{"id":5519,"date":"2015-01-05T21:21:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T02:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=5519"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:28:52","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:28:52","slug":"optimizing-content-social-feed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/optimizing-content-social-feed\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimizing Your Content for the Social Feed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following guest post was written by Mike Petroff, digital content strategist, Harvard University.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Facebook,<\/a>
Standing out in a social crowd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Content strategy typically starts with planning for and managing content on your own website. Words, images, videos, and other elements all fit within your carefully constructed design. <\/p>\n

But, what happens when people discover your content in spaces like Facebook and Twitter? How can we prepare our content to visually stand out when it extends into social media, facing endless competition? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about metadata. By accounting for it in our content planning, we can control how our web content displays in the all-powerful social news feed.<\/p>\n

Facebook Open Graph<\/h2>\n

Facebook\u2019s Open Graph protocol<\/a>, introduced in 2010, \u201cenables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph.\u201d Adding Open Graph tags in your HTML code allows Facebook to carry over important elements of your web content into the News Feed. Items that should be identified include a title, site name, URL, short description, and image. <\/p>\n

Both editorial<\/em> guidelines and technical<\/em> implementation must be part of your process. Editorially, think about the titles and descriptions you include with your story metadata. What type of interaction<\/a> do you want to generate from your audience? Clicks? Shares? Determine the reason why someone should connect with your story when scrolling through the social feed. <\/p>\n

Also, consider images and sizing (Facebook recommends an image of at least 1200x630px in size). Images have the most real estate in a link post, so make them count. Here\u2019s a tip: Create a Facebook Interest list<\/a> related to your topic area, add Pages with high engagement, and research how they take advantage of titles and images in link posts.<\/p>\n

On the technical side, decide how you will generate the Open Graph code and how website editors can assign content to those fields. Should a webpage title always feed the og:title<\/a> field? What technical considerations need to be made for images? Technical and editorial teams should work together to develop these processes, but also allow for flexibility to adapt to social platform updates and API changes.<\/p>\n

How to Add Facebook Open Graph Tags <\/h3>\n

First, review Facebook\u2019s tips on setting up Open Graph tags<\/a> on your website. If you\u2019re on WordPress, there are plugins available<\/a> that can get you started. Drupal modules<\/a> are also available. Once you\u2019ve implemented Facebook Open Graph tags, you can test them using Facebook\u2019s Debugger tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Facebook News Feed link preview, from a Harvard Gazette<\/a> story:<\/p>\n

\"Harvard<\/p>\n

Why Facebook Open Graph is Important for Sharing<\/h3>\n

Facebook continues to emphasize metadata-rich link posts as the preferred method for publishers to share content. From Facebook, posted in August 2014<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019ve found that people often prefer to click on links that are displayed in the link format (which appears when you paste a link while drafting a post), rather than links that are buried in photo captions. The link format shows some additional information associated with the link, such as the beginning of the article, which makes it easier for someone to decide if they want to click through. This format also makes it easier for someone to click through on mobile devices, which have a smaller screen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Twitter Cards<\/h2>\n

Twitter Cards, like Facebook\u2019s Open Graph, use HTML metadata to generate previews of your web content within a Tweet. Several Twitter Card types are available, including Summary Cards, Summary Cards with a Large Image, Photo Cards, Gallery Cards, and more. <\/p>\n

How to Add Twitter Cards<\/h3>\n

First, choose the Card type<\/a> you\u2019d like to implement. Most publishers should start with Summary Cards, which include a title, description, image thumbnail, and Twitter account attribution. Then, review the metadata needed<\/a> in your website code to generate a Twitter Card. Once you\u2019ve added the code, go to the Cards validator tool<\/a> to test and request that your Card be whitelisted by Twitter.<\/p>\n

A Twitter Card example, from a Harvard Gazette<\/a> story:<\/p>\n

\"Harvard<\/p>\n

How Twitter Cards Impact Engagement<\/h3>\n

Tweets are not expanded by default in the Timeline, so in order to see a Twitter Card, a Twitter user must either expand the tweet or visit the Tweet\u2019s permalink. But, there are other cases in which Twitter Cards can make a big impact in your engagement.<\/p>\n

Pinned Tweets<\/strong>: By default, a pinned Tweet<\/a> will expand to show a Twitter Card or attached media. <\/p>\n

In an experiment to test the affect Twitter Cards had on engagement, Buffer found the following for pinned Tweets<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\n

Our pinned Twitter card received 359 leads. A standard Twitter card that we posted without pinning collected 36 leads. That\u2019s a 10x difference in conversions! <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Embedded Tweets<\/strong>: Tweets embedded on websites display as expanded by default, showing rich content included in the Twitter Card. By implementing Twitter Cards, you immediately increase the amount visual content that is included in a Tweet embed.<\/p>\n

Consider areas within your website that may benefit from embedded tweets<\/a>. Tweets with Vines can be embedded to add short videos. Embedding user-generated content through tweets can broaden your brand\u2019s voice. Extend the conversation around a post by embedding a Tweet with a discussion prompt.<\/p>\n

Measuring Impact<\/h2>\n

Once you\u2019ve added metadata and have optimized your content for the social feed, it\u2019s time to measure how those changes impact your traffic. How do you measure your \u2018owned\u2019 traffic (traffic generated from your own accounts and email lists) against \u2018earned\u2019 traffic, like organic traffic from social media? A larger goal is likely increased traffic, but are you seeing the right audience interacting with your site after discovering content in the social feed? Here are some ways to implement URL tagging to identify traffic more clearly in Google Analytics.<\/p>\n

Using Analytics to Measure Earned vs. Owned<\/h3>\n

For all posts coming from your own social media channels, add UTM tagging<\/a> to identify key components in Google Analytics. Find a structured way of adding a Campaign Source, Campaign Medium, and Campaign Name for each channel and campaign, and distribute that structure to other groups around your institution. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

Campaign Medium<\/strong>: Email, Social, etc. (most broad)
\nCampaign Source<\/strong>: Facebook, Twitter, etc. (identifies the social channel)
\nCampaign Name<\/strong>: Include a way to identify the office, and specific information about the campaign<\/p>\n

Using that structure, your URLs may look like this:
\nShe made her mark<\/a><\/p>\n

The Campaign Name identifies hu_<\/strong>, or \u2018Harvard University\u2019 here, but acronyms could be used for groups like Admissions, Alumni, and other offices.<\/p>\n

In Google Analytics, you can identify this traffic in the Acquisition > Campaigns area:<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Once you have your \u2018owned\u2019 traffic identified, you can exclude this traffic and identify referral, or \u2018earned\u2019 traffic from social socials, with more precision.<\/p>\n

Presentation Matters<\/h2>\n

\u201cGo where your audience is.\u201d It\u2019s a common phrase we\u2019ve all heard. Planning, structuring, and optimizing your website\u2019s metadata allows your content to travel smoothly into the social platforms that dominate our audience\u2019s time. A List Apart outlined the importance<\/a> of these steps in 2013, and editorial teams must continue to work with technical teams as social platforms rely more and more on web content to bring users back. Schools like Bob Jones University<\/a> and Duke University<\/a> are taking steps to consider the integration of metadata and social sharing into their editorial process. Think about how you can make your content travel that extra mile, too.<\/p>\n

\n
About Mike Petroff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Petroff<\/a> is a digital content strategist at Harvard University, working on content for Harvard University\u2019s main web properties managing the vision for and delivery of the University\u2019s digital and social media presence. Prior to joining Harvard, Mike was the web and enrollment technology manager at Emerson College, where he led web marketing and online recruitment efforts for undergraduate and graduate admission. He has been active in connecting the higher education community through events and web communities over the past few years. Mike earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications from Rowan University and a master\u2019s degree in media arts from Emerson College.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Photo by johanl, Flickr Creative Commons<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following guest post was written by Mike Petroff, digital content strategist, Harvard University. Content strategy typically starts with planning for and managing content on your own website. Words, images, videos, and other elements all fit within your carefully constructed design. But, what happens when people discover your content in spaces like Facebook and Twitter? 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