Facebook Friday: A selection of articles

Hey there,

Just thought I'd highlight some pieces from the last week that might be of interest. With all the noise and clutter over the week, wanted to provide another way to share content that might've easily been missed during the week, or that I might've missed myself.

So check out some of these pieces about Facebook news, including a reminder about metrics, advertising, hashtags, cover images, and tips for nonprofits.

• 6 Facebook Metrics Marketers Should Be Measuring, 3/18/13 - "Do you track your Facebook marketing? Do you feel lost when you’re looking at your Facebook Page statistics? Well, you’re not alone. Facebook metrics can be overwhelming and most Facebook Insights terminology is still hazy for many of us."
  Read more at Social Media Examiner
• Facebook's New Pitch to Advertisers: We Can ID Groups That Buy Your Products, 3/20/13 - "Facebook is now able to connect the dots between users on its network and their purchasing habits, and is using that data to pitch advertisers. To be sure, Facebook is not identifying users by name to advertisers. Instead, it is matching up its own data with that of partner Datalogix in a double-blind fashion."
  Read more at Mashable
• Facebook Hashtags: What Will They Mean for Brands and Users?, 3/20/13 - "Facebook is shifting into territory occupied by networks like Twitter and Instagram with the re-introduction of a chronological newsfeed and hashtags. The WSJ reported this last week Facebook is moving to allow users to engage around topics by using a hashtag field in status updates, that would (presumably) be viewable openly by Facebook's 1 billion users."
  Read more at Social Media Today
• Facebook Now Allows Calls to Action on Facebook Page Cover Images, 3/21/13 - "Without fanfare, it seems that Facebook may now be allowing calls to action on Facebook Page cover images. Take a look at the Pages Terms. Up until today, the 17th December version of the platform prevented any kind of marketing in the cover image, and also – as with any promoted image – text was not allowed to comprise more than 20% of the image area."
  Read more at Social Media Today
• Facebook Shares Best Tips for Non-Profits, 3/21/13 - "Facebook's strategic partnerships manager Libby Leffler works to ensure non-profits and causes on Facebook understand how to use the platform to best reach their communities and make the strongest impact. She says the biggest struggle non-profits have with Facebook is not understanding how to best use the platform's tools to engage with their communities."
  Read more at Mashable

That's it for this week. Hope you found some of these useful!!

Let me know in the comments, what you think, and what you'd like to see more of,

JR

Creating events: my ritual

Hey there,

So I thought I'd just walk you through my ritual when creating event pages for a performance at Dance Place. It helps to do this all at once, so that I can save time copying and pasting the lowest common denominator, in terms of text.

I know, thank you captain obvious.

Anyway, I start by creating a new page to be added to our Facebook Events.

I make sure, in addition to including all the text that we might have on our website, but I also make sure to include the link to the event page on our site with specific instructions that people should share the link with any friends who aren't on Facebook.

I also make sure to take advantage of the "Tickets" field, which allows you to "Add a link for guests to buy tickets" at. And this should go directly to the ticket buying page, the last possible link you can copy and paste, because anything less kinda defeats the purpose.

If the company/organization performing has a Facebook page, I also include the URL.

Finally, I make sure to upload a photo in accordance to the relatively new layout and dimensions for event pages, which I blogged about recently here.

Next, I create an Event page on Google+.

I do this because it has the most text in common with the Facebook event. The only thing I change is to include a URL to the company's website, instead of it's Facebook page.

Next I add the performances to our Foursquare page's list of Scheduled Events, so people can check in, not just to our venue, but to what's actually happening.

This is pretty simple as the only info needed is the name of the event, the day, and then the start and end times.

Finally, I wrap up my event creating ritual by creating a pin on Pinterest, to add to our Season's board.

This doesn't take too long, so it justifies the fact that I'm not quite sure how functional it is, as of yet. I know Goldstar puts out ticket and event info, so maybe it's just a matter of time before Dance Place's audience and community, at least those on Pinterest, use it to start sharing upcoming events, maybe even as a way to collect pins of what they've seen. Who knows.

But Pinterest is pretty simple because all you have to do is upload the image, include the basic info (in which case I list the name of the company or title of the piece, the photographer, the dates, and then hashtags). As far as the link to our website? You get to add that in an edit after you upload the image and create the pin.

Anyway, that's that. Just thought I'd share. What's your event creating ritual? Are there any other places you create events? How far in advance do you create them?

Did you get any new ideas from this post? Or do you have any thoughts? Let me know in the comments,

JR

Happy Belated Women's History Month

Hey there,

So by the time I posted a link on Facebook, I realized that my comment had turned into a blog post on its own....and here it is:

Happy International Women's Day, as I share this HuffPost Arts & Culture link forward, from my Hashtag the Arts page. 

Something I put out there for consideration, to other social media managers in the arts: if you aren't already, this is a great opportunity to highlight the women involved in your work and/or your organization's history, in terms of relevant and timely content to throw into your communications mix. Maybe even just in terms women that have inspired and influenced you and your company's mission. 

But that's just in the context of my FB page; obviously folks in any sector would do well to consider what they might be able to share throughout March. Unless you are already. And then all I have to say is "Kudos"!!

The link was 10 Female Artists to Watch in 2013. And I recommend liking HuffPost Arts & Culture's Facebook page, if you don't already, as well as follow them on Twitter, or at least list them.

Tweets by @HuffPostArts

Because sharing is caring, and a wonderful source like that will give you something to share in between the moments when you actually have the time and energy to put together your own content.

So whether this is already a part of your communication plan and strategy or not, would love for you to share whatever you've got in the comments here.

Also feel free to share it on Hashtag the Arts' Facebook page and tag it on Twitter to be considered for Retweeting!!

Finally, would definitely love to hear your feedback in terms of your thoughts, questions, aha moments, whatever you are willing to share,

JR

Different admin roles for Facebook pages

Hey there,

Just thought I'd briefly highlight the different admin roles that are your option for Facebook pages.

You've got:

• Insights Analyst
• Advertiser
• Moderator
• Content Creator
• Manager

Here's a handy chart Facebook has, highlighting the different capabilities of each role.

As you can see, responsibilities are more or less cumulative.

For small arts organizations or ensemble, I'd probably recommend just worrying about the Manager, Moderator, and Insights Analyst roles, which the rest of this post will discuss.

First, you should definitely have more than one Manager. This is good housekeeping, should anything happen to the primary one, either a temporary situation (such as illness, technical issues, etc.) or permanent.

I would also encourage having a handful of people in leadership positions set as moderators on your page. Even if some aren't comfortable creating content and administering the page, in being a Manager, everyone should at least be knowledgeable and responsible enough to reply intelligently to comments.

And I think the Insights Analyst role is a great one for any individual who might not be great at engaging with your community, but they love crunching numbers.

Because, if you're not at least measuring your efforts and using the data you have on hand, someone else is. And ultimately, the more time you plan into seeing what works for you and your community, the type of content that engages them, the times and days, etc (all of which will continue to change as time goes on and your audience grows), you'll spend less time guessing and more time being effective and efficient with your engagement.

So if one of your main page manager's isn't doing this (which they should be, and that's advice I need to take myself), tag someone who will for the role.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Having multiple admins functioning in various capacities is a great option to explore, plus it's an excellent way to make sure your social media presence and efforts aren't being silo'ed or happening in a vacuum, disconnected from the rest of the company or organization.

I will highlight the Content Creator and Advertiser roles in a future post, for anyone interested. Wanted to highlight some roles just as a starting point for those who might not have explored them that much, yet. In the meantime, let me know what you think about any of my suggestions, in the comments,

JR

English National Ballet's Harlem Shake video

Hey there,

So you've probably heard of it by now, the internet video meme that's been running rampant, the Harlem Shake.

The Harlem Shake is an Internet meme in the form of a video of various groups of people performing a comedy sketch accompanied by a short excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake". As a meme, the video was replicated by many people, using the same concept, and this rapidly led to it becoming viral in early February 2013,^[1] with thousands of "Harlem Shake" videos being made and uploaded to YouTube every day at the height of its popularity.

And the English National Ballet has joined the memetic band wagon.

I think this is awesome. Good for them for letting their proverbial hair down.

Curious to see what others think.

And have you seen other examples of artists or arts organization being inspired to join this or any other internet memes?

 Please share in the comments any favorites,

JR