Coffees and Content is Back!

Ahh .. I'm absolutely FIZZING over today's email.

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote a Coffees and Content, and I can't believe how much I missed writing them!

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Today we're diving into a few really juicy topics including:

• The TRUTH about hashtags
• Meat removing targeting options and how that affects our ad campaigns
• Meta Verified for businesses and whether it's worth it for your business

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P.s - A little inside secret (that I'm only telling my VIP list for now .. that's you) - Coffees and Content will soon be coming to you in a podcast format, so you can plug in and enjoy getting all the latest social media updates on a Wednesday morning - no matter where you are!

That's all for now, but scroll down to read this week's news and I'll catch you all next week!

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Kindest,

Loren Tomlinson

Director

The Social Collective

The Truth about Hashtags

Many questions have been coming our way this year about whether hashtags need to be added to content, will it increase your reach and will your content suffer if you don't use them?

Today, I'm debunking this myth that literally everyone seems to think is the truth.

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The real (and hard) truth … hashtags will never save your content.?

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If your content ?…

• sucks, hashtags are not magically going to fix it.
• isn't speaking to your ideal client, hashtags aren't going to magically get it in front of them.
• isn't delivering your core message, hashtags won't make that happen.

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Here's a bit of factual information for you …

Hashtags used to hold a lot of weight - they were THE thing that helped tell Instagram (and the other platforms) what your content was about.

Fast forward to today, the entire platform is Search Engine Optimised, meaning your whole caption is searchable.

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So, what does this mean for you? It means …

• Creating content that speaks to your ideal client
• Creating content that is visually captivating - putting your best image forward
• Conveying your key messages through your content
• Making it actually exciting to read - luring the people in
• AND … using KEY WORDS in your captions

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For our content, we use hashtags if there are words relevant to the image that don't fit in the caption, but other than that, we rely on our crafty copywriting and strong content strategy to make sure our ideal clients (like you) see our content.

So, next time you're wondering why hashtags aren't getting you extra reach .. take a look at your content and ask yourself “am I really putting my best foot forward?”

META ARE REMOVING TARGETING OPTIONS

?For all you ads experts out there, there's no need to stress - it's not every option .. just some.

Meta have announced that they are removing and/or consolidating certain targeting options as they are either ‘not widely used, too granular or related to sensitive topics.

They haven’t provided any details surrounding which topics will be removed, making it a little tricky for anyone to know the exact impact this may/may not have on our advertising, however it is a step in the right direction to make advertising less complex (and allowing any ads to be targeted in a discriminatory way).

However … in saying this … it is looking more and more likely that the future of advertising may be left up to Meta to decide on your audiences (as already seen with the Advantage+ function).

What does that mean for you?

It means your content from now until forever MUST speak DIRECTLY TO YOUR AUDIENCE!

If Meta remove the ability for users to manually target audiences, we will be forced to rely solely on our organic content to speak to the right audiences, allowing Meta to continue to push the messaging out to those people (just as organic is right now) - so don't wait … the time to nail your messaging, audience and content is NOW!

These changes started to come into effect this week, and existing ads will need to be updated mid-March - so mark your calendars Ads experts!

META VERIFIED FOR BUSINESSES IS AVAILABLE

The feature every business groaned about (as it wasn't available for them) is now here and ready for you to sign up .. but will you dive in?

Meta verified has been a topic of many conversations since it's launch, with people wondering if it's worth the money.

Meta teased us initially by saying this would get our content a bigger reach and it would transform the way people view your page - what a load of garbage that was!

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Now Meta Verified is available for Businesses, this topic is resurfacing, so we thought we'd put together a few questions to ask yourself if you're wondering whether to verify your business page.

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Here's what you need to ask …

• Am I trying to get more reach? - if you are, focussing on your content strategy would be a better use of time and money. Just like hashtags, a blue tick isn't going to save your content.
• Would I be devastated if my account got hacked? - There are so many hackers and scams on the loose right now, so verifying your account for security purposes is a huge benefit (and the reason we're verifying).
• Is this an expense I can afford in my business right now? - While only $30ish per month, this is still a significant expense and now always a necessary one.

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If you're not quite ready to verify, but are scared about losing your account, here are a couple of simple things you can implement TODAY to protect your business …

• Start a mailing list - encouraging your audience to join your mailing list is the BEST way to ensure you've still got contact with your audience if your account ever got hacked or deactivated
• Save your content outside of the platform - whether it's a scheduling app, a Google Sheet, Notion board or other tool, having your content on another platform means you can always repurpose it in the future

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What do you think? Will you be verifying your account? Let us know what you think.