Facebook has released its 2019 holiday marketing guide, which is full of insights heading into the busiest shopping season of the year.

Here are some of the top insights from Facebook’s new guide:

• As of last year, 43% of shoppers started shopping for the holidays in November or earlier.
• By late November, nearly 1 in 10 shoppers had finished their holiday shopping.
• 50% of holiday shopping was complete by Monday, December 3 2018.
• 69% of people find stories on Facebook and Instagram to be a great way to discover and become familiar with new products or services.
• 62% of people become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in stories.
• 65% of holiday shoppers report being more likely to shop with businesses they can instant message with.
• 75% of surveyed holiday shoppers say they care about customer service when making holiday shopping decisions.
• Mobile holiday shopping has increased globally by 22% year-over-year.
• The amount of mobile-first holiday shoppers grew by 25% from 2017 to 2018.
• 96% of US internet users said free shipping affects their purchase decisions.
• 47% of those surveyed say they used in-store pick up for holiday gifts in the US in 2018.
• 45% of Instagram users say the platform is influential for the holiday season.

If you use a Facebook Page for your business, Facebook has removed the post scheduling feature from the Page.

In order to schedule Page posts now, you'll need to use Creator Studio, Publishing Tools, or the Facebook Business Manager.

Mobile users can use the Facebook Page Manager app to schedule posts.

TIP: I've been using the Creator Studio and find it to be helpful (it works with Instagram, too). Here's a link to Creator Studio in case you haven't started using it yet - https://business.facebook.com/creatorstudio

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From the Publishing Tools menu on your Facebook Page:

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Here's a quick video that shows you how to LIKE pages and posts as your business Facebook Page, versus your Personal Profile.

Hope this helps!

https://youtu.be/xFSLQlnKE4A

(I posted this to our Facebook Group today - sharing it here as well for anyone not in that Group)

Not sure what kinds of ads you should run on Facebook for your business page?

Here's a tip....
Spy on your competitors and see what kinds of ads THEY are using, and then create similar ads.

Just visit your competitors Facebook Business Page and then click on "Info and Ads" in the left sidebar (see circled area in image below). If that business is running ads, you'll be able to see them.

Check it out!

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Just thought you might be curious.... Here's a screenshot of Etsy and the Facebook ads they are currently running.

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FACEBOOK ANALYTICS APP

In the F8 Facebook Conference of May 1-2, they announced a new Facebook Analytics App that you can use on your phone to monitor your Facebook Analytics.

You can download the app from these links:
For iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-analytics/id1266461465?mt=8
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en&id=com.facebook.analytics

Facebook says “stay on top of your growth, engagement, and conversion efforts on the go. Easily view key metrics and reports, check automated insights, and receive notifications when changes occur.”

The app complements Facebook’s Pages Manager and Ad Manger. But rather than just those surfaces, the Analytics app helps businesses track their apps, websites, bots and event source groups.

The Facebook Analytics app lets users create custom mobile views of their most important metrics like revenue, retention, demographics and active users. It ties into Facebook’s web Analytics suite to let you view funnels, cohorts and segments you’ve created there. Some businesses will also see automated insights, such as that you’ve experienced a period of higher sales, or that a certain demographic spends more time or money in your app.

Here is an article where you can read a little more about this - https://marketingland.com/facebook-unveils-new-analytics-features-including-a-tool-to-track-the-omnichannel-journey-239403

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FACEBOOK UPDATE - RESPONSE TIME

You might want to check out this article - it explains how response time is calculated for you on your shop Facebook Page.

Link - https://www.facebook.com/help/1625715647696553

FACEBOOK UPDATE

Look what I spotted today! Facebook Business Pages can now join Facebook Groups!!!

In the past, the only way you could join a Facebook Group was with your personal Facebook Profile. While this is fine for a lot of people, there are also a lot of people who would prefer being in a group - representing their business versus themselves.

I think this is a great change - one that I have hoped for for a long time!

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FACEBOOK STORIES

Has anyone here created Facebook stories yet for your Facebook Page?

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Just wanted to share...

I've used the Facebook Stories a few times now, and the REALLY COOL thing about them is - they show up on your Facebook Personal Profile, too, in a small window and they stay there for 24-hours. I have found more views as a result of this.

Another note...
When you create an Instagram Story, you can also post that to your Facebook Business Page - so it gets double-exposure. Pretty cool!

Here's a quick tip you can use to gain more fans on your Facebook Page...

When someone "likes" one of your posts, you can click to see if that person already "likes" your Facebook Page. If they don't, you can Invite them.

Here's how:

1. Go to any Facebook Page post that people have "liked"
2. Click on the area beneath the post that shows who has "liked" the post and click on that text link (see image below)
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3. In the screen that appears (see image below), click on the "Invite" link next to all the people who have not yet "liked" your Page. That's all there is to it!
   
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Of course, some people might not follow through and actually "like" your Page, but many do!

(originally shared on 4/8/18)

I thought this was an interesting article, and that it has good tips for your Facebook posts.

If you have some spare time, I highly recommend reading this article.

Link - https://maximizesocialbusiness.com/facebook-post-look-like-2018-27593/

Enjoy!

(originally shared 3/24/18)