Chester the viral pony
What we learned after going on a "metrics" ride with Chester
Despite a somewhat-bumpy start to the launch of Snapchat’s AI-powered chatbot (My AI), the company just released some early insights that suggest 150 million users have sent 10 billion messages to the chatbot. The conversations range from restaurant recommendations, to talking about pets and sports, to researching colleges and universities. If I was Google, I’d be a little worried…
In today’s newsletter:
Chester the Viral Pony: What We Learned After Going on a “Metrics” Ride
For Creators: Instagram Rolls out “Broadcast Channels” Globally
Metrics Webinar: Last Chance to Sign up!
Summer Styles: Welcome to #BarbieCore and #MermaidCore
Chester the Viral Pony
It’s so exciting when a post goes viral (for the right reasons, of course 😬). And that happened to one of my clients in October 2022. Conestogo River Horseback Adventures reached out to Hospice Waterloo Region (HWR) about having Chester the pony and his pony pal, Esau, visit the residence. Posts about the visit went crazy on HWR’s Facebook and Instagram channels.
While it’s fun to have a post go viral, it’s also a great opportunity to see what the metrics can teach you about being more strategic about your posts. And we learned a lot after this “metrics” ride — lessons that will be applied when Chester returns (in the near future!).
Here’s what you need to know…
Meet Chester
Here’s the background (grab your tissues): Chester is almost 40 years old (the average pony lives 25 years). He has one eye and is hard of hearing. He has aches and pains and can’t eat hard foods. Throughout his long career, Conestogo River figures he was part of 40,000+ kids lives at pony rides, fairs and schools. Chester has been retired a few years, but they wanted to give him one last adventure. ❤️
On Oct. 25th, Chester and Esau visited with patients, Day program clients, staff, and volunteers. Here are some pictures.
How We Shared Posts
HWR team member Alex Allen (she’s great at Reels!) created an Instagram Reel of Chester cuddling with a client. We also shared this as a Facebook Reel. In addition to video, Alex shared a carousel of images on Instagram and Facebook. (Several photos were also shared to Twitter and LinkedIn, but most of the “viral” activity happened on Instagram and Facebook).
The Metrics
As you can see from the stats below, there was a HUGE spike in traffic on October 25th after the visit from Chester. We also saw thousands of reactions on our Facebook post, and Instagram Reels.
So, Here’s What We Learned
The Instagram Reel did WAY better than the carousel of images. But the Facebook Reel underperformed against the post featuring a groups of photos from the visit. So, in future, we’re not going to worry about posting a Reel and images to both Facebook and Instagram — these stats have already shown us what works best where: Video on Instagram, photos on Facebook.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t ever share videos or photos of future visits on the platforms, but they’ll likely be part of a “round-up” type of post.
Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly preaching about the power of metrics, but honestly, it’s one of the easiest ways to get more strategic and efficient about what and how you post. It takes a lot of time to create content, and if you can see opportunities to reduce that workload, that’s a big bonus. *Reminder: You don’t work for Instagram, or any other platform!
👉 LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!
Don’t forget to join me on June 22nd for Social Media Metrics in 30 Minutes! You’ll learn about what to track, how to track (including some tips on tools), and how to share your metrics story. Hope to see you there!
🍨 SOCIAL SNACK 🍨
Instagram Gives All Creators Access to Broadcast Channels
If you have a Creator Account on Instagram, you’ll soon have access to a new feature called “Broadcast Channels.” Previously only available in a few countries, Meta recently announced the feature will start rolling out globally over the next few weeks.
Broadcast channels essentially allow a creator to “broadcast” out to their followers (this is one-way communication tool). According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, creators can share voice notes, polls, photos, text, and images. They are also testing several features, such as being able to share a message from a channel into your Stories.
Here’s how it works, according to Meta: “Once a creator gets access to broadcast channels and sends the first message from their Instagram inbox, their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel. Anyone can discover the broadcast channel and view the content, but only followers who join the channel will receive notifications whenever there are updates.”
Want to know how to create a Broadcast Channel? Instagram will walk you through the steps. *Note: Anyone can join a broadcast channel.
❗️❗️Before you launch that Broadcast Channel, here is some excellent advice from Instagram expert @Jenns_Trends.
ICYMI
Instagram now lets you add music to Notes [TechCrunch]
YouTube announces new ways for creators to make money [YouTube Blog]
Meta announces ProMode features and more for Facebook creators [Meta Blog]
Twitter will soon only allow paying subscribers to DM people who don’t follow them [Mashable]
LinkedIn launches DMs for company pages [Social Media Today]
💖 #BARBIECORE
If you’ve noticed a lot of hot-pink outfits on social media, you can thank the upcoming release of the new Barbie movie by Greta Gerwig. Known as “BarbieCore” it reflects a style of bright pink clothing, from head to toe. This outfit is probably one of the most unique ones I’ve seen.
But if you’re looking for a more muted pallet with more of a beachy vibe, there’s always #MermaidCore. 🧜♀️
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