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fuckyeahcarlosandlidia · 5 years ago

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Season 4

So guys, as I said in my previous post, this blog is not spoiler free so I’ll give my opinion on the season, since I watched all the episodes. If you don’t want to spoil yourself, be careful because I’ll go into details.

The season started well, probably too well, and I should have seen it coming. My expectations were high, I admit it; the pic we got of them from season 5 set kinda made me feel sure that nothing bad could happen in season 4, when you have Lidia and Carlos like that in season 5, when Lidia is holding him and looking at him like that. (x) Also, Blanca’s interviews reassured me as well because it really didn’t sound that romantic feelings were involved when it comes to Francisco, and that Lidia was very much sure of the choice she made, of the life she has with Carlos, and their family together.

It turns out that yes, Lidia is indeed happy with the life she has, the first episode was actually really good to me. I enjoyed pretty much everything and I felt for each character. Sure, it was sad that Lidia couldn’t stay at home not even one night with Carlos and Eva because she had to go playing the nurse for Francisco, but I got it. It was understandable. Then it became too much and you could feel Carlos’ insecurities raising and raising and raising, and honestly that’s very much understandable, too.

My biggest problem with all of this is that the writers decided to make Carlos act completely OOC in order to separate him from Lidia and for her to go back to Francisco. And to me, this is completely unacceptable and mean. You don’t destroy a character to make the other side of the triangle happen and to make the other guy shine, it’s too convenient. Do they really think it looks great for Lidia and Francisco to happen like this? Or should I call her Alba again, since IMO that ending is her going back being Alba.

Lidia increased Carlos’ insecurities, she didn’t talk when she needed to, she didn’t reassure him when he needed it. She kept being obsessed with Francisco being in a coma because apparently it was their fault he ended up like that. Excuse me, how’s that Carlos’ fault anyway, since he got shot too and couldn’t be at the airport to save Eva? How is that Lidia’s fault as well? Since Francisco is an adult man who decides consciously what to do with his life and consciously was there to help Lidia getting Eva back. What happened was an accident. If Lidia felt guilty because she’s the one who kept asking him for help, every single time things with Carlos are rough, that’s her problem. But Francisco’s conditions were anybody’s fault.

Carlos was supportive, patient, ready to help her and listen to her constantly, even if it was just watching her being in pain for Francisco, and she didn’t appreciate it at all. She actually kept him at distance. So Carlos had every right to feel insecure, fearful and left out. To be honest, I understand why he went crazy, it was a very hard situation to handle. But let’s get to that. We’ve been told Carlos used his mother’s money to rebuild the company behind Lidia’s back, because she didn’t want to use Carmen’s money. Seriously, this was made up to create this stupid plot for Carlos. He was happy at the radio station in season 3 and just went back at the Company because his mother asked him to, or else she would have report Lidia to the police.

Suddenly, he was so interested in the Company, but okay fine, he used his mother’s money. He should have told Lidia about it, of course, but he probably couldn’t imagine that his mother would have left the prison anytime soon. Of course, she was back before he thought and he found himself in a very difficult situation, because his mother blackmailed him, because she’s just a precious human being. Carlos’ intentions are to fix everything by himself because Lidia doesn’t have to find out and because he doesn’t want his mother near her and Eva. That’s when everything starts and that’s when Carlos’ downhill starts. But let me get this straight, the fact that Carlos wanted to use the money he owed to his mother to help Francisco, well that to me was wonderful. And yes of course he was doing it for Lidia, bu honestly does that matter? He wanted to do it. And here I’ll say something about Elisa.

Did you get Elisa’s side in all of this, guys? Because seriously I didn’t. She was one way with Carlos, and the complete opposite with her mother. She actually convinced Carlos to take Eva at the park only to meet Carmen. She played with Carlos’ feelings too, she told him things about Lidia, his relationship with Lidia comparing it to the one she had with Francisco. Only to make him feel more and more insecure, because Lidia would leave him as soon as Francisco woke up. She accused him of doing everything to keep Lidia close to him because he was scared to lose her, and the way she did all of this was really bad to watch. Is this the way a sister treats her brother? Is this her way to help him? No, please, it’s insane. Lidia and Carlos’s relationship has NOTHING to do with what Elisa and Francisco had. And even later when she finds out Carlos didn’t tell Lidia Francisco woke up and he has amnesia, the first thing she does is saying everything to Carmen. SERIOUSLY? Whose side are you on?

I truly hoped she was the one who help to fix the situation. A good sister would have gone to Lidia and told her everything. Yes, she indeed told Carlos to tell the truth to Lidia because it was the right thing to do but she didn’t do it in the right way and he was lost already. She was no help. And of course knowing everything Carmen used all of this to her own advantage. I know that Carlos fell into his own trap but no one truly helped him. And finally when Lidia talked to him and told him the things he needed to hear, it was just too late. He already made the big mistake. And there was no going back because he just kept doing mistakes one by one, victim of his own fears, his insecurities and mind games, too. It was a mess.

What I truly believe though is that Lidia accepted his proposal genuinely. She was truly sure and happy about it. Sara/Oscar was condemned and Lidia realized life is too short, everything can change in a minute and that’s why she accepts to marry Carlos. That was good, it was actually a beautiful scene but obviously it wasn’t at the right time, because Carlos was lying to her. And he had no escape, or at least he had, he needed to tell Lidia the truth, facing the consequences but he can’t. Once again, Elisa doesn’t find the right words to explain it to him. And it was really bad to see him lying to Lidia’s face, but for the life of me, I just can’t truly accept how they could treat so badly a character only to make the other appear as the true hero, the one that can’t be manipulated, the one that always does the right thing. Francisco doesn’t remember anything except Alba, the young version of her. The woman before him is a stranger but wait, it’s his Alba so he’s willing to do anything she asks him to.

Lidia decides to run away with him and Eva, just RIGHT AFTER she finds out Carlos lied to her. Because she realizes Carlos wants to keep her and Francisco apart, so Carlos is the big bad guy now who keeps the lovers apart. Is this real? Are we watching a joke or a show which is supposed to be about feminism and keeps making the protagonist washy washy between two men? Does Lidia need a man or a dog? Can’t Lidia just leave alone with her daughter, if she feels that Eva is not safe as long as Carmen is alive? Why leaving with Francisco, just like that, taking away Eva from Carlos, his own daughter? Yes, he put her in danger, but he had no idea what Carmen intended to do. He was so blind and they made him so dumb, my poor baby, he just couldn’t understand anything anymore. But of course Francisco and Lidia need a fresh start, and all Carlos gets is punishment. Like “hey, you wanted this, you did everything yourself.” And I’m sorry but that’s not good writing. AT ALL.

The characters keep doing the same mistakes, all over again, there’s no growth, actually they go downhill. The season in general was slow, confusing, with no logic at all. We spent 5 episodes with Francisco in a coma, dealing with his cures and when he gets up, it feels like he never was in a coma. Seriously, oh Doctor Miracle, right? Called by Carlos, BTW. Angeles was killed in such a stupid way. They didn’t give her a second chance, they didn’t reunite her with her daughter, they made her lie to, and then she gets shot just like that. Everyone survives a bullet but not her. The whole central plot became boring because they dragged it too much, and the characters just dance around themselves with no logic at all. Where’s season 1 quality? And season 2 as well?

Damn I thought season 3 was bad, but season 4 was a nightmare. A real nightmare. To be honest, it felt like a fan fiction written by a Francisco and Lidia’s shipper. We got it, they wanted to separate Carlos and Lidia because they wanted to re-open the triangle, and since they have 2 more seasons to come - yes Roger Gual, the director replied in a Instagram story that season 6 is in pre-production, kill me - they needed to do it, I guess. But for God’s sake they did it in the worst way EVER because they decided to hit Carlos, making him act OOC, for that to happen. Or else, Lidia wouldn’t be “justified” to change her mind. Is that supposed to be good for Alba and Francisco, anyway? I don’t think so.

I really don’t know what to think about season 5, how that pic from set is going to fit in all of this, because clearly in that pic they do seem very close. Honestly, right now I’m very mad and disappointed. And I feel played as well, because do they think we’re stupid? I mean, the nonsense was huge. Anyway, said that, guys I’ll obviously post gifs from the new season, be active and everything. If you have requests, feel free to ask and if you want to share thoughts about the season, they’re very welcome:D Let’s hold on together, dealing with the disappointment and hoping for the best to come.

#cable girls #las chicas del cable #lidia x carlos #carlos x lidia #my stuff

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emsykesillustration · 7 years ago

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Portfolio Reviews

As part of my portfolio reviews, I’ve been in contact with several people in the industry to gather feedback and advice for my portfolio so far. Rose Lloyd Rose Lloyd is a Stockport alumni, and has risen far in the industry. She’s represented by Eye Candy agency, who are massive in the illustration world. Her work is bright, bold and at such high quality she’s had clients such as the BBC, The Times, and the British Medical Journal. She uses texture and shape as a forefront for her work, which is something that makes me very lucky to have been able to speak with her about my work, as it’s not just inspiring but also very similar to my own work. Having a creative who can understand your work and the processes behind it, is brilliant in getting feedback. One of the first points Rose made when looking through my work is that she could see that I had a versatile range of media in my visual language, as well as my output. She mentioned that versatility is important, and that if you use more than one medium in your working style, let potential clients and agencies know that. I’m going to continue using different styles, as well as employing various techniques such as using mock ups, as well as if suits best - photography of my work, such as t-shirts, prints and books if needs be. Rose also suggested the I add my contact details to the back, as it’s a nice note to end with. I currently have mine at the front, so I’ll see if other artists suggest the same. Business cards were also suggested, which I’m currently designing! I’m also ensuring I keep my font, colours, and general feel consistent - I’m a brand as an illustrator and clients and agencies need to see that, purely because it looks so professional. Rose, speaking about getting work, also mentioned looking up art directors in Manchester, and just getting yourself out there, emailing your portfolio over so you’re in their books and getting your name out there for potential work! She also mentioned if I wanted to go into editorial work, it’s well worth getting current articles and adapting them as your own. Editorial is so fast paced, so it’s good to get into that fast frame of thinking and ways of applying your skillset to text in a short amount of time. It’ll also put your work into context and be super applicable for potential clients. It was wonderful to speak to Rose, and really nice to see how far you can go in the illustration world! Flow Creative I was given the amazing opportunity by Barney to visit the team at Flow, a huge agency in Manchester. They're a design agency who specialise in motion design an animation, but are super versatile. They have a massive client base and a team who are always looking for work from freelance illustrators - so it’s safe to say they have a good eye for the illustration industry. I spoke with Karl Doran, the creative director, and Sarah - accounts manager, as well as other members of the team. Feedback included my portfolio, website and social media accounts being consistent, presentation of my work being well ordered, and they liked how my website is an open portfolio. Karl commented that my mix of mockups and full digital photos was refreshing, and that mockups used with my (Re)Collection work, as well as both print and digital campaigns is brilliant - agencies and potential clients love to see things in context, and the applicability of your work, so to keep that up! Feedback also included to add sketchbook workings, and work leading up to it - this may be drafts or screenshots - it’s important that clients see this, as it puts your work into context some more, and shows the importance of your process, and how you’ve worked as a designer. I definitely need to start adding these! After showing my ident animations, it was amazing to see that the whole team actually really liked what I had going on - for something I’m really new to, a process that I struggled with, and is still a work in progress - they loved the looping of the saxo wheels, the general over-the-top-ness of the 90′s items, and the lo-fi, VHS feel. Points to improve on were looping my work, perhaps simplifying transitions, and putting them on my instagram as loops or GIFs, as people looking for work such as agencies and clients absolutely love this. Karl mentioned that I should check out Ruffmercy on instagram, and I’m so glad he did! I’m so inspired right now! When chatting, I mentioned how I felt worried that by using the MTV logo so much in my (Re)Collection work, I may be ‘ripping off’ the brand, however the whole team said that it’s a good thing - people in the industry have published ‘knock off’ potential designs and actually gotten work off the original brands! They also mentioned that using Beer Paper from GF Smith for my Beer work was so effective and a really nice touch, and possibly even creating business cards that are beermats! I am SO getting on that! Beermats are collectible, usable, and the thought of someone lifting their mug off it while looking for inspiration and seeing my contact details is a great idea! An amazing feedback experience with lots of things to take back, and my confidence boosted. Thank you for checking my work out and for your time! Tyler Spangler I contacted Tyler last year for a small interview about his views on the creative industry, and so contacted him again this year for some feedback on my PDF portfolio. Tyler is based in California, and uses amazing colours in bold designs covering character, text, and many types of concepts. He has some amazing clients including Chanel, Nike, Outkast, and has featured online in Dazed and Confused, and Hi-Fructose magazine. He’s lovely to talk to and has always had time to give me advice, and is in a great position to learn from and get advice from from within the industry. On sending him my portfolio, he mentioned that he remembered my work from last year because he likes my uses of texture! This is great, as being able to be consistent with my visual language means that I’ll be able to stay in people’s minds and proves better to staying in the radar as a creative! He mentioned that he thinks it may be nice to include project information on my PDF portfolio, similarly to how I do on my website - that it’ll give the viewer some more context. At the moment I only have my captions as to what they are, media, and when they were done. However, my website captions, such as here - simply even with how and why I came about it, why it’s grapefruit, etc. I think this is a great idea, as as well as working sketches and drafts, it gives the full information to viewers and potential clients. If I’m sending a PDF portfolio over it typically means I can’t show someone my work in person, where I’d normally explain and talk through what I’d been working on and why. So that’s a great piece of feedback! He also mentioned that his favourite piece in my portfolio is Elvis Juice, so I’m glad I’ve put it so prominently on my business cards! A few people have mentioned that it’s their favourite when looking through my work, and so it’ll be nice to be able to show people my best work here, especially in chances were first impressions are small, short, and therefore need to be really good and lasting, and an essence of my visual language as a whole. I’m going to add small captions to my work, making sure it doesn’t take over too much or become too much of a read. Ken Maylor Ken is a proper old school illustrator. He’s based in Lancashire, and has been illustrating for decades. He’s produced work for the likes of Star Trek and Elvis Presley annuals, Oyston’s Estate Agency, produced spray positives of photographs for various catalogues, as well as being a police officer for years, he created drawings for the Police and Crimewatch, as well as airbrushing. We couldn’t find any of his old work together, but he now mainly fly ties - as you can see here, he’s got an incredibly craft hand and so it’s no surprise he did so well with airbrushing and producing realistic drawings for the Police and Crimewatch! Looking through my updated portfolio with captions and sketches of the process thanks to Flow Creative’s and Tyler Spangler’s feedback, he had lots of positive feedback. Generally, he said he loves the colours I’ve used, for myself as a brand, and the boldness in the illustrations - they grab attention. The use of my batman making faces image as my logo alongside hand-drawn type is quirky, and he thinks they’re positive and there’s humour. This is great, as I’d love this to be a first impression for agencies and potential clients! Looking through my (Re)Collection work, compiled together with suggestion from Tutorial Feedback to categorise my work, the ‘90′s Called’ poster design reminded him of 90s films such as Lethal Weapon - knowing that the use of items to promote nostalgia has set off in this way for a variety of people who remember the ‘90s differently is great! The (Re)Collection campaign is definitely nostalgic and giving the right message about the ‘90s. The Inflatable Sofa piece casts a good image and Ken said it made him wonder whether watching tv is relaxing, as he saw the sofa as floating on the ceefax due to its transparency - which is a new way of myself looking at it - considering it to be possible to be used for an editorial piece covering technology etc! Going to the beer area/pieces of my portfolio, he suggested that Elvis Juice could appeal to bikers, and the ways in which the grapefruit is used for the wheels is again humorous and thought provoking - it’s lovely and refreshign to see that a fresh pair of eyes can see something like this consistent throughout my work when I’ve never noticed it before! He also mentioned that the sketches and process components are great - the feedback from before has paid off! The use of texture and paint dragged over on such a large scale gives a lovely effect in Beer Dive and allows a relaxing thing to look at - I never thought of this as a relaxing piece, but it’s now something I can use within my visual language if I need to create something relaxing or scenic! The Red Screes design is very relevant to the suggestion of where the ale is from, helping promote its locality - continuing to use the culture of the client and what my work is based on proves well and really shows that there’s deeper meaning and a lot of work put in behind my illustrations - I’ll definitely keep working like this. The craft beer book is accessible, readable for both experts and non-experts, and makes you want to go out and try craft beer! This is wonderful, exactly what I set out to create when I made this - from a portfolio page, I’ve managed to get the best choice and range of photos for Ken to be able to tell this! The Brodie’s Prime fox stance works well, as it looks mischievous but as hough he could be affectionate too, with a good stance considered in the sketches to show he’s on the prowl for mischief. The Tarn Hows XPA piece with the lemon over the building is brilliant and works well with the spotted background, representing the way the lemon is squeezed and he also loved how it makes you think - one of my most conceptual pieces which I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks of it in this way! The Palace cinema piece sets the tone well and the selection of what I’ve illustrated is so apt to the location, using Lancashire roses shows so much relevance. The House Plant piece is so differential in terms of shapes used - he said he could see a sloth, a birds head, a goose - he mentioned that you look for shapes when looking at the illustration and it casts your eye all round. The more you look, the more you see - and then he saw an elephant looking away! And now I see it! I’ve had some amazing feedback from Ken, and I’m so glad I was able to get feedback from such a practiced illustrator with a different variety of work to other artists I’ve looked at - it’s wonderful to see that artists from different disciplines can help me see my work differently, and can bring wonderful suggestions and feedback. Eva Stalinski Eva Stalinski is an illustrator based in the Netherlands, who works with bright colours and bold outlines, with most of her work screen printed as merchandise. Her work is here! Like Chris Madden and Tyler Spangler, I contacted Eva last year for some insight into the creative industry, and received some amazing information and advice! Again, I contacted her for a portfolio review and received some really good feedback. On looking through my PDF portfolio via. email, she mentioned that she really liked the bright colours used, especially yellow - I never realised myself how much I use yellow, and just how much it works nicely with my work! She also mentioned that my work is different from hers in discipline, and in that she uses bold outline a lot, however she could really see my work as merchandise! I’d love to explore screen printing some more as I have a screen printing kit at home, and I love using it! Finally, she mentioned that my beer work is really together and nice. She suggested looking at International breweries, as it’s always good to branch out and get myself out there! It’s strange, because as much as I love beer, I’ve never thought about this so I might do this! Thank you to everyone, as I’ve had so much help with my work generally, and my portfolio has improved massively!

#pdp

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samdukewieland · 5 years ago

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Stuck Inside Media Diary Week 7

I realized that I didn’t include my watching of the Parks And Rec special thing that was on. By no means was it perfect, though I imagine that it was the best case scenario for something like that (in terms of being an original story, as opposed to a table/script read that the Community cast put together that’s coming out...ur, at some point). Is it necessary as a piece of media? It raised a lot of money for Feeding America and did its best in trying to shine some optimism in really unsettling times. Kinda nice.

Sunday, May 3

Filmworker, Zierra 2017 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

Interesting take on a documentary about, but not about Stanley Kubrick. It would be unusual for any Kubrick dude to not know or have some kind of inkling that he was a complicated figure (an asshole), especially when it came to making movies, so the point of the movie isn’t really to inform that aspect of of it (though it probably confirmed suspicions, should you have any). It’s more a case example of how toxic relationships like these work and how dangerous it is to deify people, especially your own heroes. Of course, should any of us be given the opportunity to work or be near someone we look up to, how’re do we know what our breaking point is for them before we reach it (unfortunately for Leon Vitali, it wasn’t until Kubrick passed away that he could see just how far deep he was). This is also a pretty good example of how companies and corporations will treat you like garbage just to advance their credibility and how sometimes it feels like a documentary’ll show you that but not really do anything change that (as far as I know).

Mad Men, [season 4 premier] “Public Relations”, “Christmas Comes But Once A Year”, “The Good News”, “The Rejected”

So I definitely haven’t watched Season 4 as a more grown person than I was back in high school when this first aired. So I’ve known Don’s life is a nightmare, but never really processed why or thought about why; I was not the most keen observer (probably because I was thinking about not turning in homework). Now with all that said, jeeeeeeez Don’s life is a super depressing nightmare oooof. Now Season 4 feels like it needs some more runway to catch up with itself and its momentum it revved up to at the end of season 3, so the first couple of weeks feel a little wobbly (though wobbly Mad Men is leagues better than some other dramas at their best). However, the Don and Lane friendship does gets established in this slew of episodes, two men who couldn’t be more different, but can’t help but be bonded by a miserable moment in time.

Three Busy Debras, “Barbra”

Holy shit this episode is so genius. So many shades of Stangers With Candy in this one.

Rick And Morty, “Never Ricking Morty”

Believe me, I don’t want you to know that I watched this either.

The Last Dance, Parts 5 & 6

These were probably my favorite parts of the doc so far, probably because its the most enjoyable stuff you can watch (hold for destroying any chance Charles Barkley had at winning a championship). Jordan as a brand, both figuratively and literally-the concept of celebrity through a Michael Jordan lens; I could lap that up for hours. It makes me mad that there’s only two hours left (now), because there’s clearly so much more that could be covered, but will leave unturned (more on this next week).

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (Lawyers Cut), “The Not-So-Interesting Beginnings”

Good example of the subjects not getting in the way of the subject matter. Probably the thing that leaves to be desired is seeing the remaining members (this was made in 2009, so Chapman was the only deceased member at the time) together and interacting with one another. You get a little bit of Michael Palin and Terry Jones together, but not in an interviewed capacity, which faintly scratches that itch. If I had to guess, I’d say that they all don’t love being together without Palin there as a buffer, just based on what I know about Monty Python. Lotta strong and brilliantly smart personalities with no real acknowledgement on who’s the best, because they all think they’re the best (maybe not Palin or Jones). Also, this is a surprisingly self-aware interview with Idle, which really shattered any preconceived notions I have for him-might have to do some self-evaluation.

Monday, May 4

Escape From New York, Carpenter 1981 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I’ve definitely lied to people about having seen all of Escape From New York before. Why? Because it made me appear better than I actually was. It and Die Hard With A Vengeance (another great New York movie, though for the record, I’ve still never seen all of it) seemed to be two movies that I kept catching just enough glimpses of throughout the years without having actually seeing all of it. For instance, I had no idea that Harry Dean Stanton was in Escape From New York, which instantly elevates movies for guys like me from being “pretty good li’l B movie” to “this is actually advanced and high art” (this isn’t always the case on the HDS matrix, but it is consistent, see Repo Man).

Mad Men, “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”, “Waldorf Stories”

Real fool me once with your racism shame on you you, Roger Sterling. Fool me twice, shame on me (re: “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”). “Waldorf Stories” is really the first episode put in gear this season, maybe it’s because we’re getting Ken Cosgrove back (hell yeh) or maybe it just feels that way because “The Suitcase” is next and I know it; it’s an incredible build-up, what with hindsight and all that.

Tuesday, May 5

Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, Yentob 2018 [as of now this is available on HBO]

Listen, this isn’t very good. I think some of it has to do with Brooks, who kind of gets in the way of it all, which is a very hard thing to admit. It’s got some moments, when it actually tells you something about Mel Brooks, but for the most part its just a British guy not taking command of his own documentary and subject and that’s just like barely interesting. Mel Brooks is still a king, though.

Mad Men, “The Suitcase”

This is regarded as the best episode of Mad Men and one of the best episodes of television in the 2010s. I don’t know how it stands up by itself, like I don’t know if it resonates well with someone who’s never watched Mad Men outside of the vacuum. Usually going into one of these episodes that almost transcends its own show I tend to be weary, be it brand new (like when I watched “Pine Barrens” for the first time when I watched The Sopranos) or on a re-watch like this. I trick myself into thinking “well I bet its not that good” because you’re told to the contrarian take is the most interesting take, but I didn’t with this one. I remember the first time I watched it and I don’t think I’ve gone back and watched it in years, so I had forgotten almost all of the context around the episode, except for the argument. This episode is really special, hands down. Don’t love the ghost, but pobody’s nerfect. This podcast talks about it way better than I ever could, listen to that instead of reading this (I just want yer clicks, suckers!)

Wednesday, May 6

Heartburn, Nichols 1986 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I say this as someone who doesn’t travel in Mike Nichols circles (though this is the fourth movie of his that I’ve watched during all this, so maybe I do and I just don’t know it), but why isn’t this trotted out more as one of his best movies? My Nora Ephron bias might be showing a lot here, someone I didn’t really appreciate until I watched Everything Is Copy about a year ago (it’s an HBO doc-meaning it’s available on that platform if you want nice documentary to watch sometime), but this movie’s great! And it has two of the most famous movie stars to ever live as the two lead roles and Jeff Daniels as a bit player. And yet its legacy only feels relevant to those who seek out Mike Nichols or Nora Ephron movies, which feels odd, considering one half of that creative team is best known for The Graduate and the other for When Harry Met Sally (or Sleepless In Seattle or You’ve Got Mail).

Thursday, May 7

Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut), Scott 2005

I’ll be honest, I wanted to watch Return Of The King, but that just wasn’t an option. This movie’s technically good, like more Ridley Scott movies are than they aren’t, but really lacks any kind of new message besides “Religion’s pretty fucked up how it made people do that, huh?” Which to a lot of people is super appealing, but when you make a movie that only exists because of Lord Of The Rings’ success, you’d hope for something more (though isn’t this always the case with these kinds of movies?) Like make the movie about David Thewlis or Jeremy Irons. Obviously the battle/fight sequences are really cool to watch and look at, and that’s not an at all terrible critique to give it either. It’s fine that there’s dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings (which is semi-controversial considering a lot of the book nerds already consider Lord Of The Rings [movie] is dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings).

Mad Men, “The Summer Man”

Ah yes, the Don journals and goes swimming episode. It’s good considering it has to follow up “The Suitcase.” I can’t think of any from this particular episode, but (and I think it checks out, cultural timeline wise too) this is the season where it almost feels like the writers/directors figures out that their show was ripe for meme-dom and .gifs-sometimes when that happens it goes real south for the sake of quality, but luckily not Mad Men.

Friday, May 8

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, Gelb 2011 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

I bet David Fincher loves this movie. I’m not a huge sushi lover (it’s fine, but way too expensive) so I guess I’ve figured that’d be a huge barrier for me to jump over to enjoy this doc. This thing’s got a weird, but great energy to it, where it feels like four twenty-minute segments sewn together; right when you think “well this should’ve just been a quick package on Frontline” it adds another wrinkle. Would probably be constructed more differently now, considering how food docs/series’ work now, but its strengths lie in its simplicity.

Top Chef, Season 17 episode 8

Great Restaurant Wars this season. Very compelling stuff and almost athletic. Andy Greenwald said it best.

Mad Men, “The Beautiful Girls”, “Hands And Knees”, “Chinese Wall”

“Beautiful Girls” is another entry into the best Mad Men episodes (though like “The Suitcase” I don’t think it would necessarily resonate out of context). Iconic closing shot and a great Sally Draper episode, who I’ve feared I might’ve been overrating for the last couple of years. Nah, Sally Draper is underrated even. Big spiral moves for Don as well in here, though hopefully he can course correct after tasting Sally’s rum-cooked French Toast (it won’t!)

Saturday, May 9

Basic Instinct, Verhoeven 1992

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be completely neutral about this movie; your life must be so care-free, so calming, so unconcerned with trying to figure out how exactly to start calling your close friends either “cowboy” or “hoss” as if you’ve been doing it your whole life. Also, listen, I get it about that one shot and it being the thing people kept talking about and the thing most associated with this movie, but nothing and no one prepared me for seeing Gus in a cowboy hat in that bar/club before the Nick/Roxie chase. That and all the ice-pick stabbings. And the opening crime scene. And a whole lot of other stuff that takes place in this movie.

Mad Men, “Blowing Smoke”, “Tomorrowland” [season 4 finale], “A Little Kiss Part 1 & 2″ [season 5 premier]

The letter! Disneyland! Marriage again! A lot of things happen in these four episodes that are the end and beginning of seasons. But when I realized that I was going to get “Zou Bisou Bisou” in this block of episodes, it was game over. I’ve had it stuck in my head every day for a prolonged amount of time since Saturday and the only thing that makes it not terrible is knowing how pissed off Don was that it happened to him. Don’t marry a 25-year-old. Season 4′s a weird one for Betty as the show tried to navigate how to keep her involved with the show even though she and Don aren’t married anymore and it’s not....great. Probably because they keep making her “true” emotional foil children (specifically Glen and to a greater level Sally, but the tribulations that come between a mother and almost teenage daughter shouldn’t be the same as a mother and some weird kid down the block who just happens to be the son of the show’s creator).

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gabrielcollignon · 7 years ago

Text

Stories, Filters, and Bots: What You Need to Know Now

Editor’s note: This post was co-written by Clare McDermott, Mantis Research co-founder and chief research officer.

Keeping up with what’s new and exciting in social media can feel like a sprint. Just as you’ve mastered a new tactic or tool, one of the major social networks announces a new feature you need to wrap your head around. Find some new (and not so new) features you may not know, as well as a few channels that may not be on your radar.

Snapchat

Filters vs. lenses

What’s the difference? The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing. Filters are static images you add to a photo on Snapchat – like a company-sponsored illustration to commemorate a special event. Lenses add animation to your Snapchat photo or video – often using augmented reality (AR). For example, you can transform your face into an AR-enabled kitten face (but please don’t) or add an animated rain cloud to your video. The opportunity for followers to engage with lenses is much higher than with filters because users are more likely to play with them and share them.

Followers engage w/ lenses more than filters b/c users are more likely to share them, says @moninaw. #snapchat Click To Tweet

Sponsored stories

The Canvas ad format popular on Facebook is now available on Instagram. The ad is larger and more interactive than earlier iterations of sponsored content on Instagram.

Add a link

This option is available for business accounts with over 10,000 followers. Before publishing your story, click the paper clip icon and add a relevant URL. When it’s published, your story will include a “swipe up” to follow the link. (Savvy marketers add visual cues to their story to emphasize the swipe-up option.)

Polling

Now you can add a two-answer poll sticker to your Instagram Stories. After tapping an answer, users see poll results right away.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Instagram Marketing: 4 Features You Should Be Using [Examples]

Facebook & Facebook Messenger

While Facebook has a couple billion users, it has several features that have not been used to their full potential.

Facebook Canvas

These are interactive mobile ads that offer advertisers much greater flexibility to promote content assets. Luke Kintigh from Intel explains, “For our online publication, iQ, we use Canvas to show photo galleries, vertical video, tilt-to-pan images, pull quotes, GIFs, and other assets that lead users to our site. The Canvas units are unique in that they can contain pretty much everything you can or would put in a microsite or landing page – all in mobile.”

Use @Facebook Canvas for greater flexibility to promote your #content assets. @lukekintigh Click To Tweet

Facebook Live

Most are familiar with Facebook Live, but do you know about some of its hidden features? One feature we love is the ability to use a split screen for interviews. When setting up your livestream, choose the interview mode, then decide how each person in the stream will appear on the screen; for example, you can use a split screen or toggle back and forth between individuals. With enough planning and practice, your livestream may be useful to post on social channels even after it’s over.

.@Facebook Live tip: Use a split screen for interviews, says @MoninaW. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 13 Steps to Live-Stream Video the Smart Way

Instant Articles

Facebook created Instant Articles in 2015 to help publishers’ articles load faster in news feeds. Marketers who publish their content using Instant Articles sacrifice the chance to drive readers to owned sites, but the upside is a better reading experience for end users – particularly on mobile. Keep in mind Facebook only approves brands for Instant Articles if they publish on a regular schedule and meet certain quality standards.

Chatbots

Chatbots are a new way for users to interact with brands on Facebook. Bots usually take the form of a virtual assistant through Messenger and are intended to be used conversationally – as if there’s someone on the other end of the chat sending over what the user is looking for. Sound overwhelming? Facebook recently launched Discover, an app inside Messenger that makes it easier for consumers to discover new chatbots and help marketers make sense of this new dimension inside Messenger.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Don’t Be Overwhelmed by Facebook Advertising: 10 Tips to Use Any Time

9 Brilliant Tactics to Promote Your Blog Content on Facebook

Medium

Medium arrived on the scene in 2012 when Twitter co-founder Ev Williams launched it as an antidote of sorts to the loud, look-at-me culture of the bigger platforms. As he put it, “Medium is … designed for little stories that make your day better and manifestos that change the world.”

Medium is … designed for little stories that make your day better & manifestos that change the world. @ev Click To Tweet

While Medium has a loyal following of readers who appreciate the quality content it publishes, it still struggles to monetize the platform. In late 2017 Medium replaced its advertising model with a new subscription-based model – readers pay $5 per month for access to premium content, and Medium bloggers (called “partners”) are paid based on how well readers rate the content, which is measured by readers “clapping” on the site.

For marketers, Medium is a work in progress – though some brands are setting up content channels on Medium since the transition from advertising to subscriptions. Some companies use Medium to set up a niche blog that matches the site’s audience more closely; for example, Facebook’s design team runs a Medium channel to give voice to Facebook designers spread all over the globe. A smaller number of companies even forgo a company-hosted blog in favor of a Medium channel to save on development costs and to benefit from the Medium network effect. (When you set up your company account, your Twitter followers auto-follow you on Medium.) For now, it’s hard to tell whether Medium’s bold move will pay off, but for content-first brands it’s a channel worth considering.

Want to see what a brand channel looks like on Medium? Brands use Medium to reach a niche community and leverage the network’s simple UX. To see how it works, check out Hacker Noon, a high-quality, Medium-based content hub from Mattermark.

Brands use @Medium to reach a niche community & leverage the network's simple UX, says @clare_mcd. Click To Tweet

Chatbots

In early 2015, something happened that most of us marketers missed. The number of active daily users of messaging apps surpassed the number of active daily users of social networks. Let me repeat that: More people are spending time interacting through messaging apps than are interacting and posting on the major social media sites.

More people are interacting via messaging apps than posting on major #socialmedia sites. @StatistaCharts Click To Tweet

At some level you knew this. Your kids aren’t using Facebook that much anymore, and even sites like Instagram seem to be falling out of favor with the younger generation. Messaging apps offer privacy and in-the-moment interactivity in a way that make sites like Twitter and Facebook feel slow and outdated.

Of course, this begs the question: What’s the role for marketers on messaging apps? (Yes, it’s an uncomfortable question, but one marketers must ask.) While we don’t have all the answers, it’s clear chatbots are one alternative in the post-advertising portfolio.

For those still living in 2017, chatbots are apps within apps – tools to automate conversations between humans and non-humans, often leveraging artificial intelligence. Chatbots enable one-to-one, natural language interactions between customers/followers and an automated assistant. They can take many forms and reside on many channels – from SMS and Apple iMessage to Slack, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger.

Chatbots enable 1-1, natural language interactions with customers/followers, says @moninaw. Click To Tweet

The most obvious application for chatbots is customer service – an extension of those “can we help you?” pop-ups you see when you visit a website, which are often “staffed” by AI. But brands are also finding more unorthodox and entertaining ways of using bots. Consider And Chill. Not sure what you want on Netflix tonight? Send And Chill a message, and tell it a movie you love and why. Your sweet bot will send over a couple of recommendations along with trailers. (The chatbot always asks how well it’s performed so that it learns from each interaction.) Whole Foods’ chatbot helps brainstorm recipes while you’re at the store, though it is a little less practical and a lot less amusing.

You don’t have to be a massive consumer-facing company to try chatbots. We spoke to Christin Kardos, community manager at Convince and Convert, about her ongoing experimentation with chatbots. Convince and Convert uses a bot to distribute content, including a welcome sequence for new subscribers. Rather than develop the bot from the ground up – a cost-prohibitive option for smaller companies – Convince and Convert uses a tool from ManyChat.

Kardos explains, “Using a third-party tool, it’s relatively easy to implement a chatbot, get subscribers, and launch a welcome sequence. It begins getting a little more complex when you start building if-this, then-that flows, but it’s still just common sense.”

Use a chatbot tool like @ManyChatHQ to save development time & budget. @ChristinKardos Click To Tweet

She says it’s important, however, to oversee the chatbot and watch its interactions with customers (a member of the team checks in twice a day to ensure that all is running smoothly).

Kardos admits her company’s use of chatbots is a bit of an experiment in keeping with Convince and Convert’s passion for trying new tools to keep its audience informed. Given that messaging usage is rising faster than social network usage, it’s an experiment worth conducting.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

Automating Your Customer Interactions: Get Ready for Chatbots

A Quick-Start Guide to Paid Content Promotion

Editor’s note: No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

A version of this article originally appeared in the February issue of Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription to our bimonthly, print magazine.

Get the latest and uncover the hidden features on social media as well as other content marketing channels. Attend Content Marketing World Sept. 4-7 in Cleveland, Ohio. Register today for best rates and use code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Stories, Filters, and Bots: What You Need to Know Now appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

#Business

0 notes

mediacalling · 7 years ago

Text

Post Less, Boost Top Posts, and More: 14 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

Engagement on Facebook Pages has fallen by 70 percent since the start of 2017, according to BuzzSumo who analyzed over 880 million Facebook posts by brands and publishers.

As a social media marketer, it is worrying to see these trends.

But we feel there are ways we can combat this organic reach decline on Facebook and we’d love to share some strategies with you.

In this post, we’ll share 14 straightforward ways to increase your Facebook Page engagement — many of which are proven and have worked for us.

14 ways to increase your Facebook engagement

Starting a Facebook Page might be easy but with the falling organic reach and engagement, growing a Facebook Page can be challenging.

Here are the 14 tactics you can try today to increase your Facebook Page engagement:

Post less

Post when your fans are online

Create specifically for Facebook

Try videos

Go live

Share curated content

Ask for opinions

Boost your top posts

Recycle your top posts

Watch other Facebook Pages

Experiment with new content

Reply comments

Host giveaways (occasionally)

Create a linked Facebook Group

Let’s dive in!

1. Post less

Posting less grew our reach and engagement by three times.

But the main reason for the growth wasn’t just because we were posting less. It’s because posting less allowed us to…

focus on quality instead of quantity.

We were able to share the best content every day when we post only once or twice a day. When we were posting four to five times a day, we struggled to consistently find so much great content to share.

If you are a solo social media manager or a small business owner who handles your own social media, you might have experienced this before. Finding great content takes time, and you don’t always have the time to do that.

That said, if you are able to maintain the quality of your content while posting many times a day, don’t feel that you have to change your strategy. A few of our readers post more than 10 times a day to their Facebook Page and have found great success.

2. Post when your fans are online

We used to believe that there’s a universal best time to post on Facebook: early afternoon.

But not anymore.

We now believe that every brand has its own perfect time(s) to post. That’s because the best time to post depends on several factors that are specific to each brand: What industry are you in? Where is your audience based? When do your followers use Facebook?

A scientific way to find your best time to post is to look at your own data.

In your Facebook Page Insights, under the Post tab, you get data about when your Facebook Page fans are online for each day of the week.

Using your data, you can make educated guesses of your best posting time. I would recommend experimenting with times during both the peak and non-peak hours to see which works better for your brand.

3. Create specifically for Facebook

What works on Instagram or Twitter might not always work on Facebook. For example, hashtags are great on Instagram and GIFs are great on Twitter but both less so on Facebook.

It’s best to create your Facebook posts specifically for your Facebook Page.

With Buffer, you can easily customize your social media post for each platform when sharing to multiple platforms at once. You can even go one step further by customizing your article headline for your Facebook post.

If you would like to give this a go, we would love for you to try Buffer for Business and experience the difference.

4. Try videos

If you’re wondering how to craft your Facebook posts, we think you should try videos.

From what we have seen this year, videos perform best on Facebook in terms of reach and engagement.

The BuzzSumo study mentioned above also found that “videos now gain twice the level of engagement of other post formats on average”.

Here are three more tips to help you get the most out of your videos:

Upload your videos onto Facebook: Videos uploaded onto Facebook have, on average, 110 percent higher engagement rate and 478 percent higher share rate than YouTube links, according to a quintly study of six million Facebook posts.

Experiment with square videos: After running $1,500 worth of experiments, we found that our square videos received higher average views, engagement, and completion rate than our landscape videos, especially on mobile devices.

Add captions: When studying over 500 Facebook Pages and 12,000 Facebook videos, Locowise found that 93 percent of video views happened without sound.

5. Go live

Facebook has also been pushing their Live videos a lot in this past year.

They tweaked their algorithm to rank live videos higher when they are live than when they are no longer live. Facebook reported that “People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live” and “people comment more than 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos”.

For our #impactofsocial celebration, we hosted five Facebook Live sessions, which received about 4,000 views and 30 comments on average.

Here’s a bonus: Your followers might be more likely to check out your content.

Social Media Examiner noticed that when they went live more often, their non-live content received more exposure. Their founder and CEO, Michael Stelzner, believes that when they go live, their fans are exposed to their brand even if they don’t watch the live video. That might have subtly encouraged them to check out Social Media Examiner’s Facebook Page.

To help you get started with Facebook Live videos, here are some ideas you can try:

Share behind-the-scenes of an event, your work processes, or your office

Host a Question-and-Answer or Ask-Me-Anything session

Interview industry experts using a software like BeLive

Explain or demonstrate how to do something

Discuss breaking news

Share weekly tips

6. Share curated content

It might feel weird sharing other brands’ content. That’s how we felt initially. But after experimenting with sharing high-quality curated content, the results changed our mind.

By sharing top-performing posts from sites like Techcrunch, Inc., and Quartz, we were able to reach a much bigger audience. For example, our recent 10 curated content reached 113,000 people on average.

We had less than 100,000 Facebook Page Likes until recently.

This helped us grow our Facebook Page, allowing us to share our own content with more people. Since the start of this year, our Facebook Page Likes have grown from about 79,000 to 100,000.

There are two types of curated content you can share:

Third-party content from other brands

User-generated content from your customers

We mostly share content from other brands on our Facebook Page as that type of content resonates with our Facebook Page followers. Once in a while, we also share user-generated content from our community (which works amazingly on our Instagram account) on our Facebook Page. They tend to perform well, too.

7. Ask for opinions

It might be obvious that people comment when they have something to say. But sometimes, we don’t offer them a chance to say anything!

Asking questions is a good way to offer our followers a chance to share their thoughts.

A practice I like is to share relevant news or blog post and ask our followers for their opinions. What to share might vary depending on your audience. If you have a professional audience, you might want to share industry news or articles. If you are a lifestyle brand, you might choose to share lifestyle news instead.

Here’s a recent example where we asked our followers for their thoughts on a thought-leadership blog post:

8. Boost your top posts

If you have a budget for Facebook advertising, consider boosting your top-performing posts. Your top-performing posts are proven content — content that is proven to engage your audience. This makes them suitable for a boost. With the right ad targeting, these posts would continue to engage more people, reach even more people.

And you don’t need a lot of money for this.

With a $40 daily budget, our boosted posts get up to roughly four times more paid reach than organic reach. As reach increased, engagement on the posts also went up.

Here are some recent examples:

9. Recycle your top posts

Besides boosting your top posts, you can also recycle them.

This will help you get more value out of your content. When you re-post a piece of high-quality content, it can often generate as much reach and engagement as the original post (sometimes, more) — essentially doubling the value of that content.

For example, we first posted a blog post as a link with a list as the caption.

As our followers loved it, we (boosted it and) re-posted it with a video. This time, it reached almost twice as many people and generated a little more engagement, with roughly the same ad spend.

Instead of reposting the top-performing post as it is, change the post a little. There are several ways you can make it look fresh again:

Add a video

Add an image

Ask a question

Generally, for Facebook, you would want to wait several weeks before reposting the same post if you are posting only once or two a day. This will prevent your followers from seeing the same post too often and getting bored of your Facebook posts.

10. Watch other Facebook Pages

The social media landscape is ever-changing. What’s working today might not work tomorrow. It can be helpful to learn from other Facebook Pages and see what has been working for them.

Facebook provides an excellent feature for this: Pages to Watch.

Pages to Watch allows you to compare the performance of your Facebook Page and posts with similar Pages at a glance. You can also easily check out each Page’s top posts by clicking on their Page name.

To access Pages to Watch, go to your Facebook Page Insights and scroll down to the bottom of the Overview tab.

11. Experiment with new content

Another way to keep up with the ever-changing social media landscape is to constantly experiment with new content.

Just a while back, images were the best type of content to drive engagement. Now, videos are taking the lead. Brands who started on video early before it became the norm were able to benefit from the trend the most.

Testing new types of content keeps you at the edge of the latest trends.

A technique we like to use was inspired by Coca-Cola’s 70/20/10 marketing budget rule.

You can use this rule in many ways. Here’s how I like to think of it when it comes to testing new Facebook content:

70 percent of your content should be the types of content that are already performing well now, such as videos and images.

20 percent of your content should be iterations and improvements of your 70 percent, such as new types of videos.

10 percent of your content should be experimental content, which might become the next big thing.

12. Reply comments

If you want your followers to engage with your Facebook posts, here’s something simple to try when they comment: reply to all their comments.

This would make them feel heard and be more willing to comment on your Facebook posts in the future.

There’s a psychological explanation for this, too. Moira Burke, who studied 1,200 Facebook users, found that personalized messages are more satisfying to the receiver than a simple Like.

Something we do at Buffer is to sign off each reply with our first name. This adds a personal touch to our replies. I like to think that many of our followers know that when they comment on our posts, they will be chatting with someone from Buffer and not simply commenting on a brand’s post.

We use Buffer Reply to reply our followers on Facebook (and also Twitter and Instagram). Having all the comments in one single place makes it more efficient as we don’t have to jump from post to post.

13. Host giveaways (occasionally)

Our contest and giveaway posts generally get the most amount of engagement.

Here’s an example from last year:

There are two things we keep in mind while hosting such giveaways:

We do them only once in a while. Having giveaways regularly can sometimes annoy your followers (unless that’s the main objective of your Facebook Page). I would recommend leaving a few weeks or months between each one.

We give relevant gifts. Most of the time, our prize is our Buffer swag. That’s because we know that many of our followers would love to get a Buffer swag (and we are thankful for that) and they are the exact audience we want to engage with.

14. Create a linked Facebook Group

Finally, a potential resolution to the falling organic reach and engagement on Facebook is to start a Facebook Group and link it to your Facebook Page.

A Facebook Group with your most engaged followers would likely generate more discussions than your Facebook Page. My hunch is that the discussions in your Facebook Group will benefit your Facebook Page in several ways:

More awareness: As your members engage with one another in your Facebook Group, they likely have your brand at the top of their mind. You can also post and comment with your Facebook Page. All these might encourage your members to check out your Facebook Page, like live videos did for Social Media Examiner.

Facebook algorithm boost: This is purely a guess. Since your Facebook Group is linked to your Facebook Page, engagement in your Facebook Group might influence how your Facebook Page posts rank on your members’ News Feed.

If you are considering starting a Facebook Group, here’s our complete guide to starting and managing a Facebook Group.

What have you been trying on Facebook?

If driving engagement on your Facebook Page has been challenging for you, I hope you’ve found one or two (or 14) tactics that might be useful to you.

One thing I would keep in mind when using these tactics is that it might take a while for the results to show. It took us some time to figure out what works for our Facebook Page. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t see an increase in engagement immediately.

Okay, that’s enough from me. I would love to hear about your Facebook Page strategy. What are some tactics you have tried and have been working (or not) for you? What are some of the tactics you would like to try going forward?

(If you liked this blog post, you might also like our blog post on the Facebook marketing tips that we had tested.)

—

Image credit: Unsplash

Post Less, Boost Top Posts, and More: 14 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement posted first on http://ift.tt/2qbaJ0t

0 notes

mariemary1 · 7 years ago

Text

Post Less, Boost Top Posts, and More: 14 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

Engagement on Facebook Pages has fallen by 70 percent since the start of 2017, according to BuzzSumo who analyzed over 880 million Facebook posts by brands and publishers.

As a social media marketer, it is worrying to see these trends.

But we feel there are ways we can combat this organic reach decline on Facebook and we’d love to share some strategies with you.

In this post, we’ll share 14 straightforward ways to increase your Facebook Page engagement — many of which are proven and have worked for us.

14 ways to increase your Facebook engagement

Starting a Facebook Page might be easy but with the falling organic reach and engagement, growing a Facebook Page can be challenging.

Here are the 14 tactics you can try today to increase your Facebook Page engagement:

Post less

Post when your fans are online

Create specifically for Facebook

Try videos

Go live

Share curated content

Ask for opinions

Boost your top posts

Recycle your top posts

Watch other Facebook Pages

Experiment with new content

Reply comments

Host giveaways (occasionally)

Create a linked Facebook Group

Let’s dive in!

1. Post less

Posting less grew our reach and engagement by three times.

But the main reason for the growth wasn’t just because we were posting less. It’s because posting less allowed us to…

focus on quality instead of quantity.

2. Post when your fans are online

We used to believe that there’s a universal best time to post on Facebook: early afternoon.

But not anymore.

A scientific way to find your best time to post is to look at your own data.

In your Facebook Page Insights, under the Post tab, you get data about when your Facebook Page fans are online for each day of the week.

Using your data, you can make educated guesses of your best posting time. I would recommend experimenting with times during both the peak and non-peak hours to see which works better for your brand.

3. Create specifically for Facebook

What works on Instagram or Twitter might not always work on Facebook. For example, hashtags are great on Instagram and GIFs are great on Twitter but both less so on Facebook.

It’s best to create your Facebook posts specifically for your Facebook Page.

If you would like to give this a go, we would love for you to try Buffer for Business and experience the difference.

4. Try videos

If you’re wondering how to craft your Facebook posts, we think you should try videos.

From what we have seen this year, videos perform best on Facebook in terms of reach and engagement.

The BuzzSumo study mentioned above also found that “videos now gain twice the level of engagement of other post formats on average”.

Here are three more tips to help you get the most out of your videos:

Add captions: When studying over 500 Facebook Pages and 12,000 Facebook videos, Locowise found that 93 percent of video views happened without sound.

5. Go live

Facebook has also been pushing their Live videos a lot in this past year.

For our #impactofsocial celebration, we hosted five Facebook Live sessions, which received about 4,000 views and 30 comments on average.

Here’s a bonus: Your followers might be more likely to check out your content.

To help you get started with Facebook Live videos, here are some ideas you can try:

Share behind-the-scenes of an event, your work processes, or your office

Host a Question-and-Answer or Ask-Me-Anything session

Interview industry experts using a software like BeLive

Explain or demonstrate how to do something

Discuss breaking news

Share weekly tips

6. Share curated content

It might feel weird sharing other brands’ content. That’s how we felt initially. But after experimenting with sharing high-quality curated content, the results changed our mind.

We had less than 100,000 Facebook Page Likes until recently.

This helped us grow our Facebook Page, allowing us to share our own content with more people. Since the start of this year, our Facebook Page Likes have grown from about 79,000 to 100,000.

There are two types of curated content you can share:

Third-party content from other brands

User-generated content from your customers

7. Ask for opinions

It might be obvious that people comment when they have something to say. But sometimes, we don’t offer them a chance to say anything!

Asking questions is a good way to offer our followers a chance to share their thoughts.

Here’s a recent example where we asked our followers for their thoughts on a thought-leadership blog post:

8. Boost your top posts

And you don’t need a lot of money for this.

With a $40 daily budget, our boosted posts get up to roughly four times more paid reach than organic reach. As reach increased, engagement on the posts also went up.

Here are some recent examples:

9. Recycle your top posts

Besides boosting your top posts, you can also recycle them.

For example, we first posted a blog post as a link with a list as the caption.

As our followers loved it, we (boosted it and) re-posted it with a video. This time, it reached almost twice as many people and generated a little more engagement, with roughly the same ad spend.

Instead of reposting the top-performing post as it is, change the post a little. There are several ways you can make it look fresh again:

Add a video

Add an image

Ask a question

10. Watch other Facebook Pages

The social media landscape is ever-changing. What’s working today might not work tomorrow. It can be helpful to learn from other Facebook Pages and see what has been working for them.

Facebook provides an excellent feature for this: Pages to Watch.

To access Pages to Watch, go to your Facebook Page Insights and scroll down to the bottom of the Overview tab.

11. Experiment with new content

Another way to keep up with the ever-changing social media landscape is to constantly experiment with new content.

Testing new types of content keeps you at the edge of the latest trends.

A technique we like to use was inspired by Coca-Cola’s 70/20/10 marketing budget rule.

You can use this rule in many ways. Here’s how I like to think of it when it comes to testing new Facebook content:

70 percent of your content should be the types of content that are already performing well now, such as videos and images.

20 percent of your content should be iterations and improvements of your 70 percent, such as new types of videos.

10 percent of your content should be experimental content, which might become the next big thing.

12. Reply comments

If you want your followers to engage with your Facebook posts, here’s something simple to try when they comment: reply to all their comments.

This would make them feel heard and be more willing to comment on your Facebook posts in the future.

There’s a psychological explanation for this, too. Moira Burke, who studied 1,200 Facebook users, found that personalized messages are more satisfying to the receiver than a simple Like.

13. Host giveaways (occasionally)

Our contest and giveaway posts generally get the most amount of engagement.

Here’s an example from last year:

There are two things we keep in mind while hosting such giveaways:

14. Create a linked Facebook Group

Finally, a potential resolution to the falling organic reach and engagement on Facebook is to start a Facebook Group and link it to your Facebook Page.

If you are considering starting a Facebook Group, here’s our complete guide to starting and managing a Facebook Group.

What have you been trying on Facebook?

If driving engagement on your Facebook Page has been challenging for you, I hope you’ve found one or two (or 14) tactics that might be useful to you.

(If you liked this blog post, you might also like our blog post on the Facebook marketing tips that we had tested.)

—

Image credit: Unsplash

Thank Post Less, Boost Top Posts, and More: 14 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement for first publishing this post.

0 notes

imaguiltypleasure · 7 years ago

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@vermilious replied to (x):

same, i love hearing how other people discovered my favorite artists. (it’s funny you mention taylor cause that’s the other favorite artist i was thinking of haha) my other main blog is actually @swiftrecords which is basically my taylor only stuff although rn the front page is covered in tp but it’s 4am so i’ll have to fix that tomorrow)

“how ya doin’?” a cappella is still one of the greatest things ever. and same they’re like chamelons. i’m so proud of them. we don’t have a lot of great performers in our generation (especially ones with good live vocals) but they are so good and I always feel so proud to be a fan of theirs.

no i get exactly what you mean. i’ve been a singer since I was 6 years old and one of the most important lessons was to have a build up in the song. you can’t start off on level 8 belching and just stay there - eventually that level 8 will become a level 3 for you because people will get used to it. and Little Mix knows how to do a build up and make it count. not all songs have to be power vocals. it takes more talent to hit a high note quietly than hitting it loud

yeah it’s kinda like if you want your answer to be “10” in a formula every time that’s great but each formula starts with a different number along with the letters and if you have a 2 in one formula but a 5 in another formula you have to find different numbers for those letters to get 10. you can’t just apply the same formula to every artist. especially since the industry changes so much

the themes every week made it hard enough for us, the audience, to get to know each artist (let alone little mix) but then it seemed like they were putting on dated stuff on everyone cause “well that worked 2 years ago” but it’s like “yeah… that was 2 years ago” and you know 2 years in the real world is like 10 years in hollywood

i’m so freaking thankful they won / they were so shocked too it breaks my heart cause you just know they thought they completely lost i mean no groups had ever won before let alone an all girl group. it still makes me cry when i watch the season over. AND watching them talk to each other and hang out before they were even an official group is just so cute i’m glad we have those clips.

dude i’m like the queen of writing essays as responses so you don’t have to apologize to me cause like i get it haha (also i apologize to other people when i do it too cause like idk sorry for making you read so much)

if you wanna read more stories of how people from the fandom got into LM I started thread about it here a while back :) loads of people shared their journey and it’s been awesome! (and yay for taylor! just followed -from my main blog :)

totally agree with hyd acapella still being ICONIC. this video is of the things that got me into the fandom too. whenever they do sth like that in interviews and such you can see how shook ppl are, cause it’s so rare and incredible! I feel ed sheeran has this kind of talent too, wish the girls had as much chance to shine as him cause really they’re insanely talented underrated humans

oh so cool you’re a singer! all I say is purely from a spectator pov, so it’s great to get your take on it. the build up can be so satisfactory, as well as switching notes up live constantly, playing in different areas of their voices and harmonies.

same, so glad and thankful they won! goes to show what people want, and how there was more of them wanted to be heard. themed weeks are so silly imo, especially when the artist doesn’t have the creative freedom to at least make the theme their own.

yess! the clips of their friendship evolving through x factor are so sweet! I’m thinking of doing a gifset of that soon. I’m sure they already exist out there, but having been in the fandom for 2 years, I rarely see old-school content. and idk about you, but for as happy as I am with the incredible amount and quality of edits/gifs/text posts the fandom makes for every new content we get, I also get a bit tired of my dash revolving around the same ‘new’ event on a loop? like I enjoy things better when they’re sprinkled between other stuff, so it doesn’t all mush together and feeling like you’re reblogging the same thing times 10 (btw I totally know everyone wanting to blog about sth new in their own way is normal and completely okay. this is just me being annoyingly picky)

#vermilious #replies #opinion #sorry I took forever to reply #went to sleep and then forgot :/#haha cool we're the same with replying in essays then #long post

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