Epic Times - Social Media Marketing

25/08/2022

Glad they fixed it. It was pretty annoying!

A simple change was to blame for the absolute chaos 😲

27/06/2022

Great news!! If and when you're able to switch your personal profile to the fairly new Professional Mode, you'll now have the ability to SCHEDULE posts!! 🥳

We used to be able to schedule personal posts for the longest time through third-party schedulers... but Facebook took it away years back. Hmm. 🤔

Here was the original announcement by Meta in December last year:
https://www.facebook.com/creators/professional-mode-for-profiles

"We’re also testing an updated post composer that brings a variety of creator-focused features to Facebook. The initial test will include the ability to easily schedule posts. This feature was previously only available on Facebook Business Suite, so with this update, we’re making it possible for creators to schedule posts regardless of their existing workflow and which tool or app they're using."

So, even though it was announced six months ago, the schedule feature seems to only just be rolling out.

Alas, there's nothing you can do to 'trigger' the invite to switch to Pro Mode. BUT, if you're publishing Reels and other content regularly on your personal profile, then that might help!

13/05/2022

Do you use the WhatsApp Business app in your marketing mix to connect with customers? 🤷🏼‍♀️📲

Meta just introduced several new messaging tools and features for small businesses covering WhatsApp + Messenger + Instagram such as:

✅ WHATSAPP CHATS are coming to Meta Business Suite INBOX. [We can already manage all Facebook Messenger and all Instagram Direct chats in one place. Now, WhatsApp is coming to your combined inbox! What do you think? Will you use it?]

✅ Send PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE CAMPAIGNS via Messenger to customers who opt in. [This is great news! If you had not yet set up a 3rd party chatbot tool, you'll want to know about this new promo message capability once it rolls out properly!]

✅ Create WHATSAPP CHAT ADS inside the WhatsApp Business app. [This allows you to easily create FB & IG ads inside the WA biz app that starts a WhatsApp chat. You can already create this type of FB/IG ad inside the regular Ads Manager.]

✅ Plus, expanded LEAD GENERATION tools including:
- Put a "Get Quote" button on your Instagram profile, and use the "Get Quote" sticker in Stories.
- Offer gated content directly accessible via your Lead Ad Forms, without redirecting to your website. 😳 [Very interesting on this one. This could help increase consumption of your lead magnets, actually.]
- & more...

See the full announcement here:
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/introducing-new-ads-and-messaging-tools-for-small-businesses

P.S. Meta is hosting a free virtual conference called CONVERSATIONS on May 19 - the company's "inaugural conference dedicated to building better and faster experiences on the most popular messaging platforms—all with the goal of meeting people where they want to be met." To register and receive event updates, visit:
https://registration.metaconversations.me/

Your thoughts?

03/05/2022

Facebook pulls the plug on Podcasts after less than a year... 🙄🔌🚫🗣🔊 Will this affect you?

Facebook first announced that you could pull your podcast in to your Page on June 21, 2021 at the height of the social audio buzz to compete with Clubhouse, Spotify, Twitter Spaces et al. Now, the buzz has settled down a lot, as you likely know... and Facebook's interest in social audio has waned.

So, Facebook will stop letting people add podcasts to their Pages starting this week. And, the company will discontinue both its short-form audio product Soundbites and remove its central audio hub. Podcasts will then no longer be available at all on Facebook after June 3.

Facebook does not plan to alert users, leaving it up to publishers to decide how they want to disclose that podcasts are being pulled. 🙄

💥 Also NOTE 💥 👉🏻 Live Audio Rooms will be integrated into Facebook Live, meaning you can choose to go live with just audio or audio and video. (That may mean the 'Rooms' feature will be nixed next 🤷🏼‍♀️).

I don't know about you, but when new features come out only to be nixed a short while later, it doesn't inspire confidence to go 'all in' on the next new feature. 🤔

~

Read more via Bloomberg at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-02/facebook-is-planning-to-leave-the-podcast-business-after-a-year

And, FYI, here was my original post from June last year when podcasts were first announced:
https://www.facebook.com/marismith/posts/10158012154295009

28/04/2022

The world's most watched mountain biking event is coming to Cairns in an inuagural Australian stop on its global tour.

06/03/2022

Need a hand with your socials? Get in touch!

02/03/2022

If you see a Facebook Protect notification - either via email or on your Facebook account - it's totally legit and needs to be turned on. 🔐

This is Meta's attempt to get us all to better secure our accounts. Even if you have a strong password, 2FA set up and any other 'advanced security protections,' you'll likely still get the notification that you have to turn on Facebook Protect or you'll be locked out of your account.

These are my own screenshots and this happened to me the other day. No biggee. Just follow the prompts and off you go.

Email is a little different because you want to make absolute 100% certain that the email you are responding to is for sure from Meta/Facebook. There's a boatload of scammers and phishers out there!!! Be careful.

Got questions? Let me know. Definitely join us in my FB group facebook.com/groups/marismithleaders/

01/03/2022

Well folks, how long will it be before Meta introduces 10 minute Reels on Facebook and Instagram?!?! 🤔🤪😂🤷🏼‍♀️ TikTok just announced it's increasing the max video length from 3 minutes to 10 minutes. ⏱

Here are my thoughts:
◼️ There is a sea change happening — slowly shifting ad dollars from the big screen to little screen: from the TV to mobile devices.
◼️ HALF of all mobile traffic worldwide is watching video!! (source: Visual Capitalist* see link below)
◼️ Longer video is easier to monetize by inserting short ad breaks.
◼️ TikTok is now making a BIG move to compete head on with YouTube as well as streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV+ etc. -- exactly like the other tech/social network companies are doing. 📺 (Zuck's plan for the Facebook Watch platform has always been to compete with streaming services through original programming in order to capture a big chunk of those shifting ad dollars).
◼️ TikTok has been extremely clever in its marketing and user adoption by first getting users 'addicted' to the short form format, starting with 15 seconds, then 60 seconds, then 3 minutes ... and now 10 minutes.
◼️ Some TikTok creators have been using 'hacks' like encouraging people to follow them for 'part 2' or more of their video series. But this solution is not as elegant as simply being able to create and publish longer videos now.
◼️ Historically, regular videos of five minutes or more perform well on Facebook in terms of reach and engagement.
◼️ No doubt, it won't be too long before Meta sees the need to increase its Reels product on Facebook and Instagram in order to continue fiercely competing with TikTok. 🥊🤺🥊🙄

TikTok's intent is to "unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world." The expanded video length will give creators more time and flexibility when filming things like cooking demos, beauty tutorials, educational content, comedic sketches and more.

- The option to create 10 minute videos on TikTok will roll out to global users over the weeks ahead.
- You'll be notified when you have access to the update.
- Make sure you're using the latest version of TikTok.

Read more via TechCrunch:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/28/tiktok-expands-max-video-length-to-10-minutes-up-from-3-minutes/

* Visual Capitalist: The World’s Most Used Apps, by Downstream Traffic (gorgeous infographic from 9.20.21)
visualcapitalist.com/the-worlds-most-used-apps-by-downstream-traffic

25/02/2022

09/02/2022

We have been very busy this year already and we have neglected our own FB page 😑 Lots of exciting things coming up in 2022! We ventured down to Airlie Beach in January where we hired a boat from Airlie Boat Hire and crusied the islands for the day. PhlipVids of course captured some stunning images 👍💙

29/01/2022

The Barron Falls are back! Go check it out!!

30/12/2021

Another incredible year in so many ways. Thanks for your support and hope to see you in 22'

17/12/2021

Babinda Kayaking 360 style 📸 PhlipVids

13/12/2021

Tour Guides will support the growth of the Talaroo Hot Springs experience and our vision to become a hub of cultural wellness for the community and visitors to country.

03/12/2021

It’s our 🎉 𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 🎉 and we would love to celebrate with you 🥳 On Thursday, December 16th you can bring a friend for free. Yes, that’s 2 people 👫 for the price of 1 🙋‍♀️ on a self guided half day tour 🚣‍♀️ You can choose either a kayak or a SUP and yes, pets are welcome too 🐶 Quick, tag your bestie and get booking!
To secure your kayak, please give us a call on 0438 405 661 or send us a message
(Limited spaces)