For a year now, there has been a lot of fuss around the algorithm of Facebook and Instagram, among others. Not everyone gets to see everything anymore, and before consumers have your attention, you have to spend money on ads. This is likely to have a huge effect on your marketing strategy. Currently, you have to fight with other organizations for the attention of the target audience.
Algorithm
Facebook announced in early 2018 major changes to the way it shows content on users' timelines. An algorithm now determines how social media shows its content. Does my interest lie in jeans? Then chances are that an algorithm will start showing me more jeans on my timeline in the future.
Content
Facebook's goal is simple: get the best content to the most relevant person. Therefore, as a business owner, you will need to ensure that the content you create is good and matches the information needs of your target audience. It's good to know where your ideal website visitor is online and what content they like to access there. Choose how often you want to publish content and what the ideal length is. SerpIQ research, for example, shows that the longer the content is, the more likely it will return high in organic search results. On the other hand, you should not make content unnecessarily long. However, it is important to make content relevant and strong. The target audience ultimately determines whether the content is good or bad. Once your content is read a lot by the target audience, Facebook will reward you for it. Want to know more about writing the right content? Read our blog Successful Online - Content.
Inhakers and algorithm
Besides creating good content, there are more ways to beat algorithm, according to Thijs Waardenburg and Komala Mazerant. They explain this in their book 'Inhaken met social media in 60 minuten'. According to them, this can be done with 'inhakers'. Inhakers are expressions that quickly respond to current events, news items or other events. By responding to events in your content, you get publicity faster. It turns out that inhakers generate more engagement than non-inhakers. Over 17% of all brand expressions on social media can be seen as inhakers, according to research by Mazerant, Willemsen, Kamphuis & Van der Veen (2017).
Faster interaction
With the rise of social media, we have the ability to react tremendously quickly to new events ye. Social media itself ensures that good catch-ups will quickly be widely shared. With a clear link to current events, catch-ups stick better, are funnier and also connect better with people's perceptions. On social media, funny catches can quickly go viral and thus be shared hundreds of times. This means a lot of positive and cheap publicity for your brand. Predictable moments, such as King's Day, Easter and the Olympics, are especially popular to catch up on.
Effective inhaker
How do you make sure your inhaker is as effective as possible? Coosto recently conducted research and listed the characteristics of an effective inhaker:
-
Topicality
Example post Heineken catching on social media
Note that if you are catching on to a news event, the news is still relevant when you catch on to it. If the attention for the news has already diminished there is also no point in following up on it. Good timing is very important in a good pick-up. Catching up at times you can expect in advance such as events or holidays are easier.
-
Positivity
The purpose of a good inhaker is to evoke a postive feeling. With wordplay, you can surprise people or make them laugh. A good inhaker is never heavy or critical but rather takes the side of the audience.
-
Relevance
Make sure the inhaker is relevant. If there is no way to catch on to something because it does not suit your business or target audience, it is better not to catch on at all. Choose a few topics per card that suit you and focus on them.
-
Originality
This is the hardest requirement for an effective inhaker. Let your creativity run wild. Look around at competitors for some inspiration. To stand out from your competitors, you need to give the inhaker a distinct tone-of-voice by expressing the content in an original way.
-
No commercial message
Selling a product via an inhaker doesn't work, because people puncture through this. Think of it as a deal: you make people laugh, they give you the reach you hope for. So don't include a URL to the ecommerce store or an offer.
Inhakers are a valuable addition in your content strategy. So research the interests of your target audience and put yourself in their shoes. Pick up on current events as quickly as possible and try to put an original spin on it. Also pay attention to when you post your content and find out how effective your catches will be.
Need help creating the right content? We have a lot of experience with this. Contact us and we will help you take the right steps.
