Today's Guide to the Marketing Jungle from Social Media Examiner...
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It’s Festival of Sleep Day, Reader! Have yourself a little nap… It’s the rule!
In today’s edition:
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🤳 Today's Tip of the Day is for video
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🚦 What works on Facebook in 2025
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TikTok Shop changes
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🗞️ Additional industry news from Spotify and Meta
The angle you use to film can make a big difference to the atmosphere and appearance of your videos. Little details like eyelines and eye contact make a big difference, too.
Before you start filming, think carefully about the mood you want to create. Is it formal or casual? Personal or professional?
5 Camera Angles to Enhance Phone-Recorded Videos
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To make something look big, dramatic, or scary, shoot from a low angle looking upwards.
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To make something look small or cute, shoot from a high angle looking down.
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Higher angles are also more flattering for selfie-style videos but don’t overdo it!
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If you’re speaking directly to your viewers, make eye contact with the camera lens.
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If you’re speaking to or interviewing someone else, set up the camera so your eyeline is off to the side instead.
Today's tip was inspired by Steve Wright, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World.
So Much Has Changed, Reader!
Last year brought enormous change for us marketers. And now, things like Artificial Intelligence are altering the way we do our jobs. Do you have a place where you can talk about these changes with fellow marketers?
The good news is we’ve built such a place—Social Media Marketing World—taking place March 30 - April 1.
"I went with an open mind not knowing what to expect other than other attendees saying it was the best experience ever. It was that and so much more," said Sunni O'Maley.
Help me through this season of change.
Facebook Content Strategy 2025: What's Actually Working Right Now
Are you struggling to get your content seen on Facebook? Wondering how Meta's algorithm has changed?
Facebook has fundamentally shifted from a friend-based to an interest-based algorithm, similar to TikTok's model. Up to 50% of the content users now see in their feeds comes from what Facebook calls "unconnected sources" - accounts they don't follow.
This means the size of your following no longer determines your content's potential reach - someone with 500 followers has the same opportunity for viral content as someone with 5 million followers.
This shift has proven remarkably successful, with Facebook seeing an 8% increase in time spent on the platform. Mari Smith shares her experiences with what’s working with the discovery engine right now.
Short-Form Video (Reels)
Videos up to 90 seconds that share educational and inspirational content typically perform better than promotional material.
The first three seconds are crucial for capturing attention, so creators must develop a compelling hook that immediately grabs viewers' interest. Then, you should focus on a single point rather than trying to pack multiple messages into one video. Avoid being too product-focused in your videos. Instead, showcase staff members and customers to humanize your brand.
Image Posts
Single-image posts remain effective when properly optimized.
Smith recommends using a 4:5 aspect ratio (slightly taller than square) for optimal feed presentation. She also advises placing links in the first comment rather than the post to improve reach, though she notes that this feature isn't yet available in Meta Business Suite for scheduling.
To stand out in increasingly AI-dominated feeds, Smith suggests using real images rather than AI-generated visuals.
Color Background Posts
In Smith's experience with her students, text-based posts with colorful backgrounds have performed remarkably well. The bright colors help them stand out in the feed, while the text format often receives preferential treatment from the algorithm.
She recommends incorporating these posts once or twice weekly, framing the content as questions, or creating highly shareable content that encourages immediate engagement.
The key to success with these posts lies in creating content that hooks people's minds and stops them in their tracks.
Text-Only Posts
Smith has observed interesting patterns with text-only posts on the platform. Long-form text tends to perform better on pages than on personal profiles, while very short text can also perform exceptionally well.
Stories
While Stories don't benefit from the discovery engine, they maintain a prominent position at the top of the feed. Smith identifies them as "one of the most underutilized top-of-mind, top of feed, visibility, awareness, reach tools." They are an excellent way to test new content ideas and maintain consistent visibility with existing followers.
Live Video
Live video is experiencing a resurgence, particularly for specific types of content. Smith notes that businesses focusing on arts and crafts demonstrations, cooking shows, DIY content, screen sharing, and educational content are seeing strong results with live streaming.
She predicts an uptick in live shopping features, inspired by the success of platforms like Whatnot, suggesting that businesses should prepare to capitalize on this emerging trend.
Understanding Facebook's New Analytics
Facebook has replaced impressions with a new unified "views" metric for all content types. The most significant change is how views are counted - content now registers a view after just one millisecond of exposure, even if users only see a thumbnail in their feed. This represents a dramatic shift from previous metrics, where video views required three seconds of watch time.
While this change might show inflated numbers compared to previous metrics, looking deeper into your analytics will yield valuable insights.
Smith advises monitoring retention graphs for engagement data and paying close attention to non-follower metrics in Meta Business Suite.
Perhaps most importantly, she identifies private message shares as "a number one indicator of potential greater reach," suggesting that content shared through direct messages often receives preferential treatment from the algorithm.
Posting Strategy and Performance
Regarding post-performance, Smith strongly advises against deleting underperforming posts, noting that content can gain traction later due to the discovery engine. She also suggests that posting times have become less critical for global audiences, though local businesses might still benefit from posting during their target time zone's peak hours.
Today's advice is provided with insights from Mari Smith, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast and speaker at Social Media Marketing World 2025.
Will You Be There?
In a few months thousands of marketers will gather in San Diego for the biggest marketing event of the year—Social Media Marketing World. Will you be joining them?
If you want to make 2025 your standout year, consider attending. You'll learn from top experts and connect with marketers from all around the world.
"Social Media Marketing World has been my favorite and most effective event for networking. It’s one of my favorite things to do as an adult," said Laura Pence Atencio.
I’m ready to discover what I’ve been missing.
Leadership Changes at Meta: Nick Clegg, the president of Meta's Global Affairs team, is stepping down from his position at the company. Joel Kaplan will replace him. Source: Nick Clegg via X
Spotify Partner Program Launch: The new monetization system is available to creators in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The program provides eligible podcast hosts with multiple revenue streams, including audience-driven payouts from Spotify Premium video engagement and ad monetization options across Spotify Free and other podcast platforms. While creators' built-in sponsorships will remain in episodes, Premium users will not encounter traditional dynamic ads during video content, ensuring a smooth viewing experience across all devices. Source: Spotify
TikTok Updates Shop Returns Policy: Beginning January 10th, 2025, TikTok Shop is implementing a significant change to its return shipping policy. Under the new policy, sellers who manage their shipping through the "Ship by Seller" method will be required to cover the return shipping costs when customers request a refund. Shop owners who use TikTok's in-house shipping service ("Ship by TikTok") will continue operating under their existing terms without any modifications to their return shipping arrangements. Source: Social Media Examiner Editorial Team
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you Opted in on: 2020-04-05 14:53:59 UTC.