your posts.

Run a contest

Running a simple contest on your Facebook page can give your organic reach a massive boost. Give away a product, offer a discount or start a competition. This will encourage more comments and shares and will push your page up the rankings.
 

Make a video

Research says that 92% of mobile video viewers share content with others. Additionally, native Facebook videos get a 186% higher engagement rate and are shared 1000% more than videos linked from other hosting sites. That’s huge and a statistic you simply cannot ignore!

Many Facebook page admins worry that they don’t have fancy video equipment and therefore avoid video entirely. That’s a big mistake. Use videos with captions and engaging visuals. Even if you make the video yourself, you will still see a boost in organic engagement.
 

Get personal

Internet users are getting tired of the corporate blah blah that they get from many pages. One great way to overcome this is to make a Facebook Live video featuring you or a member of your team. You can view my Facebook Q&A video here. The organic response, as you can see, was excellent for a page which, at the time, had just 2000 fans.

Spend money, but wisely

If you are happy to spend a few dollars to boost your posts then you will, of course, see a boost in engagement. That said, Facebook’s targeting capabilities are much better than they used to be, so you can now tap into specific demographics such as interests, web behavior, geography and much more. If you’re going to spend money then get the best bang for your buck.
 

It’s time to get creative if you really want to combat dwindling organic reach on your Facebook page. Spend more time creating amazing content, video and image assets and less time posting meaningless daily updates.

3. You’re getting some negative reviews on your fan page

It’s a known fact that 88% of online shoppers will read a review before making a purchase decision. That’s a significant number. Add to this that 62% of consumers will check a brand’s Facebook page prior to purchase, and you can immediately understand that reviews matter. So, what about the reviews on your Facebook page, how are they looking?

The challenge

If you have a physical business address or an online shop then, chances are, you will have the reviews feature enabled on your page. Depending on the nature of your business, you may get negative reviews based on any of the following:

• A bad customer service experience.
• A faulty or damaged product.
• A PR scandal and user revolt.
• Spam from a troll or competitor.

If you get lots of reviews and most of them are positive then your average will be higher and the occasional negative will not affect your scores. You can see this below for one of my favorite Med based hotels, The Princess Beach.

The hotel has received 213 five-star reviews and only three one-star reviews so their average is 4.7, which is great. Book me in ASAP!

On the other hand, if your negatives are outweighing your positives as shown below at the New World in New York then you definitely have a problem.

The solution

There are many ways that you should, and definitely shouldn’t tackle your negative review problem. Here are my best troubleshooting tips:

Always answer politely

It can be infuriating to receive a negative review, especially if you feel that it was undeserved. However, you must always answer politely and respectfully otherwise you will be opening up a world of trouble, remember Amy’s Baking Company? Well, they are not in business anymore so that didn’t end well.

Report unfair reviews

Facebook, understandably, doesn’t allow page admins to delete reviews from their page. If, however, you feel that a review was pure spam (yes, that can happen) then you should report it. To report a review that doesn’t adhere to Facebook’s Community Standards, go to the review and click on the menu arrow in the top right corner. Be aware though, that you shouldn’t be reporting reviews just because they are complaints.
 

Think about what you did

If you are getting a ton of bad reviews because you have committed a PR faux pas then perhaps you should think about what you have done. Should you be constructing a public apology to your Facebook fans before you accumulate any more negatives? It’s important that you allow Facebook users to vent their frustrations and then follow up with a meaningful apology and plan to rectify whatever it was that you did.
 

Disable your reviews

Untruthful or spammy reviews can damage your business so if you have answered politely and they still keep coming then you might want to consider disabling ratings and reviews entirely. You should be aware, though, that if you are doing this to hide from a public outcry, you will just drive the problem elsewhere!
 

Encourage good reviews

I’m a big fan of encouraging happy clients to leave reviews, and this is a great way to raise your overall star rating. You could add a link to your review page in an email to your client database or simply post on your page and ask if your loyal fans would oblige.
 

So, there you go, three common Facebook Page issues and how to solve them. Did you find the answer you were looking for? Comment below and let us know.

The post 3 of the Most Common Issues That Facebook Page Admins Face + How to Solve Them appeared first on Revive Social.