Do it for the culture

It’s been a while since I’ve written here. Becoming a mom, fulfilling client work, seeking new opportunities and finding moments for myself has been ALL CONSUMING. But business marches on and the most puzzling new reality for my clients is the change in Instagram’s algorithm: Instagram post likes are hidden from followers. Do you think this is a good idea? Public opinion is pretty split.

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The reason Instagram gives for this change is so that followers can focus on the content of the posts and not on how many likes they see beneath them. The underlying question business accounts, influencers and marketers are asking is:

Will this change impact my bottom line? And the bottom line is sales.

The only way your sales will be impacted is if you refuse to participate in the game that Facebook is playing. Remember that Facebook owns Instagram and there has been a slow migration of people from Facebook to Instagram. Instead of maintaining both accounts I’ve seen many, myself included, abandon their Facebook accounts and regularly update their Instagram posts only. That will need to change in order for businesses to maintain the social media engagement they have become accustomed to. As the likes and engagement decrease on Instagram, businesses will be forced to find other ways of reaching potential customers through their phones. The realization will slowly creep in, maybe now is the time to return to Facebook. This is the strategy I’m guessing that Facebook is working with.

So how can you play at this game and win? Throw out your dependence on likes for validation and reach. There are three other statistics that are important to achieving your business goals and marketing goals.

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What’s An Engagement Rate?

Engagement rate for Instagram = likes + comments / followers ( x 100)

Engagement rate for Facebook = reactions + shares + comments + link clicks / reach ( x 100)

This is an important number to measure how often people are moved to act on the content you are posting. How many people don’t just look but actually like, comment, share, click the link, save the post - ENGAGE!?

Engagement is super important to businesses with a small but mighty audience. The size of your following is never as important as the enthusiasm of your community. Create content that will motivate your audience to actively interact with your business.

Relevance Score

If you are advertising on social media, Facebook ads are the place to start for the best analytics in the business. When you refine and define your audience, insert your creative content and send the ads out into the universe it is important to know how well your ads are resonating. Is this advertisement, money well spent? The Facebook advertising relevance score is the best way to figure out and recreate your best ads on social media.

The score is driven by positive feedback by the audience. The more positive feedback the running ad gets, the higher the score. The highest relevance score is 10.

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Knowing your Relevance Score can 1. help you to lower the cost of reaching your audience, 2. help you test your creative content before posting the advertisement and 3. it can show you how and where to optimize campaigns already in progress. Hurry up and check your relevance score for your last five Facebook advertising campaigns. Are the scores above five? If not, why?

Sales

Are the people buying what you’re selling? Businesses as well as individuals are seduced by the attention they get online and lose sight of the ultimate goal which is to make sales. Show me the money! Are customers spending it with you? If not, who are they spending their money with in your industry and what are they doing that you aren’t. Study your competitors and dote on your customers. Make service and sales your priorities and the time and attention you used to put on likes will be time well spent.

If you need help focusing on building your social media engagement despite Instagram hiding your likes give us a call. We consult with companies like yours semimonthly to come up with a plan and keep you on track to grow your engagement, relevance and resonance with your audience. They can’t help but boost your sales.

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