Jasper Rosenau: Facebook's algorithmic changes favours building engaged communities for meaningful conversations! #d2m18

For today's contribution to our "#d2m18 Speakers Interview Series" we are very happy to proudly present Jasper Rosenau and his anwers to our questions. Jasper is Head of Content + Publishing - Financial + Professional Services at H+K Strategies UK and a keynote speaker in-a-row at D2M SUMMIT - as he was already participating in last year's event.

But as he suggested a perfectly fitting proposal on commenting and discussing the Facebook algorithmic changes for the content and social media strategy at this year's conference - there was no other way to invite him again. Besides the proposal he is an digital and content strategy expert - and a great presenter as we know from #d2m17.

In our interview we very much focussed on the one and only topic for Social Media and Facebook marketeers - what's the implication with the changes of the Facebook newsfeed.

(1) Jasper - you will be speaking at D2M SUMMIT in Hamburg about the changes of the Facebook newsfeed for the content & social media strategy. What can we expect?

Jasper Rosenau: Facebook has recently announced a series of significant changes to its platform. Coupled with recent controversies surrounding user data and its role in news sharing, this will have a direct impact on the opportunities for brands and publishers. I am very much of the mindset that there are a lot of positives that can be drawn from this move towards a more traditional social media strategies and welcoming audiences to be more engaged community members rather than passive content consumers.

When I spoke last year at D2M SUMMIT we discussed content shock and ways to stand out in a time of overwhelming amounts of competition. We then spoke about putting the audience first, which is now even more important!

(2) What actions do you see to be taken for "putting the audience first"?

Jasper Rosenau: In our last discussion we talked about the importance of fully understanding how the audience behaves, their passions, media habits, and what they engage with most. Now if a brand is to have success on Facebook beyond sponsored quality content, we should be looking at how we build engaged communities that will advocate but also co-create content with us, thereby making use of the algorithmic changes that favour meaningful conversation and engagement.

This will optimise both paid and organic reach.

We are still testing this, but seeing positive results so far.

(3) So the fan engagement rate is now the most important KPI to work on?

Jasper Rosenau: I think it very much depends on your business objectives. Some use Facebook solely as a sales funnel. But a lot of our long established "legacy" brand clients seek to build an emotional connection with their audiences. So when it comes to the engagement rate, is a like worth more than a share? And is a conversation worth more than either? Brands will have to decide, but interactions/viewsX100 may not be the best gauge of success.

(4) Are brands or the orgs behind it ready for an honest engagement with their customers?

Jasper Rosenau: If they are not, then I feel they may be missing out. We see consumers looking for more meaningful interactions with the brands/orgs they engage with, or at the very least they want to be entertained by. An audience can help shape how a brand evolves its business and product offering. Consumers want to be heard and an engaged audience can act like an on-demand focus group for new ideas. We see brands like adidas, HSBC Expats and intel investing in quality content to ensure relevance and cut through with target audiences. Sometimes a less is more approach can be beneficial, as time and effort can be put into content which really matters.

(5) But a real engagement also is more than just publishing meaningful content. It's all about the listening into the stakeholders. When it comes to listening I see many companies doing monitoring and analytics for the sake of finding the next sweet realtime marketing spot for their communications? And further if we look at the persons in charge - we need more customer/community engagement people taking over steering wheel. Also for this - I do not see the brands/orgs really prepared? Or am I wrong?

Jasper Rosenau: I see more and more brands investing in monitoring platforms like Brandwatch with varying levels of effectiveness. Some see it as silver bullet to monitor mentions, conversations and trending topics to engage with, without investing in the personnel to fully analyse the data and draw proper conclusions and strategies from it. But at the very least it’s a start.

Here at H+K Strategies we’ve worked to build a team of experts in data and insights who work alongside our content and communications teams to fully make use of the data available to us. This allows for more meaningful messaging and community engagement as we can adapt content and strategies more quickly than the competition. The best content managers understand also the importance of community – we craft content that not only creates a reaction, but also, we plan for how we can predict and engage with the responses. This creates a deeper bond and conversation, which leads to more meaningful brand loyalty.

The issue comes when companies either do not see the benefit of real engagement and interaction with their audience or do not have the budget to fully embrace this opportunity. I also come across many branded social media channels where it is apparent that they are being managed by people from an advertising background, you can spot these channels as they produce content with high production values but no thought to sustaining engagement or conversation, it’s more a “fire and forget” mentality backed up with a large budget for sponsored content.

(6) Finally - what are your expectations when coming to the D2M SUMMIT?

Jasper Rosenau: It is always exciting when people from similar industries come together, it will be interesting to see how our viewpoints are similar and how far they may differ! I'm interested to hear about the experiences attendees have had and if the social media landscape in Germany differs from the UK and globally. I also expect to learn a lot myself from the great speakers we have at the D2M Summit,

We are very thankful for Jasper supporting the event and answering our questions.

Discuss with Jasper and other experts at D2M SUMMIT / Hamburg and register your ticket today!