Ayaz Nanji says, “Facebook’s algorithm now favors brands’ video posts in the News Feed, according to recent research from Socialbakers.The report was based on data from 670,000 Facebook posts made by 4,445 brands between October 2014 and February 2015.Videos uploaded to Facebook’s native player have the most organic (unpaid) News Feed reach (8.7%, on average) of any post type on the social platform, the analysis found.Photo posts, which until recently had the most organic reach, now have the least (2.3%); text-only status updates (5.8%) and link posts (5.3%) fall between... [...]

JP Mangalindan says, “Facebook is changing the way it counts Likes, the company announced on Thursday.Don’t panic, though; the changes only apply to celebrity and business pages. Facebook will no longer factor in Likes from users who have voluntarily deactivated their accounts or users who have passed away, according to a blog post. Facebook said the changes will offer businesses a clearer, more accurate idea of their Facebook audience, since neither of those groups are Facebook users.SEE ALSO: Facebook reaching out to users who might be suicidal“Over the coming weeks, Page admins... [...]

Martin Beck says, “It’s nothing personal, but you’re probably going to notice a drop in likes on your Facebook Page in the next several weeks. Facebook announced today that it will stop including likes from memorialized and voluntarily deactivated accounts in Pages’ like totals.The move, Facebook said in a blog post, will ensure businesses have more precise information about the people who actively follow their Page and make ads targeted to people like their followers — aka lookalike audiences — more efficient.From the blog post:Over the coming weeks, Page admins should expect... [...]

Eric Samson says, “On October 28, 2013, Forrester analyst Nate Elliott wrote, “Facebook is failing marketers.” The open letter, addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, lamented brands’ paltry organic reach across the platform and Facebook’s subpar advertising offerings.That was nearly a year and a half ago.Since then, Facebook has made marked improvements to its News Feed, which users visit to discover events, happenings and stories that matter to them. It weeded out click-bait, enabled better advertising, added emphasis to trending stories and ‘like’ signals, and, more recently, minimized... [...]

Ross Carrel has been busy investigating improvements in marketing through social media.He has come up with software called Social Post Pilot that can save you a lot of time and effort in your social media promotion of your products or services.1. It can build fan pages on Facebook on autopilot, for example.2. It can search for YouTube videos, based on your keywords, drip feed them to your site and then share the on social platforms.3. It can find images from the web that you can use on your site. It can automatically post them on a schedule you control.4. It can find products on Amazon, based... [...]

Lisa Furgison says, “Showcasing your products on Facebook just got easier. The social media site just launchedProduct Ads. What makes these ads different than other Facebook ads? Two things.First, they come with advanced targeting methods. You can get your ad in front of the right audience with a few clicks.Second, Product Ads allow you to show customers more than one product per ad. You no longer have to pick one product or service and hope that it resonates with your audience. Now, you can showcase several products.This new advertising option has been in the testing phases for months, but... [...]

Ginny Soskey says, “When people arrive at your Facebook Page, where do you think they first look? I’ll give you some hints. It’s a visual piece of content that sits at the top of your page. Its dimensions are 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. It takes up almost a quarter of the screen on most desktop browsers.That’s right — it’s your Facebook cover photo.Since it’s one of the most noticeable parts of your page, it’s crucial that you follow Facebook cover photo best practices. Whether you’re using Facebook to generate leads, close your... [...]

Todd Wasserman says, “Facebook now has 2 million active advertisers, a figure the company included in an announcement for its new mobile app “Ads Manager.”For Facebook, the number is a moving target. Six months ago, the social network boasted 1.5 million active advertisers, meaning they had advertised within the last month. Eighteen months ago, Facebook had 1 million active advertisers.SEE ALSO: 3 Tips for Creating Your Business’ Facebook PageStill, those figures are a fraction of the 30 million businesses around the world that have Facebook Pages.The majority of the... [...]

Morgan Chessman says, “Building marketing strategies for small businesses is one of my favorite things. In my first marketing role, I worked in the marketing department for a small company before moving on to Distilled, where I’ve been lucky enough to continue working with small businesses that have enormous potential. Despite the various industries, locales, and personalities, one of the prevailing similarities between them is that small businesses often don’t position their company or use the web as effectively as they could. While this is partially due to the time and resource... [...]

Dawn Ellis says, “We are living in the social age; where we all have the power and the potential to have our opinions heard by millions. With every social post you distribute, you’re actively impacting your image and contributing to your social print.There are thousands of articles online promoting what should be included in your social media strategy, but what about the methods you shouldn’t be doing? Surprisingly, the methods which are the most common are usually the most feeble and harmful.If You Don’t Share This Post in the Next Three Seconds…The goal of your social... [...]