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Facebook Updates That You Can’t Afford to Miss – June 2018
Facebook makes changes to their platform almost as much as our boss, Nick, changes his diet. For real, he comes up with a new diet every single week.
Last week was no carbs, this week is high carbs, next week will probably be no coffee, the week after? We’re guessing he’ll start eating crickets. Stick to one thing, dude.
Wait…what were we talking about? Right, Facebook and its changes. Here’s the changes from June that you gotta know about:
Enforcement of New Custom Audience Targeting Requirements
Starting July 2nd, Facebook is cracking down on how you target custom audiences. This sounds scary, but as long as you’ve been using white-hat techniques, you’ll be fine. This just requires that all advertisers specify the origin of where their audience’s data came from.
So, uploading customer lists from something like Mailchimp will be totally fine, as long as you obtained those emails in an ethical way.
Crack Down on Users’ Bad Shopping Experiences
This is an interesting one. Facebook is going to be giving users the option to review their experiences with companies they bought from. This is different than the average 1-5 star review. The goal here is to get a trust rating for all advertisers on the platform.
The good news? A handful of unsatisfactory customers won’t hurt you. But, if the bad trends continue, Facebook might block your ads altogether.
A/B Testing for Page Posts
It hasn’t been formally announced, but certain users already have access to it. This just gives you the ability to split test your organic posts. We like this.
Audience Network Releases In-App Bidding
Another one we like. Facebook’s Audience Network is now going to support bidding for in-app advertising. AdEspresso thinks that CPM and CPCs should be affordable for this.
Expanded Tools for Non-Profits
Some sweet new features for non-profits, but we don’t want to gloss over it. So, we suggest you read the blog post from Facebook about this.
Facebook Reviews Now on a 1–10 Scale
Users are getting an additional 5 stars in their ratings. And Facebook is going to be more transparent about the number of reviews a business has.
Still a bunch of updates we didn’t cover…
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3 Graphic Design Tips for Non-Designers
We’re fans of being well-rounded without getting overwhelmed.
As marketers, we sometimes get so caught up in our work that we can’t tell the difference between a fly on the wall or an elephant in the room with web development and graphic design.
Most of the time we keep our fingers crossed and hope we aren’t left alone with a client when they ask a dev or design question. So, we’re taking things one step at a time today graphic design style. And Content Marketing Institute is here to lend a hand with 3 tips for non-designers.
Let’s start the lesson.
1. White space 101 or unmarked spaces around or between visual elements. Amateurs will try to fill every inch of a page with text, imaging, and other elements. Instead, take a less is more approach. Leave room for a viewers eyes to rest. It’s kinda an extreme case but think Apple. What we find useful:
- Keep core elements. Take out anything that doesn’t help clarify the purpose of the page.
- Use wider margins around the edges of the design and expand the space between unrelated elements to clarify page structure.
- Always ask yourself: Is there anything I can remove to improve this design?
2. Typography 101 or the technique of positioning and styling type. Just follow this #1 rule: Balance readability with style. Write that down! When choosing fonts understand that the purpose is to communicate information, not a fancy looking type. Here are some points:
- Create a balance between readability and style by using stylized fonts for larger, header text and the body minimal, traditional fonts.
- Stick to a minimum of 2 to 3 fonts per graphic. Don’t overdo it, cohesiveness is key.
3. Color 101 or using contrast to focus attention. Color is intertwined with emotion so choosing the right ones has a wildly big impact on a viewers perception. Let’s break down color picking tricks.
- Use high contrast colors to add visual interest and direct the viewer’s eyes toward key information. CMI provides a fantastic color wheel or our visual learners.
- No need to start from scratch. Use Color Hunt for color scheme inspiration.
Alrighty, today’s lesson is over. Go over your notes and click over to CMI for further detail, examples, and visual aids.
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Birds Are Cool
Birds are interesting creatures don’t ya think. We hate them 99.9% of the time cause they steal our food, dirty our cars, and make nests in our storm gutters.
On the other hand, their morning chirps are music to our ears and let’s be honest who isn’t a little bit jealous of their ability to fly freely.
Audubon Society of Rhode Island wants to increase the visibility of birds in relation to the threat of climate change. With 314 species on the brink, they are calling for action in a rather creative way to protect these birds and habitats.
Audubon could have gone the sad animal route and made us feel like terrible human beings. Instead, they decided “Nah, let’s show some guy peacocking.”
Peacocking is the display of oneself ostentatiously, or strut like a peacock.
Whether you’re a bird lover or not, believe in climate change or not, you have to admit that the Audubon Society is doing a pretty good job with these commercials to raise awareness. We’re giving them a big ol’ thumbs up for this one.
“Blogging isn’t about publishing as much as you can. It’s about publishing as smart as you can.”
Jon Morrow
