How to Engage your Fans on Facebook

The Brand Update team is always looking to provide pointers to help you implement the latest ways to engage more of your Facebook fans, by fine tuning some tried and tested engagement tactics that are in deserving need of it.

After all, your visibility in the news feed depends on engagement like never before!

1. Develop Evergreen Content

If your content tends to be dictated by trends, you'll find that once the trend has passed, so has interest in your content. Evergreen content on the other hand, stays relevant for at least a good 6 -12 months.

Create a number of such articles that are valid through the year, and you'll always have something that generates engagement on Facebook.

2. Craft Posts to Drive Click-Throughs

On its own, a link posted to your page won't generate many clicks. Move your fans from your Facebook page to your app or content with a combination of incentives and calls to action in your updates, and watch the interaction in the form of likes, comments and shares rise.

3. Balance Various Types of Content

If every piece of content you deliver on Facebook has the same look and feel, your fans will begin to pass them over for content that looks different and more interesting.


To make your Facebook page more engaging, share your content in a variety of forms. Experiment with photos, videos, links and questions, and choose your top-performing post types to include a variety of each in your updates in future.

4. Gain Insights from Facebook Data

Facebook’s Page Insights provide businesses with key information that takes the guesswork out of which types of content your fans like seeing most on your page.


Simply put, use the data from Insights to tell you which types of posts achieve greater engagement for you on Facebook and adjust your content to include more of them.

Do you have a Facebook page that needs managing with the tips above and more? Contact the Brand Update team via brandupdate.in and they'll get in touch with you to explore various Social Marketing options for your brand and page as a whole.

Top Tips to Optimize your Twitter Stream

Well, it is perfectly appropriate to open a Twitter account with the intent to just listen. You never have to send a single tweet.; Twitter even say so themselves. Conventionally however, depending on your goals and objectives -  be it personal or that of your brand, you may decide that you want to become an active tweeter over time. If that is indeed the case, you'll want to make sure you engage the various netizens of Twitterati in the best fashion ever, to ensure that you're viewed as more of a valuable contributor rather than merely a wall of noise. This post offers 5 tips to accomplish just that:

1. Strive for Quality over Quantity

As the greatest unspoken secret of Social Networks Internet-wide, curating content based on quality helps followers deal with information overload and increases your value to them. High quality tweeting essentially includes responding to and engaging with followers, and not simply talking 'at' them. There are certain exceptions of course; in certain situations, like live tweeting during an event or responding to a crisis, people’s tolerance and appetites for greater quantity increase - so don't hesitate to indulge them in such niche instances when you possess the power of real time exclusivity to tide you over.

2. Craft your Tweets Well

This one sounds like a no-brainer, but never exceed the 140 character limit while typing out your tweets. In reverse of course, this means that you don't need to truncate your tweets below this figure to say, 120 characters in length - a mistake that many jounralists and celebrities, among others, are increasingly guilty of. 140 is the absolute limit - make use of it. The only exception being when you spot a potential for dominant re-tweeting, in which case you can snip it down to 130 characters or below to allow room for the textual paraphernalia that accompanies such posts.

3. Introduce #Hashtags Wisely

Though Twitter hashtags have been around almost as long as Twitter itself, many people still do not understand what they are or how they work. So when in doubt, leave it out! Only use a hashtag when a regular key word is unavailable or ineffective, and there is generally little need to hashtag a fellow Twitter handle, or even a webname or url. Also keep in mind that special characters like a comma, full stop or apostrophe break the flow of a hashtag.

4. Time your Tweets Well

The 'best times to tweet' vary, but for professional engagements, weekdays during work hours usually work out the best. It would help nevertheless, to know the time zone(s) of the majority of your followers and scheduling your tweets accordingly. Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite or SocialBro can help you determine the metric at the click of a button, and allow you to 'attack' the said market at those opportune moments by scheduling tweets accordingly.

5. Don't Overdo It

Be it endless selling and self-promotion, indiscriminant live tweeting, or excessive re-tweeting, it is never ideal to overexpose yourself or your brand in such a ubiquitous fashion. Linking other Social Networks such as Facebook - and with it all their posts also falls under this category. Though tolerance levels on Twitter are generally higher than one would expect, the above are still swampy ground that you're best avoiding altogether, even if push came to shove.

Would you like your brand's Twitter stream to be managed? Shoot out your specifics to the good folks at www.brandupdate.in and they'll get started ramping up Social Media for your brand in all of Twittero-sphere at the pace you would like it!

Five Underrated Google Plus Features

Google Plus has a good reputation within online branding circles - it's good for Search Engine Optimization, Networking, Marketing and more, with new reports coming in constantly about user growth.

But even if and when you're actively engaging on the platform, there are still many features that you're likely missing, if only because there are so many features to try. With that in mind and in order to help you take greater advantage of Google's latest Social Media offering, allow us at Brand Update to list out five specific Google+ features to check out!

1. Helper Extension for Chrome

If you're already hooked onto Chrome for your browsing needs, then you're just one quick download away from a free extension that makes using Google+ a little easier. With the Helper for Google+ Extension, you gain access to the following benefits:

• A One-Click tool to share Google+ content on Twitter and Facebook
• Desktop notifications on new posts
• Bookmarking tool for reading Google+ posts later

Feel free to head over to the Chrome Web store, download the extension and follow the setup instructions, and you have a tool particularly designed to extend your reach.

2. Built-In Formatting Codes

Unlike Facebook, Google+ allows you to change the style of text you post with various short codes you might not know about. Here, for example are a few ways with which you may customize your text:

• Bold: Add an asterisk at the beginning and end of words you want to embolden.
• Italics: Add an underscore before and a plus sign after the words you want to set in italics.
• Strikethrough: Place a dash before and after the words you wish to have a line run through.

3. Google+ Ripples

When you wish to view responses to your Google+ post in an uncluttered, visually focused way, try out Google+ Ripples. Simply head to the top right-hand corner of your post, click the downward facing arrow, and click on the option to "View Ripples". From thereon, Google+ will take you to a chart that shows how your content has spread, including which users have shared it, who's liked it, etc.

4. Google Brand Page Audit

In order to obtain clear information on how well your Google+ page is performing, go to Steady Demand. With this free Google+ tool, you enter your brand page's URL and receive a free report on what you're doing right, and wrong. The software checks to make sure you're linking your website from your profile, for example, as well as how well your posts are performing. After looking at the resulting metrics, you have a clear guide to improve your page in future.

5. Turn-Off Google+ Emails

Google+ recently launched a new feature that, by default allows anyone connected to you on Google+ to be able to email you through Gmail. Some users see this as a new convenience, while most see it as a huge privacy breach. If you want to disable others from being able to auto-email you, there's good news - you can. Here is how:

From within your Gmail account, click the wheel at the top right-hand corner of your screen above your inbox, and scroll to the "Settings" tab, from which you can change the dropdown option from the "Email via Google+" section from the default "Anyone on Google+" to your preferred option - either "Extended Circles" or better yet, "No one". Scroll down to the bottom of the said page and click "Save Changes" and you're all set.

Have you already been utilizing these Google+ tools and features, or were some of them new to you? Would you like your Google+ page managed by the competent folks at Brand Update? Visit our website and contact form to let us in on your company's profile and feel free to request any Social Media service you may need help with.

The Best of Instagram's Filters

The total number of filters in Instagram number up to 14, but have you ever pondered on which ones amongst those make your photos look the best, regardless of context? Sort of like a one-size-fits-all imaging solution? Think of those pictures where you simply grab and snap, just for the sake of it.

Have a look at the range of photos above, of an everyday cup of coffee; and yet off the surface you can notice that some filters work out better than others. Placing them side by side clearly demonstrates that there are sharp differences in hue, contrast, lighting and saturation. Three of them stick out though, even if the subject were a loaf of bread:

1. Hefe

Hefe, simply makes the coffee, or rainbow and its contents several shades bolder and colourful because of its philosophy of upping the contrast and intensifying the colour. Seemingly naturally, it stands out from the others as more vibrant, fun and aesthetically pleasing. This filter works well for most photos, but obviously only if the object has a lot of colour in the first place!

2. Inkwell

Of the two monochrome filters, Inkwell is quite clearly the better and classier pick, and it transforms your photo into a black-and-white still. And everybody loves black-and-white effects - they're stylish, elegant and quite fashionable. Not to mention the lack of bright colours to serve as a needless distraction. Colour minus colour is the new black, pun intended.

3. Rise

Likely a left-field choice, but as a thumb rule, it should be your 'first' resort while playing around with any kind of photograph, and more so the landscape ones. The brown, pale hue sharpens the image and provides a smoother texture to any picture. It overlays a wonderful layer of light haze, and gives everything a soft, warm glow. It works even better should you choose to use the 'High Contrast' button from the gallery panel on the latest update.

With these three musketeers, it's pure instant photography for all. 

5 Twitter Practices that will make your Brand Resonate with your Audience

Among the plethora of social networks that have popped up over the past decade, Twitter is undoubtedly the most intuitive of them all. Combining exciting, useful content with an engaging tone to uniquely connect with your audience is a fun experience to say the least. It's all the more better when fragments of your audience hang on to your every word and make it a point to respond or 're-Tweet' what you have to say. 

That is Twitter in a nutshell, and below we highlight five top practices to help your Twitter account become the best in its sphere, to in turn achieve the results that you want.

1. Keep Tweets Short & Sweet

Creativity loves constraints and simplicity is at Twitter's core. Tweets are limited to 140 characters by default, so they can be consumed easily anywhere, even via mobile text messages. There's no magical length for a Tweet, but a recent report by Buddy Media revealed that Tweets shorter than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

19 flavors. #washedchinos #bonobos http://t.co/r6Q7YUPE
— Bonobos (@Bonobos) May 8, 2012

2. Make it Real-Time

Timing matters, especially for breaking news or live Tweets. But how about for everything else? The short answer: it depends on the content of the Tweet, your objectives, your audience, their geography and more. The best way to optimize the timing of your Tweets is to test and learn, through Trial and Error. Once you have mastered thus, you can space Tweets sufficiently apart to grasp your audience at the right intervals of time.

3. Tweet Often

Like timing, Tweet frequency depends on a number of variables such as your audience, purpose and business objectives. That said, a good basic rule is between three to five Tweets per day. You may want to try tweeting a couple times a day to see how your audience reacts, then adjust as needed. Keep in mind that aiming for the stars is not the way to go here, though. Strike off the options of Tweeting out ten or twelve updates a day, that doesn't work under normal circumstances.

4. Follow your Interests

Following is a fantastic way to discover compelling content and inspire ideas for your own Tweets. Follow accounts that are interesting to you or your business, and feel free to re-Tweet, even if they are your steadfast competitors.

5. Simply @Reply

Engage other Twitter users in conversation using @replies and mentions. The @reply feature is intended to make communication between users easy and seamless. Users will in turn keep little things like these in mind, promoting greater loyalty towards your brand during any future endeavours.

@meerakini Hi Meera, liquids etc are not permitted in the hand baggage. For more info click here: http://t.co/659VMPAGAp
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) February 20, 2014

Would you like active engagement in the sphere of Twitter for your brand? Get in touch with us at Brand Update to examine and zero in on one of the various service plans on offer.

Why Outsource Your Facebook Management?

Facebook has been the new directory of many businesses online. Almost all businesses are maintaining their own Facebook visibility in the hopes of maximizing social exposure. In this article, we will talk about as many as five good reasons why it’s good to outsource Facebook Management to a third party services provider, like Brand Update!

1. Expertise

When we are experts in a certain task, chances are the work we produce will be of a high quality. The same can be said in outsourcing particular work to an external third party services provider with a dedicated speciality in that field. Established outsourcing firms are good at what they do and really focus on their services. After all, they make a living providing such services, so if you pay them, they will be obliged to do the job well!


Look for Facebook page managers, let them do the job at a reasonable negotiated price, and let them do their thing as for sure they are more knowledgeable than you and are surely better equipped at doing the task more effectively. Creating, managing and maintaining a Facebook page for a business is not that simple to do effectively, so allow the experts into the job.

2. Efficiency

In business, time is of essence! Having other experts do other tasks for you will result in a faster paced and higher quality of work. You will then again have enough time to do all the other things associated with your business on a day to day basis. Having more time means having more opportunities for all sorts of things. It will give you space and more peace of mind too.

3. Save Money

Chances are that third party service providers abound as they offer great services at reasonable and lower prices. Hiring an in-house team to do the task may prove to be more expensive and may require a lot more effort such as training and doing researches for all sorts of data for your page. Outsourcing the services on the other hand, may save you time, effort and money, but ensure first a great negotiation before deciding on either of the two options.

4. It’s a Business in Itself

Social Media isn’t just for socializing socially. It’s the new word-of-mouth, a huge aspect of public relations, an integral part of marketing communications and networking. It is results-driven, and is an important investment in the future of your business. Using social media for marketing is a whole lot different than using it for personal purposes. It would be in your detriment to underestimate it and take it under your personal wing, in addition to all of your other chores within the business in question.

5. It's not their Job

There might be the temptation to add Social Media marketing to a current employee’s duties. However, this may not be the best use of his/her time or your money. First, your current employees already have jobs to do. Social Media marketing, being time-consuming, will take them away from their other duties. If they’re not already well-versed on Social Media, add time for the learning curve. You also need to consider whether or not they understand the strategic aspect of your marketing. You might also consider letting your public relations firm, website designer, or other outsourced service agency take on your social media marketing. Again, this is not their specialty, so consider it as a last resort to hiring a dedicated Social Media Manager - one who handles content and budgeting for all the popular networks out there!

Blogging as a Social Media Platform

Believe it or not, Blogs have been one of the oldest forms of Social Media, invented much before the Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus brigade caught on in the past half a decade. For at its most basic sense, this is the barebones definition of Social Media...

...is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.

And Blogs pioneered the concept before the aforementioned websites hit the scene and proceeded to explode in varying degrees over time. Initially known as web logs, it was a format which early Internet users could use on a daily basis to put out personal thoughts on a public forum and await feedback - be it email responses, comments or simply, views!

The most redeeming features of Blogs - of any kind - that you’ll notice is the hawk-like emphasis on content. Not just user-generated chatty content, but the production of content that is an alternative to traditional media AND that benefits from interlinked conversation and comments. Maybe the fact that “old media” has co-opted those aspects of blogs is the reason that some people no longer see blogging as social media, which is quite frankly, a mistake.

Of course, The blog-o-sphere is not easy to conquer. Due to a moderately high level of competition, a blogger cannot merely sustain the profession after a while, so has to morph into a Blogger and Marketer and SEO pro. Suffice to say, that's a lot of work to ensure that their blog gains more traffic (if not gain, at least sustain the traffic it gets). And on top of it, bloggers have a 9 to 5 jobs so articles have to be churned out in the limited amounts of time that he or she does get.

We'll leave you with an ironic chunk of news. A few years ago, a popular Canadian author claimed that he is quitting Social Media and proceeded to give his reasons why. But he goes on to state that he’ll continue to produce content on his own blog. So what exactly is he quitting? What do you think? ;)