Tim Peterson says, “A little over a year since announcing Facebook would support vertical videos, the social network is making that support more obvious in people’s mobile news feeds, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed. “We know that people enjoy more immersive experiences on Facebook, so we’re starting to display a larger portion of each vertical video in News Feed on mobile,” the spokesperson said in an email. Previously vertical videos were cropped into squares when displayed in people’s news feed, and people had to click to see the vertically oriented version. Not anymore.... [...]

Josh Denning says, “The story is an all-too-familiar one: A business owner reads several success stories for Facebook Advertising and decides to try herself. After all, how hard is it, really? She reads everything she can and does everything she’s supposed to. She writes a compelling headline, chooses an image, writes persuasive copy, but, when she launches her campaign – crickets. Failing to recoup her ad costs, she gives up on Facebook Advertising, altogether, when really, it wasn’t the strategy that was at fault; it was her execution. Maybe you’ve been there yourself. Maybe... [...]

Greg Sterlng says, “Facebook introduced “Slideshow” advertising for emerging markets and small businesses (SMB) last October. In March of this year, Facebook said that its related “Your Business Story” SMB ads had more than three million advertisers. The Slideshow technology has two primary objectives: to make it easier and cheaper to create “video” ad units (typically photo montages) and make them accessible in markets with slow data connections. Today the company is announcing a range of new features and enhancements for Slideshow: “Advertisers can add text, select templates... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “What do you include in your social media marketing budget? Most marketers focus on elements like software and tools, paid advertising, social media management, and content creation. But let me introduce a radical idea – the physical customer experience is a worthwhile investment as part of your social media marketing budget. Sounds crazy, right? That’s in someone else’s department. It’s someone else’s focus. But I bet you would have thought I was crazy if I told you just a few months ago that two men would fall off a cliff chasing a pretend monster on their... [...]

Evan Dashevsky says, “Facebook is the principal digital public square of today. Well, it’s the principal digital public square for those of a certain age (i.e. post-college, the young’ns aren’t into it). But Zuck & Co.’s site is still an extremely integral virtual venue and will continue to be for some time. While Facebook’s business model has evolved away from just Facebook.com to include its mobile incarnation and other associated apps, the old familiar website is still the preferred venue for many. And why not? Facebook.com one of the most advanced... [...]

Dr Janet Bastiman says, “One of the biggest issues that creative teams face is finding the right images to put alongside their marketing campaigns. The time and effort required to create and curate an image library is considerable, and it needs constant maintenance to ensure that images stay relevant to the brand and message. Imagine if you could find the image you have in your head, immediately, without having to search through your content library? What if there was a way to search for your image online in real time? Where you could just describe what you wanted and a perfect high-definition... [...]

Sophia Bernazzani says, “With 1.13 billion daily active users engaging on the platform, Facebook has become an obvious option for marketers looking to explore the benefits of targeted ad creation. And while Facebook’s targeting options make it easier for you to get your ads in front of the people you really care about, it’s ultimately up to you to do the convincing. To do that, you’ll need to pay close attention to the details. If you look at AdEspresso’s anatomy of a Facebook Ad diagram, the headline may seem like a tiny piece of the puzzle, but that couldn’t be further... [...]

Andrew Waber says, “In a rather under-the-radar update earlier this year, Facebook dropped its hard and fast 20 percent text limit for ad images. During that now-lapsed policy, ads with more than 20 percent text were typically rejected or quickly paused by Facebook. The new system theoretically gives more leeway to advertisers, but it also spells out the potential impact of image text on audience reach. Currently, Facebook points advertisers to a testing page with a four-tier grading system regarding likely ad reach based on the share of text within the image. To this end, you’ll still... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Facebook is trying to make Messenger bots more active, but in a reactive way. On Monday, Facebook announced that it’s restricting how long Messenger bots have to respond to someone before they’re muzzled but is relaxing its rule forbidding promotional messages. Some Messenger bots will be able to sidestep the time limit with the introduction of subscription-based messaging. A new 24-hour window is the pillar of these changes. Now, a Messenger bot can, with certain exceptions, only message someone within 24 hours of that person interacting with the bot. This appears... [...]

Aleh Barysevich says, “Have you taken the plunge with your mobile content strategy and optimized for Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles? Only 23% of SEO professionals have taken concrete actions to implement the Google AMP protocol, which suggests that the uptake is still relatively low. Should you optimize for these mobile-focused initiatives? Let’s look at both the pros and cons of optimizing for both Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles, and the three tools you should use to ensure that your web content is living well in a mobile-friendly world”. Should You Optimize Content... [...]