Social Media Roundup: Nov. 8, 2016

Facebook Workplace Enters the Enterprise Messaging Fray

Facebook has opened the beta version of its new "Workplace" service, an enterprise-focused social network aimed at white-collar workers. Workplace will compete with successful messaging platforms like Slack and Yammer, which are similar to instant messaging, but with added features such as search, instant archiving, and channel built into them. The user interface and feature set of Workplace looks a lot like Facebook, which the company hopes will ease the adoption of the service, and make it attractive to users who will not need to learn a completely new interface. "Some early adopters and analysts love the concept... Naysayers argue that Workplace is just a time-wasting wolf in a productivity-sheep's clothing," notes Carrie Basham Young, founder of Talk Social To Me, writing on VentureBeat.

Snapchat Changes the Advertising Split; Aims To Be More Like TV

Snapchat is changing the business model for its popular Discover section. It currently shares advertising revenue with content providers, but Snapchat wants to move to paying a flat license fee up front to content publishers and keeping the money from ads for itself, which is the model TV networks use. The change will give Snapchat full control over its ad inventory, which will be important if and when the company gets ready for an initial public offering. "Some Snapchat publishing partners tell me the new terms make sense to them. Others are bristling, and say they don't want to create content for the company without any control over the way it's sold," reports Peter Kafka, writing on recode.

How To Pin for the Season

On Pinterest, it takes time for a Pin to gain traction. So it pays to plan ahead by getting Pins up weeks, or even months, ahead of the dates you're interested in targeting. This article and accompanying video by David Christopher on Tailwind, analyzes and reports on what was successful in October 2015, including categories, color schemes, and much more. According to the article, while Halloween is past, much of the advice will help you get ready for Thanksgiving and the December holidays. "Should you be Pinning your blog post about Thanksgiving decorations in October? Should you Pin Christmas sweaters in the fall? Many Pinterest experts advise you to do just that, and in general we agree," he writes.

Got Them Old Bounce Rate Blues Again?

Lots of people are visiting your website. That's great! But are you keeping an eye on how many of them click into your site and then leave again immediately? As well as monitoring the number of visits you receive to your site, it's important to keep an eye on the bounce rate, which is defined as the percentage of visitors who leave your website from the landing page they entered on without visiting any other pages. There are many reasons why a page might have a high bounce rate. This article on The Realtime Report lists four. Is your website guilty of any of these?

1. Slow-loading landing pages
2. Ugly landing pages
3. Intrusive ads
4. Misleading headings or keywords

Google Analytics makes it easy to keep track of the bounce rate of individual pages on your site. Get in the habit of checking it and start working to improve the pages that aren't leading people to do what you want them to do.

Daniel Lieberman helps companies, organizations, and individuals use the Internet to communicate, market, and brand themselves using the most up-to-date tools and techniques. Based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., he also is the founder and CEO of Spelt Gourmet, the home of creative wheat-free cooking. Visit danieljlieberman.com Contact him at 413-489-1818 or daniel@danieljlieberman.com.