Meta has been top news this week from
Forbes to the
Hindustan Times for confirming it will permanently end all access to news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, effective immediately. It may take a few weeks to turn the last light off, but wheels are in motion. This blocks Canadian platform users from seeing all news – international as well as Canadian – and would include all our media brands.
But don’t panic! Since Facebook changed its algorithm in 2018 to downplay news postings, it has become an irrelevant source of traffic for Annex. As of the end of 2022, Facebook’s average share of our brands’ page views was just 1.3%. There are a few outliers, with one ag brand still getting 10% of its traffic from Facebook. But these tend to be ultra-niche brands with very small traffic volumes. Thus that 10% is just 240 page views a month. I think we’ll survive.
Social media in general has become an afterthought over the past few years. X, the artist formerly known as Twitter, drives a measly 0.5% of our page views. It’s not for a lack of trying. EB as an example has 17,000 social media followers. Yet it gets less than 1% or 233 of its monthly page views from X and Facebook combined.
LinkedIn is our best social media driver at 1.6%. That’s odd because the platform deliberately penalizes posts that include links to other sites. Still, the last time I checked Google Analytics, visitors from social media were also our least engaged audience members, and by a lot.
For these reasons we’ve been automating social media posting as much as possible. Effective immediately, all Facebook postings will be automated, and we’ll look at X next. The return simply does not justify the effort, and as Meta has repeatedly proven, investing in these platforms is risky.
In contrast, our enewsletters drive one-third of our traffic, and represent our most engaged visitors. Strictly by numbers we should be spending 10 times the effort on these branded products than on all social media combined. On that note, as part of the Enews 4.0 project Stacy has come up with some editorial enews engagement tips that will soon be shared. You can have a reader-exclusive sneak-peek
here. Incremental improvements in enews engagement will create meaningful business relationships faster than even massive gains on social media.
They also put the ball back in our court. In the meantime, we are discussing strategies to capitalize on the buzz around Bill C-18 to capture more audience emails – Don’t want to waste a good crisis.
Do good work on the things that matter most, and be good to work with.
Scott Jamieson, President & COO
sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com; mobile: 519-410-4000
Virtual Trolls
For more shout outs involving Graham, Alison, Alex, Monica and Emily, visit
The Wall.
To Michelle B, for Caring
From Bree – “The last two weeks have been very difficult for me dealing with an outside-of-work issue, and Michelle displayed great empathy and trust by letting me tend to those issues and trusting me to get my work done. She demonstrated highly effective and respectful management by knowing when to step back and when to lean in.”
To Cindy, for Going Beyond
From Megan – “If she knows I'm busy with AR, or have taken a day off, Cindy always makes a point to do some of the behind-the-scenes work I need to complete so that there's less on my plate. It's always so appreciated and such a wonderful help when getting caught up. Thank you so much Cindy!”
To Brooke, for Being Agile
From Rebecca – “I came to Brook with a last-minute problem with the T&R Buyers’ Guide layout, which looked like we were not going to be able to accommodate. Brook came up with a great solution to the problem that not only makes the section stand out, but did not require moving or rebuilding any of the work that had already been done.”
What's Working
Floodlight, for the right reasons
Following the lunch & learn on the Floodlight, our new enews content marketing unit, I’ve had a few conversations about how and when these hi-vis ads should be used. For starters, they are not simply a Sponsored Spotlight that can be used to move current Sponsored Spotlight clients higher in the enews layout. For better or worse, the Spotlight has become more of a product spotlight, using straight promotional copy and images rather than actual content marketing material.
Here is a COO-approved list from Stacy of exactly what Floodlights should be reserved for:
- Thought leadership and how-to articles
- Whitepapers and reports
- Client Case Studies
- Survey results and market research
- Video, infographics and other rich media that deliver value to reader
- Press Releases that include timely, new information that is relevant to the industry
- Amplify-partnered content
And conversely, here’s what Floodlights should NOT be used for:
- Linking to a homepage / landing pages without any valuable content
- Press Releases that don’t offer new information or valuable insights
- Product specs sheets or brochures without related content
- Promotion of our own events or webinars, unless that is valuable editorial content in its own right (research results, expert interview)
In the end, we provide clients real service when we guide them to the right marketing solution to match their specific objective. If you have any questions, talk to your GP.
Crappy slogans
The North American Manure Expo blows into Wisconsin next week. Each year there is a contest to come up with the best show slogan, but part of the fun is the rejects. Below is this year’s top rejected slogans.
My Annex Facts
Did you know there is an
entire section dedicated to webinars in the MyAnnex Cheat Sheet section. It includes checklists, set-up information, dockets for production, marketing tips and sponsor packages. Peruse before your next webinar.
Pero's Open Dialogue
If you haven’t accessed the Dialogue App in a bit, you are due for an update. Take a minute to update the app, log in, update your consent and you are good to go once again. Dialogue is committed to updating their products to ensure they are helping to improve your overall well-being. This link takes you to the most recent product updates from Dialogue, including this one:
Focus on Wellness and Prevention
Check in on yourself by completing a five-question survey to get your Wellness Score (I checked mine just before writing this). Once you have your score, you’re offered tailored recommendations and clear actionable steps to continue to foster positive and healthy outcomes for yourself. Stop and do that for yourself now. Why? Because you’re worth it.
Remember, Don’t Google it, Dialogue it.
