marketing

It’s an Algorithm, Not an Apocalypse

iPad user on Facebook Messenger

Facebook is updating its algorithm, and we’re panicking about all the wrong things.

Let’s imagine, for just a moment, that Facebook is gone. No more pages or groups. No more notifications alerting you to new comments on your clever meme, or the most recently posted photo of your cousin’s dog. No more videos (close-captioned, of course), and definitely no “insights” tab cluing you into which of your highly crafted posts and curated shares garnered the most audience engagement.

Anyone else feeling a little queasy?

What will we do if our brand messaging gets buried? How will we make our potential customers aware of how awesome we are?

As communicators, and certainly as marketers, most of us have developed a dependency on Facebook over the past several years—and as the platform has grown, shifted, and evolved, we’ve had to adapt as both personal users and brand managers. The topic of adaptation entered the spotlight again in the past couple of weeks, as Facebook announced the latest round of changes to its algorithm. And I watched as my Twitter feed, populated largely with marketers and professional brand managers, erupted into chaos. What will we do if our brand messaging gets buried? How will we make our potential customers aware of how awesome we are? What do we say when the boss asks for a monthly report and the numbers have plummeted?

Since that time, there have been a few other thought pieces that accurately reflected my view on the matter. (In short:  CALM DOWN.) Facebook has always made decisions based on what they feel is best for their business—and make no mistake, their business is in data-informed ad sales. The medium they use to facilitate that business is their massively popular social media platform. If users leave the platform, Facebook’s business model begins to fail. It is, therefore, in the company’s best business interest to keep their users happy, interacting, and returning to the platform regularly. Luckily, those are the very same behaviors that are in the best interest of the brands that so often depend on Facebook to increase their own reach and impact.

This particular algorithm update prioritizes content that is shared by the end user’s friends and family. The concern for brands, naturally, is that this reduces organic reach of content from business pages, in a time when brand content is shown to an ever-lowering audience percentage from the start. Here’s the thing: Nobody comes to Facebook to see brand content, and they certainly don’t come to hear a sales pitch. They come to see what their friends and families care about. The secret to good content development has always been to create something that people care enough about to share or interact with in some way.

Even as we begin to see the Facebook shift as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, the mass panic provoked by the initial announcement begs another question. Why are we so afraid of losing Facebook influence?

But as marketers, we are all too often tempted by the allure of vanity metrics including number of followers, empty likes, and high reach measurements—even if we didn’t reach the right audience. We’ve put out content for the sake of posting something on a Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., even if we didn’t have anything worth saying. We’ve ignored what people really wanted to see, in favor of showing them what we wanted them to know. We have made our bed, and that bed is firmly situated in our best potential customers’ blind spots. With this new algorithm, Facebook is providing us with a short-term incentive to do what we should have been doing all along: listening to our audience, creating content that they care about, and encouraging a sense of community.

Even as we begin to see the Facebook shift as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, the mass panic provoked by the initial announcement begs another question. Why are we so afraid of losing Facebook influence?

Don’t get me wrong. Facebook has been a game-changer. It was revolutionary in its early days, and continues to be an incredible tool for marketing, communication, and sales—but believing that a single channel can make or break your brand is dangerous. Facebook is powerful, but if it disappeared tomorrow, the strongest brands among us would not go out of business. If your brand depends on another company’s web algorithms, I urge you to do some serious reflection about how to diversify your outreach and storytelling techniques.

The Great Facebook Freak-Out of 2018 was enlightening as it forced us to have difficult conversations about our content—but perhaps it should instead be sparking a greater discussion about our viability. If our brands are truly lost without Facebook, maybe the “insights” tab isn’t where we ought to be looking.

Not Your Grandma’s Cup of Sugar: 5 Essentials for Being a Good Digital Neighbor

Originally posted on the Women in Student Affairs NASPA Knowledge Community blog on December 2, 2015.
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The neighborhood’s not what it used to be. With the digital revolution moving in and planning to stay, the concept of a community is no longer confined to geographical boundaries. Social media platforms, blogs, apps, and the general internet of things have connected people with similar interests from around the world, helping them develop communities that would not have been possible just a couple decades ago. The “send” button is our new “howdy, neighbor!” – but that doesn’t mean the need for congeniality has changed just because we have a new method of delivery. While you’re busy keeping up with @TheJoneses, make sure you’re still acknowledging the people behind the profile pics. It’s only neighborly, after all.

1. Introduce yourself.

No need to hide behind that default Twitter egg! Make an effort to present yourself well, with a photograph of yourself (not your kid or your cat. YOU) and a fully filled-in profile. There is a reason you were drawn to this platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or anything else. Think about why you chose this space to communicate. Tell people what you want them to know about you. Shake off that blank bio and start making your presence known.

2. Show up to the block party – and don’t come empty-handed.

It’s not enough to simply take up real estate on the corner lot; you have to make the effort to participate in your community if you expect to see any benefits. Find out where the interesting conversations are happening, and make sure you’re contributing value to the dialogue when you post. Never make an ask without first making an offer. Want people to read your blog? Consider you for a job? Promote your latest project? That’s great. But why would they want to? Be sure you’re commenting on other people’s posts, sharing their content, and creating helpful content of your own before you need to ask anyone for a favor.

3. Keep the noise down.

No one likes to see their timeline bombarded with spammy, braggy, look-at-me posts. Remember, if you’re not adding value, you’re adding noise pollution. Talk like a person, not a sales pitch.

4. Don’t steal the newspaper.

The rules are simple: If it’s not yours, don’t act like it is. This is as true for intellectual property as it is for tangible objects. Give credit where it’s due. If you’re quoting someone, tag them. If you use an image or graphic, make sure it’s licensed under Creative Commons. Link to the original sources when you share content. Students aren’t allowed to present other people’s work as there own, and neither are you. Besides, it’s just good manners.

5. Keep your dog off the neighbor’s lawn.

In other words? Keep your crap away from other people’s stuff. Negativity and gossip don’t make great lawn ornaments, and they look ten times worse in the digital world. Tarnishing another person’s digital identity is a smarmy thing to do – and it’s a permanent reflection on the both of you. Keep the dirt to yourself and make the internet a better neighborhood for everybody.

Most importantly, remember that each of those avatars and usernames have actual human beings behind them. Social media is “real life,” with all of the intersocial complexities we’ve always faced. It’s a communal space, and we are indeed a community. So be kind, be yourself, and be a good neighbor. It makes a difference.

Write Like You Mean It: Communicating With Intention & Clarity

Most professionals, aside from journalists and a few others, don’t consider themselves “writers.” That word immediately conjures images of a bedraggled coffee addict, bent over a typewriter — certainly not in tune with the hectic pace we keep in our modern workplaces. But here’s the thing: We all write, usually every day. Communication is an integral part of every job, no matter the stage of your career. And a good portion of that communication comes in a written form.

What do we write?

Emails, presentations, memos, notes to colleagues, fliers, reports, letters of recommendation, social media updates, website copy, text messages, to-do lists. It’s endless. We write constantly, and for what?

Why do we write?

  • To provide & exchange information
  • To instruct
  • To establish relationships
  • To request assistance
  • To share ideas
  • To be understood

So how can we help others understand us? Communication is a two-way street, after all, and you can’t assume your audience will be able to read your mind if you don’t provide proper clues about the meaning of your message.

1. Grammar

It sounds obnoxious, I know. Another siren going off from the Grammar Police squad car. But I promise you, it matters.

Meme with three baby seals on a disco dance floor reads "Stop clubbing, baby seals. Once again, punctuation makes all the difference."

This is one of my favorite grammar memes of all time (and yes, I am absolutely nerdy enough to have a favorite grammar meme).

The point is, simple things like comma placement can affect your reader’s interpretation of your sentence. Here’s a more practical example.

Imagine you have a coworker, Tom, who sends you the following email:

“I’m going to eat my work study student’s back in five minutes.”

What is Tom trying to tell you? Does he mean, as his punctuation indicates, that he is going to eat his work study student, vertebra by vertebra, in just five minutes’ time? If so, you’d better intervene. Cannibalism is frowned upon in the higher education sector.

Or does he mean, hopefully, “I’m going to eat. My work study student’s back in five minutes.” So don’t worry, he’s not planning on leaving the desk unattended for long.

Or should we assume that his sentence is riddled not only with grammatical errors, but also typos, and he actually meant to say “I’m going to eat with my work study students. Back in five minutes.”

In short, Tom is making you work pretty hard to understand what he’s trying to say.

2. Organization

Imagine that our friend Tom’s next task is to create a flier for an event at the college where he works. This gets posted around the school:

“It’s going to be a ton of fun! Refreshments will be served, starting at 6:30. Panelists include Hillary Clinton, J.Lo & Stephen Hawking. Join the discussion about child pageantry’s impact on American economic growth on November 8, 2014. 5pm in the auditorium.”

What time will the students show up for this event? (Spoiler alert: Probably 6:30.) But what time does it actually start? …5pm. Oops. Tom should have lead with his main idea.

In my own writing, I often use the chart below to organize thoughts and keep my structure in line (I actually learned this trick from my 10th grade English teacher. Shoutout to Mrs. Danis!)

Diagram shows a square with an upside down triangle above it, funneling into the square. Below it, there is a rightside up triangle. Top triangle reads "Intro," start broad with a brief introduction; then, express the point of your message clearly and quickly. Square reads "Make your point and/or provide information," say waht you need to say. Provide the necessary information to back up any claims you're making. Support your message. Bottom triangle reads "Wrap-Up," restate the intention of your message. Relate your point to the broader picture again, if necessary.

You want to be sure to present your information, your message, in a logical progression. Be clear. Have a point. Get that point across to your reader.

Which brings me to…

3. Tone

Tone can be a tricky thing. We all know that it’s not just what you say, but how you say it, and sometimes it’s easy to misinterpret intentions. We’ll visit our buddy, Tom, again.

As a follow-up to the event mentioned on his less-than-ideal flier, Tom writes an email to his colleague, Alice:

“Where are the photos from Econ of Child Pageantry? Thanks.”

If you’re Alice, what are you thinking when you open this email? What kind of mood is Tom in? How is he making you feel? Does he respect you? Value your work? Even if he meant it perfectly innocently, and is simply requesting Alice’s assistance with the photographs, this is not a great way to go about it. In two sentences, Tom comes off as abrupt, dismissive, cold, and a little condescending. Adding “thanks” at the end hardly adds a warm, fuzzy feeling to the previous sentence.

For a better example, we’ll look at Alice’s response. As you can see, she follows the diagram from earlier: A brief introduction, followed by a clear message, and then a closing remark.

“Hi, Tom. The photos are all in the shared drive, in a folder labeled
“Horrible Mistakes — 11.08.14.” Let me know if you have trouble finding them, but they should all be there. Thanks for all your help with the event! I thought it went great!” — Alice

Feel the difference?

4. Keep it concise.

As a general rule, you should say whatever it is you have to say…and then stop. We’re all guilty of being a little wordy from time to time, but it only serves to bore your reader and bury your real message in a mess of lengthy text.

Try to cut sentences down as much as possible. Instead of saying “On account of financial difficulties, I believe it would be most prudent to re-evaluate our stance on budgetary expenditures,” put your red pen to work. In most cases, it’s both clearer and easier to say something like, “We should re-evaluate our spending in light of financial difficulties.” Make the red pen your friend.

5. Read what you write.

Wait a few seconds before hitting send on that email, or publishing that blog post. Read over your work with an eye for detail. It’s easier to fix mistakes now than to apologize for them later.

Things to Try:

  • Reading aloud
  • Putting your writing to the side & re-reading it later
  • Change the font & THEN read it.
  • Write. Wait 15 seconds. Hit send/post.

With a little extra effort, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.
Apply some of these strategies, and let me know in the comments if they helped improve your communication! Happy writing!

Bonus!
Some of my go-to writing resources: