The benefits of social media for internal usage

In addition to employee morale, a brand’s social media interactions can bring transparency to the workplace. With one study showing that 94% of customers place a priority on transparency, it’s important that businesses develop a reputation for being open about everything they do. In fact, of all of the things your business can do on social media, interacting with customers is perhaps the most important, with 48% saying that brand interactions are likely to prompt them to make a purchase.

People are more likely to feel included when everyone is invited to internal social media groups. Instead of a group of workers feeling as though they’re out of the loop, everyone will be able to log into their approved forums to get the latest news. With more employees working remotely, this is especially important, because many remote workers report being prone to paranoia and feeling excluded. An internal social network can loop them in throughout the day even when they aren’t physically present in the office.

Another reason to implement an internal social media platform is to get ahead of your team. If you don’t lead the charge, your employees will find a way to communicate with each other on their own, whether through instant messaging, text, or using tools like Facebook Groups. When your leadership team creates the network, you can manage those communications, setting boundaries and policies that protect your business.

Strategies for team building with social media

For these internal social networks to be most effective they need to strengthen teams and improve productivity. As important as it is to share progress updates and ask questions, workers should also be encouraged to use these networks to bond. Workers may have a conversation about the latest movie they saw or their plans for the weekend. These daily personal communications make working relationships stronger, which can lead to the overall positive environment that has been proven to make teams more productive.

For small and mid-sized businesses, Facebook Groups is an ideal solution for internal social media. You can create a Facebook group by going to the Groups section of Facebook and clicking the “Create New” button near the top of the screen. A form will pop up allowing you to create the group and select its privacy level:

You have three options when setting up a Facebook Group: open, closed, and secret. An open group is public; anyone can read the information posted there. A closed group, on the other hand, only shares information with those added as members.

Despite the private nature of a closed group, though, it isn’t without flaws. Your closed group will show up in searches on Facebook and possibly even on basic internet queries. By setting your group as secret, you keep your forum visible only to those you’ve invited to join. This means that not only does the information inside remain private, non-employees will have no idea your group exists. This can keep your employees safe.

In addition to team building, you can use internal social media in several different ways. These include:

• Person-to-person chat — Facebook has an instant messenger that can work handily for sharing messages among team members
• Exchanging shifts — For businesses that employ shift workers, social media can be an easy way to make arrangements
• Subgroups — Within each forum, administrators have the opportunity to set up subgroups where employees can communicate only with those in their immediate circle

Tools you can use for internal social media

Facebook Groups isn’t the only tool businesses can use for internal communications. In fact, Facebook has its own social network, designed specifically for business use. Workplace by Facebook is now used by 14,000 businesses, including large corporations like Starbucks and Club Med.

Slack is another popular option, used by companies like Airbnb, Oracle, and even the team behind Revive.Social.

The interface feels more like a chat room than a regular social media platform, but some prefer it over Facebook. There is a free version, but you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to access more advanced features.

Aside from being slightly higher priced, Slack is similar in features to Workplace by Facebook. Which tool you use will come down to personal preference.

No matter which internal social media platform you use, make sure you put tools in place to measure activity. Grytics specializes in providing advanced analytics for Facebook Groups, allowing you to see which members are most and least active. Perhaps most importantly, though, you can pull information on trending topics, which will give you an idea of the things that matter most to your team members. Slack features its own built in analytics.

Creating rules for internal social media conduct

Though social media plays an important role in many of our lives, it’s still a relatively new technology, and many are still struggling to find the right balance between the professional and the personal. Should I add my boss on Facebook? Do they want me to? Do I even want to? Because of this, setting clear boundaries and rules for internal social media groups is a strong idea.

These rules may include:

• Keeping all activity in the group confidential, and not sharing it (including screenshots) with anyone outside the group
• Maintaining professionalism in the group, and only posting content that directly affects the team or the business
• No uses of profanity, hate speech, or discrimination. It is a workplace, after all
• Prohibiting an employee-only group that managers aren’t permitted in
• Not sharing or discussing brand information in the group that is top secret or proprietary that you can’t afford to be hacked, such as client files, passcodes, or financial information
• Not allowing users who share accounts with their friends, spouses, or partners to enter the group
• All shift change requests need to be approved in-office, even if a manager says “that should be fine” online
• Don’t tag individuals in posts for shift-change requests

You can create these rules and discuss them in-office, but you should also list them clearly in the group’s description. If appropriate, you can remind your employees that breach of the rules, if severe, could result in banning from the group or even termination.

In addition to the rules that set boundaries, you can also offer helpful guidelines in the description for how you want the group to be used. You could say, for example:

• Shift pick up requests must contain the date, time, and position in the posting
• Please tag your team manager if unsure of an answer that’s needed promptly for a project
• On #FunFridays, feel free to share what you’re doing with your weekend
• If requesting information on a project, please tag all associated individuals

Pitfalls of internal social media to watch for

Unfortunately, any method of communication has its downfalls and for online communication, one of the biggest is the privacy risks that come with it. Even if your employees interact on a private, password-protected forum, someone can share the information or take a screenshot. Hackers can also gain access, which could put your business’s reputation at risk.

Larger corporations may find their internal social networks aren’t the best outlet for sharing exclusive information; it may, after all, potentially lead to a leak. Smaller organizations, however, may have the luxury of freely sharing in these groups since they know members personally.

The biggest challenge with social media as a communication tool is that things can quickly get out of hand. Disagreements may escalate, or things can shift into the personal instead of the professional. It’s important to closely monitor these platforms so you can avoid alienating employees, just like you monitor your external business pages to avoid alienating your customers.

An internal social media platform could give your team’s communication the jump start it needs. Take the time to find the perfect solution and set it up in a way that makes it fully effective for your business.

Conclusion

Social media marketing doesn’t just have to be a communication method between you and consumers; it can be valuable as a communication and team building tool for your internal employees, too. Keep this in mind and test out different platforms for improving internal communications to see what works best for you and your team.

And, most importantly, remember that anything that appears on social media can (and, if it’s juicy enough) likely will be leaked. Keeping confidential information off the social media group unless it’s a very small and well trusted group is always advised to protect your brand and its proprietary information. Make sure you remind your employees of this regularly if needed, too.

The post Internal Social Media Options and What They Can Do for Your Business appeared first on Revive Social.

In short, the ability to boost posts is a simplified extension of the Facebook Ads system. It was designed to be less intimidating to small business owners who were overwhelmed by the full ads system and all the options it offered.

Simpler doesn’t always mean better, however. The simplicity of boosted posts comes at the cost of the significant customization the full ads system offers.

What are boosted posts on Facebook?

The boost posts feature allows you to choose a post that’s already on your Page’s timeline and promote it. You’ll choose a target audience, a total budget, and the duration you want it to run. Your other Page admins can also do this, but only if they’ve been given access to your ad account.

Boosted posts focus on maximizing visibility for that one, single post and getting as much engagement on it as possible. This can be good for brand awareness, and the boost in engagement can provide valuable social proof. Since plenty of engagement can mean a lower CPC or CPA, you could get more results for the same investment.

Thanks to a recent update, you can also choose to encourage people to visit your site. If you choose this option instead of engagement (likes, reactions), your ad will be shown to people most likely to click. This option is only available if the post you’re boosting contains a link.

The interface for boosting posts is much simpler, and you don’t have nearly as many choices to make. For many small businesses, this is preferable; while it takes me about eight minutes minimum to create a pre-planned ad campaign through the full system, it only takes me about sixty seconds to boost a post.

What can you do with Facebook Ads vs boosted posts?

Boosted posts are significantly more limited than the full Facebook Ads system. There are several things you can do on Facebook Ads vs boosted posts, including:

Having plenty of objective options.

Choosing an ad objective early on will help you to focus in on what you want the campaign to be. Boosted posts only allow you to focus on website clicks or engagement, but the full ads system lets you choose objectives like store visits, conversions, and lead generation (which comes with mobile-friendly lead forms). There are campaign types you just can’t create through boosted posts.

This is significant because Facebook uses your chosen objective to show your ad to users who are most likely to take whatever action you’re optimizing for, based on their user history of activity.

Choosing detailed placement options.

Boosted posts just let you check or uncheck an Instagram placement; desktop and mobile Facebook newsfeed placements are a given. Facebook Ads let you choose placements including Facebook newsfeeds and side ads, Instagram feeds, Instagram stories, instant articles, messenger ads, and audience network ads. You can also choose if you’d like your campaign to be shown to mobile or desktop users only.

Allowing for more targeting customization.

With boosted posts, you can’t overlap audience types; you can’t for example, choose a custom audience and then add interest targeting. You can do that and more through the full ads system. Here are some of the possibilities:

Enabling manual bidding.

Facebook Ads let you dig deep with manual bidding if you so choose. You can choose a maximum average bid, or a maximum per-bid rate. You can also choose what you want to pay for (impressions or clicks, for example). Since you can use these strategies to scale your Facebook Ads, this is a small but significant feature to keep in mind if you choose to use it.

Gaining more creative control.

Create carousel ads, add headlines and descriptions, and choose the CTA button you think will work best for you. These are all creative and formatting options that you couldn’t utilize with boosted posts.

When to use the full Facebook Ads vs boosted posts

99% of the time, Facebook Ads will be the right choice over boosted posts, even if you aren’t familiar with the system yet. There’s so much more flexibility. Even the ability to choose the exact objective you want your ads to be optimized for will give you more results.

With Facebook Ads, you can create a video awareness campaign. Then, you can retarget people who watched 75% or more of that video, and hit them with a lead ad that automatically fills out most of their information. Once they convert, you can retarget users who have visited your site to show them items similar to what they’re interested in buying with high-converting carousel ads.

The options are endless, and so is the potential of Facebook Ads.

It’s also worth noting that Facebook Ads has the potential to get you incredible results at a relatively low CPA or CPC.

When should I use boosted posts?

Boosted posts can still work in your favor in very specific circumstances where you want to maximize visibility of a post that you’ve published on your timeline. You may want to build social proof or brand awareness. Examples of how to use this include:

• Announcing an event that you have coming up, which can help increase event attendance and social proof at the same time
• Making big announcements, like the release of a new product or service, or a grand opening and gaining as much engagement and visibility as possible
• Sharing user-generated content that you’ve reposted, which can help win over customer trust and earn you new followers

Final thoughts

If you need a quick engagement increase to help with social proof, or if you want to promote a very specific message, then boosted posts can work well for you on occasion. Ultimately, however, the full-throttle Facebook Ads creation process provides much better customization in every way possible. You have more room to optimize for your exact campaign goals and develop creatives that will rock your customers’ worlds.

Do you have any questions about the differences between Facebook Ads vs boosted posts? Feel free to share in the comments below.

The post Facebook Ads vs Boosted Posts: Which Should You Choose? appeared first on Revive Social.

Algorithms change, and those trending growth hacks may do their job and then fall by the wayside. Marketing concepts that are built around how people function and think, however, have the potential to last through the years. Human psychology doesn’t change, so finding marketing tactics to address or evoke psychological responses can benefit your business for years to come. A great example of this is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, social media, and how to leverage it for your business.

In this post, we’re going to take a close look at the psychology of the fear of missing out and how marketers can leverage it to benefit their marketing campaigns.

What is FOMO?

“FOMO” stands for the “fear of missing out.” The alliteration is new, and it’s only recently gained a lot of attention thanks to its association with Millennials. While Millennials have thrust the FOMO principle into the forefront of society so much that it’s well-known, the psychology underlying the concept has been around for ages; it’s just been exacerbated by our over-connected, over-sharing social culture.

Essentially, this “fear of missing out” acts as a strong motivator for why people do what they do. Instead of thinking “I’d like to go to that conference this year and network and get the information,” some people will think “But what about all the people that might be there? What if this year, there’s an inside joke like last year and I’ll be out of the loop for six whole months. What if they have a really great speaker?” It becomes about fear, instead of a productive decision to move forward.

When I was a kid and used to give the excuse “but all my friends are doing it,” my mom would say “if your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do that, too?” Honestly, in this day and age, some people might answer yes, and they’ll make sure someone gets a picture of them doing it, too.

Psychologically, what’s the deal?

We’re just hearing about the fear of missing out now (it seems to coincide strongly with #YOLO (“you only live once”), but the psychology behind it is nothing new. When looking at psychological principles and behavioral economics, FOMO is rooted deep in loss aversion.

Loss aversion is exactly what it sounds like. People are motivated by their fear of losing something, so they’ll do what they can to avoid it. In some ways, this can be practical – it’s why many people willingly choose to purchase different types of insurance to protect themselves, their finances, and their assets. Since losses are at least perceived to be twice as impactful as gains in someone’s life, this can be a powerful motivating factor.

FOMO also has a lot to do with the need to fit in. Previously, when we lived in small communities we relied on for our protection, it was crucial that we fit into the group and didn’t risk extradition; our survival literally depended on it. Because this need is built into our genetics, even today feeling left out of the group can cause feelings of restlessness and anxiety because the amygdala – found in the brain and capable of detecting threats – registers this potential social isolation as a threat to our well-being. This actually causes psychological stress, and thus you’ve got the fear of missing out.

Now, we live in a world where we’re over-connected. Every time our friends go out to lunch, it looks like a grand adventure with the ten pictures they post about it. We don’t want to miss out on The Next Big Thing, whether that’s a product or an event.

How you can use the fear of missing out, social media and marketing to drive customer action

The fear of missing out, social media, and your marketing tactics affect what people do, including what they purchase. Whether you want to drive event attendance or sales, the fear of missing out, social media, and carefully constructed postings can help you do it. Even more importantly, you can use FOMO ethically, and without legitimate fear mongering.

There’s several ways you can leverage the fear of missing out + social media to drive customer action. This includes:

Using engagement-boosting tactics to build social proof. 

Social proof – likes, comments, shares, and public views – will work in your favor when you’re trying to use FOMO. If someone sees a Facebook post with 600k views, they’re going to want to see what the fuss is about. Facebook Ads that have managed to maintain high levels of engagement can be particularly beneficial, as users see them both as more trustworthy and more engaging.

Sell experiences, not products.

I don’t care if you’re actually selling a product. How can you make it about more than just a single, tangible thing? Instead of selling a truck, for example, Honda sold my friend on an “off-road experience.” A crockpot isn’t just a crockpot – it’s an instant all-in-one meal, giving you more time with your family.

Get more reviews.

If you’re able to get more public reviews for your business on social media, this will be one of the first things that users see when they first encounter your Facebook Page. If they see a restaurant with 500 reviews for 5 stars, they’re going to want to try it for themselves immediately.

Feature lots of UGC.

User-generated content (UGC) is seen as the most authentic form of media today. It also tells your followers that “this product/service/event was so great, these users took pictures and sent it to us.” It doesn’t really matter now that we’re all taking artsy Instagram pictures of our breakfast cereal every morning; the impact is still the same.

Try to make it seem exclusive.

Everyone likes to be part of the cool-kid’s-club, and FOMO is partially driven by this need. I was affected by FOMO earlier this year just because of exclusivity – I signed up for the Copyblogger certification when I was granted early access because it only comes out twice a year and there’s a waitlist. I was really busy with work, but I took the plunge because what if I missed it next time? (Glad I did it, for the record. But this can absolutely be an effective marketing strategy.)

Use copy to capitalize on the fear of missing out.

Copy like “You won’t want to miss this,” “Once-a-year event!” and “See what everyone’s talking about” is exceptionally efficient. It’s why there’s “only two hours left to this sale!” or “we’ve only got a few left in stock” appears on plenty of email and social campaigns.

Final thoughts

FOMO is a relatively recently recognized social phenomenon, and while it’s more prevalent thanks to our constant use of social media, the psychology causing it is universal. If you’re able to leverage FOMO to get more sales, event attendance, and followers on social media, you will have harnessed a powerful force for your business.

What do you think? Have you ever used the fear of missing out + social media for your business? Has it ever driven you, or someone you know, to act? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

The post The Fear of Missing Out, Social Media, and How to Leverage It for Your Business appeared first on Revive Social.