Creating a Facebook profile takes less than 5 minutes, and it is the first step needed when advertising on Facebook. That’s why everyone here at Advertisemint has their Facebook account ready to fire. Facebook requires that all advertising be done from a user account. You don’t have to be a Facebook ad agency. The only difference is if you are part of a Facebook advertising company you will garner access to a shared business account.
To set your Facebook profile up, follow these simple steps.
Step 1: Sign Up
Visit www.facebook.com, enter the required information and click “Sign Up“.
Step 2: Add a Profile Picture
Click “Edit Profile” on the upper left hand corner of the page.
Click “Add Photo” on the upper left side of the page.
Click “Upload Photo” and select the best looking photo you have.
Choose a good looking photo of you and click “Open“.
Reposition your photo so its exactly the way you want it and click “Save“.
Step 3: You’re Done!
Congratulations, you have created your own Facebook profile! You can now connect with your friends, share photos, videos and create Facebook ads! What’s next? Think like a Facebook advertising company. You can create a fan page or start a Facebook event.
Profile and Cover Picture Hacks
Your profile and cover photo are maybe the two most integral features of your Facebook profile account. Business or otherwise, this is what people will come to associate you with. So, it’s of the utmost importance that your brand is reflected right off the bat here. That means avoiding blurry, zoomed out, or otherwise sloppy pictures.
The first step to having a profile and cover photo that you are proud of is making sure the dimensions of the picture you are choosing are compatible with Facebook. As of right now, that recommendation is around 360 x 360 pixels for profile pictures and 820 x 360 for cover pictures.
You also want to make sure that your profile and cover photos look good on both desktop and mobile. Go ahead and use the app and Google to double-check that everything is up to your standards.
Another thing to note is: make sure your cover photo and profile photo match or at least work well together. It’s odd if they are conveying two completely different emotions and, yes, people will notice.
Your Facebook Account and Privacy
It is no secret that when used in the same sentence, Facebook and privacy can be touchy subjects — so much so that some people even delete their Facebook accounts altogether because they simply did not feel comfortable with their information being online. However, don’t despair if you must make a Facebook account to be a part of an important group or for a marketing opportunity. There are steps you can take to maintain your privacy and still connect on a social media giant like Facebook. Take the following steps as soon as you make your account if they seem appealing to you.
Facebook has a whole privacy setting within the drop-down window on the gear in the upper-right corner. This is your hub to make a mass difference within your privacy settings. There, you can choose who can see your past, present, and future posts: friends, friends of friends, public, or restricted. Choose the option that resonates the most with your comfort levels.
You can also choose who can look you up or send friend requests– particularly if Facebook could use your phone number or email to recommend you to others. If this doesn’t work for you, make sure to turn that option off. Another thing you may want to particularly keep an eye on is if you want to be available to be searched by a search engine. If not, navigate to that area of the privacy list and make sure to turn it off.
How do I Share my Newly Made Facebook Account?
So, you made your Facebook account, but only wanna share it with a select few? Maybe just your new Facebook marketing company coworkers? Well, guess what– it’s super easy! You can actually send them a unique link to your Facebook profile.
First, you must create a username for your Facebook account if you do not already have one.
Afterward, refresh the page and you should see you have a new URL with that username up top. Go ahead and share that with whomever you desire.
Working at a Facebook ad agency, we’ve learned that a time will come when you will need to block someone from Facebook. This could include an old flame turned bitter enemy, a troll who leaves negative comments on your posts, or a person who you don’t want to see your profile anymore. Whatever the case, blocking a Facebook friend is fast and easy. And trust this Facebook advertising agency, it’s worth it.
Follow the steps below to block someone on Facebook.
Step 1: Go to your friends list
Access your friends list through your Facebook profile. Click “Friends“.
Step 1: Choose from friend’s list
Choose the person you want to block.
Step 2: Block friend
To block your friend, click the ellipses button located next to the message button on your friend’s cover photo. Click “Block“.
Step 3: Confirm block
Click “Confirm“.
Step 4: Click “Okay”
Click “Okay” to continue.
Step 5: You’re Done!
The person you blocked will be listed under “Block users” on your Facebook settings. To unblock your friend, click unblock. Unfortunately, because blocking someone deletes them off of your friends list, you would need to resend them a friend request to restore them to your list after unblocking. For more information on blocking users, visit the Facebook Help Center.
What Exactly Happens After Blocking Someone?
After blocking someone, the consequences are pretty self-explanatory. It is the final step in removing yourself from whatever sort of relationship to another Facebook profile. They won’t be able to tag you in posts; they won’t even be able to search up your profile as long as they are logged into the account that you blocked.
However, you also won’t be able to tag them or see their posts. This could be a positive if you want absolutely nothing to do with them, but if you still want to be able to snoop or interact in the comments of someone else’s post, consider another option.
Communication via Facebook messenger will also be indefinitely halted. You can not search each other up, and therefore, neither of you can reach out to the other. This is an incredible feature to stop the ramifications of bullying. Out of sight, out of mind– right?
What are Other Options Besides for Blocking?
Does the above sound maybe just the teensiest bit too far? For example, there is definitely still someone in mind who is getting on your nerves or going too far. Or, maybe another example that resonates, is that you just want the effects of temporarily blocking someone, so you can post a picture that you specifically don’t want a certain someone to see? Consider using the hiding posts option then.
Or, if you are fine with occasional messaging or interaction on other posts, maybe it is time to say goodbye to a friendship silently and unfriend them altogether. This is another extremely common option that has less of a negative and extreme connotation as blocking someone.
What is the Hide Feature?
As mentioned earlier, you can go ahead and hide someone’s post and all future posts. For all intents and purposes, this means you do not have to see their content on your newsfeed, but that they can also still see yours. If you also want to be able to see their content when you have the mental capacity for it, you can still search them up on Facebook and view their content normally. Facebook will also take note of the kind of content that you chose to hide and try their best to avoid showing similar content on your newsfeed.
You can access the hide feature through the three ellipses in the corner of the post in question. There, you can choose whether you want the content indefinitely hidden or if you only want to hide their content for thirty days.
In the age of instant messaging, communication has become visually centered. The messages millennials and the younger generation send to their peers are often punctuated by emojis. Sometimes, no text is included at all. Instead, only a single looping animation appears, evoking meaning and emotion. Those ubiquitous looping graphics are called GIFs (the AdvertiseMint Facebook ad agency team are huge fans of communicating through GIFs).
A GIF, or Graphical Interchange Format, is a series of images or one soundless video that continuously loop without pressing play. Although GIFs exploded into pop culture during the past several years, they have existed since 1987, invented by a man named Steve Wilhite, a computer scientist at CompuServe who wanted to create animated images in the smallest file size. https://giphy.com/embed/14cilFdQzr8hG0
GIFs slowly phased out of popularity when, in 1995, Unisys Corp. demanded royalty payment for software that used its patented algorithm. This algorithm, called Lempel-Ziv-Welch, or LZW for short, creates the GIF. In protest, developers stopped using GIFS and instead created alternatives, such as the PNG. Now GIFs have crept back into relevance, protected by copyright laws under fair use.
GIFs are no longer strictly appropriate for the office Slack channel. Although currently omnipresent in social media and instant messaging apps, GIFs are not yet fully embraced in one area of the digital world: Facebook advertising. Spending some time on News Feed reveals a deficit in GIF ads while video, carousel, and image formats abound. Does the GIF’s scant presence on Facebook allude it its efficacy? Hardly. In fact, two studies show the GIF to be a beneficial part of a marketer’s advertising strategy.
Preparing to launch the Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook, a laptop that folds into a tablet, Dell’s marketing team struggled to showcase the device’s functionality in its email campaign. A large video file would crowd customers’ emails and a static image couldn’t accurately demonstrate the product’s cutting-edge capability. The team decided that animation, specifically a GIF, was the answer.
Dell’s email contains a GIF that demonstrates the transformation of the Dell XPS Convertible Ultrabook.
The email with the GIF resulted in a 6 percent increase in open rate, a 42 percent increase in click rate, a 103 percent increase in conversion rate, and a 109 percent increase in revenue. By looping without the need to press play, the GIF provided convenience while forcing both interested and uninterested customers to watch. (Customers couldn’t pause the animation, as is the nature of GIFs.) The looping format also accurately showed how the laptop flipped and folded into a tablet. Dell’s email campaign proved the GIF to be an effective way to demo complicated products without the need to craft a long video.
GIFs aren’t only useful in product demos. They are also useful in connecting with a younger audience.
A Harris Poll survey commissioned by GIF platform, Tenor, found that GIFs communicate thoughts and emotions better than the English language. Of the 2,000 interviewed US participants, the majority of respondents across age groups claimed to feel more connected to the people they frequently message when using emojis and GIFs. Sixty-eight percent of the millennial respondents claimed to be more comfortable expressing emotions through GIFs than through phone conversations.
GIFs, unlike words, can convey both meaning and emotion. For example, a GIF that shows a happy person jumping and clapping conveys excitement better than the words “I’m so excited,” which could be read with either a jubilant, apathetic, or sarcastic tone. GIFs can also help the messenger appear more in tune with pop culture, as many GIFs contain memes that reference trending events. https://giphy.com/embed/5GoVLqeAOo6PK
GIFs can be a great addition to a marketer’s digital advertising campaign or any Facebook advertising agency, and thanks to the existence of GIF-creation sites, anyone can make a GIF, even those who have no Photoshop experience.
How to Create a GIF on Giphy
Giphy.com is a free website that allows you to create GIFs for public use. Anyone can create a GIF using images, videos, or URLs. The process for creating a GIF using a URL or video is the same. The example below shows the process for a URL conversion.
Step 1: Enter video URL.
Giphy supports URLs from its site, as well as YouTube and Vimeo.
Step 2: Trim video
To capture the main message of your video, you must trim it. The example video below runs for 39 seconds, with unnecessary parts that need to be excluded. The trim only includes the heart of the message, the sweet line from Avengers Endgame, “I love you 3,000.” I adjusted the start time to begin when the words “I love you 3,000” first appear on the screen. Then I trimmed the video’s duration to .8 seconds to exclude the rest of the scene from the GIF.
Step 3: Decorate your GIF
You can decorate your GIF with captions, filters, stickers, and drawings. Conveniently, the video already has a caption. However, for the sake of this tutorial, I wrote the words “Me to my cats” in big white font, providing context for the message “I love you 3,000.” The text you add must communicate the message you want to convey and complement the animation you choose. You can drag your text anywhere on the GIF.
Step 4: Upload the GIF to Giphy
The GIF will upload to the site’s database for public use. You must enter relevant tags to help users find your GIF in the site.
The process of creating a GIF using images is similar to the process of creating a GIF using a video or URL. You simply upload your images and adjust the duration to control how quickly you want the images to cycle through. Once converted as a GIF, the images will appear in a quick slideshow fashion.
How to Create Facebook GIF Ads
For many years Facebook did not support GIFs; in fact, Facebook didn’t allow them into the platform until 2015. Since then, Facebook has welcomed them. In 2017, Facebook rolled out GIFs in comment sections and Ads Manager, giving advertisers the opportunity to run GIF ads. Facebook’s embrace of GIFs was likely precipitated by its popularity among Facebook users. In 2017, people sent nearly 13 billion GIFs through Messenger—that’s almost 25,000 GIFs sent each minute.
There are two ways to create Facebook GIF ads. One is to boost a post and the other is to create the ad in Ads Manager.
Creating GIF Ads by Boosting a Post
Step 1: Upload the GIF to your page post.
Although you can enter a GIF link that populates the animation into your Facebook post, GIF links don’t work in page posts due to third-party limitations. Instead, you must download the GIF to your computer and upload it to your page post. https://giphy.com/embed/lqROI9r1rM2uYiBIIo
A note about Giphy downloads: You can’t download GIFs from your desktop, but you can do so from the Giphy app. The best—albeit roundabout—way of downloading Giphy GIFs is to save them to your phone. You can then email them to yourself, download them to your computer, and upload them to your post.
Step 2: Boost the post
When you boost your post, make sure to fill in all required information: choose your objective, create your target audience, set your budget, and select your call-to-action button.
Creating GIF Ads in Ads Manager
When choosing the GIF for your ad, Facebook recommends you do the following:
Choose high-quality images or animations.
Choose subtle motion.
Use a link ending with .gif.
Use a GIF with a file size of less than 8MB.
Use a GIF with less than 20 percent text on the image.
Avoid GIFs that flash or appear grainy.
Avoid splashy, one-off posts.
Use GIFs to tell a bigger story.
You must also abide by Facebook’s video recommendations and specifications:
Recommended length: up to 15 seconds
Recommended aspect ratio: vertical (4:5)
Sound: enabled with captions included
Recommended format: .mp4, .mov or .gif
Required lengths by placement:
Facebook: 240 minutes max
Audience Network: 5 to 120 seconds
Instagram stories: Up to 120 seconds
Instagram feed: Up to 120 seconds
Rewarded video: 3 to 60 seconds
Resolution: 600px minimum width
File size: up to 4 GB max
Step 1: Choose an objective that supports the video format.
Objectives eligible for the video format are video views, brand awareness, reach, traffic, app installs, lead generation, messages, conversion, engagement, and store traffic.
Step 2: In the ad set under the “Format” section, upload your GIF by clicking “Upload Video”
Step 3 : Submit to Facebook for review
After you’ve finished all the necessary steps to create a Facebook ad—creating your audience, writing your copy, linking to your landing page, choosing a CTA button, setting up your Facebook pixel—submit the ad for review. If you want to see what your ad looks like on your phone, send a preview.
GIFs hold a special place in pop culture. It is ubiquitous in social media and people’s instant messages. Yet, GIFs have not been fully embraced by the digital advertising community, even though it has proven to be a hit among the younger generation and a useful asset in email marketing. Nonetheless, as communication becomes more and more visually centric, it’s hard to believe that GIFs are going to be phased out anytime soon.
I don’t mean to sound hipster, but I was in the Facebook Marketplace game long before Marketplace was even conceived, before any Facebook advertising company was even really big. I was a college student surviving on savings, scholarships, and financial aid. I was poor, and I was hungry for deals because, as most everyone knows, college is expensive. Then I discovered buy-and-sell groups.
Before Marketplace existed, users were already buying and selling on the social network’s platform, on groups where people trade and sell used items. I joined these groups to purchase clothing, household items, and textbooks. I’ve had plenty of experience as both the seller and the customer, meeting with students to close deals in lecture halls, libraries, and cafeterias, and I can proudly boast that I have—not once—been hoodwinked by shady dealers. You don’t have to be a big-time editor for a top Facebook ad agency to know what the red flags are. There are several ways that you, too, can outsmart scammers.
1. Research the Product
Before you even begin seriously considering an item, you must first research the product. Remember that the seller isn’t likely the only person selling that item. You will probably also find it listed in other Facebook groups, as well as legitimate e-commerce sites for used items, such as eBay. Search for the product online to see how much other merchants are selling it for. It’s also wise to find the original retail price of the product to determine whether the seller is giving you a fair deal or whether the seller is ripping you off.
2. Don’t Fall for “Bids”
Bruce Mars / Pexels
After contacting the seller to express your interest in an item, that seller may respond with this: several other customers are interested in the product, and they are all bidding for it. How much are you willing to bid for the item? Although bids do happen, they usually occur within the comments section of the listed product. These bidders will comment with their offers until one user outbids them all. However, be wary of secret bids that a seller is claiming to exist without any physical evidence. If you’re not careful, you may be tricked by a seller fictitiously creating a bid to overcharge you for the product.
3. Closely Inspect Furniture and Rugs for Bedbugs
Bedbugs are a growing problem that plague even pristine and glittering five-star hotels. They are difficult and expensive to kill, and they reproduce too quickly. For this reason, you must be wary of any used furniture you want to buy. Before purchasing, ask the seller why he or she is selling the items. Additionally, ask to see the pieces in person, so you can closely inspect for bedbug droppings, sheddings, or eggs. Don’t buy furniture with rips, as those could be hiding spaces for these pests.
4. Ask for More Images
How do you know the item you want to purchase actually exists? The seller could very easily pull an image online, post it to Marketplace, and sell the “item.” To ensure that the seller isn’t trying to scam you with an imaginary product, ask to see more images. Ideally, ask for images taken in real-time. If the seller keeps making excuses to avoid providing more pictures (Oh, I’m not home; my camera broke; I lost my phone), that’s a red flag you shouldn’t ignore.
5. Meet at a Public Space
Helena Lopes / Pexels
This is perhaps the most important precautionary step in this list. You must absolutely insist on meeting in a public space when it comes time to pick up your item. Starbucks is a great place to do it or even a grocery store parking lot. Never meet in the dark, in a strange secluded alley, on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, or at someone’s house. If you do have to meet at someone’s home, make sure to bring a friend or two. If you’re going alone, let a friend or a family member know where you’re headed.
This precaution, although it may sound paranoid to you, will save you from becoming a victim of a crime, like an assault, robbery, or worse. After all, you’re meeting a stranger for the first time. You never know.
6. Test the Product Before Paying
Before you hand your cash over to the seller, make sure to thoroughly inspect the item for defects. If you’re purchasing clothing, make sure to try the items to ensure they’re the perfect fit for you. If you find that the item is defective in any way, you can even try haggling the price down.
The Rise of Facebook Marketplace
Buying and selling on Facebook existed even before Marketplace rolled out to the public. It first arrived to the platform in October of 2016, and by that time, users were already hunting for the best deals on used items.
When Facebook announced Marketplace’s rollout, many believed it was an attempt to compete against retail sites like eBay and Amazon. This is not a surprising conclusion. Marketplace and buy-and-sell sites function similarly. You search for great deals on Marketplace by category, price, or location. If you tap on an item, you will find details such as the name, profile photo, and location of the seller and product description. You can save an item to buy for later or you can send the seller a direct message if you would like to make a purchase.
Buying and selling on Facebook, which may seem strange to some, makes perfect sense upon further examination. Think about it: Facebook already has numerous buy-and-sell group pages such as UCSB Free and For Sale, Fashion Exchange, and OC Buy and Sell. These groups aren’t obscure groups that have only a small following. According to Facebook, more than 450 million users visit buy-and-sell groups each month.
If you find social media platforms meddling with e-commerce strange, keep this in mind: Social commerce, as they call it, has already taken root in Asia. If you already participate in social commerce, just remember: take precautionary steps before purchasing.
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For many, stalking comment sections can be both entertaining and vexing. On the one hand, it’s amusing to watch people bicker in long paragraphs and spectators drop in their snide commentaries. On the other hand, it’s frustrating to watch people argue over remarks and topics that are inconsequential. These days, anyone can feel enraged and offended over nothing.
New to Facebook advertising? We are the number one rated Facebook advertising agency and we can help you set up, manage, and optimize your ads. Call 844-236-4686 today for a free consultation.
Yes, the comments section is both a curse and a blessing. Invented as a tool to foster meaningful discussions that could make any Facebook ad agency rejoice, it is now a battleground for keyboard warriors and ruthless trolls emboldened by anonymity. Posting on the internet is to risk exposing oneself to ridicule and hate.
A few social media networks allow you to block unwanted comments. Instagram and Facebook, specifically, allow you to block comments from the accounts you choose and filter out comments with offensive words. There are several reasons that may compel you to block comments on social media.
A Case for Blocking Comments
Higher Click-Through Rates
In an A/B test by Agora Pulse, the researchers found that Facebook ads with negative comments received lower click-through rates (CTR) than ads with positive comments.
The researchers tested ads identical in copy, objective, ad format, and call-to-action buttons. However, one ad contained only positive comments while the other only contained negative comments. The results showed that the ad with positive comments received a 1.88 percent CTR while the ad with the negative comments received a 1.30 percent CTR.
The ad with the positive comments likely performed better because comments function as social proof. Users are less likely to click on an ad that people are bombarding with negative reviews. If people claim that the business or product advertised is bad, then it must be.
Peace of Mind
In an April 2018 survey by Pew Research Center, teens were asked why social media is harmful to their age group. The common answer? Bullying.
Of the teens surveyed, 27 percent said bullying, as well as rumor spreading, made social media harmful to their mental health.
This revelation isn’t at all surprising. Mental health professionals have long suspected social media to be detrimental to the well-being of its users. According to CNN News, a recent study by the American Psychological Association found an increase in reported negative psychological symptoms from an age group called the iGen, teens born in 1995 or later. Researchers suspect that the rise of social media resulted in negative psychological symptoms in teens.
Of course, correlation does not mean causation. One mental health professional advises the public to be cautious when correlating mental health with social media use.
“We can’t say for certain that the rise we’re seeing is the direct result of social media use,” said Aaron Fobian, clinical psychologist and assistant professor in psychiatry at the University of Alabama, to CNN News. “For example, teens could have depressive or anxious symptoms and therefore spend more time on social media outlets to look for a way to connect.”
Still, if the ping! of your comment notifications fills you with dread, blocking comments or filtering out offensive ones may give you peace of mind.
Curbing Defamation
Blocking comments may be especially important if you manage an online business page. As a business owner, you must uphold the reputation of your brand to attract and keep customers. However, there are bad actors—perhaps a competitor, scammer, or disgruntled ex-employee who’s determined to take you down—who may make false, damaging accusations or statements about your business on your posts and ads.
In fact, back in 2018, bitcoin scams were proliferating in the comment sections of posts published by several companies. One such company was the online publishing website The Verge whose comment sections were attacked by imposters using a fake account donning the publisher’s name and logo. The scam invited victims into providing personal information in exchange for free bitcoins.
The scam, which can be damaging to The Verge’s brand, fits the definition of online defamation as described by HG.org, a law, and government online resource:
“When individuals feel that their reputation is damaged because of a reckless comment made on Facebook, Twitter or other social media channels, they may consider pursuing a defamation lawsuit against the insulting party.”
There are many ways to handle a person who defames your business, such as taking legal action as suggested by HG.org. However, taking legal action can be expensive and time-consuming. An alternative is to shut down perpetrators by blocking their comments from appearing on your posts, which Instagram allows you to do.
A Safe Place to Share Ideas
In the world of social media, engagement is key to increasing the reach of your organic posts. Both the algorithms of Instagram and Facebook place posts that are teeming with comments, likes, and shares higher in users’ feeds. Because social media engagement is so pivotal to organic reach, you, too, should strive to increase engagement on your posts, and you can do that by garnering comments. However, trolls may cow followers into silence.
By eliminating trolls from your pages, you are providing followers a safe space to voice their ideas, consequently encouraging them to write comments on your posts. Rather than spewing insults at each other, followers are forced to convey their opinions in a productive and useful way that avoids unnecessary conflict.
A Clean and Professional Page
As a business owner, you’re responsible for maintaining your brand’s image. There are many ways to do this, and one involves aligning yourself with reputable partners, such as influencers or celebrities who aren’t plagued by scandals.
Aligning yourself with the wrong kind of followers can also damage your brand’s reputation. Walmart, for example, has been negatively associated with the disreputable customers that shop at the company’s stores, so much so that those customers have become a meme, earning the title “People of Walmart.” Of course, not all of Walmart’s customers are similar to the ones portrayed in memes, yet people associate both the brand and its customers with ill repute.
Trolls who often post offensive comments on your page and attack other followers may negatively affect your brand’s image. People may conclude that if your brand attracts unsavory individuals, your brand must also be unsavory.
An Alternative to Deleting Comments
Some businesses delete offensive remarks from trolls in an attempt to keep their comment sections clean. However, this practice is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’re keeping your comments section from negativity, and as the aforementioned Agora Pulse A/B test showed, this can improve the performance of your posts. On the other hand, deleting comments shows that your business is not transparent, and it can provoke further criticism from trolls, who likely will have no qualms over calling you out.
How to Block Comments on Instagram
When you block comments from your Instagram account, you are only blocking the comments that appear on your posts. You can change your commenting preferences from the Settings page of your Instagram app. These steps are applicable to your personal account and your Instagram business account.
Step 1: Go to your Instagram settings
To get to your settings, first, navigate to your profile. From there, click the three-lined hamburger icon from the upper-right corner of the screen. Then click “Settings” from the bottom of the page.
Step 2: Go to “Privacy”
The “Privacy” tab is the third option in the settings menu, located between the “Business” tab and the “Security” tab. Click “Privacy” to access your comments settings.
Step 3: Click “Comments”
Once you arrive at your comments settings, you will find several different options to manage the comments on your posts. Each option will handle unwanted comments differently, so you must choose the option that works best for you.
From the top of the list, under “Controls,” you will see an option called “Allow Comments From.” This option allows you to enable comments from specific groups. You can allow comments from everyone, including the people who follow you, the people you follow, and the people who aren’t connected to your account (you don’t follow them, and they don’t follow you).
If that option is too broad for your liking—for example, you don’t want to receive comments from random Instagrammers who find your posts on Discover—you can, instead, only allow comments from the people you follow and the people who follow you. If you want even stricter limitations, you can choose to allow comments only from your followers.
You can also block comments from specific users. You can use this option in tandem with the “allow comments” option. For example, you can choose to allow comments for everyone except for your annoying roommate, Carla. You can choose to allow comments from only your followers except for your nosy coworker, Greg.
Of course, disabling all comments may seem drastic to you. If you only want to filter offensive comments, you can do so using Instagram’s filter tool. You can use this filter tool in tandem with your comments settings; meaning, you can set your comments preferences while having comment filters in place.
To turn on comment filters, swipe the toggle button called “Hide Offensive Comments” to the right until the button turns from gray to blue. Once enabled, Instagram will hide comments it deems offensive. Because the meaning of “offensive” is arbitrary and defined only by Instagram, the comments Instagram hides may, at times, seem inoffensive to you and to the person whose comment was blocked.
If you want to block comments containing specific offensive words, you can instead turn on the manual filter. For this option, you will need to type in the words you don’t want to see in your comment sections. When the filter identifies a comment as offensive, it blocks the comment from everyone’s view. Only the original writer of the comment can still see it; that way, the violating user is less likely to make the offensive content viewable by, for example, reposting variations of the comment to bypasses the filtering tool.
Another option is to filter comments containing the most reported words on your posts. For example, if your followers often report comments on your posts with the words “stupid,” “ugly,” or “dumb,” Instagram will filter out comments containing those words.
If you spot an offensive comment that Instagram’s filtering tools somehow missed, you can long-press the comment and click the exclamation icon that appears on the upper-right corner of the screen.
How to Block Comments on Facebook
Although you can block comments from the posts on both your personal account and business page, the options for your personal account are not the same as the options for your business account.
Personal Account
Step 1: Click the inverted triangle icon on the upper-right corner of the screen then click “Settings” at the bottom of the menu.
Step 2: From the left column, click “Public Posts” then click the “Public Post Comments” section.
From this section, you can choose who can comment on your public posts. You can either choose the public (everyone, including people who are not on your friends list), friends of friends, or only friends.
Facebook Page
The comment-filtering options from your Facebook page are different. In fact, it is a much better tool than the one provided for your personal account, allowing you to create more granular restrictions. Specifically, you can choose to block comments with specific words and filter comments containing profanity.
When you block certain words, these words will be immediately marked as spam by Facebook as soon as they appear on your page. Here’s how you block words on your Facebook page.
Step 1: Go to settings
Step 2: Go to “General” then “Page Moderation”
From the “General“ section, scroll down to “Page Moderation.” Click “Edit.”
Step 3: Enter words to block
Type in the words you want to block then click “Save Changes.”
Step 4: You’re Done
Facebook will block the words as soon as they appear on your page.
Filtering profanity works differently than blocking words. While you choose the words you want to block, Facebook determines which profanity to block based on commonly reported words and phrases marked as offensive by Facebook users. Facebook also determines which profanity to block according to the degree you choose. Choosing medium will block moderately vulgar profanity while choosing strong will block only strongly vulgar profanity.
Step 1: Choose degree then save
From “General,” scroll down and click “Profanity Filter.” Choose your degree then click “Save Changes.”
Step 2: You’re done
Your changes were saved. Profanities that fall under the degree you choose will be blocked from appearing on your page.
If Facebook missed comments that contained profanity or offensive words, you can manually hide the comment or report it to Facebook by clicking the three-dotted button that appears alongside the comment.
The Disadvantage of Blocking Comments
Although there are many legitimate reasons to block or filter comments, one disadvantage arises: loss of engagement.
Arguments often result in rapid engagement, as commenters heatedly respond to one another. These arguments spawn into a long string of back-and-forths, which the algorithm values. The more engagement your post receives, the higher it will appear in users’ News Feeds. The higher it stays in News Feed, the more exposure it receives.
Whether or not you should block comments is up to you. It depends on what you value most. If you’re in desperate need of engagement, then perhaps blocking and filtering comments may not be the most prudent choice. However, if you organically garner hundreds of comments, then missing out on a few likely won’t harm the performance of your posts.
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As a Facebook advertising company, we get a lot of questions on social media about social media. Today, we’re talking about a question we get a lot; how to download videos that have been posted on Facebook.
Although Facebook allows users to download photos, the social media network does not allow the same ability when it comes to videos. Unfortunately, users can’t download videos posted on Facebook. However, there is a way to do that using URL-to-video converter websites.
SaveFrom.com is a website that lets you download Facebook videos using a URL for free. Other free download websites include FBDown.net, Getfvid.com, and Bitdownloader.com.
The following steps use SaveFrom to demonstrate how to download Facebook videos. The other free download sites listed above work similarly.
How to Download Facebook Videos on Desktop
Step 1: Log in to Facebook.
Step 2: Locate the video you want to download. Make sure the video you want to download has a globe icon. The globe icon appears below the name of the poster. If there’s a lock or a two-person silhouette icon where the globe would be, you are not permitted to download the video because the privacy setting is not set to public. The globe icon indicates that the post is public.
Step 4: You should see a small pop-up box with the video’s Facebook link in it. With the link highlighted, on your keyboard, either press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac) to copy it.
How to Download Facebook Videos on iPhone
Step 1: Navigate to the App Store on your iPhone. In the search bar, type “documents” and tap “Search.”
Step 2: In the search results, locate the app “Documents by Readdle.” Tap “GET” and follow the download prompts.
Step 3: Open the Facebook app on your iPhone. Navigate to the video you want to download.
Step 4: Look for the globe icon below the name of the video’s poster to make sure the video is public.
Step 5: Open the video and begin playing it. This ensures that you won’t get a broken link in the next step.
Step 6: Tap “Share” below the video.
Step 7: From the menu that appears, select “Copy Link” to copy the video’s address to your iPhone’s clipboard.
Step 8: Return to your iPhone’s home screen and open the Documents app.
Step 9: Open your Safari browser. Navigate to the SaveFrom website by entering savefrom.net in the address bar. Tap “Go” on your keyboard.
Step 10: In the text field at the top of the page, paste in the video URL you copied earlier.
Step 11: Tap the green “Download” button located below the video’s preview.
Step 12: Tap the light blue “Done” button.
Step 13: Tap the “Downloads” icon located at the bottom right of your screen.
Step 14: After your video finishes downloading, tap the video file on the downloads tab. You should now be able to watch the video in the Documents app.
Step 15: To move the video to your iPhone, with the Documents app open, tap the “Downloads” folder. Tap the ⋯ beneath the video. Select “Share” and proceed to save the video file to a folder on your iPhone.
Paid Software That Lets You Download Facebook Videos
If you don’t trust the free download websites, there is also software you can pay for to ensure any downloads are safe and secure. Below is a list of trusted software you can pay for to download Facebook videos:
AllMyTube
Video Downloader Ultimate
Replay Media Catcher
iTube Studio
Download Accelerator Plus
A Note about Copyright Infringement
Before downloading any videos from Facebook, you should double-check Facebook’s copyright guidelines to ensure you are not violating the rights of the original poster or creator of the video. Whether or not you are committing copyright infringement ultimately depends on your intended use of the video after downloading it. For example, you are not committing copyright infringement if your use of the video is fair use.
Factors that determine whether the use of copyrighted work is fair use include the following, as listed by Facebook:
The purpose and character of the use. For example, do you plan to use it for commercial use or educational purposes? Do you transform the work to give it new meaning?
The nature of the copyrighted work. Is it factual, like maps or databases, that you plan to use merely for informational purposes?
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. For example, are you using just a small, insignificant portion of the work?
The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. For example, do you plan to replace the original work, taking away the credit and overall benefits from the original creator?
As a top Facebook ad agency, we have a unique understanding when it comes to social media. One of the most important ones? Your privacy matters, especially in an age when information is so easily accessible to internet users. It’s easier than ever for people to steal your information, impersonate you, or hack your photos to disperse for illegal activities. Luckily, Facebook gives you an array of options that tighten your profile’s security, some of which you likely have never heard of. Here are 13 Facebook privacy features you didn’t know about.
1. Control Who Sends You Friend Requests
Section: Privacy Subsection: Who can contact me?
Many of you may understand the arduous task of scrolling through hundreds of unwanted friend requests from strangers and from people you dislike. Eyes glazed with apathy, you systematically click one “delete request” button after the other, wishing there was a way you could somehow block all friend requests. Fortunately, Facebook allows you to do exactly that.
In your settings under “Privacy,” you’ll see a section that says “Who can contact me?” Click edit to select who can send you friend requests. You can choose between everyone or friends of friends.
2. Control Who Sees Your Posts
Section: Privacy Subsection: Who can see my stuff?
The ability to hide posts from specific individuals isn’t just a fragment of your social media fantasies—it’s a reality awaiting discovery in your privacy settings. Not only can you exclude the public or all of your Facebook friends from seeing your posts, but you can also exclude specific individuals. If you want to hide posts from specific friends from your friends list, go to “Friends Except” and type the name of the friend you want to exclude.
If you only want specific friends to see your posts, go to “Specific Friends” and enter the name of those with whom you want to share content.
3. Control Who Searches for You
Section: Privacy Subsection: Who can look me up?
This option is particularly helpful for anyone eluding someone, whether that someone is an ex-lover, a former friend, or an estranged relative. Because there are several ways people can search for you on Facebook (email, phone number, and search engine), you have to specify who can search for you under each category. Below are the three types of ways someone can search for you and the options you have.
Email: everyone, friends of friends, friends
Phone number: everyone, friends of friends, friends
Search engines outside of Facebook: allow or not allow
4. Control Who Posts on Your Timeline
Section: Timeline and Tagging Subsection: Who can add things to my timeline?
There are two ways you can control who posts on your timeline:
1. You can choose who can post on your timeline by choosing friends or “only me.” Choosing the latter means no one, not even your Facebook friends, will see your posts.
2. You can enable timeline review: you can review and approve (or reject) posts that are posted on your timeline and posts that you are tagged in before they can appear on your timeline.
From the “Timeline and Tagging” section, go to the subsection “Who can add things to my timeline?” to control who can post on your timeline.
5. Control Who Can See Your Timeline Posts
Section: Timeline and Tagging Subsection: Who can see things on my timeline?
Not only can you control who can see your posts, but you can also control who sees the posts your friends posted on your timeline. This feature is located under the “Timeline and Tagging” section of your settings. Your options include everyone, friends of friends, only you, custom, members of certain groups, schools, or people who live within certain cities.
6. Control Who Can Tag Your Posts
Section: Timeline and Tagging Subsection: How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?
Sometimes you want your photos to remain where they are: on your timeline. However, when friends tag themselves on your photo, that photo will also appear on their timeline. If you want to keep your photos where they belong, enable the tagging option that allows you to review and approve (or reject) tags on your post.
7. Control Who Can Follow You
Section: Public Posts Subsection: Who can follow me
Unfortunately, online stalkers aren’t just nuisances—they are dangerous. Fortunately, you can control who follows you under the “Public Posts” section of your settings.
8. Control Who Comments on Your Public Posts
Section: Public Posts Subsection: Public post comments
A recent update, which was previously mentioned in a different article, allows you to control who can comment on your public posts. Although by default, everyone can comment on your public posts, you can choose to limit comments to only your friends or your friends of friends.
9. Control from Whom You Receive Notifications
Section: Public Posts Subsection: Public post notification
Once your followers engage with your posts, you will receive notifications from those interactions. However, you might not want to receive those notifications. If so, you can alter from whom you can receive notifications: you can choose nobody, friends of friends, or the public.
10. Control Profile Picture
Section: Public Posts Subsection: Public profile info
Women, in particular, can suffer from unwanted comments by lecherous strangers on their public profile pictures. One option apprehends this predicament, an option that allows you to control who can comment on your public profile pictures. The options available to you include the public, friends of friends, and friends.
11. Control Who Can Send You Messages
Section: Blocking Subsection: Block messages
If you want to block someone from messaging you, you can do so under the “Blocking” section of your settings. While blocking messages still allows the person to view your profile, they are unable to contact you via Facebook Messenger. Don’t worry. You can always remove the person from the blocking list if you change your mind.
12. Control Apps and Who Can Send You App Invites
Section: Blocking Subsection: Block app invites
When Candy Crush burst into the scene, you were likely plagued by app notifications inviting you to play the game. App invitations, especially if they’re irrelevant to you, can be annoying. Fortunately, you can block app invites. Simply type in the name of the culprit who incessantly sends you app invites, and you will never receive an invite from that person ever again.
13. Control Who Can Send You Event Invites
Section: Blocking Subsection: Block event invites
Although receiving event invites from friends is flattering (you want to be included in the gang, after all), event invites from people you don’t often interact with, people who you don’t consider friends can be annoying. When you block event invites from someone, you won’t be able to get any more invites from them.
Hopefully, you have found this helpful. Whether you want to block someone, prevent certain individuals from seeing your post, or limit where people can search for you is your right. These privacy options not only protect that right but also keep your online presence as public or as private as you want it to be.
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For those who venture not to hire a Facebook ad agency, managing your Facebook ads can be quite simple once you get over the steep learning curve. If you want to view all your account activities, you can do so on Ads Manager. From your account history, you can track the changes you made and the dates of the changes. Video Player
To view your account history, click “All Campaigns” located on the left side of your screen, then select “Account History” on the drop down menu.
Your account history should appear on the screen as illustrated by the image below.
The activity types you can view from your history are the following:
Account spending limit changes
Campaign, ad set and ad status changes
Campaign, ad set and ad creation
Daily/lifetime budget changes
Ad review approvals
Ad set schedule changes
Placement and targeting changes
Campaign, ad set and ad name changes
Ad bid type changes
Billing-related changes
To quickly find the information you need, you can filter results according to activity types. The filters you can use are the following:
All
Account
Ads
Ad Sets
Audience
Bid
Budget
Campaigns
Schedule
Run Status
Targeting
You can also filter by person. Use this if you want to only see results by a specific person who made the change.
That’s it. Pretty easy, right? If you do need assistance with managing your ads, consider connecting with our Facebook advertising agency. We can help you create, manage, and optimize your ads.
A new feature launched by Facebook this week has business owners and every Facebook ad agency (especially ours) rejoicing.
Facebook Pay is a feature that allows you to make purchases from the social media company’s family of apps without being redirected to a different landing page. You can, for example, send payments to your Messenger contacts. You can also purchase digital gift cards from businesses’ pages. When you make transactions using Facebook Pay, you will not incur any processing fees.
This feature is currently rolling out to Facebook and Messenger users in the U.S. and internationally in the future. The social media company also plans to roll this out to WhatsApp and Instagram.
Transactions via Facebook Pay are secure and protected. It has the following:
An anti-fraud feature that monitors suspicious activity
Data encryption that protects your payment information
Biometrics and pin options for added security
How to Set Up Facebook Pay on Facebook
Step 1: Click the three-lined icon from the upper-right corner of the screen.
Step 2: Click “Settings & Privacy” then “Settings.”
Step 3: Under your account settings, click “Facebook Pay.”
Step 4: Click “Add Credit or Debit Card” or “Add PayPal.”
Provide your account information then save. Your transaction history, including payments made via Messenger, appears underneath your payment method.
How to Set Up Facebook Pay on Messenger
Step 1: Click your profile picture on Messenger.
Step 2: Scroll down to “Facebook Pay.”
Step 3: Click “Add new debit card or PayPal” then enter payment information.
You can find your Payment history under your payment information. Using Facebook Pay on Messenger, you can send money to contacts or request payments. All transactions occur within the Messenger conversation between you and the recipient. All payments are automatically deducted or added to your account.
Most people don’t understand Facebook’s Search feature. Turn to the person next to you and ask that individual how Facebook Search works. That person, confused, will likely stare blankly at you.
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Like the algorithm, Facebook’s Search is an enigma to many. People know they exist, but they don’t know how it functions. They don’t know, for example, what influences search results and what type of content is available to be discovered.
Facebook Search is nowhere near as sophisticated as Google. While Google retrieves information from the entire world wide web, Facebook Search retrieves only content within its platform, content shared and posted on Facebook. As a leading Facebook ad agency, we are here to guide you through the mystery that is Facebook Search.
Facebook Search, Demystified
Like all search engines, Facebook Search retrieves results based on the keywords you use. Type in “Mark Zuckerberg,” and results bearing those keywords will appear. Similarly, type in “pizza,” and content with that keyword will appear in results.
As mentioned earlier, Facebook Search can only retrieve content posted on Facebook. The following are the types of content you will receive:
For-sale posts on Marketplace
People
Photos posted by Facebook friends and public accounts
Videos posted by Facebook friends and public accounts
Posts to timelines by Facebook friends and public accounts
Facebook pages
Places
Groups
Apps
Events
Links posted by Facebook friends and public accounts
The results from those categories will appear in one long string of content, similar to how posts appear on News Feed. You can click the 11 categories above the feed to narrow your results to a specific category. You can also filter your results.
Search results have three influences: your activity on Facebook, people’s activity on Facebook, and your search history.
To illustrate how my Facebook activity affects search results, let’s return to the pizza example. In 2016, I posted a video to someone’s timeline containing the keywords “pizza.” This Facebook activity appeared on my search results because the keyword “pizza” matches the word “pizza” from my post’s copy.
As seen in the results, my post isn’t the only one that appears. Search also retrieved posts by my Facebook friends. As I scroll further down, posts by public pages also appear.
If I searched for a specific keyword in the past, and if I clicked on a specific type of content from the search results, that content will appear once again. For example, the business 1-800 Flowers, which I previously searched for, appeared on my results after typing in the keywords “flowers.” Facebook notes my previous search activity as interest in the business. Thus, it includes 1-800 Flowers to the results, ensuring I get the information I want.
Facebook Search Limitations
Facebook search exists to help you find content on the platform, whether a person, a post, or a Facebook group. Because the results are limited to Facebook content, your online activity outside of Facebook will not influence the results. When you use Facebook Search, don’t expect the type of results Google will retrieve. And don’t worry, Facebook won’t track your online activity for Search. Facebook will, however, track your online activity for ad targeting.
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