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It’s National Soup Month, Reader! What’s simmering in your soup pot?

In today’s edition:

• 🧪 Today's Tip of the Day is for Instagram

• 🔮 Should you turn on Facebook Professional Mode?

• TikTok scheduling feature

• X parody accounts

Want to test alternative topics, formats, or concepts for Instagram without negatively impacting your followers? 

Instead of risking your main feed's performance or your followers' engagement, you can now test content with non-followers first with the Trial Reels feature.

Optimize Your Instagram Strategy With Trial Reels

This feature provides a safety net for content experimentation while maintaining your account's performance standards. For marketers, it's an invaluable tool for data-driven content strategy refinement. And it's easy to use! 

Simply create your content as usual and enable the "Trial" toggle before sharing.

Then, monitor performance metrics like Views, Likes, Comments, and Shares for 24-72 hours. Remember that trial reels may take longer to gain initial traction as the algorithm finds relevant non-followers

Based on performance metrics, you can:

• Manually share it with everyone if metrics are strong

• Keep as a trial if results are inconclusive

Pro Tip: Consider enabling automatic sharing to publish high-performing trial reels to your main feed within 72 hours, streamlining your content optimization process.

Today's tip was inspired by Social Media Examiner’s Editorial Team.

Need a Better Marketing Plan, Reader?

Did you see a decline in your marketing results last year? Have you seen a similar downward trend over the past few years? It’s time for some fresh ideas that work.  

In less than 80 days, thousands of marketers like you will be attending Social Media Marketing World.

Why? Because they want to maximize their results in 2025.  

"I have absolutely found what I needed here. It's been a jam-packed three days. Every single session I attended I've been able to take away probably three things, minimum, that I am going to be able to immediately implement," said Jules McGuire.

I’m ready to do better in 2025.

Marketers and Entrepreneurs + Facebook Professional Mode in 2025

Are you wondering whether to enable Professional Mode on your Facebook profile? Are you curious about how this feature could enhance your marketing efforts?

Facebook introduced this version of a profile as a solution for entrepreneurs, creators, and solo professionals who have never created a Facebook page or have found their page engagement plateauing. 

This feature essentially bridges the gap between personal profiles and business pages, offering many business-oriented features while maintaining the personal nature of your profile.

When using it, you can utilize all content types available on regular Facebook pages, including photo posts, background-color posts, and multi-photo layouts, but video content tends to receive better reach and engagement.

Useful Features That Profiles Don't Have

Professional Mode transforms your personal profile by adding several powerful features typically reserved for business pages.

A Professional Dashboard and Metrics: You can access a comprehensive professional dashboard that provides detailed metrics about your content performance. This dashboard is the closest thing you'll get to business page analytics while maintaining a personal profile, allowing you to track your content's reach and engagement effectively.

Mari Smith says users often see significant initial growth in reach and engagement. She saw a massive spike in her reach, which slowly tapered off after six months or so, underscoring the importance of consistently monitoring your metrics and adjusting your strategy accordingly.

Public Following: While traditional Facebook profiles limit you to friends, this option allows unlimited public followers.

You can still post to friends only or specific friends while making professional content public. You can even lock down friend requests entirely, allowing only followers, similar to Mark Zuckerberg's profile setup.

Native Post Scheduling: One significant advantage is the ability to schedule posts directly from your mobile device. You can schedule multiple posts in advance, allowing you to maintain a consistent posting schedule without being tied to your phone at specific times.

Post Boosting: It gives you access to the boost button, enabling you to amplify posts that are performing well organically. If the algorithm and Facebook users show you you've got a great piece of content, why not throw $10 or $20 behind it to get more reach?

Passive Monetization Options: It opens up various monetization opportunities, though Smith advises treating these as supplementary income rather than primary revenue streams. You may receive a few dollars occasionally, but don't rely on it as sustainable income.

Before You Make the Switch

First, understand that you can only have Professional Mode on your main account, not any secondary accounts.

Second, be prepared to post consistently and engage with your audience. This profile vesion works best when you maintain regular activity and interaction with your followers.

Finally, remember that you can always switch back to classic mode if Professional Mode doesn't meet your needs.

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.

Can’t Attend Social Media Marketing World in Person?

If joining thousands of marketers in San Diego this March isn’t an option for you, don’t worry.  

With a Virtual ticket, the conference comes to you. You’ll get access to ALL of the content— including the sessions, keynotes, AND the extra day of workshops—all from the comfort of your home or office. Plus, you can livestream the keynotes and sessions in real time. 

Ready to skip the crowds and have a full 365 days to review and implement the amazing content from Social Media Marketing World?

Yes, I want live streaming and recordings.

TikTok Post Scheduling: The Schedule Post feature has been added to the TikTok Studio management tool. Users can now manage all TikTok posting and analytics processes in one place. Source: Social Media Today

Parody Labels on X: The platform announced it will label parody and satire profiles on both accounts and posts to prevent confusion with authentic accounts. Currently, users must apply these labels manually through account settings, though X plans to make them mandatory. Source: @Safety via X

Did You Know?

Garden gnomes can be traced back to wooden dwarf statues in the early 19th century in Germany's Black Forest region, by the mid-19th century they were cast in terra cotta or porcelain. The first mass-produced garden gnomes were made in Germany in the 1800s by sculptor Philipp Griebel.