How did the new Facebook Notes increased my post’s ER by using a shark image
*This post was originally posted on my personal blog thedigitalrookie.com on 01/10/2015.
Initially, Facebook decided to “resurrect” the Notes platform, through a redesign following Medium’s and LinkedIn’s logic, clearly displaying its intention to keep more and more of its users inside its network, offering more possibilities. This came in combination with the recent launch of “instant articles,” something that through the initial cooperation of big Media Partners (like the NYT and Guardian), pushes publishers to post stories directly on Facebook instead of posting a link, giving them a generous reach and a percentage of the advertising revenue as an incentive. Even though the new notes didn’t appear too suddenly, M. Zuckerberg and other influencers still use “statuses” and not the new “notes,” so don’t hold your breath.
All these things pose the question once more; is Blogging dead, because of Bloggers going directly to the larger social platforms like Medium and LinkedIn, since the SMs will give them direct access to a larger audience? This remains to be seen, since I don’t think that the Brands and the Media Companies have found a perfect method to monetize their social media (as well) yet. Many people support that everything begins, as always, following the dogma “content is king” and what you want from each channel. Bookings? Referral traffic? Leads? Subscribers?
*You can find a good relevant article here.
Every company wants to keep its users engaged in their social media. Is that enough, though? According to research done by The Creative Group some time ago, more than 50% of the Marketing Executives spoke of their intent to raise their Companies’ spending on Facebook. However, most of them give up or stop working on their page when they don’t see the results they hoped for. This is the hard truth: users don’t want to hear about our product all the time. They are bombarded with TV spots, radio ads, web ads, huge billboards. Users don’t come to Facebook to see ads.
**You can find a good relevant article here.
Despite all that, many brands attempt to “hook” their users through click-baiting, something that’s tempting and “easy” but possibly dangerous in the long run.
One like/share/comment does not generate the ultimate success.
So, I decided to make a post that, which according to “common sense”, is completely useless and no one would waste his time to have a look at it. I wanted to check the results of my test.
The photograph displays a person in a beach, inside a canoe very near a shark moving towards them. Along with the photograph, I wrote this caption:
“It’s crazy and odd but it really works! Click “like” and leave the number “6” as a comment to see what will happen!” (you can find the relevant post here).
You’d imagine, just like I did, that it’s a completely senseless post, and no one would ever pay any attention. NO. In a few hours, many people had followed my instructions to see the coveted result, which of course is a complete nonsense. I don’t count trolls and my friends’ “pre-fixed” comments that aided in spreading the post, and I thank them 😊.
My question is, what happens every time a huge brand follows a similar “click-baiting” technique?
In short term, it manages to create a huge engagement, but in the long term, it disappoints/enrages a part of its users who will be eternally transformed into Negative Brand Ambassadors.
