These may look completely legitimate, with many of these profiles having a Facebook logo as their profile picture, a name such as “Business and Strategy” and messages tending to be captioned with something similar to “Important Notice Regarding Permanent Deletion of Your Page”. 

Many of these messages are sent from people who claim to be a “representative of Facebook” and go on to list several dates and times when your profile has been allegedly reported for copyright or discrimination reasons, later asking you to click on a link to ‘review’ these reports. Below is an example of just how real these messages can appear:

It is very important to emphasise here that these messages are not legitimate, they are spam messages and a clever new way for scammers to target unsuspecting people, enticing them to enter personal information via unsafe website links. Do not click on these links, no matter how convincing these messages may appear.

Spam involves contacting people with unwanted content or requests and can spread by clicking these unsafe links that you may be finding in your message inbox, jeopardising your privacy and business information.

If you have been finding these messages have been making their way into your personal or business Facebook inboxes, always keep your guard up and practise the following:

1)     Never accept an invitation from someone you do not know.

2)     Be suspicious of messages that claim to be from Facebook, especially those that encourage you to leave the site by clicking on an external link.

3)     Block the person who sent the message and report the message to Facebook within Messenger.

4)     Regularly change and update your passwords, and do not use the same one across multiple sites.

5)     Enable automatic updates on your laptop or desktop to help prevent phishing attempts through the software of your device.

If you are ever unsure of any messages that you may receive or have any doubt about their legitimacy, please do contact us for any help and reassurance. We can take a look at the message, as well as show you more about what to look for when it comes to spam messages.

For more information about managing spam on Facebook, you can take a look at the official Facebook advice here, or if you think you may have received and clicked on a suspicious message in the past, take a look at the guidance on what to do in this instance here.

If you’d like to learn more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, get in touch with Mark at the Team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk 

The post Facebook Spam Messages: What to out look for appeared first on MiHiDigital.

One of the most common hijack techniques is to create a fake account using your business branding and details, then going through to comment on your posts to “announce a winner” and asking for your followers’ bank details. The main issue is these people are acting as you, with your business name on their profile, it’s easy for entrants to get confused or worse still, send them their personal information and being de-frauded. Obviously, this is a horrible way for your potential new customers to interact with your brand, 

They might even try sending friend requests and messages to accounts who have entered your competition asking for the same information, pretending to be you! So it’s essential to be aware of these risks and plan how to deal with an attempted hijack. 

What can you do to stop it?

The number one rule… Stay vigilant – keep a keen eye on the comments. If you see anything you know to be a scam account, or people asking the wrong questions, just delete it. That’s the best way to stop your followers from seeing their comments, so be on it! Highlight at the outset and in other posts that you won’t ask for this type of information.

If it does happen, put a clear message out there to say that it’s not you and ask them to report the profile or page to Facebook. Reporting is the ultimate way to stop the spamming of your competition.

So, to protect your competition and its entrants, keep an eye out, be observant and ask people to report as soon as you know there is an issue.

Don’t let these risks put you off running a competition for your followers, the pros far out way the cons, so find a good prize and get it out there! Just be aware and protect your followers! 

The post Social media competitions come with a few risks, make sure you keep your followers safe!  appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Using more than five images on a post:

Adding five or more images to a post automatically turns it into a gallery for them to click on – and as humans we do love clicking on things (research shows the larger a button the more likely it is to be clicked!). Once they’ve clicked on it, they’re going to get a light box – that’s when the image is the only thing that is on their screen! This means there’s no news feed distractions, there’s more engagement… And it lasts longer… Win, win, win!

Getting the timing right:

Posts go further when they gain Facebook engagement (likes, comments and shares) as soon as possible after they’re posted. Just like other things in life…. they need a little momentum to gain that, think about when your target market is going to be online; and also bear in mind that every page is different. If you’ve got a holiday cottage complex that’s perfect for parents, they’re likely to have different lifestyles and timings to others. A general rule of thumb can be early evening or tea time, but do always test and work out what’s best for your own following.

Including a link to click on:

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, we love to click on things! So if you don’t ask them to click, or you don’t give them the opportunity to, then you’re likely, if not certain, to miss out. Don’t let them off the hook (fishing puns rarely work but we’re going with it)…add a link in and give them a good reason to click on it. 

Getting the tone right:

There’s nothing worse than a post that’s written as a post! Write it as yourself and sound like yourself. The best brands on Facebook or Instagram are not only the ones that have great content for their target market, they are also the ones that are the most authentic. That ultimately comes from your personality – so don’t start posting like you’re a robot…. Keep it real, keep it you.

Ask for engagement! 

That could be asking for them to share, to comment, or to like…. No matter what it is, you’re definitely not getting it if you don’t ask for it! Remember when we said that posts travel further when they are engaged with quickly? This also helps with that… it’s a double whammy! 

Competitions…

Competitions are a fantastic way of increasing Facebook engagement and reach, because you know what? We all know we need to be in it to win it! The only thing you need to consider is how much your prize is worth (don’t go too high and don’t go too low) and also watch out for competition spammers… We’ve got a post coming up on those pesky people real soon….  

Have an extra one… Call us! 

We’re going to boost our ego a bit here… But we’ve helped a huge amount of our clients sky-rocket their social media engagement, so why not see how we can help you? 

Give us a call on 01566 232 323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Facebook engagement – 6 easy ways you can give your posts a boost appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Since March, Facebook has been sending emails to owners of Facebook pages with a large following talking about “advanced security” and if you don’t click a certain link in their email, you may get locked out of your Facebook account.

Now to most people, this looks fake. It reads like a malicious hacker is trying to get your Facebook login and take control of your Facebook profile/pages. Here’s an extract of the email as an example:

“Your account has the potential to reach a lot more people than an average Facebook user. Hackers are often motivated to attack accounts that have a lot of followers, run important Pages or hold some community significance.

To help defend against these targeted attacks, we require that you turn on Facebook Protect for your account.

Turn on Facebook Protect for your account by 23 April. After that, you will be locked out of your account until you enable it.

Turn on Facebook Protect”

As it turns out… It’s completely legitimate, and if you’ve received one of these emails you need to pay attention to it immediately!

If you received one of these emails but still have access to your Facebook, then please follow the instructions in the email you received to turn on Facebook Protect.

If you received one of these emails and have been locked out, don’t panic. Many people regarded the initial email from Facebook as spam and are in the same boat. So Facebook have released a statement recognising this and have said they will be in touch to help people activate Facebook Protect if they’ve missed the deadline.

If you need help with your Facebook account or have any questions about Facebook Protect, give us a call on 01566 232323

The post Have you had an email about Facebook Protect? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

These are showing on your feed because you have been on that website and taken some sort of action on it; you may have viewed a page, added a product to your cart, or even bought something.

So how is this happening – how is Facebook tracking my online movements?

Let us introduce you to the Facebook Pixel.

The Facebook Pixel is a little bit of code that you can install on your website to talk to your Facebook account. It tracks what actions people take on your website, gathers all that data and allows you to create Facebook Ads to target certain groups of customers depending on what they’ve been up to on your website.

Why is Facebook Pixel useful for my business?

Facebook Pixel allows you to do something called ‘retargeting’. Retargeting is the act of engaging with customers who have shown that they may potentially buy something with a call to action to get them to complete their purchase.

So by doing this, you can give those potential customers and extra nudge so that they complete their purchase, finalise that booking or complete their order.

Can I utilise Facebook Pixel in other ways?

The great thing about Facebook Pixel is that it’s not just for e-commerce websites. You can tell your Pixel to focus on gathering data of those users that visit your website, get in touch via the contact page, or even search for your business’s location!

After your Facebook Pixel has gathered this data, it’s up to you on how you use it for your Facebook Ads – get creative!

If you want to find out more about Facebook Pixel or need help with Facebook at all, get in touch with us on 01566 232323 or drop us an email at hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post What is Facebook Pixel? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

“You want to get as many people from your Facebook page back to your website as you can!”

The reason? Although there is a perception that many bookings and new enquiries happen through Facebook (and some certainly do), conversion is always going to be higher if someone visits your website.

This is because there’s more information to support their decision, which is increasingly important the more complex or expensive that decision is for the customer. If for example, you were looking to book a holiday, would you book it through Facebook solely on posts that you’ve seen, or would you do further research, check suitability and availability and make a booking through their site?

The answer for most is the latter, and this isn’t restricted to holidays. No matter if it’s professional services or handbags, people want information to make sure they’re making the right choice. Facebook is there to tempt and nudge, your website is there to support and convert a decision.

So now that I’ve convinced you on that, here’s five ways we can get you on the right path…

Every post should have a link…

Start with the obvious here – no link, no traffic! So, each of your posts (or at the very least most) should include a link. You should keep this down to one and it should be at the end of a call to action.

Most of us when writing a post won’t necessarily think about a call to action, but all content does actually have one! You never put every piece of information on a topic in a Facebook post (it would be too long), so even if your call to action is ‘find out more’ or ‘for full details’….. the link gives them the option to get the full picture.

Again – Facebook tempts, your website supports and converts.

Using links correctly on posts…

When you type your url into a Facebook post, it automatically gives you a large link with photos.

Here’s an example:

You’d think I’d say that’s job done wouldn’t you! In this case not! What you want to do is go on to add your photos after you’ve typed your link in. To do this you’re going to drag and drop your images into your post, which in turn will replace your link with a gallery if you add more than five.

What we now have is a link at the end of your written post, and a nice selection of images (more than five and less than 10) that will be turned into a gallery.

From the vast amount of pages that we’ve worked with, this is proven to get more traffic (from the inline link) and engagement (from the additional photos).

Stop sharing directly from Instagram!

I’m a big believer in saving time, but only when it helps! Sharing directly from Instagram to Facebook saves you minutes, but it also costs you in other ways. If I can use this analogy; would you send the same advert to Cornwall or Devon Life as you would to your local newspaper, even if it was a different size and for a different market?

The answer is hopefully no, so why do it with Instagram and Facebook?

Sharing from Instagram limits our ability to take advantage of the Facebook layout (it’s more often than not a single image which limits interaction), as well as get people back to your website, so when we’re on Instagram you want to post on Instagram, when you’re on Facebook, it’s key to do the same!

Stopping this and posting through Facebook itself will help to increase those visits we’re targeting!

Post at the right time

Every page is different in terms of the people that follow it and the lifestyles they lead, but posting when people are actually online is the holy grail of Facebook page management!

From my experience, regardless of age, furlough, lockdown status or lifestyle factor, most people are still online in the evenings. Because we’re in BST and the evenings are longer (hurrah!!), you can actually post later in the evening and it often proves effective to do so. The 6 o clock post can be made later, even as late as 8pm with the same or better results.

As long as you’re learning from what times work for your page then you’re on the right path here, which means because it’s been posted through Facebook and includes a link in the right way, we’re on a win, win, win scenario!

Final one! Send them to the right page

Have you got a sat nav? Most people these days do and also follow them religiously!

So, here’s my next analogy; When you put a destination into your sat nav, are you looking for the most specific destination possible or are you happy with getting nearby!?

For most we want to get to the place we’re going!

If we bring this back to websites, your home page is the ‘nearby area’ – a specific landing page is the destination!

Don’t send people to a home page – it means they’ve got to find the information for themselves, which means that conversion will be lower! Send them to the page that gives them the right and specific information that supports your Facebook post. If it’s about dogs, send them to the dog page that tells them all about it!

No matter what the topic, the page you send them to should give them the information they need immediately to support and convert the temptation caused by your post.

That actually means you won’t need as many visits to get the same results!

For more help and support on Facebook marketing or social media give us a call on 01566 23 23 23.

The post Five ways to gain more traffic from Facebook appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Who’s the event for?

The event is aimed at any business in North Devon wanting to understand how they can increase the performance of their Facebook page. You’ll go away with some simple actions to implement which will improve your results over the coming months.

The Speaker

Mark Worden, Director here at MiHi Digital will be speaking. Mark has been specialising in digital marketing for more than a decade, and having set up his own business four years ago, has worked with more than 200 across a wide range of industries and generated more than £1 million in client enquiries.

The Venue

The event will be held at 9:30am – 12:30pm on Wednesday 23rd October 2019 at the North Devon Plus offices – Caddsdown Business Support Centre, Caddsdown Industrial Park, Bideford EX39 3DX

Booking your Place

To book your place please give Vicky Fether a call from North Devon Plus a call on 01237 426 426 or email her at VFether@northdevonplus.co.uk

The post Facebook marketing and advertising – Event with North Devon + on 23rd of October 2019 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Who’s the event for?

The event is aimed at any business in North Devon wanting to understand how they can increase the performance of their Facebook page. You’ll go away with some simple actions to implement which will improve your results over the coming months.

The Speaker

Mark Worden, Director here at MiHi Digital will be speaking. Mark has been specialising in digital marketing for more than a decade, and having set up his own business four years ago, has worked with more than 200 across a wide range of industries and generated more than £1 million in client enquiries.

The Venue

The event will be held at 9:30am – 12:30pm on Thursday 20th of June 2019 at the North Devon Plus offices – Caddsdown Business Support Centre, Caddsdown Industrial Park, Bideford EX39 3DX

Booking your Place

To book your place please give Vicky Fether a call from North Devon Plus a call on 01237 426 426 or email her at VFether@northdevonplus.co.uk

The post Facebook for business – event with North Devon + on 20th of June 2019 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Who’s the event for?

The event is aimed at any business in North Devon wanting to understand how they can increase the performance of their online presence. You’ll go away with some simple actions to implement which will improve your results over the coming months.

The Speaker

Mark Worden, Director here at MiHi Digital will be speaking. Mark has been specialising in digital marketing for more than a decade, and having set up his own business four years ago, has worked with more than 200 across a wide range of industries and generated more than £1 million in client enquiries.

The Venue

The event will be held at 9:30am – 12:30pm on Thursday 14th of March 2019 at the North Devon Plus offices – Caddsdown Business Support Centre, Caddsdown Industrial Park, Bideford EX39 3DX

Booking your Place

To book your place please give Vicky Fether a call from North Devon Plus a call on 01237 426 426 or email her at VFether@northdevonplus.co.uk

The post 10 ways to reach more people through online marketing – Event with North Devon + on 14th of March 2019 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

Who’s the event for?

The event is aimed at any business in North Devon wanting to understand how they can increase the performance of their Facebook page. You’ll go away with some simple actions to implement which will improve your results over the coming months.

The Speaker

Mark Worden, Director here at MiHi Digital will be speaking. Mark has been specialising in digital marketing for more than a decade, and having set up his own business four years ago, has worked with more than 200 across a wide range of industries and generated more than £1 million in client enquiries.

The Venue

The event will be held at 9:30am – 12:30pm on Tuesday 12th February 2019 at the North Devon Plus offices – Caddsdown Business Support Centre, Caddsdown Industrial Park, Bideford EX39 3DX

Booking your Place

To book your place please give Vicky Fether a call from North Devon Plus a call on 01237 426 426 or email her at VFether@northdevonplus.co.uk

The post Using Facebook for your business – Event with North Devon + on 12th of February 2019 appeared first on MiHiDigital.