“We don’t believe social media should be used for marketing”, was the bold opening statement from keynote speaker at B&T’s Ministry of Sports Marketing conference and Jumpwire Media president Gavin McGarry.

“I’m not saying you can’t do a campaign on social media,” he added. “But we are moving from an interruption economy to a conversation economy. We used to watch stuff on TV and were interrupted by ads. Now we’re moving to a conversation economy and things are moving in real time.”

McGarry explained that his company has a policy, which states, ”Facebook first but not Facebook only”.

“I don’t walk into many offices anymore where the CEO has a blackberry and says social media is a fad,” he added.

McGarry talked about the “newsfeed dwell time”, something he described as “one of the biggest shifts that has happened in human evolution”.

“Once upon a time we all “went” somewhere when we were Googling something, now we just sit in front of a bunch of algorithms on Facebook.

“You don’t have to have people click on anything to get a lot of data; people dwell on Facebook videos in newsfeed without clicking.

“We’re seeing all types of interesting things in non-chronological order. You go away for a few days, then come back and something your friend did a few days ago is at the top of your feed.

“And brands need to be aware of this because brands are getting crushed right now.”

McGarry had a bunch of “Facebook best practices” for attendees of the sports marketing conference, and we’ve whittled them down to these hot tips:

• The more you can be like a real human on Facebook, the more reach you get.
• Reach is influenced by the number of fans a page has.
• Posting at 1pm will get you the most shares, 3pm will get you the most clicks
• Post something at 6am and again at midnight. It reaches different people and you’ll see different reach. Don’t be afraid to duplicate posts.
• Uploading directly from mobile leads to better organic reach. Facebook thinks you’re a real person uploading rather than just a business.
• Do not use stock photograph – Facebook scans stock photography places and if you put that up, they know it’s a stock image and they drop your reach. Try and use original photos, preferably from mobile.
• If you’re posting images to Facebook via Instagram, it provides a 23 per cent increase in engagement
• Emojis make Facebook think you’re a real person, and it subsequently ups your reach.
• Like and respond to comments for the last 90 days to jumpstart your reach. You have to maintain your page and fans, “like a gardener”, said McGarry.
• Avoid putting YouTube links on Facebook. Facebook is going after YouTube and trying to crush them, so make YouTube your repository and Facebook where you go to get engagement.
• Increase Facebook posts to minimum 12 posts per day
• If you’re not using Facebook live right away with your brand, you need to be, McGarry said. “Try and go live for 30 minutes or up to an hour. Comments are coming in and the reach is incredible.”
• Apply to be a ‘Rights Manager’ of your content, so if anyone else uploads it without authorisation, Facebook pulls it back down.
• You need to spend money with Facebook, about $500 per month is lowest you can grow, McGarry added. “We now recommend boosted posts, with custom audiences, because now you can really target your boosted posts.”