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Friday Agency is an award-winning digital agency based in the heart of Dublin city centre. Whether we’re deploying digital strategies, designing powerful web &amp; mobile experiences, or creating engaging brand campaigns – we transform organisations using digital.
We’re looking for a Digital Marketing Specialist to join our team. Someone who loves digital and is bursting with potential.
The successful candidate will have solid experience in executing search and social media campaigns and will have a solid grasp of analytics and reporting.
You’ll be working closely with our Client Services, Digital, and Creative teams to execute, manage and analyze digital campaigns for some of Ireland’s leading brands and businesses. The role will also combine some account management duties.
Brands we work with include Fyffes, Urbana, and Digit Gaming. Attractions like Dublin Zoo and online merchants such as Baby Elegance, Folláin, and Juvi Designs.
<h3>Key Skills &amp; Responsibilities</h3>
<ul>
<li>Minimum 2 years of professional experience working in a hands-on digital marketing role is required.</li>
<li>Implement digital marketing campaigns for agency clients involving a mix of digital channels including Search, Content, Social, and Email.</li>
<li>You have experience building and managing PPC campaigns in Google Ads (and currently, Google Ads certified).</li>
<li>You have experience creating and publishing content on social channels, in particular, Facebook and Instagram.</li>
<li>Work with agency management to align digital marketing activities with projects such as websites and apps, and work closely with our team of talented designers, UX specialists &amp; developers.</li>
<li>Report targets for awareness, engagement, and conversion for client organisations using digital platforms.</li>
<li>You will have experience in SEO, content writing, and link building.</li>
<li>Utilise various analytics tools to acquire insights, monitor competitors, and report campaign results including Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Search Console, and SEM Rush.</li>
<li>Implement market research activities/processes both internally and externally and report results to agency directors.</li>
<li>Engage clients directly &amp; give outstanding customer service in line with Friday’s values.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Organisational Skills</h3>
<ul>
<li>Self-motivated, you’re comfortable working independently and as part of a team. You thrive in a fast-paced, multi-task environment and maintain excellent relationships with both clients and partners.</li>
<li>Take responsibility for tasks, projects, and priorities to ensure they are delivered on time and to a high standard.</li>
<li>You can solve problems by applying user-centred thinking and logic.</li>
<li>Brilliant time management and task organisational skills.</li>
<li>Strong interpersonal and communication skills.</li>
<li>Adept at budget management.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Desirable Skills</h3>
<ul>
<li>Experience in planning and executing a digital strategy.</li>
<li>Experience creating and executing Content Calendars for social.</li>
<li>Experience of working in a fast-paced start-up culture, preferably agency side.</li>
<li>Possess a 3rd Level marketing or digital marketing qualification.</li>
<li>Knowledge of web technologies – basic knowledge of HTML and CSS would be a plus.</li>
<li>Experience using Facebook Ad Manager to manage social marketing campaigns.</li>
<li>Experience of WordPress CMS.</li>
<li>Company promotion: Experience writing content, particularly content such as blog posts, press releases as well as day-to-day social activity on Twitter and Facebook.</li>
<li>Knowledge of user experience design and UX design process.</li>
<li>Knowledge of marketing attribution and how to implement it.</li>
<li>Be abreast of and contribute to digital marketing trends.</li>
<li>Having fun and an appreciation for good food.</li>
</ul>
Friday is building one of the most talented digital teams in the country. To achieve our goals we want to hire the best.
Permanent Role 
Salary: Negotiable 
Minimum industry Experience: 2 years. 
Our Benefits include:
<ul>
<li>Competitive salary</li>
<li>Flexible Hybrid working</li>
<li>The opportunity to work on exciting projects for a range of different businesses and brands</li>
<li>You will have great training and development</li>
<li>Generous holidays and mobile phone plans</li>
<li>A fun and collaborative working environment</li>
<li>Bike to work and travel TaxSaver</li>
</ul>
If this is you, please say hello and email your CV to <a href="mailto:careers@friday.ie">careers@friday.ie</a>.
(Strictly no agencies. Please and thank you).

Digital Marketing Specialist role at Friday Agency

In 2022, Irish businesses really should be on TikTok, just look at the Irish TikTok demographics later in this article. Can the average Irish brand leverage TikTok for business? Of course, but you&#8217;ll need to be creative, authentic and ideally fun. More on that later.
Smart brands understand the value of building a presence on a social platform while still in its early growth stages and taking that first mover advantage against their competitors. Think Facebook in the mid-2,000&#8217;s, that time is now for TikTok.
While some people still view TikTok as a social media platform that solely caters to its generally younger audience, that would be a misinformed view about who actually uses TikTok today.
If your brand has not yet engaged with TikTok, you&#8217;re missing out on a huge opportunity.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-14147 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Seinfeld-serenity-now.webp" alt="Seinfeld clip showing man shouting Serenity now" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Seinfeld-serenity-now.webp 640w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Seinfeld-serenity-now-250x141.webp 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Seinfeld-serenity-now-120x68.webp 120w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />
<h4>But we&#8217;re on Facebook and Instagram already!</h4>
So you should be. According to Facebook&#8217;s own Ad data, businesses can reach 2.7 M people on Facebook and 2.6M on Instagram in Ireland.
The Facebook Ads system is also one of the most effective and rewarding platforms a business can engage. It&#8217;s targeting capabilities and mass of collected data points are hard to beat.
While Paid Search Ads (Google &amp; Bing) are as exact as a surgeon&#8217;s knife for dialling into real user intent to convert by engaging your services or buying your product, Facebook is like the Swiss army knife of marketing tools. Facebook delivers many ways to engage and convert your audience.
As long as you take advantage of Facebook&#8217;s new tracking methods to help <a href="https://www.friday.ie/blog/how-to-protect-facebook-marketing-performance-cookie-free-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">combat visibility losses from Apple&#8217;s Privacy initiatives</a>, it will serve your business well when properly invested in, managed and optimised.
Though <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/facebook-usage-drops-in-ireland-as-tiktok-s-popularity-surges-1.4809994" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook usage in Ireland is dropping</a>, Facebook &amp; Instagram are still the most popular platforms for users in Ireland and most businesses should definitely maintain a presence there. TikTok is catching up fast though and is a serious contender for the Social throne.
<h4>TikTok user demographics in Ireland</h4>
We decided to look at the TikTok Irish user demographics to get a gauge of who exactly is using it in Ireland.
TikTok is now <a href="https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/tiktok-is-catching-up-on-instagram-and-facebook-with-its-irish-subscriber-base-41552010.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used by 2.25MLN Irish people</a>, which shows rapid growth in the Irish market. That places it 3rd in usage behind Facebook and Instagram.
This means that your brand&#8217;s messaging could in theory reach 1 in 3 people in Ireland if using TikTok both organically and its paid advertising features.
While growing rapidly, data sourced from TikTok&#8217;s Ads Manager platform shows the Irish TikTok user demographic breakdown as of July 2022 as below:
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-14159 size-large" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-700x482.png" alt="Irish TikTok User Demographics Ireland Infographic" width="700" height="482" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-700x482.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-250x172.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-768x529.png 768w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-1536x1058.png 1536w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-2048x1411.png 2048w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-Blog-Asset-2-1-120x83.png 120w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
<h4>Is 2022 a good time to join TikTok?</h4>
2022 is definitely a good time to join TikTok, the sooner the better. TikTok is now 6 years old. Social platform years are almost like dog years so by those standards it&#8217;s quite a mature platform.
Since launching in 2016, TikTok has <a href="https://sensortower.com/blog/tiktok-downloads-2-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grown rapidly</a>. The App has been downloaded globally more than 2 billion times. According to Cloudflare, in 2021 tiktok.com was <a href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/popular-domains-year-in-review-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most popular domain</a> for users, beating even google.com for visitors.
There can be no argument, TikTok is here to stay.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-14129 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Organic-reach-and-growth-on-TikTok-700x467-1.jpeg" alt="Lake in the shape of an upwards tending arrow in the middle of a forrest representing organic growth on TikTok" width="700" height="467" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Organic-reach-and-growth-on-TikTok-700x467-1.jpeg 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Organic-reach-and-growth-on-TikTok-700x467-1-250x167.jpeg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Organic-reach-and-growth-on-TikTok-700x467-1-120x80.jpeg 120w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
<h4>Organic growth on TikTok</h4>
When Social platforms first launch, there&#8217;s a period where they&#8217;re trying to gain as many users and as much content as possible before monetising the service with Ads. During this time, organic reach will be extended as your content will be pushed out by the platform to keep users engaged. That&#8217;s a golden time to join and invest in building a presence on a platform (if you believe it has a genuine future of course).
While that initial stage has passed as paid Ads are now available on TikTok and the organic reach is not as strong as it initially was, it&#8217;s still extremely strong. The <a href="https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/social-media-225140" target="_blank" rel="noopener">engagement rates on TikTok</a> are much higher than on other Social Platforms and are likely to stay that way until the platform gets more crowded. Basically, it&#8217;s like Facebook used to be when you could reach your audience for free!
Smart brands are on TikTok already and doubling down both on organic content and paid Ads but there&#8217;s plenty of growth to be achieved for businesses only just getting started on TikTok in 2022.
<h4>TikTok is being used by younger audiences as a Search Engine</h4>
TikTok is not only taking some of Facebook&#8217;s audiences but even Google is feeling a little bit of a pinch though not a substantial threat. As mentioned above, tiktok.com was the most visited domain in 2021, usurping Google. This is no small feat.
Prabhakar Raghavan (Google senior vice president) <a href="https://fortune.com/videos/watch/Brainstorm-Tech-2022-Organizing-The-Worlds-Information/934585a6-7fb6-41a5-8ef3-e497f8ca2986" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told a recent Tech conference</a> that:
<blockquote>&#8220;something like almost 40% of young people when they&#8217;re looking for a place for lunch, they don&#8217;t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram.&#8221;</blockquote>
While these local search terms from people looking for lunch spots only make up a very small portion of user Search volumes, Google is <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/search-io22/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adjusting its platform</a> to appeal to younger users to defend their dominance of Search terms with a local intent to convert. However, Google remains the number one platform to dial into real user intent to convert into a customer across many industries.
The reality is that TikTok will never take over from Google for user journeys that require real research, price and service level comparison. It&#8217;s an interesting development in the world of Search Marketing though and something businesses serving local customers should be keeping in mind.
As global users become less and less patient, they&#8217;re seeking more visual ways to learn rather than reading blog content. Younger users use TikTok&#8217;s search facility to find the guides they want in a short easy to understand video format.
Mental health advice is unsurprisingly a popular topic on TikTok and often a go-to source for younger users as is legal and medical advice for users of all ages. TikTok content can be excellent for delivering a concise visual answer to those &#8220;how to&#8221; questions we all have.
Despite the lack of the same veracity to the information available on TikTok when compared to Google results, this looks like <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/could-tiktok-be-a-search-engine-for-many-users-it-already-is/452871/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a trend that will continue</a>. To help SEO your brand&#8217;s TikTok content to be discovered in TikTok search results, be sure to use the auto-captions over your videos and relevant hashtags.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-14133 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-user-prepares-to-shoot-video-700x467-1.jpeg" alt="Irish TikTok user making video content with a smartphone and light ring" width="700" height="467" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-user-prepares-to-shoot-video-700x467-1.jpeg 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-user-prepares-to-shoot-video-700x467-1-250x167.jpeg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/TikTok-user-prepares-to-shoot-video-700x467-1-120x80.jpeg 120w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
<h4>Won&#8217;t I have to dance to create engaging content on TikTok?</h4>
No. While dance crazes certainly helped get TikTok to where it is today, the variety of content on it today is truly quite astounding. Users are on TikTok to learn, discover and also shop!
What&#8217;s important on TikTok is that your video content is creative, authentic and of course either helpful, visually engaging or funny. It&#8217;s not a place for any boring straightforward marketing creatives that have a strong sales approach. The users there will certainly let you know in the comments (if you leave them on) if they don&#8217;t like it. Your TikTok content needs to be made for TikTok.
One aspect of TikTok content is that it&#8217;s very much focused on trends and challenges. Keeping up on what your audience is engaging with and the topics they&#8217;re talking about will help make your content more relevant. TikTok encourages users to take on their content challenges. Targeting those challenges and using the memes and hashtags that your audience use will help you connect with the right people.
Some brands may initially struggle to conceive of what they might share but there are plenty of <a href="https://www.shopify.com/blog/tiktok-video-ideas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">great examples and ideas</a> out there to take a lead form.
<h4>What types of businesses can benefit from TikTok?</h4>
Pretty much any business that&#8217;s prepared to invest in producing fun and engaging video content will benefit from being on TikTok. Remember that needn&#8217;t be an expensive undertaking, all that&#8217;s needed is a bit of creativity, basic video editing skills, time and a smartphone.
If a brand is producing high-quality content around an area people want to gain knowledge in, they&#8217;ll quickly gather a following. From Lawyers to Doctors, there&#8217;s no shortage of smart professional service brands taking advantage of the free organic reach by producing helpful and engaging video content for their audiences.
More and more, <a href="https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/social-commerce-is-here-and-its-reshaping-how-we-buy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social platforms are places where people shop</a>. Ecommerce brands will especially benefit from engaging with TikTok. Just take a look at <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/TikTokMadeMeBuyIt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt</a> and you&#8217;ll see users posting about the influence TikTok had on their latest purchase.
The potential for eCommerce brands to benefit from user-generated content (UGC) is huge on TikTok. Getting your products into the hands of your target audience and delighting them can see your product go viral.
There&#8217;s also a plethora of tools and features built into the platform that will let you engage directly with your audience. These include Q &amp; A&#8217;s and Live streams to answer buyer questions and demonstrate your product&#8217;s benefits, driving sales in real-time. TikTok Shop is not yet available in Ireland but once it arrives it will add a Shop tab to your business profile, similar to Facebook and Instagram Shops.
<a href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/live-shopping-tiktok/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Live Shopping</a> has conversion rates 10 times higher than other eCommerce placements and formats. It&#8217;s set to be a major trend in eCommerce going forward and TikTok really delivers here.
Partnering with relevant Influencers that have already amassed a strong engaged following can provide a shortcut to getting the exposure a brand needs with its target audience. It&#8217;s crucial to ensure good alignment here between audience and brand though, otherwise, it can lead to wasted spending. A good place to start with finding the right influencer to partner with is <a href="https://creatormarketplace.tiktok.com/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok&#8217;s Creator Marketplace</a>.
Another very interesting offering for brands is <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/introducing-tiktok-branded-mission-inspiring-brand-and-creator-collaborations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok&#8217;s Branded Mission</a>. Essentially brands can crowdsource their creative needs to TikTok creators. Content creators supply their proposed TikTok creative for your brand which you can then choose to place media spend behind if you like what you see. This could prove to be an excellent option for brands struggling with their own creative production for the platform.
There&#8217;s a lot that can be achieved organically on the platform with the right resources put into producing content. However, it&#8217;s when brands add paid media to the mix that the numbers can really start to get interesting.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-14131 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Rocketship-departing-the-group-1st-mover-advantage-700x456-1.jpeg" alt="Rocket ship leaving the group of other rockets representing first mover advantage with Paid Ads on TikTok" width="700" height="456" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Rocketship-departing-the-group-1st-mover-advantage-700x456-1.jpeg 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Rocketship-departing-the-group-1st-mover-advantage-700x456-1-250x163.jpeg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Rocketship-departing-the-group-1st-mover-advantage-700x456-1-120x78.jpeg 120w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
<h4>Paid Ads on TikTok &amp; first mover advantage</h4>
TikTok released its self-serve Ads platform in July 2020 and is very capable of delivering results for brands across many verticals. All the usual options are there that we&#8217;ve come to expect from a modern Ads platform making it suitable for driving on-site Conversions or App Installs as needed.
While large volumes of performance data are thin on the ground and of course it depends on each vertical, creative strength, the offer and many other factors including the friction of their user journeys, TikTok Ads can be a very strong option.
Media buying on TikTok is still relatively cheap when compared to Facebook &amp; Instagram. As with any Ad placement costs, supply and demand dictates pricing. TikTok still has a lot of supply of Ad space with less demand than on Facebook&#8217;s dwindling supply as not as many marketers are taking advantage of TikTok yet.
This presents yet another area of opportunity, as well as organic growth with TikTok, where there still remains a first mover advantage for businesses that act soon and start their TikTok journey both organic and paid.
If you&#8217;d like to take advantage of this exceptional marketing channel and engage an expert <a href="https://www.friday.ie/expertise/digital-marketing/social-media-advertising/">TikTok Ads agency</a>, talk with us today!

TikTok App symbol on smartphone screen with 99 notifications

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<h3>Help us to connect the Goodwill of the people of Ireland with those who need help and support!</h3>
We need your help to spread the word about a website that we&#8217;ve built to aid the COVID-19 response.
<a href="https://www.goodwill.ie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Goodwill.ie</a> is a website where people and businesses can list their offers of help for emergency workers, the elderly or vulnerable.
<h4>Lend a helping hand</h4>
Whether you&#8217;re someone willing to help a neighbour with their shopping, or a business looking to lend a helping hand to your community or front line workers &#8211; there&#8217;s a place for you here!
Now is your chance to help those in need or find someone to help you!
We&#8217;ve had quite a response from those who have become aware of the initiative and the site has gained a substantial number of offers of help &#8211; but we need more!
<h4>Promote or share</h4>
We&#8217;d appreciate if you could promote or share this so that you too could help get the aid to those that need it. Every little helps in these times.
We&#8217;re also looking for any media outlets who would be willing to give some free advertising space or sponsorship for this initiative &#8211; we&#8217;re sure you&#8217;ll agree it&#8217;s a good one!
Visit <a href="https://www.goodwill.ie/">Goodwill.ie</a>. Get help or give help today.

Help us to spread the Goodwill

Have you ever longed to share a romantic cocktail with Leo Varadkar or Mary Lou? Let’s face it, we all have. Well now’s your chance to turn these fantasies into reality.
Re-introducing <a href="https://www.tder.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TDer</a> – the website that lets you get up close and personal with the gorgeous men and women of Dail Eireann. Created in 2016 and improved and updated for 2020. With all the serious talk about policies and coalition, we wanted to put out a piece on the election and have a bit of a laugh at the same time by marrying it with online dating. Jokes aside, please do exercise your vote on Saturday the 8th.<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-10680 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1443" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-250x176.jpg 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-700x493.jpg 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-768x541.jpg 768w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-1536x1082.jpg 1536w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-120x85.jpg 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tder2-80x56.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" />

Introducing TDer for #GE2020

Whether you’re going through a rebrand, developing a new digital strategy or investing in one for the first time, it’s safe to say that social media will have a part to play.
Before you start to implement your Social Strategy, there are a number of things you will need to consider and our checklist below will help to get you started.
<h2>1. Review Your Current Social Setup</h2>
You can’t create a strong strategy without having a strong foundation to build upon.
Whatever networks you’re focusing your efforts, make sure your social bios are all up to date.
It might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it is overlooked.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8703 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.36.37.png" alt="social-bio-example" width="411" height="389" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.36.37.png 411w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.36.37-250x237.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.36.37-120x114.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.36.37-80x76.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px" />
Update all of your locations and contact details. Depending on the size of your organisation, you may have multiple social pages to edit.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8706 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.45.31.png" alt="social-profiles-locations-example" width="412" height="255" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.45.31.png 412w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.45.31-250x155.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.45.31-120x74.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.45.31-80x50.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px" />
Make sure all links are up to date and pointing to the correct pages. I’ve seen this on numerous occasions, particularly when there are a number of older pages that have been forgotten about. Maybe there was a previous subdomain used for a specific area of the business that’s no longer in use, but has now merged under the parent domain or simply non-existent anymore.
Use consistent and “on-brand” imagery across all networks for your profile images and wallpaper. There may be variants of your logo that have evolved over time, so make sure everything is consistent and in line with your current strategy.
<h2>2. What have you learned from previous efforts?</h2>
It’s important to assess what has been working up until now. Analysing the performance of previous strategies &amp; tactics is essential. This can involve collating a lot of numbers if there is a lot of historical data, but it is worth the effort. Diving down and getting dirty with your data will pay dividends when done correctly.
Being critical of your efforts can be difficult, especially for smaller organisations, as there can be an emotional investment. The numbers don’t lie, but it is important to remember the overall objective. Here are a few questions you should look at answering to help you understand performance to date.
<h3>What content has been getting the most engagement?</h3>
Review all of your previous posts and ads across all your networks. You should start to see some sort of a trend. What posts did people like, comment on or share?
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8707 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24.png" alt="social-engagement-metrics" width="726" height="296" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24.png 726w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24-250x102.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24-700x285.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24-120x49.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-09.56.24-80x33.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px" />
<h3>What content has been driving the most traffic to your website?</h3>
Similar to above, analyse the posts and ads that drove the most traffic to your site. Depending on the content, you may start to notice some differences between content that is good for overall brand awareness and content that is better at driving traffic….and hopefully conversions.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8716 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-10.07.28.png" alt="social-posts-driving-most-traffic" width="662" height="302" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-10.07.28.png 662w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-10.07.28-250x114.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-10.07.28-120x55.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Screenshot-2019-01-21-at-10.07.28-80x36.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px" />
<h3>What messaging has been engaging audiences?</h3>
From the data already collected, you could dive down a little deeper to assess was there particular messaging that differentiated those that performed well and those that didn’t. Was it the tone of voice or a particular call-to-action.
<h3>Which media is most effective? Images, Video, Blogs etc.</h3>
Were there particular media that performed better than others? Did your video posts have better engagement than static images? It is important to be honest with yourself as well. Has your media creation up until now done your brand and product offering justice? Did enough thought go into it? You may have tasked the new intern with creating a video for an ad-hoc campaign, and it never lived up to everyone’s expectations. If this is the case, don’t let it deter you from video content.
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune or need a full film crew, but it does need time to plan and to execute correctly. If the recent trends are anything to go by, then you should be investing in video content. According to a report by Cisco, <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html">by 2020 82% of both business &amp; consumer web traffic will be from video content</a>. Focusing solely on the benefits of video in your social strategy &#8211; video <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/03/08/video-marketing-statistics">generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined</a>.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="width: 382px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-8696-1" width="382" height="746" autoplay="1" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_.mp4">https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_.mp4</a></video></div>
</div>
<h2>3. Who are your audiences?</h2>
This question can sometimes cause divide&#8230;hopefully not too much. As an established organisation you will have a lot of existing customer data you can assess.
&#8220;Differentiating your audiences is crucial. When you start to create your messaging, you’ll need to tailor it to each audience&#8221;
You may have a CRM which has a wealth of information on who your existing customers are. You may have existing intelligence from previous <a href="https://friday.ie/expertise/strategy/research/">market research</a> initiatives. Use this! You could start to see clusters of information that make up several audience groups. Differentiating your audiences is crucial. When you start to create your messaging, you’ll need to tailor it to each audience.
Not all businesses have to a CRM database. Either way, you should be diving into your analytics (and layering this on top of your CRM data if you have can). I’m a big advocate of combining as many data sources as possible.
Use Google Analytics to give you insight into demographics, locations, devices, referrals, interests etc. Combine this with your social analytics data. If you have advertised previously, you could break down the various targeting attributes of the ads that performed best. Dive into this further to see what pages these users like as well.
Sometimes this is just a reaffirming exercise if you feel you have a good grasp on who your target audience is, but you can find some golden nuggets from time to time.
If you don’t have a lot of historical data, you can play around with insight tools based on the knowledge you have obtained, and start getting creative. Combining both cookie-based and user-based data can give you a bit more clarity. Rather than relying on a single data source.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8732 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400.png" alt="social-media-audience" width="760" height="400" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400.png 760w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400-250x132.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400-700x368.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400-120x63.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/6-Things-to-Keep-in-Mind-When-Researching-Your-Audience-on-Social-Media-760x400-80x42.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" />
<h2>4. What Social networks should we invest in?</h2>
It’s easy to dive straight in and start creating profiles across as many networks as possible. After all, you need omnipresent in an omnichannel world, right? Using your audience research, you should have a better idea of where they like to hang out. If you have been active on numerous networks already, assess which ones have been driving the most traffic or have contributed the most conversions. If you have enough data in analytics, you should be able to get some clarity on this.
Your product offering or service will also play a part in this decision. Perhaps your target market is young, but maybe Snapchat isn’t the best platform to consume your content. It also could be simply down to resources. Do you have the team, the time and the content to publish across all the platforms you’d like?
<h2>5. What are your competitors doing?</h2>
It goes without saying, but it’s important to be aware of what your competitors are doing. It’s not about following their shadow. It’s about taking note of what they’re doing or more importantly what they are not doing. You can both be on Instagram and Facebook, but using their advertising features completely differently. For example, rather than showcasing your product lines in a carousel ad, why not offer an immersive experience with Instant Experience ads. Bring those potential customers on a journey, rather than showing them static images that they’ll forget by the next ad.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="width: 346px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-8696-2" width="346" height="670" autoplay="1" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_jeep.mp4?_=2" /><a href="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_jeep.mp4">https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/martin_fb_jeep.mp4</a></video></div>
</div>
Better yet, why not bring that customer-centric, personal marketing approach up a notch and start using chatbots in your Facebook ads.
<h2>6. What are your goals? What should you be measuring?</h2>
Your social marketing goals should be aligned with your overall business goals. These goals can vary greatly depending on your product or service offering, the industry you operate in, competition etc.
Goals can be split between Branding and Revenue-based. In many cases, you will be combining both. Of course, you will want to see a positive ROI and ROAS, but you will want to see your brand grow.
Examples of Branding-based goals include;
<ul>
<li>Awareness</li>
<li>Sentiment</li>
<li>Loyalty</li>
</ul>
Examples of Revenue-based goals include;
<ul>
<li>Sign-ups</li>
<li>Leads</li>
<li>Sales</li>
</ul>
Now that you’ve decided on what goals align best with your overall marketing objectives, you need to decide what metrics you should be analysed in order to measure success. One thing to note is that you will more than likely be analysing data from multiple data sources. For example, Google Analytics and Facebook. There can be discrepancies when comparing both data sets. Google Analytics by default will report last non-direct, while Facebook&#8217;s UI will be solely reporting on Facebook data. In other words, Facebook will report on a conversion, even if the user interacted with one of your search ads after the initial social interaction. Make sure you&#8217;re set up correctly for this otherwise your numbers won&#8217;t add up.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="image-border--black aligncenter wp-image-8737 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493.png" alt="social-media-metrics" width="1138" height="493" srcset="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493.png 1138w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493-250x108.png 250w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493-768x333.png 768w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493-700x303.png 700w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493-120x52.png 120w, https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/important-social-media-metrics-min-1138x493-80x35.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1138px) 100vw, 1138px" />
Some basic metrics you will be most likely analysing will include;
<ul>
<li>Reach &#8211; The number of users that saw one of your ads. It’s a great way of measuring awareness.</li>
<li>Engagements &#8211; These can be anything from Likes, Shares and Comments.</li>
<li>Traffic &#8211; Number of sessions, number of new users and bounce rate.</li>
<li>Revenue metrics &#8211; sales, leads, Cost per Acquisition (cost per sale, cost per lead etc). ROAS is hugely important in an ecommerce setting.</li>
</ul>
If you are tracking sales or other conversions, you should also be mindful of the attribution windows that are set up. For example, will you be giving a 30-day attribution window to Facebook ads or 7 days? This will depend on the complexities of your overall campaigns.
When analysing the performance of your campaigns you want your data to tell a story. Understanding this story will help you understand your audience, understand what worked and what didn’t.
Tip: To really understand your customer’s journey and to get a better insight into your marketing spend, play around with your attribution models. They can reveal some incredible insights&#8230;and in some cases justify that spend when everyone else doubted it. You will also benefit by ensuring your channel groupings are customised so that everything can be tracked and measured as accurately as possible.
<h2>7. What are your capabilities? What’s your capacity?</h2>
Now that your research is done, and the foundations are laid, you’ll probably start having a few ideas on the approach to your strategy. You need to be realistic. You may have the passion and the determination to get it started, but does your team mirror this? Are the time, resources and skill-set available?
Before you go getting budget sign-off, you need to factor in content creation. You may have a hefty monthly advertising budget to spend, but do you have the content to stand-out and get noticed in a user’s, already saturated, feed? Your targeting may be close to perfect, but if your content isn’t, then the horse may fall flat before even reaching the water.

Laying The Foundations For A Successful Social Media Strategy

It&#8217;s well proven that remarketing can help achieve better ROI. In this post I talk about how you can improve your ROI using Facebook Lookalike Audiences.
Your customers or subscribers are the best audiences you can target because they’ve already shown some interest in your products, your brand, your website, your sales process, delivery and everything else. 
It is easier, safer and cheaper to target them over finding new customers.
<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.wheelhouseadvisors.net/5-reasons-why-customer-retention-is-better-than-customer-acquisition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The probability of converting an existing customer is 60-70%</a> compared to 5-20% for a new prospect.
</blockquote>
That said Facebook offers something even better by giving you both &#8211; it essentially takes your existing clients and audiences and finds new ones with similar traits and demographics. 
<h2 class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2781 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Facebook-lookalike-audiences.png" alt="Facebook Lookalike Audience &amp; email lists" width="767" height="267" /></h2>
<h3 class="p1" style="text-align: left;">How it works</h3>
If you have an email database, and we are sure you all have at least one or two, what you can do is upload that list into the Facebook and create a custom audience from that list. 
But here&#8217;s where things become interesting: you can take that custom audience and turn it into the lookalike audience. 
What that means is that Facebook will connect your emails with real Facebook profiles and take their interests, demographics, age and other parameters to find new people similar to them. 
And as we all know, Facebook has a lot of data about each one of us and it&#8217;s not hard for Facebook to find people with similar interests. 
You can determine how far are you willing to go when it comes to the similarity. Facebook allows you to choose a sliding scale of similarity from 1% to 10% when building Lookalike audiences. 
However, have in mind that the broader you set your bar the broader results you will get. 
It all depends on your type of business, but we would recommend somewhere between 1-5% to get an accurate result. Everything above 5% will be too broad. Again it depends on your business type and your advertising objective.
Now when your Facebook Lookalike Audience has been created you can start serving your ads to the people who are more likely to engage with them and convert.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2791 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/my-advertising-budget.png" alt="my-advertising-budget" width="1228" height="560" />
The possibilities are endless. You can set up several different audiences depending on your customers buying cycle/product, interests/countries etc… if you are selling different products you can have different lists for different types of products and so on.
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h3>
As marketers, we are interested in reaching the right kind of customers, people who are more likely to engage with our ads or convert. What Facebook offers is exactly that. 
From reaching the right kind of users to re-engaging existing customers Facebook&#8217;s advertising services help us stay in front of current and prospective customers while they browse their favourite social network. 
If you need help with Facebook marketing or Social Strategy, <a href="https://friday.ie/contact/">get in touch</a>.

Improving ROI with Facebook Lookalike Audiences

The IIA Net Visionary Awards celebrate what is most effective in digital technology &#8211; showcasing work that has transformed brands and organisations in Ireland.
Friday are delighted to have won in all 3 of our nominated categories at this year&#8217;s highly entertaining awards show in the RDS.
We picked up awards for Best Website for our work on the <a href="http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie">St Patrick&#8217;s Cathedral</a> website, Best Social Media for the satirical General Election &#8216;Tinder&#8217; app, <a href="http://www.tder.ie">TDer.ie</a> and Best eCommerce for our work on the new user experience for <a href="http://www.iclothing.com">iClothing.com</a>.
<blockquote>&#8220;We&#8217;re delighted to get recognition in the 3 categories, and especially against the calibre of other nominees.&#8221; said David Jackson, Director of User Experience. &#8220;We have to say particular thanks to the teams at St Patrick&#8217;s Cathedral and iClothing for trusting Friday to deliver the vision&#8221;.</blockquote>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-2372 size-full" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_9760-e1476102588498.jpg" alt="IIA Net Visionary Awards Winners 2016" width="1276" height="1116" />
IIA CEO Joan Mulvihill was worthy winner of the Net Visionary of the Year 2016. We congratulate Joan and wish her the best of luck as she steps down from 7 great years at the organisation.
Friday&#8217;s winners on the night were:
<ul>
<li>Best Website &#8211; &#8220;Most joyous to look at and splendid to use&#8221; for <a href="http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">St Patrick&#8217;s Cathedral</a>.</li>
<li>Best Social Media Campaign &#8211; for General Election satirical online campaign &#8216;<a href="http://www.tder.ie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TDer</a>&#8216;.</li>
<li>Best eCommerce Execution by a Retailer &#8211; for <a href="http://www.iclothing.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iClothing.com</a>.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>Graham Carroll, Client Services Director at Friday added: &#8220;Part of our manifesto at Friday is to change the fortunes of the organisations we work with. It&#8217;s brilliant when our work is recognised &#8211; proving the effectiveness of user experience and creativity is really important to us and our clients success.&#8221;</blockquote>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2376" src="https://friprod2022bak.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/FullSizeRender-1.jpg" alt="IIA Net Visionary Awards Winners Friday Agency" width="640" height="640" />
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/bonkers_ie">@bonkers_ie</a> Best eCommerce <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DotieNetVis?src=hash">#DotieNetVis</a> award goes to <a href="https://twitter.com/iclothing">@iclothing</a> ! <a href="https://t.co/YScz1bNFo1">pic.twitter.com/YScz1bNFo1</a>
— Irish Internet Assoc (@iia) <a href="https://twitter.com/iia/status/784499785189494784">October 7, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/FridayAgency">@FridayAgency</a> winner of Best Website Design for <a href="https://t.co/JxIk9GxXD5">https://t.co/JxIk9GxXD5</a> at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DotieNetVissponsored?src=hash">#DotieNetVissponsored</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/blacknight">@blacknight</a>
— IE Domain Registry (@IEDR_dot_ie) <a href="https://twitter.com/IEDR_dot_ie/status/784497099740151808">October 7, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/blacknight">@blacknight</a> Best Website Design goes to <a href="https://twitter.com/FridayAgency">@FridayAgency</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DotieNetVis?src=hash">#DotieNetVis</a> ! well done guys ! <a href="https://t.co/pKHXXd1W6f">pic.twitter.com/pKHXXd1W6f</a>
— Irish Internet Assoc (@iia) <a href="https://twitter.com/iia/status/784497128680857600">October 7, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Friday score hat-trick at the IIA Net Visionary Awards

Online personalities bug me. See how I use the word ‘personalities’ and not ‘people’. More often than not, people use their alter egos online instead of their real personality. Maybe it’s because they don’t like themselves, but let&#8217;s not go there right now.
So let&#8217;s look at some extremes on social media channels.
Trolls bug me, but not as much as they used to. They are easy to spot, easy to get angry with but just as easy to ignore. I get the feeling trolling will be a thing of the past in a few years&#8230; once everyone learns how to spot a troll and if we ignore them, they won’t have anything to feed from. I have had to stop reading the comments on thejournal.ie as they make me want to smash things. If you wanted to put anyone off coming to Ireland, let them loose on thejournal.ie for 10 mins and they will change their travel plans pretty quickly and ask why Irish people can be so nasty and negative.
Then we have the big mouths. They’re always controversial, arrogant, use bad language and can be aggressive. They will do anything to get attention, it’s an attention addiction. These people are hungry for numbers. They collect numbers likes nerds collect stamps. As many followers, likes, retweets, impressions as they can get. They will say or do anything just to add to the numbers, at any cost, even if it means people hate them, even if they hate themselves&#8230; “FEED ME”.
On Facebook it’s a different world. This is where everyone is exposed and presented in front of the real people they see on a regular basis. Everyone is so nice and polite! This is a troll free zone and everyone is so positive. The issue here is the self branding that is going on. “Look at me, I’m so happy!”. “Look at me, I’m so cool”. “Look at my amazing life”. “Luv ya hun”.
So before I start sounding very cynical, I just want to ask the question; why don’t I actually know anyone who is like any of these 3 examples in real life? I quite like real people, so why do a lot of people not choose to be real online?
I think of all the online channels, Twitter is probably the most real but at the same time far from it. You are not trying to impress your mates because all the other people who follow you will think you are strange. You won’t troll because people won’t follow you and you won’t be a big mouth because people will think you are a big mouth.
We are all guilty of being fake online to a certain extent, including myself but let&#8217;s all make an effort to get real online. It will give us a renewed faith in humanity.
&nbsp;

Social media: Big mouth strikes again

Here at Friday, we have a good number of Facebook contests under our belts, ranging from simple social contest competition forms to full-featured HTML5 and Flash games. Needless to say, we’ve picked up a few tips along the way. 
Thinking of running a contest from your Facebook page? First of all, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Think about what your ultimate goal is, and make sure you’re using the most appropriate method to reach your fans.
&nbsp;
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Running a contest from your Timeline</h3>
The simplest way by far is to run a contest directly from your Page timeline. Up until August 27th 2013, It was against Facebook’s rules to run a competition from your timeline. We’re all familiar with the old familiar “Like/Share/Comment this post to enter”. Well this was against Facebook Platform Policies until last August. Until then, the only legal way to run a contest was to house the contest within an app, or run the risk of your Page being shut down by Facebook.
Now though, Page Managers can easily, quickly, and cheaply run a contest directly from the Facebook timeline. It’s not a complete free-for-all though, so before you start, check the list of Do’s and Dont’s below.
 
<h4>What You Can Do:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Ask people to enter by liking or commenting on a post that you create.</li>
<li>Ask people to post to your page to be in with a chance to enter.</li>
<li>Ask people to message your page to enter.</li>
<li>Use Likes as Votes. i.e. ask people to vote for a winner by liking a post or photo that you post to your page.</li>
<li>Announce the winner of the contest on your page (This was forbidden previously)</li>
<li>Require that to win the prize, entrants come back to your page to see who has won the contest</li>
<li>Use a Like button plugin on a website as a voting mechanism</li>
</ul>
<h4>What You Can’t Do:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Require that people share a post or photo to be entered</li>
<li>Require someone to post something on their own personal timeline or a friend’s timeline to enter</li>
<li>Require people to tag themselves in a photo to either vote or enter</li>
<li>Have anyone who likes your page be entered to win (contest does not take place on the timeline)</li>
</ul>
 
So, great news for running competitions on your timeline. This type of contest will offer fast engagement with fans, and good reach, as simply entering a Timeline contest will share the post with a users friends. It’s also free to run, and will work on Desktop and mobile devices out of the box. Just remember to include in your contest post that the contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook.
What if you don’t care about Likes and Reach? What if your priority is getting people into your business premises as quickly and easily as possible? Read on&#8230;
&nbsp;
<h3>Facebook Offers</h3>
Another simple approach to increasing engagement with fans is to create a Facebook Offer. If you just want to get customers into your shop / restaurant / premises, this is the way to go. If at lest 50 people have liked your page, you can create an offer for free. The cost implications arise only when you want to promote your offer through Facebook advertising.
If you are in a position to offer a discount or special offer to Facebook fans, then Facebook Offers is a quick, cheap, out of the box solution to increase footfall. Get more info on how to set up an offer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/410451192330456">here</a>.
Remember to make your offer enticing to the user. 50c off a €40 bill won’t get bums on seats. But a free cocktail with every main course? Sign me up.
But wait, there’s more! What if you want to collect user data, such as email addresses? What if increasing Likes on your page is a priority? What if you have a print / Digital Display campaign running and you want your contest to work in harmony with it? If any of those options tickle your fancy, then it sounds like you need a Facebook App.
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<h3>Facebook Apps</h3>
We’re no stranger to a custom built Facebook app here at Friday. We’ve covered most of the bases from simple forms, to HTML5 and Flash Games, to Photo Upload Apps.
The benefits of a custom built app over a Timeline contest are many. A custom built Facebook app is essentially a website within your Facebook page, so the possibilities are endless.
However, when coming up with a Facebook App idea, the golden rule is to build it around the user experience, rather than the brand&#8217;s objectives. Consider the type of user that visits your page, and what kind of content they are likely to be interested in, and what type of content is appropriate for your brand.
The benefits of a custom built app include:
<h4>1. Getting more &#8216;Likes&#8217; for your brands Facebook Page.</h4>
‘Fan Gating’ or ‘Like Gating’, is a process where a Page can create a barrier to content that a user can see only when they ‘Like’ the Brand’s page.
You can set up a Page Tab App, whereby teaser content is displayed to users who don’t already “Like” your Page. Once they like your page, you can reveal content that the user will want to see.
Make sure that the incentive is worth the interaction by the user. A person is unlikely to like your Brand Page unless they are interested in what’s being offered beyond the ‘Like’. Consider a discount code, or an opportunity to enter a competition to win a prize.
The downside of this approach is that it won’t work for mobile users, as Page Tab Apps aren’t available on the Facebook mobile apps. For Desktop users, however, this can be a great way to increase your Like count with relatively minimal effort.
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<h4>2. Increasing brand Awareness. </h4>
Share, share, share. Facebook Share buttons are a great way to allow users to quickly share content with their friends. Clients love putting share buttons on everything. Just having it there isn’t going to get the followers flooding in though. Consider what people like to share, and consider what would entice a user to share your content.
It seems like a no-brainer, but we’ve actually been asked if you can force people to share content within an app. No, you can’t. You can make it enticing for them to do so, however, by considering your content. Will sharing your content reflect positively on the user? Make sure the content is centered more around the user than your brand.
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<h4>3. Collecting customer data for marketing research purposes. </h4>
Housing a contest within a Facebook app means you can collect data on your user that you can’t from say a Timeline Contest. Using an app, you can collect a lot of data on a user, as long as they grant you permission to do so. Some of the data you can collect after being granted user permission includes email addresses, location, birthday, photos, check-ins, and more.
Utilizing the Facebook SDK to create Facebook Apps means that you can engage more deeply and personally with your users, and can be a great way to build your fanbase and connect with new fans.
Don’t believe me? Check out my favourite example of what can be achieved with Facebook connect, the Intel ‘<a href="https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/the-making-of-museum-of-me/">Museum of Me</a>’.
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Thinking of creating a Facebook app for your brand? <a title="Contact" href="https://friday.ie/contact/">Contact us today</a>.
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