27 February 2018

Articles for this issue

1. Campaign To Repair Broken Links
2. Facebook Tips & Tricks For Your Lake Pages

Campaign To Repair Broken Links

You can help!
Is your NRM Gateway experience being interupted by 404 errors? Don't feel bad, you can help! Click here to see how to help us fix these broken links!

Long-time Gateway users have probably noticed an increase in those annoying broken links. This is because DoD security measures prevent the use of software that formerly "crawled" the Gateway to automatically detect broken links. Please help in our campaign to fix every dead link.

Facebook Tips & Tricks For Your Lake Pages

Recreation season preparation includes revisiting our social media strategies. I recently participated in a small business webinar, and learned some recommended Facebook tips and tricks worth sharing.

Did you realize that some big changes are coming to Facebook? These may occur as early as spring 2018, and similar changes are scheduled later in the year for Instagram.

• Facebook is changing to a dual-section profile page. First you will see your friends' posts. Second you will have an "Explore" space with posts from advertisers and groups. The Explore section is where your lake pages will compete for visibility.
• Facebook is updating algorithms that dictate what rises to the top of users' individual views. These algorithms affect the organic reach of your posts.

TIPS & TRICKS

• Make your Facebook posts authentic and timely. Facebook algorithms will promote such posts, particularly ones that get engagement. Facebook will suppress posts that look like advertisements.

• A video posted directly to Facebook will get more play than a link to a YouTube video.

• Videos with higher completions rates will rank higher in the algorithm. So, if you post a video that a lot of people watch to the end, that post will get increased visibility; but a video that most viewers leave after 30 seconds will be suppressed.

• Turn on Audience Optimization for your pages in Settings/General/Audience Optimization for Posts (automatically on if you have more than 5,000 followers). This feature for instance allows you to drill down to Outdoor Recreation, or even down to "Camping" to optimize a post about campground improvements.

  

• Schedule posts! This is not a new feature but is a great time-management tool. When you have some time to devote to your page, prepare several future posts and schedule when they will appear.

  

• Pin time-sensitive posts to the top of your page. Not a new feature, but an effective way to make sure an upcoming event or important post stays visible on every page visit.

  

• Facebook has added the ability to share your posts via private message (Messenger). This is a great way to make sure interested parties know about a specific post.

• Share your lake events or postings via private message to the CorpsLakes Facebook page (facebook.com/corpslakes), and/or email to CorpsLakes@usace.army.mil. This will gain you additional coverage.

  

Is time invested in Facebook still worth it? From a small-business perspective, some research shows that nearly 60% of consumers viewed a Facebook ad before visiting a brick and mortar store or buying on-line. It is difficult to say exactly how that translates to lake visits, but undoubtedly there is still a large block of consumers who use Facebook to research options including their recreation choices. Bottom line, making your lake's posts stand out among the crowd remains a good investment of your time and energy.

Back to Glimpse Issues