Public opinion may be mixed when it comes to Facebook’s reformatted Timeline template, and it seems there’s also a mixed reaction among businesses. As it’s become mandatory for youth marketers to reach young consumers via Facebook, it’s critical they effectively utilize this channel. Moreover, the new format offers opportunities for businesses that adapt their pages to make effective use of the new format, according to social media marketing agency Wildfire Interactive’s Victoria Ransom. “Things have definitely become more visual, and brands need to have a new strategy to deal with this,” says Ransom.
Wildfire tracked 43 Facebook brand pages to measure user feedback before and after the Timeline shift, which took place March 30. The shift has been more beneficial for brands with fewer than one million fans, says Ransom. There was a 60% increase in the number of users who “liked” smaller brands’ posts, compared to a 7% increase in “likes” among brands with more than one million fans.
Brands with more than one million fans also experienced a 17% drop in posted comments, which Ransom attributes to the new layout’s inability to display most users’ comments. “They typically can only show three comments now, so it leads to less discussion.”
The new layout enables users to send private messages to brands, as opposed to commenting publicly on the Facebook wall, which diminishes the need for users to post public comments. These changes may not alter brand interaction with consumers, but it does lessen opportunities for users to engage in discussions with other users.
Photos drive engagement; they’re 21% more likely to spark comments than text postings. Just over a third (35%) of posts made by the 43 companies studied were photos, yet these posts accounted for the majority (65%) of comments. And videos are 90% more likely to be shared than photos.
Source: Wildfire Interactive, Victoria Ransom, CEO, 1600 Seaport Blvd., #500, Redwood City, CA 94063; 888-274-0929, x2; sales@wildfireapp.com; www.wildfireapp.com.
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