To fight the spread of false news, Facebook and Instagram have employed third-party fact-checkers to help review and identify any news that might be considered false. These fact-checkers come certified through the non-partisan Fact-Checking Network. Fact-checkers in the United States come from various media sources such as The Associated Press, Reuters Fact Check, and USA TODAY among others. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many medical doctors and professionals have taken to various social media platforms with their opinion on different aspects relating to the virus. It is important for medical professionals to understand what is and what is not being allowed to be posted, how censorship plays a role, and what are the possible short-term and long-term implications.

What is the Policy?

Facebook’s policy for fact-checking is very clearly stated: publishers should not post any type of information deemed “false” by the fact-checkers. If the information is deemed false, the distribution of that content will be reduced, lower in the News Feed, and the author will receive a warning notice. Facebook will also act against Pages that repeatedly post or share false information. Pages will see that their content distribution will decrease and they will also lose the ability to advertise. The only way to regain the ability to post content and advertise is to either change the false content and contact the fact-checker or to dispute the claim directly with the fact-checker. Simply removing the content will not remove the strike against an account or page. As always, Facebook does not allow directly advertising content that contains false information. These ads will be disapproved from the onset.

Legal Ramifications

There has been a lot of talk about free speech and the regulation of social media content. In a legal research paper from the Congressional Research Service, the author discusses how the courts have recognized social media sites as venues for users to express their freedom of speech. There comes into question whether these sites are doing enough to combat false speech or if they are “unfairly banning and restricting access to potentially valuable speech.” As stated in the introduction of the research paper, “Currently, federal law does not offer much recourse for social media users who seek to challenge a social media provider’s decision about whether and how to present a user’s content.” One notable piece of legislation is in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, specifically Section 230(c)(2). This “provides immunity for sites that take good faith action to restrict access to content that the provider or users deem obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.” Furthermore, it can be argued that if a user posts content on social media, is it not also a violation of the First Amendment if the social media site is required to publish the content? So it seems, as the paper concludes, that “social media platforms may be more likely to receive First Amendment protection when they exercise more editorial discretion” thus not violating freedom of speech for users that post “obscene” or “objectionable” content.

Implications

Moving forward it is important that health providers utilize trusted sources when deciding what content to post. With such a sensitive subject such as COVID19, there are too many opportunities for what Facebook calls “conspiracy theories” that could be potentially dangerous if shared with the public. Posting and sharing of that information adds the risk of being flagged with page quality violations. It is not easy for a page to recover after receiving these violations and it is best to check your sources to make sure they are accurate in the information they share. Fact-checking is the new norm and we might also see similar use of them on other social platforms such as Twitter. It will be important to learn to adapt to them as I believe new restrictions will be put into place moving forward.

 

If you would like to talk to a social media expert regarding fact-checkers and implications, please feel free to contact us or call 713-309-6380.

The COVID19 pandemic has not only taken its toll on the health of people worldwide, it has also caused many small businesses to suffer in the wake of partial and mandatory closures. As of March 30, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that “92% of small businesses said they have suffered negative effects as a result of the pandemic.” This leaves many business owners questioning “how can my business recover from COVID19?” There are some simple steps that businesses can take when navigating through post-pandemic recovery.  

Assess the Damage

You should run a full assessment of the financial impact that the pandemic had on your business. How much less profit did you make this year when compared to the same period last year? You may find that you will need some extra financial assistance to keep the business running. Also, evaluate your workforce. Were you forced to furlough or lay-off employees? Are you able to bring every employee back that you need? If not, you may need to hire new workers to help with the rebuilding process.

Adjust Your Business Plan

You might find yourself in the situation where you must adjust your business planning for a period before things go back to business as usual. This might cause some new opportunities and new sales channels. For example, doctor offices are turning to telemedicine and virtual appointments for non-emergency situations such as follow-ups. Technology can be applied to expand customer reach. You may also find that there will be an increase in demand for your products or services when businesses can open again. Will you need to hire more employees to help with this increased demand? You may want to increase your marketing efforts in order to stay at the top of mind with your customers.

Account for Funding Assistance

You might find that you will need some extra marketing dollars to help push your message. If you find your business hurt financially from the COVID19 pandemic, there are many financial assistance programs available to small business owners. Some of these services are provided for free such as remote mentoring services provided by SCORE though a partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA). Other services you might have to pay for like business lines of credit, credit cards, and loans. You should create a repayment plan if this is the case and repay as quickly as possible to avoid high interest.

Rebuild

Once you have a clear picture of the financial damage and the path to recover, then it is time to rebuild. Set into motion all the action items needed to proceed and be successful. You will be happy that you went through all the work of creating a plan. This plan is your roadmap as you navigate through a business world after COVID19. Consider your customers. You may find that you need to adjust your marketing messaging. Many people will be wary and fragile when coming out of quarantine. Taking an overly aggressive tone could deter customers from using your services. Instead, try to relate to them and let them know you are there to help.

Create a Contingency Plan

Living in Houston, we are no stranger to adversity. The entire city went through Hurricane Harvey and had to endure a disruption in their everyday routines. The same is happening around the world with COVID19 with measures to keep as many people safe as possible. These things happen and unfortunately may happen again. That is why it is incredibly important to have a contingency plan in place. You want to be prepared so use knowledge gained during this time to ensure success for the future.

Stay Safe!

 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/04/30/6-ways-to-rebuild-your-small-business-after-covid-19/#7bdea4fd16cc

https://www.dexcomm.com/blog/4-ways-to-help-your-business-recover-from-covid-19

On October 21, 2019, Google started to roll out the BERT algorithm in its search network. BERT is designed to better understand voice searches by utilizing machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). About a year ago, we published an article about voice search optimization and the future of voice search where we explained what voice search is, how widespread it is used, how to optimize your website for voice search, and where it’s headed in the future. Let’s investigate how natural language processing actually works and then apply it to SEO for a website.

A Great Analogy

Google uses neural matching and natural language processing to help understand conversational English. More specifically, when people talk, what are they talking about. I recently read a great analogy for how Google uses Natural Language Processing, or NLP, for language searches:

“…if someone is experiencing the soap opera effect on their TV. If you’ve ever seen a soap opera, you’ve noticed that they look kind of weird. Someone might be experiencing that, and not knowing what that’s called they can’t Google soap opera effect because they don’t know about it.

They might search something like, “Why does my TV look funny?” Neural matching helps Google understand that when somebody is searching “Why does my TV look funny?” one possible answer might be the soap opera effect. So, they can serve up that result, and people are happy.”

Salience: Core Component of NLP

So, how does NLP relate to websites? In order to understand how, we must introduce the term “salience.” Salience attempts to understand a voice search query, website content, and whether a web page’s content is a good example of the topic of the voice search query.

In our previous analogy the voice search is, “Why does my TV look funny?” The web page is about the soap opera effect. The content on the page might mention that it makes the image on the screen look “funny” or any other related synonym. This is how natural language processes help determine what results to provide in its search results.

NLP and SEO

In our article published last year, we discussed keeping your Google My Business listing updated, utilizing long-tail keywords, and having a mobile-friendly website. There are other important content features to consider when optimizing for voice search. First, understand the audiences needs and wants and provide it. A website should be a valuable audience resource that provides relevant information and answers questions. This will work well with the function of voice search and the BERT algorithm. Second, utilize Schema Markup. Available since 2011, only about 20% of websites use schema markup. It can help Google understand the contextual relevance of a website using microdata by creating a more enhanced description that can appear in search results. These are also known as “rich snippets” and can be used for business name, business type, address, hours, telephone, etc. Search engines are prone to process this type of data faster with the use of schema markup.

It is estimated that in the next couple of years, 75% of households will have some kind of smart speaker and 50% of online searches will be voice searches. For more information, feel free to contact us at 713-309-6380 or send us an email to grow@brandranchmedia.com.

Sources:

https://moz.com/blog/better-content-through-natural-language-processing

https://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/10-natural-language-seo-tips-help-gain-edge-examples.html

We are moving along to Part 3 of our blog series on HVAC marketing where we will discuss advertising on social media, specifically Facebook. You may ask yourself, “Is there any benefit to marketing on Facebook?” The short answer is, “Yes!”

Types of Ads

Facebook Ads is a very diverse marketing platform and can help a company grow their followers, promote engagement with content, boost branding, and drive inquiries and sales. You can promote your business utilizing text, images, and video content. There are multiple ad placement locations including the news feed on desktop and mobile devices, within Facebook Messenger, and on Instagram, just to name a few. It is important to utilize different ad strategies to fill the sales funnel and nurture leads.

Measuring Ad Success

Depending on the goal of each ad, it is best to properly measure ad success. Facebook Ads has built-in success tracking that will help you gauge the effectiveness of the ad. For example, if ABC AC and Heating Co. are running an ad designed to increase the number of leads they receive through online form fills, they would want to set up a custom conversion in Facebook that will tell them exactly how many form fills were received as a result of their campaign. Facebook provides the ability to do this through their marketing platform with a seamless integration.

Targeting Your Audience

Just like Google Ads, Facebook Ads offer many different targeting methods that enable your campaigns to reach the most captivated audience. You can target different demographics such as age, gender, household income, and location. If you upload a list of your customers, you can create campaigns designed to upsell or promote services specifically to your customers. To broaden your ad’s reach, creating a customer lookalike audience is a great practice. You may want to retarget visitors to your website or people who have engaged with your Facebook page and content in order to promote audience-specific services.

What is a Healthy Budget?

Facebook Ads tend to be much less expensive than Google Ads and other types of marketing campaigns. The cost for conversions tends to be up to 75% less than Google. For a healthy budget on Facebook it’s fair to say that spending between $1,000 to $2,000 per month will get solid results – depending on the number of campaigns and your specific goals. This budget also contributes to organic traffic to the website. It is typical to see an increase in organic traffic and well as organic leads with the addition of Facebook ad campaigns. With diligent conversion tracking, it is easy to show a positive return on investment.

Keep up with us for Part 4 of this blog series when we discuss Local SEO. For more information on our HVAC marketing services, contact us or give us a call at 713-309-6380. Brand Ranch Media is a full-service advertising agency. We would love to help you achieve all your marketing goals!