Facebook Tips
August 18, 2011
“Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts: A Statistical Review”
Buddy Media Platform
- Keep it short and sweet. Shorter posts have a higher engagement rate.
- Avoid URL Shorteners. Full URLs have higher engagement rates. With a shortened URL there is no indication where the link goes & users may be less likely to click.
- Post When People Are Listening. Posting outside of business hours can increase engagement rates. Think about it – would you be engaging in personal posts during work hours?
- In General -
- Thursdays & Fridays = highest engagement rates
- Wednesday = lowest engagement rates
- Saturday & Sunday = above average engagement rates
- For Healthcare –
- Thursday = highest engagement rates for health-care & beauty industries
- In General -
- Give Simple, Clear Instructions. Fans will follow instructions. Be direct by asking people to “like” you. Ask fans to “post”, “comment”, or “tell” you something.
- To Get Likes. Use words: like, take, submit, watch, post, comment.
- To Get Comments. Use words: post, comment, tell us, check, like, submit.
- Ask Questions at the End. Posts that end with a question (remember to be direct) have a higher engagement rate.
- Where, When, Would, Should. These words drive the highest engagement rates.
- Avoid Why. Why questions have the lowest “like” and comment rates, and may be perceived as intrusive and/or challenging.
“16 Ways to Get More Comments On Your Facebook Page”
John Haydon
- Ask Specific Questions. Specificity will get more comments.
- Ask Yes or No Questions. Yes or no: Are you more likely to answer “yes or no” questions, or open-ended ones that require time and attention? Point given.
- Ask edgy questions. Edgy questions draw more attention and engagement.
- Ask questions about a photo. Share a photo and ask fans to comment.
- Ask fun questions. Don’t be afraid to go off topic a little bit – show them you are human and not just “the government”. However, don’t go overboard – we are still a federal agency.
- Ask who attended an event. Did you just hold a Welcome Home Event? Ask your fans if they attended (and maybe what they thought about it).
- Ask for tip. Ask for tips to improve your program / facility.
- Ask humanistic questions. Example: “When you were first recovering from a brain aneurysm, what gave you the most hope?”
- Stay Away From Risky Questions. Questions that could get people to release PHI / PII should be avoided. There are many identity thieves using Facebook that would love to get these responses.
Defining Social Media
August 17, 2011
There are a number of great social media tutorials on YouTube and Slideshare.net. A simple view is that social media are web and mobile device-based tools for sharing. Some basic characteristics of social media include:
- Listening to what members and others are saying, about their congregation, the ELCA as a denomination, “being Lutheran” and about what is going on in their lives. Members are able to post text, images, sound and video in easily accessible ways, so following them online can provide helpful community insights.
- Posting useful, inspiring text, images, audio and/or video on a regular basis.
- Commenting on the posts of others.
- Sharing, pointing others to information and resources that may be of help to them.
Some congregations are abandoning traditional websites and doing all their online communication through social media sites like Facebook; others use their website as the place where they bring all their social media initiatives together in one spot: announcements from Twitter, calendar from Google, photos from Flickr and videos from YouTube. As Facebook features expand, it may be less necessary to use separate sites for photos, videos and groups. Facebook is already the most popular photo-sharing site.
by
Social Media and Congregations
Strategies, Guidelines, Best Practices and Resources
Shift Happen’s 2010
August 15, 2011
Did You Know? 2011 “We are living in exponential times”
August 13, 2011
20 Questions Which Will Stimulate Activity In Your Online Community
August 11, 2011
Engage!
A key to a successful Facebook fan page is to ensure you are engaging with your fans. Here’s a great article that has some ideas to get some dialog started with your fans.
From:
The Online Community Guide
20 Questions Which Will Stimulate Activity In Your Online Community
Are you struggling to stimulate activity in your online community? Do you have lots of members but little participation. Try asking the sorts of questions that stimulate discussion in every online community.
Here are 20 to get you started:
- What is your favourite ………. ?Asking members about their favourite anything will stimulate a response. Try it.
- What is your average day like?People love to talk about themselves. Ask them what their average day is like and they’ll tell you. They’ll also compare it with anyone else that answers.
- What do you think about ………?Giving opinions is human nature. When you ask for opinions you’ll get a lot.
- What advice would you give to the person above you? Careful about these. Can stimulate a lot of activity, can also get way out of hand. Useful for a light-hearted touch to your community efforts.
- Can anyone recommend …..?People like to be helpful and show off knowledge. Asking for recommendations will solicit knowledge and engagement from users.
- What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you whilst ….. ? Self explanatory. Let members share their stories. It’ll almost certainly boost activity and return visits. Members will slowly get to know and like each other.
- Can anyone fix …… ?Present a difficult problem, let members try to suggest ways to fix it.
- What is the best/worst …………….. ?Opinions, opinions, opinions. Solicit them in as many different ways as possible. Pick a sub-category and ask people for their best/worst suggestions.
- Who do you most admire?Pick someone in your niche you most admire and tell others why.
- Is {x} really better than {y}?Make it controversial. Pick an issue members will be split on – but not divisively so. Ask questions about it. Let people take sides.
- If you weren’t ……….., would you ………….. ?Create a hypothetical situation in which all members can give their opinion on something radical.
- Who/What are your top 5 …………… ?Ranking is addictive. Ask people to rank their top 5 anything and then try to create an overall ranking based upon the community.
- How would you handle {topical issue}?If your members in charge, how would they handle a topical issue in your sector?
- What …… do you use?Relevant in almost all online communities, ask people to compare what relevant products/services they use. Companies love this information too.
- Does anyone know how to ………….. ?Does anyone know provokes interest, the how to can be broad or specific. People are likely to participate.
- Has anyone tried…………….. ?Again, has anyone is all-encompassing and people are likely to share their experiences.
- Is …….. right about ………. ?Take someone’s stance on a topical issue and throw it open to comment by the entire community.
- What would you do if ……. ?Create a hypothetical situation, perhaps a problem lots of people face, and ask members what they would do. Life problems work well here.
- What should every newcomer know about ….? Well, what should every newcomer know about something relevant in your sector? It’s great advice – perfect for a sticky-thread.
- Share your pictures/top tips here. Sharing advice and pictures can be an easy win for stimulating activity. Try it. I suspect you will find it easy to gain lots of valuable insights.
The more open-ended the question, the more everyone can participate. When you post a question, try prodding a few members to reply and get the activity started.
The Power of Words
July 6, 2011
This short film illustrates the power of words to radically change your message and your effect upon the world.
A day in the life of social media
July 6, 2011
A Day in the Life of Social Media
How powerful can social media be? Watch and find out.
The nine tribes of the internet
July 6, 2011
The nine tribes of the internet
WordPress Addresses Vulnerabilities
April 12, 2011
A new version of WordPress, a popular open-source blog and content management system, was released which addresses three security issues. Few details have been provided however, the issues addressed are a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability, a denial of service (DoS) issue and a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. It is not clear which prior versions of WordPress are vulnerable so we urge all WordPress administrators, particularly those whose implementations of WordPress are public facing, to update to the latest fixed version, 3.1.1.
As WordPress is a Web application it seems timely to note that the IBM X-Force 2010 Trend and Risk Report contains insightful information on web application vulnerabilities and of particular relevance, the likelihood of the occurrence of CSRF and XSS vulnerabilities listed by application technology and business sector in Section IIIDeveloping Secure Software. Additionally, Section I contains information on XSS trends observed though 2010.
http://wordpress.org/news/2011/04/wordpress-3-1-1/
http://blogs.iss.net/archive/2010trendrep.html
Successful Church Websites Know Their Visitors
March 29, 2011
It is always a good idea to write the content of your church website for those who will be using your website. A lot of times the website is written for the theologian, the church staff or the pastor. Remember who will be reading your site and style your writing for them. So it is very important to style your writing for the various users of your church website.
- Church members: This group is probably the easiest to write for. They are interested in events that are happening and the photo album because they might find their picture there and want family and friends to come and see. So the information needs to be accurate, up to date, and something they can show their friends and family.
- The curious: They have very little experience with the church. Most of their knowledge is from what they see in movies, hear in the news and know from what others tell them. Here is an opportunity to share with them a little about who you are, what activities you are involved in and the fact that they may very well fit in. The website is their front door to easily find out more about you and may even encourage them to visit.
- The New: I told my son that when someone is looking for a church because they just moved into the neighborhood the first thing they will do is check out the churches website. His comment was that is what he did. Since that is the case, what are they checking out? The first question to be answered: Is there a website to begin with? The second: Is it up to date? The third question: Are they friendly toward kids? How the website answers these question says a lot to the newcomer and if he will even visit your church.
The church member, curious and newcomer have different expectations and needs. When you’re writing content and managing the website and your website incorporates the needs of these groups you will have a successful church website. Guess who is coming to church?
Websites for Churches, Non-Profits and Small Business
Tags
