You have to remember that before ads show up on Facebook or Instagram, they’re reviewed to make sure they meet Facebook’s Advertising Policies.

Fear not. Here is a review of some of the most common mistakes we see that keeps causing those pesky “Your Boosted Ad Was Not Approved” notifications.
1. General Claims, Offers, and PracticesDO proofread your ad… TWICE! Seems simple but grammar errors is grounds for instant rejection. DON’T use exaggerated “tips” or “tricks” to get specific results. DON’T make claims of cures to uncorrectable diseases.

DON’T suggest unrealistic results within specific timeframes.

Originally published at www.multibrain.net on February 1, 2017.

Facebook made numerous tweaks to their Newsfeed algorithm by focusing more on qualitative feedback to deliver the most relevant posts to users. Through a “Feed Quality Panel”, 1,000 users rated their experiences on a daily basis and made suggestions on how content which appears on their newsfeeds could be improved.

Then, an algorithm was formulated with an emphasis on the probability that users would want to see a particular post on their newsfeed in addition to the probability that users will like, comment, or share a post.

So, with these algorithm changes, how does that translate into Growth for Page Likes, Organic Reach, and Engagement? We’ve taken stats from LocoWise, a social analytics and reporting firm, to give you a quick, generalized summary of the data.

Here are the results:

• An increase in Page Likes
• An increase in Post Reach
• A decrease in Engagement
• A ranking of engagement from highest to lowest by media type: Videos, Photos, Links, and Status Updates.

Multibrain’s Takeaway:

While your content will be reaching more people and you will see an increase in Page Likes, it is more important than ever to focus on the quality of content that you are pushing out. Facebook has tweaked their platform to make sure that your content is going out to the right people. However, it is up to you to post engaging content which will entertain, educate, and interest your audience. That is base for how you drive engagement. Remember to continue to post videos and images as your primary media formats and incorporate them into your Facebook marketing strategy as often as possible. Finally, tune into our blog next week as we give you more important tips in our next post, “The Multibrain Guide to Engaging Content”!

For all of the stats from LocoWise, check out this article.

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

If I had a nickel for every time I have been asked why having a Facebook Business Page is important… well, let’s just say I’d never scrounge for change to feed the meter!

So often I get the question, “Why can’t I just use my personal profile to grow my business?”

Well, I’m here to tell you all of the reasons you should have a Facebook Business Page, beautifully depicted in this awesome infographic.

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

Facebook now has a feature called Facebook Audience Optimization which is currently rolling out to English-language pages in select categories. With this new feature, you can specify the audiences most likely to engage with each of your Facebook Business Page posts based on interests. You can also restrict who sees your post by age, gender, location, and language under Audience Restrictions.

Theoretically (complicated algorithms determine this), posts on Facebook appear on the newsfeed of 5% of your fans at random, many who may or may not be interested in that topic. Now, with Facebook Audience Optimization, you can narrow down who sees your posts, making that 5% of your audience more likely to interact with your posts because it aligns with their interests. This would ideally result in increased engagement. You can visit your Facebook Business Page Insights to learn how exactly these specified audiences are engaging with your posts as well.

This is huge in the fact that it allows you to determine the right audience for your posts! One important thing to note: Facebook Audience Optimization does not increase the organic reach of your posts; it simply increases the probability of higher engagement. The feature also has a snowball effect meaning the more your specified audience engages with your posts based on their interests, the more likely your future posts will appear on their newsfeed.

Multibrain’s Take: For small business owners and companies, the ability to target consumers that you want to reach on every post, not just boosted posts, is game-changing. Not only are you more likely to reach the ideal audience that you desire, but you open the door for communication and potentially lead generation due to this increased engagement. We highly recommend deeply analyzing who your targeted consumer is and then formulate your messaging and social media targeting strategy based on your ideal consumer’s interests, demographic, lifestyle, and behaviors.

For more information on this new feature, check out this article: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-audience-optimization-what-marketers-need-to-know/

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

Do you remember in one of our previous blogs, “2016 Social Media Predictions and How You Can Apply Them to Your Business”, we talked about the power of live-streaming videos from your mobile to social media and how it would be the next big thing in 2016?! Well, we’re here to give you a brand new update!

The live-streaming app, Periscope, which was recently purchased by Twitter, announced that their live stream videos will now autoplay within tweets via Twitter’s iPhone app! No longer will you have to open up the Periscope app to view these videos on Twitter.

Current autoplay functions will be enabled on your timeline, search results, and when viewing another user’s profile. When you double click the video, it will expand full screen and include hearts and comments underneath.

One thing to note is that this integration only works for viewing videos and not broadcasting videos. To broadcast, you will still need to use the stand-alone Periscope app.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to this new feature update. The Good — ease of use! You will be able to toggle between live streams and your timeline via mobile much more easily. The Bad — your timeline might feel cluttered from all of the movement of the autoplay videos.

One good thing that we see for Twitter — more time spent on their platform and increased engagement! This added feature could also mean a possible boost to Twitter’s ad revenue!

Watch for this feature update. What do you think about this news?

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/periscope-videos-are-now-autoplaying-twitter-168954

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

Facebook has recently launched a chat app for businesses. Currently in the testing phase, Work Chat will be used to expand into the corporate market.

Work Chat has not officially launched, but you can find it in the Google Play store limited to specific companies for private testing. Since its launch in January, Facebook reports it already has over 300 businesses actively using the tool. Three of the biggest names are Heineken USA, Hootsuite, and it’s largest deal, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which plans to have 30,000 workers using the tool by March and 100,000 by the end of next year.

Facebook’s enterprise version may look similar to the consumer version. However, it includes its own website and applications for iOS and Android. Employers also have the choice to link their personal accounts or continue on just their work accounts.

This could be trouble for Slack, the cloud-based, corporate team communication tool. Recently, Slack claimed 1.7 million users with a private evaluation of $2.8 billion. However, with Facebook’s 1.5 billion user base, Slack will face its first serious bit of competition.

Here are just a few of the highlights of Facebook’s new Work Chat:

• Direct Messages
• Group chats
• Make video calls
• Document sharing
• Project collaborations
• Events
• Share photos and videos
• See directory of other employees and start new conversations

Sources

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-rolls-out-work-chat-app-thats-a-direct-threat-to-slack-2015-11

http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/20/facebook-at-work-gets-its-own-version-of-messenger-with-debut-of-work-chat/

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

Can you imagine your life if you didn’t use Yelp, Google, Uber or Amazon? Well, Facebook wants this to become a reality! In 2016, Facebook plans to borrow the best features from other popular services in order to become your one-stop-shop for all of your needs!

Here’s how Facebook wants to become more like your favorite services:

1. Periscope: Through Facebook Live Videos, users can stream videos live from their phones and broadcast it directly to their Facebook followers.
2. Yelp: Facebook is creating a more “Yelp-like” experience through their recommendation engine where users can search for places and see reviews from their friends.
3. Slack: Currently in the beta test phase, Facebook at Work could be your new go-to for team communication at work through the use of a closed Facebook ecosystem.
4. Google: Facebook rolled out an improved search function, which allows users to search public posts and posts from friends more easily.
5. Lyft and Uber: Uber and Lyft are now integrated within the Facebook Messenger platform, allowing users to order rides directly through Facebook.
6. Amazon: In an effort to expand e-commerce options, Facebook has rolled out the shopping tab to a small number of users where they can use the platform to make purchases.
7. Snapchat: A feature designed to mimic Snapchat, Instant Articles lets publishers distribute content that users can view or interact with directly within the Facebook app.
8. Evite: While Facebook Events have been around for quite some time, drastic improvements have been made. Users can browse invitations, see upcoming events, bookmark the standouts, and view events they’ve hosted or attended.
9. Razoo: With the Facebook “donate” button, nonprofits may be able to fundraise more effectively through Facebook than with other crowdfunding sites.
10. Spotify: Users can currently preview music snippets from Spotify, Apple Music, NPR and other sources on Facebook. Now, there’s speculation that Facebook may be interested in developing their own music streaming service.

Multibrain’s Takeaway: Anticipate these features that will soon be added to Facebook and plan how to incorporate them into your marketing mix now before they roll out. Some ways that you can incorporate these features to market your business include: encouraging Facebook friends to review your business on Facebook, seeking opportunities to video stream live to potential customers, as well as utilizing the Facebook Events platform more to connect with prospects.

http://www.cision.com/us/2015/12/10-new-facebook-features-for-2016/

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

When was the last time you called your significant other, “honey,” or criticized someone for being “sour”? It’s a curious thing to sit down and think about, but the reality is that we often communicate with each other — perhaps subconsciously — in terms of taste, even if we’re describing something abstract and flavorless.

But what if it worked in reverse? What if we could taste the words we used on a day-to-day basis?

That’s the kind of thinking that inspired the flavor masters at Talenti Gelato to take on their most ambitious project ever. Known for creating delicious frozen treats from an extensive catalogue of natural flavors, Talenti recently devised a way to create a one-of-a-kind gelato flavor based on your social media persona.

It’s called FLAVORIZE.ME — and it can transform the words you use on social media into a quantifiable flavor.

Best of all, there’s a chance that your unique personality flavor will get made for real. Here’s how it works.

Are you cut out to be gelato?

There’s a lot that goes into creating your personal gelato flavor — and it’s more than just upwards of 350 ingredients.

First, the Talenti team sifted through a corpus of the 10,000 most-commonly used words in the English language — along with popular social media phrases like “turnt” and “SMH” — and broke them out into the five categories that our taste buds recognize: Sweet, salty, sour, bitter and spicy. Naturally, words like “love” and “awesome” fall into the sweet category, while words like “stupid” and “hate” belong in the bitter realm. But that wasn’t enough.

To add further clarity to the corpus, Talenti arranged its massive flavor catalogue into those five categories and indexed them based on the levels of intensity. Meaning, if “love” is the most intense word in the sweet category, it’s matched up with Talenti’s most intense sweet flavor, say, brown sugar.

Then things get a little complicated (in a good way).

When you submit your social media persona for evaluation, Talenti’s algorithm will analyze the words you used most on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — even the colors of your Instagram photos — and place them into the flavor index. Your persona will then be assigned a custom flavor based on how proportionately sweet, salty, spicy, sour or bitter you are.

Granted, if you spend the majority of your online time trolling on Twitter, you probably won’t like the bitter flavor you receive. But the Talenti team says that’s the point. “Some people just don’t have suitably delicious gelato personalities,” a Talenti rep says.

In an ideal situation, however, you’ll receive a totally off-the-wall representation of all facets of you personality. Maybe your generally-sweet-but-sometimes-cynical-sometimes-sarcastic attitude lands you with a delicious blend of mango, lime and chocolate cake — a flavor combination that the world may have never known if not for you.

You can finally see — and taste — just how unique you are

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

The following list contains 10 things that successful people do to find balance on the

weekend and to come into work at 110% on Monday morning.

1. They Disconnect

Disconnecting is the most important weekend strategy on this list, because if you can’t find

a way to remove yourself electronically from your work Friday evening through Monday

morning, then you’ve never really left work.

2. They Minimize Chores

You need to schedule your chores like you would anything else during the week, and if you

don’t complete them during the allotted time, you move on and finish them the following

weekend.

3. They Reflect

Weekly reflection is a powerful tool for improvement. Use the weekend to contemplate the

larger forces that are shaping your industry, your organization, and your job.

4. They Exercise

Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a soothing

neurotransmitter that reduces stress. Exercise is also a great way to come up with new ideas.

Innovators and other successful people know that being outdoors often sparks creativity.

5. They Pursue a Passion

You might be surprised what happens when you pursue something you’re passionate about

on weekends. Indulging your passions is a great way to escape stress and to open your mind

to new ways of thinking.

6. They Spend Quality Time with Family

Spending quality time with your family on the weekend is essential if you want to recharge

and relax. Weekdays are so hectic that the entire week can fly by with little quality family

time.

7. They Schedule Micro-Adventures

Buy tickets to a concert or play, or get reservations for that cool new hotel that just opened

downtown. Instead of running on a treadmill, plan a hike. Try something you haven’t done

before or perhaps something you haven’t done in a long time.

8. They Wake Up at the Same Time

It’s tempting to sleep in on the weekend to catch up on your sleep. Though it feels good

temporarily, having an inconsistent wake-up time disturbs your circadian rhythm. If you

need to catch up on sleep, just go to bed earlier.

9. They Designate Mornings as Me Time

It can be difficult to get time to yourself on the weekends, especially if you have family.

Finding a way to engage in an activity you’re passionate about first thing in the morning can

pay massive dividends in happiness and cleanliness of mind.

10. They Prepare for the Upcoming Week

The weekend is a great time to spend a few moments planning your upcoming week. As little

as 30 minutes of planning can yield significant gains in productivity and reduced stress. The

week feels a lot more manageable when you go into it with a plan because all you have to

focus on is execution.

Original source: http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/How-Successful-People-Work-Less-and-

Get-More-Done-933670664-p-1.html

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.

If you are reading this post you are just as hooked on social media as we are. We wake up and immediately check to see what has happened on Facebook in the time we have been asleep or signed off from the world wide web. For many of us, it is the only way we can keep up with our friends’ crazy lives. The world is moving at such a rapid pace and traditionally we have associated social media with all fun and games… but that is just not the case anymore.

It is blatantly obvious that social media impacts what we read, what we buy, what movies we see, what fashion trends we follow, our political affiliation, what we cook for Christmas dinner and even the way we view our closest of friends.

In fact, a recent survey shows that we’ve become such a “social” society that 30% of men polled and 46% of women would rather go two weeks without sleep than live without the internet! The point is… either we are hooked, or we should be if only for the sake of our professional reputation.

So what exactly should we be doing to increase reader engagement and connect with the very consumers we’re eagerly attempting to attract? First, we must focus on what our “social interaction” goals are.

Ask yourself:

• Who is my customer?
• How am I reaching them?
• Do they care about my message?
• Are they listening?

If you have the slightest inkling that your followers might not be listening, interested, or engaging with your social media efforts… ask yourself… what is it that they’re not relating to? Have you spelled out in clear terms what you have to offer, what they can’t live without, and how you can solve the problem they believe to have in their lives?

By capitalizing on the intensity of your social media presence and your over all marketing efforts, you have the opportunity to interact, captivate and inspire your fans, friends and followers to whatever call-to-action you desire. This means that as an independent business owner and entrepreneur, you not only need to be constantly listening to your customers, but you must also find a way to romance yourself into their daily routine.

Getting your customers and potential clients to actively “listen” to your message means you must refine your communication. Focus on what your customer wants; ask yourself everyday whether your message is what they’re interested in and stay true to your goals.

Your social interaction whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Instagram should be an extension of who you are and a constant reminder to prospects, past clients and possible referrals that you are here, there, everywhere, when they are finally ready to take the dive.

Originally published at www.multibrain.net.