Here at The Digiterati we like to keep on top of changes at Facebook. We spot the changes, understand what they mean for social media managers and let you know about it in as simple and practical terms as possible. And the last few weeks have most definitely kept us on our toes.
At the end of November Facebook quietly changed the size specifications for Group cover photos and somewhat belatedly made some recommendations as to what sizes admins should now be using.
Now that's all very well ...
I got unexpectedly added to a Facebook Group the other week and boy did it get my social media etiquette hackles raised.
I coach a lot of people on how to setup and run Facebook Groups and one of my most basic rules is not to add people to the Group without permission. None of us likes finding ourselves on a mailing list we didn't sign up for and it's the same with Facebook - we want to control our own likes thank you. And of course legal frameworks such as CAN-SPAM and the Privacy and Electr...
Looking for a way of collecting email addresses for Facebook fans without using lead gen ads?
You can use your Facebook Page cover photo as a data capture device.
But I didn't realise Facebook cover photos were clickable?
All photos on Facebook are clickable and when clicked users get to see whatever text information (and clickable links) you like about the picture.
So create your irresistible offer (you know - the thing you will give away as a thank you for the email address) and create...
So three days after a sneaky, unannounced change in Facebook Group cover photo dimensions Facebook finally gets round to changing the advice in their Help Center (sic).
Sure enough, Group cover photos created in their newly-recommended size of 1640px by 856px look fine, but it's a garbage size. Whoever came up with this at Facebook should be shot given a jolly good talking to!
For starters, it's a simple fact the cover photo will be cropped on desktop and tablet devices (and even a tad...
Facebook's algorithm that decides what to show you in News Feed comprises at least 100,000 factors.
It's become pretty standard knowledge amongst Facebook pros that some words and phrases are almost guaranteed to throttle the reach of what may well have been an innocent sounding post.
Facebook are ever on the alert for Pages that try to "game" the algorithm by artificially inflating likes, comments and shares (because interaction like that sends an instant quality signal to Facebook which...
Woohoo!
Finally. Insights for Facebook Groups is here. We have a Digiterati Academy Masterclass on it available now but for this post I've been playing around with trying to find the all important Reach metric from the (somewhat limited) stats available.
There are just two indicators of reach available currently. The first is "Active Members". You'll find this in the More Engagement Details section. Here's the Team Digiterati data for the last month:
We have 739 Active Members of a ...
I was asked recently to guest in the Location Station podcast. I love doing these guest interviews and always try to tailor what I present to the interests of the subscribers.
So rather than simply talk about the Facebook algorithm (the topic I'd been asked to wax lyrical on) I decided to give some serious thought to local optimisation (because that's what Location Station is all about).
Facebook's search engine is far from perfect. It needs all the help it can get. And users need rapid wa...
Another great new feature for Facebook Page Admins. We can now use the Facebook Page 'New Inbox' to manage messages, Page comments, comments on Page posts shared to your Group and even Instagram!
Carlton explains all in the video below:
As usual, if you'd prefer to skim through some screen shots and instructions here's how it all works:
First of all you need to have linked a Facebook Group with your Page. We show you how to do that here.
Go to your Page and click "Inbox" in the top n...
