figures between 23-25 million, but the UK surpasses them – with 30 million reported back in June. 

Noticed a drop in reach over on Instagram? CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed that hashtags are now actually serving more as a categorisation feature rather than one that drives reach. Whilst they’re still helpful to have on your posts, the algorithm has moved towards priority for keywords, alt text, locations, tags and engagement from users. You might have to switch your strategy a little, if you’ve been relying on hashtags to bring you the biggest audience. 

Sticking with the theme of our first two topics, if you’re frequently using TikTok you may have come across their recent feature which stops you adding more than 5 hashtags into a post. This is more than just a recommendation by the app – it literally will not allow you to add more than 5, pushing users to be more relevant with the ones they choose instead – helping you get a better reach. It’s being tested, so you may not have the feature just yet – but keep an eye out for it when it’s fully rolled out. 

LinkedIn have made a small update to their analytics, which could be helpful for those who use it as their primary posting platform. The new post-performance feature will update at 3 and 7 days after a post has been published – focusing on impressions, profile visits and new followers gained. 

Creators of Instagram Reels will now find two new metrics when checking their Reels performance – and they’re important ones. First of all, there’s now the ‘skip rate’ showing where viewers skip within the first 3 seconds, and the also retention charts showing where viewers drop off. Both are great to utilise, as they can help to identify issues and make your reels much more engaging from start to end by changing certain elements that keep the audience hooked in. 

New algorithm changes have firmly positioned threads as the leading alternative to X – and now they’ve hit 400 million active monthly users – a boost of 50 million in just 5 months. The changes to the algorithm have boosted time spent on the app to 35%, and whilst behind X is ahead by 200 million, its’s rapid growth rate is definitely something to watch out for – it may become a key platform for your marketing sooner than you think. 

That’s all for September! Have a great October and we’ll be back to update you with next month’s updates soon. 

 

Finally, your social media tip is: Analyse your Post Performance 

 

Seeing which posts get the most reactions and reach is key to growing your visibility. 

 

Simply head to your Facebook business page (on desktop), click insights and then click 'Posts' in the left column. Scroll down and you will see all your posts with their reach (how many devices it appeared on), reactions (likes, comments and shares etc). 

 

From there, you can monitor what works and what doesn't. 

 

Simply do more of what works and less of what doesn't. 

 

Awareness – Awareness campaigns will help you reach people who are most likely to remember your ad, and can help if your business has rebranded or is just setting up – letting your audience become much more familiar with your business. 

 

Traffic – Traffic ads increase the traffic to something like your website, your page, app or another resource. You want to get as many people as possible to click through, visit and take action in the destination that you’ve sent them to. 

 

Engagement – This is when you’re looking for people who are most likely to engage with your business online, whether that’s something like getting them to start a conversation on messenger or take a specific action on your Facebook page or your ad itself. 

 

Leads – Using messages forms, phone calls or sign ups, lead campaigns let you get customers to enquire to find out more by helping to provide their information in some capacity. For example, you can get more sign ups to an email list, or attract them with a free trial or resource. 

 

App Promotion – Have an app you need to promote? App Promotions are great for targeting mobile users to install your app or, if they already have it, to make a purchase or visit something new that you’ve introduced within the app specifically. 

 

Sales – Finally we look at sales campaigns, which are essentially what they say on the tin. They’re campaigns designed to get people to make a purchase, but they can also be used to track things like adding to a basket (which can also be helpful when it comes to retargeting later on in your Ads journey). 

When setting up your ad, you’ll need to select the ad budget – this is the amount of money you’re willing to spend daily during the duration of your ads being run. Whilst you may think you need to put a substantial amount into running an ad, you also need to ensure that your spending will be financially stable for your small business. Starting with £5 or £10 can be enough to bring in significant results if you’ve correctly curated a campaign that attracts the correct audience to purchase from you. By starting small, you can continue to test and scale until you find the ad that works the best for your small business without the worrying of spending over the odds for an add that isn’t performing that you can’t afford to change. 

Your creative is what hooks your audience in and helps you to stand out from the crowd and competition. There are multiple components to the creative stage of your ad, so here are the things you need to be looking out for: 

 

Text – Make sure your text is clear in it’s messaging, concise and gets to the point quickly. You need to let your audience know how your or services solves their problem and pain points, and intrigue them to click through and take some kind of action (depending on what the objective of your ad set out to achieve). Speak directly to your audience members, show them that you understand what they need and why your business is the one they need to buying from. 

 

Headlines – You headline should be clear and short, making it quick and easy for your audience to understand what you Ad is about. 

 

Call To Action – You need to direct your audience to the action they need to take, so select the most relevant call to action for your ad such as ‘Sign Up’, ‘Learn More’ or ‘Book Now’. 

 

Image & Video – When it comes to the image(s) and video that you use, there are things you need to consider. Whether you’re using a singular image or carousel format, make sure it’s branded, correctly represents what you’re advertising to your audience, and grabs their attention. With your images and video, ensure they’re high-quality and with your video, make sure it’s not too long and explains what it is that you are advertising to your audience. Your images and video are the things that need to be stopping your audience in their tracks – so spend time ensuring this area is perfected. 

Finally, you can run a great ad but without the right audience seeing it, you won’t be bringing in any business. First, think about the person you want to see your ads – consider their demographics such as their location, age, gender, interests, job type, even things such as if they’re parents or what they earn. Don’t narrow your audience too much so that you get no leads, but don’t ignore it entirely so it’s shown to people who won’t have an interest in what you’re advertising. Having a good idea of your audience can even help with the creative side of things, so make sure you are absolutely certain on the traits and characteristics of your ideal audience member. 

Starting Facebook Ads can be daunting, but hopefully these tips can give you some guidance when it comes to creating your own. If you’re struggling, don’t have the time or just need help from experts then don’t hesitate to get in touch with 22:22 marketing – we can help get you started with your Facebook Ads. 

 

of your campaign; when you have these, you build on them, and look closer at the details – your audience, content style, competition, platforms etc – finally, the ‘house’ is your campaign – now fully built, designed and ready to run. Without a plan, it’s like going in blind – you may have ideas, but they may not be executed to their full potential or you may run into trouble and have no strategy to help you fix any problems or change any elements. Your team also won’t be working on a consistent plan, meaning some may have different plans to another – making your campaigns feel disjointed. With a plan, everyone is working towards the same thing with the same outlines and guidance. 

You may be wondering what exactly you need to include in said social media plan – from knowing what to post to where to post, you need to ensure the following is included when it comes to your content plans: 

 

Content Themes: Think of the themes you plan to use in your content – it can be a mixture of different ones like industry news, company news, behind the scenes, product information or updates, new features of products – whatever you choose, it needs to be made clear to your team what topics and themes you want to focus on, and how much you want to focus on them. You can also choose to follow the ‘Rule of Thirds’ when it comes to your social media content – this is where you have a third of posts that promote your products or services, a third that’s focused on sharing stories and content from others in your industry, and a third that leans on interactions and personalising and humanising your customers’ experience with your brand on social media. 

 

Audience: Who are you talking to with your content? You should already have a good idea of who your target audience is, but now you need to figure the type of content they’re interested in, styles that they respond to, the trends that are currently circulating within that age group, the platforms they’re most likely to use and most importantly, how your products relates to them and hits their pain points. A great visual and wording can be the first step to getting them invested, but they won’t purchase if they don’t need your product. Make it clear that what you have to sell is the solution to a key problem they’re having. 

 

Post Timings: This may be a little more difficult to plan if you haven’t already been posting on social media, but having a consistent schedule that hits your audiences’ timelines just as they come online can be a huge benefit for your business. Social media platforms like TikTok will let you know when your followers are most active, helping you plan your content around when they’re likely to be opening up their social media profiles – posting just before helps to keep your content at the top of their feeds. Scheduling tools can be helpful if you don’t have the time to help you log on exactly when needed each day you post – whether you use the platforms own scheduling options or third-party tools. 

 

Keywords and Hashtags: Keywords and hashtags play a huge role in your social media marketing posts – having copy that’s rich with relevant keywords and utilises hashtags that relate to your industry and post topics can aid with increasing your visibility and reach. When people these keywords or hashtags, you’ll want your content to be one of the first things they see – which also is handy for brand awareness. 

 

Platforms: We’ve lightly touched on this throughout, but really is essential that you know what platforms you want to use. Sure, you can use all of them if you wanted, but it’s not likely to bring you the best results – really honing in on a couple of platforms where your target is most likely to be can be the thing that helps to make or break your campaign. If you’re posting for a Gen Z audience on Facebook but not TikTok or Instagram you could be losing out on a valuable audience, whereas if you prioritise those platforms instead you can potentially take your marketing performance to the next level. Picking your platforms relies heavily on your target audience, so when it comes to your plan make sure you’ve aligned these two things. 

 

Content Style: Now we have to consider the stye of your content – videos, pictures, infographics, blogs or live streams, you must have a solid idea of what you want to create that will sell your social media campaigns. Again, look at what your target audience is most likely to engage with, if you need some time to figure this out try a mix and see what gets the best engagement or if you already know exactly what style you’re going for, make your content unique, branded and a stand out amongst your competition. 

 

Analyse Your Competitors: Speaking of competition, looking at the type of content they post, what they sell and how they interact with their followers is a good way to get started. As you’ll be competing in the same space, find your own niche but see how others successfully market and use this idea as inspiration – not a copy – for your own marketing efforts. 

Hopefully you’ll find these tips helpful – once you’ve got your plan figured out, get started and see how it helps your social media marketing much more effective.