“…Pray That I Do Not Alter It Further.”
If I’m being honest, I myself am not a huge user of Facebook—I just cut out the middleman and share my vacation photos directly with you–but its power as a tool of connection with our clients is beyond any glib quip about social media so I’ve really come around on its usefulness.
Archway’s Facebook page has all the latest from “Brad’s Blog” along with targeted news and industry updates…we try to make it well worth a follow if you’re in this line of work. If you want to check it out or just want to learn my middle name, give us a visit at Professor Zuckerberg’s Museum of Online Oddities.
In fact, while we’re on the subject of The Mad Social Scientist, Facebook’s founder just recently announced the most comprehensive update to the Facebook News Feed that we’ve seen since you needed a college email address to sign up.
The changes will drastically affect how and where your network sees your posts, and of interest are early testing results that show business pages are experiencing up to 4 times fewer interactions with fans and followers and 2/3 less reach overall.
The shakeup is set to be finalized in the coming weeks and expanded to Instagram as well later in the year. Although the full implications remain to be seen, my guess is that savvy marketers are going to have to overhaul their approach to connecting with their customer base through Facebook, and that’s exactly what I plan to do.
Saving Facebook
In the wake of these massive changes to one of the biggest resources to social outreach, taking the time to maximize the effect of any content your customers will see during and after the transition could determine the success of your campaign for the foreseeable future.
In short, every post counts when we’re talking about the kind of reach reduction we just discussed, and that’s why having a social media expert is paramount to ensuring your social media presence remains relevant as Facebook goes out of its way to encourage the opposite.
The Creative House Social team has been anticipating this development for months now–and actually broke the story to me–and have devised some proactive strategies to help cushion the blow to your business outreach.
Full disclosure: the owner is my daughter, but she is still amazing at what she does and I’m excited to see her put her plans for helping businesses adapt to this seismic shift into action.
Delicious Diversion
With all this talk of shifting and paradigms and upheaval, it’s nice to have something in this world that remains consistently magnificent…Texas BBQ is one of those things. I haven’t met the brisket I didn’t like yet, but if you’re looking for an especially mind-blowing experience and find yourself in the Lone Star State, do yourself a favor and bring Kreuz Market into your life.
You name it, they have it…fresh made sausage, meaty beef ribs, succulent smoked turkey…if you’re a fan of BBQ, you owe it to your inner fat kid. They even offer home delivery to those without access to Texas, which I haven’t decided is a good or bad thing.
Humanity’s Final 5:00
It seems like we’ve been discussing the rollout of cashierless Amazon Go stores for a year or two now, and the first location has finally opened its automatic doors in Seattle.
This pioneering brick and mortar extension of the world’s largest retailer laughs at your primitive currency, your crumpled bank notes and jingling pocket weights. To purchase items at Amazon Go, you check in to the store using the Amazon Go app and scan your products at a turnstile. Cameras track your choices, and your account is charged when you leave.
It’s a fascinating step forward for automation, and although I don’t believe anyone truly knows what the long term effects of the declining human role in the workplace will be, it’s something we definitely have to start thinking about.
This piece from CNBC spotlights the perspective of noted futurist Elon Musk, and unsurprisingly, it’s a compelling read. His outlook isn’t the sunniest, but it’s honestly what people need to hear on the subject. The future is here, ready or not.
The Last Word
All right, that’s certainly enough food for thought this go-round. Thanks as always for letting this newsletter arrive to the inbox you actually check, and for enjoying this installment of “Brad’s Blog” (if I may be so presumptive). I’ll be back on schedule in about a week’s time, but if you have any thoughts you want to share on any of these groundbreaking recent developments or questions on how they affect you, shoot me an email and we’ll explore them together.
Until next time, my geek elite!