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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

There is no doubt that social media has substantially, perhaps even irreversibly, impacted the way that we connect and communicate with one another. Social media platforms have become a source of news that people consume regularly. But how often is that news factually correct? The proliferation of fake news on social media has created a concerning climate for news outlets and various other organizations as they strive to combat this rapidly increasing phenomenon.

A 2017 study found that consumers today believe that out of all the news, 40% of it is somewhat fake or made up. The amount of misinformation that exists is staggering, there are ways to fight back against fake news.

How to Fight Fake News and Misinformation

Misinformation is defined as "false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead." (Dictionary.com) 

Misinformation is spread on a daily basis, intentionally or not. (Disinformation on the other hand, is fake news that is intentionally spread on social media. We'll go into disinformation a bit later). 

For example, if you receive a meeting invitation for 10AM but you mistakenly misread it as 10PM and tell your colleagues about the the misread time you are, in effect, sharing misinformation. This may seem like a minor example, compared to what happens on social media, but the point is that you shared misinformation by mistake and with no intention to do so.

When it comes to social media misinformation spreads rapidly, largely due to social media users sharing posts and articles without checking to see if they're true. While the onus does fall somewhat on the user to do their own research before sharing a questionable post, the bigger conversation is what responsibility lies with tech companies to prevent the spread of misinformation and fake news on social media. 

Disinformation is "deliberately misleading or biased information." (Dictionary.com) 

If we go back to our above example, if you intentionally tell your colleagues that the meeting is at 10PM because you want to sabotage everyone else, this would be considered disinformation because you are spreading false information on purpose. 

Disinformation is powerful and can be extremely destructive, and is often what causes deep divisions on social media. For journalists in particular, it can be can be difficult to untangle a disinformation campaign — and they must remain vigilant in order to stay ethical. 

So, when distinguishing between misinformation and disinformation, intent is really what separates the two.

Types of Misinformation on Social Media 

Be on the lookout for these common types of fake news and misinformation that can spread quickly on social media.

Clickbait is a "a sensationalized headline that encourages you to click a link to an article, image, or video." From news stories and blog posts to videos and interviews, clickbait is presented in such a way as to attract as many clicks as possible on social media. 

While clickbait is great for increasing page views, driving traffic to your website or generating more social shares for your content, its misleading nature can tarnish the reputation of reputable news sources that share content with a misleading headline. 

When people click on a piece of content on social media, they are expecting to view content that matches the expectations set by the headline. If you don't deliver on this, people may begin to question the credibility of the content which can cause damage to your brand. 

Propaganda is the deliberate spread of information, ideas or rumors that help or harm an individual, a group of people, an institution or a country. 

According to NBC News, more governments are using social media to promote propaganda as this seems to work better than censorship. Research by the Oxford Internet Institute found that more governments and political parties are making use of social media algorithms, automation and big data to influence the vast majority of public opinion.

With the advent and sophistication of AI, images and videos depicting false events are all to easy to produce and share on social media. Some platforms have begun to add certain safeguards, such as a watermark or label that clearly indicates "AI-generated" however these tags are not perfect and won't catch every bit of AI media out there. So once again it falls on the consumer to be vigilant and pursue their own fact-checking if something seems fishy. 

In order to fight fake news and misinformation on social media, you need to be able to recognize it first. You will know that you are dealing with fake news when you can a clear bias is evident or if a piece of content is trying to invoke feelings of anger and mistrust in a particular person, group of people, or cause. Sometimes, this content may come from a news outlet that sounds unfamiliar, is unknown, or has no markers of credibility. 

In these cases, it is best to fact-check before you decide to share with your own followers. Are the author names real? Can you validate the sources mentioned in the article? Do the claims sound suspicious? If these are the questions you can't seem to find an accurate answer to, then chances are, you have a piece of false information in your hands. 

Things to look out for when identifying social media fake news include: 

if there are a number of spelling and grammatical errors

if there are no accurate sources being cited

Fake social media accounts have become increasingly common, and are a fairly standard tactic for those wishing to encourage the spread of fake news. 

Fake accounts, or bots, tend to spam legitimate social media users by posting inappropriate or irrelevant content. You can often spot a bot by: 

a default avatar or low-quality profile picture

a lack of original content on their profile 

a low amount of followers but following a high amount of people

alternatively they may have a lot of followers but extremely low engagement which indicates fake followers

Code for Africa, an NGO, is the continent's largest network of civic technology and data journalism labs. They build digital democracy solutions that give citizens access to factual and actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions. 

This is especially true in moments when fake news is being spread on social media. Using Meltwater, Code for Africa debunked claims and fact checked trending topical conversations to ensure that the general public had accurate information delivered to them in a timely manner to refute any misleading claims. Since using Meltwater, Code for Africa have been able to combat disinformation in Niger, misinformation regarding the Uganda elections, and political trolls in Kenya. 

Uganda In Crisis: The Documented Misinformation

Not all social media platforms have a clear guideline on how you can fight fake news on social media. However, if you do come across misinformation, you can (and should) report it. Each platform has a way of doing this, which is specified below: 

When you spot content with misinformation that is intentionally harmful, click on the 3 dots on the top-right corner of the post.

On the drop-down menu, click on “Find Support or Report Post.”

Select “False Information” when prompted to choose a problem to report, then click “Next” to report the post.

Similarly, if you come across a Facebook page that contains harmful misinformation, you can click on the 3 dots at the top of the page and select “Find Support or Report Page.” Select “Scams and Fake Pages,” then click “Next” to report the Facebook page.

Click on the 3 dots at the top-right corner of the post.

Select “Report...” on a mobile phone or “Report inappropriate” on desktop.

Select "False information" or "Scam or fraud" to report the post.

If you want to report the actual account that is spreading fake news, go to their profile page and click on the 3 dots next to their name.

Click “Report...” From here, you will either have the option to report a post, message or comment that the account shared, or report the entire account.

Click on the 3 dots that appear at the top-right corner of a tweet and select "Report Tweet."

Select “It’s abusive or harmful” to report a post containing harmful misinformation.

Click the dropdown menu at the top-right corner of a LinkedIn post.

Click "Report this post" and select "Suspicious or fake."

Click "Misinformation" from the list of reporting reasons (or "Fake account" if you want to report the actual account).

The battle of social media fake news is ongoing and there is definitely work to be done. The problem that social media fake news presents may not be solved overnight nor completely avoided but with the power that social media has, it's wise to exercise caution and to take what we see on our feeds with a pinch of salt before hitting the retweet button.

If you want to learn more about how Meltwater's Social Listening can help fight fake news on social media, fill in the form below and we'll get in touch with you.

Fighting Fake News on Social Media

The #DontRushChallenge made global internet waves in the first quarter of 2020, garnering more than 50,000 hashtag mentions during this time period as social media users shared short video clips of themselves seamlessly changing looks before passing on a makeup brush to someone else to changes their look too.

It was one of the first social media challenges of the year that not only went viral but encouraged activity as strict lockdown restrictions were put into place in countries across the globe.

However, like the usual pattern of most online challenges, it spread on social media in a classic wave pattern before fading away, as expected. But what’s really going on when a challenge on TikTok, Twitter, or Instagram blows up? Why do we respond so enthusiastically to some concepts, but not to others? And why do so many challenges seem to skirt the bounds of rational behaviour?

We gathered the collective insights of marketers, academics, and journalists to identify seven principles that define the success of social media challenges so you can integrate them into your social media management strategy.

Should Brands Participate in Social Media Challenges?

7 Principles of Successful Social Media Challenges

Challenges on social media have gained much momentum over the past several year as a means of getting rid of indoor boredom that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. With physical and social distancing measures in place, many people sought online methods of connecting with others, and challenging each other on social media became a way to do just that. 

Take the Facebook challenge that swept the internet in January 2019, for example. The #tenyearchallenge, which clocked up 2.5 million hashtag mentions over the month, saw celebrities and ordinary users posting current and past pictures of themselves online.

Journalists initially explored how the challenge reached back to the dawn of social media, smartphones, and the selfie. Then the media coverage evolved to include a controversial suggestion that the '10 Year Challenge' was actually engineered by Facebook in an effort to sharpen up its facial recognition technology (which Facebook denied).

From creating content that was made to entertain, to uplifting others in times of need, a number of social media feeds were inundated with online challenges that made the global lockdown a little more bearable. Social media challenges have since become a staple marketing method for generating content, engaging users, and growing one's follower count.  

Some of the most popular social media challenges that trended during lockdown across social media include:

Trending challenges on social media are one of the best ways for brands to engage with their audience and further build their online community. 

Remember that online engagement is about much more than just likes, comments, and retweets. It also about building relationships with your audience that are long-lasting and have the potential to create advocates for your brand. It's for this reason that Instagram challenges, like the 'December Instagram Challenge' or 'Instagram Photo Challenge', are so successful. With the consistent stream of content shared on the platform over 30 days, the challenge gives you 30 days to encourage engagement from your followers. This consistency also boosts your audience reach, opening the doors for new followers and potential customers to find you. 

For brands that especially appeal to Generation Z, participating in online challenges will be well worth the effort. This is a generation that grew up with the internet and knows how to create trends that go viral on social media. As a brand, use this to your advantage by "trend jacking" to gain new followers and potential customers. 

1. Successful challenges naturally accommodate incremental change

The viral 'Flip the Switch' dance challenge began in early 2020 where people filmed themselves switching outfits to "Nonstop", a song by Canadian musician, Drake. The challenge, which started on TikTok, spread quickly to other social media platforms, like Instagram and Twitter, and became a global video trend. 

BEST FLIP THE SWITCH TIKTOK COMPILATION

Each participant was able to add a personal, innovative touch by exchanging the outfit that the other person was wearing. The concept was consistent, yet open to incremental personalisation, which is one of the most important structural features required for a social media challenge to trend. It's no wonder that this challenge has, to date, acquired 6.9 billion views on TikTok. 

The ALS Ice Bucket challenge saw a stunning 19 million hashtag mentions from the beginning of July to the end of August 2014. The ALS part of the name refers to an organisation that supports research into and support services for people affected by Motor Neuron Disease. Donations resulting from the challenge are reported to have reached as much as $115 million.

I accepted the ALS #IceBucketChallenge!
Now I challenge @sergioramos4oficial @marcmarquez93 @cescf4bregas ! You have 24h to complete the challenge or donate to the ALS foundation -- or both. +Info : http://www.alsa.org/

In 2019, British singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran, launched his own global hashtag challenge on TikTok called '#BeautifulPeople' which references his hit song that features Khalid. The song inspired the challenge, which asked TikTok users to share a moment with the most beautiful people in their lives as a way of spreading love and positivity. To date, the challenge has more than 1 billion views on TikTok, highlighting how online challenges involving celebrities often gain momentum towards virality and add rocket fuel to the challenge fire. 

Sometimes a charitable structure can push celebrities to become involved, and sometimes they’ll participate off their own bat. Regardless, when the influencers accept a nomination or are involved in the concept, conditions are good for viral spread and the challenge to become widely popular.

Social science researchers at the University of Kent explored the social media challenge phenomenon in a 2017 paper, Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes, which included a survey of the opinions of social media challenge participators. One of the paper’s more intriguing propositions is that once a viral challenge meem (VCM) has hit full steam its popularity means nominees increasingly feel they might actually lose social credibility by participating.

Take the infamous Instagram challenge, the 'Kiki Challenge' for example. It saw 6.2 million hashtag mentions from 1 June – 31 August 2018, at an average of roughly 2 million mentions per month. Also known as the In My Feelings Challenge, Kiki involved jumping from a moving vehicle and dancing in the road to the tune of Drake’s “In My Feelings”. 

It all started when American comedian Shiggy posted an Instagram video (which didn’t actually involve a car – this only became a feature of the challenge after his friend, Odell Beckham Jr, danced in front of a vehicle). With celebrity participation and the ability to add incremental changes pretty much baked into the format, this Instagram challenge was destined to outperform 2013’s The Harlem Shake (5.5 million mentions in February / March 2013). By October 2018, however, 'Kiki' mentions were still all the way down to 500,000 and falling.

Part 2 of doggo in my feelings challenge.
🐕 🐶Follow @wildindogs for more🐶
(via @coach_filha)
-
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#inmyfeelingschallenge
#kekechallenge #keke #kikichallenge #challenge #whatthefluffchallenge #dog #dogs #viral #video #views #like #insta #instadog #ilovedogs #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram #pets #pet #doggy #pup #puppy #doglover #puppylove #puppies #like #kikidoyouloveme #shiggychallenge #puppers #pupper

The rule is simple: as a challenge hits peak popularity we start to see participation in it as merely following the crowd – the opposite of cool. And so the wave breaks, the challenge is no longer as popular and it loses power

4. Social groups are excited by risky behaviour

Many challenges on social media involve stunts that can cause physical harm. One such example is the "Cinnamon Challenge", a viral YouTube challenge where users were required to film themselves eating a spoonful of ground cinnamon in less than 60 seconds. While creating a video like this may sound like fun, the risk this challenge presented was far from favourable. Given that cinnamon is made from tree bark and contains cellulose, a substance that is difficult to break down, the challenge can get dangerous for participants. 

100 People do the Cinnamon Challenge | Keep it 100 | Cut

Many social media challenges involve stunts that can cause physical harm. Wired Magazine examined why physical risk can be so compelling in a 2018 article that cites Damon Centola, associate professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of How Behaviour Spreads.

“Adopting dangerous behaviours is usually triggered by emotional excitement, which is amplified in crowds,” he says. On social media, mass comments, likes, and shares easily trigger this state of group excitement, encouraging participation in order to join the trend or become viral. Thus, if a challenge has just enough risk to create emotional excitement and participation, but not enough danger to make it implausible, it is likely to tap into our group instinct to be a little thrilled by danger.

It’s no accident, then (pun intended), that many of the biggest challenges on social media, as of late, test the bounds of human safety. In fact, the risk is part of what makes a challenge appealing and popular to inherently excitable online groups.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, most online challenge participants don’t actually want to break the Internet with incredible Harlem Shake or Kiki dance moves. Instead, our priority is more on connecting with peers by demonstrating a touch of personal style.

Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes raises the idea that VCM participants feel some pressure to show their ‘skills’ by posting something ‘good enough’. This is an important notion that suggests most participants don’t want to stand out too much. Rather, they enjoy following the rules to communicate aspects of their personal identity within the social context of their peer group.

The popular Instagram challenge, Mannequin Challenge, which received 20 million mentions in the last two months of 2016, illustrates this dynamic. Started by students at Ed White High School in Jacksonville, USA, the challenge involved adopting sudden mannequin poses – essentially repeating the formula of the ‘Planking’ phenomenon of 2013. Sports teams and professional athletes loved the concept, and delivered a litany of Mannequin poses that reinforced fun and innovative aspects of their identity within the nuanced and localised social rituals of sport, friends, and fans.

We use our bodies to make our own #MannequinChallenge 🎉 THANK YOU for voting #PieceOfMe for @TheBestOfLV!!!

6. The media always plays a role – and sometimes takes over

The Tide Pod phenomenon took off in early 2018, challenging people to literally consume colourful laundry detergent pods. The concept is said to have arisen from an ironic article originally posted several years earlier in the satirical publication, The Onion. Soon after the Tide Pod Challenge appeared online, articles highlighting the poisonous nature of the detergent within the pods and warning of severe injury also appeared, including calls from relevant associations and stakeholders for participants – chiefly children, tweens, and teenagers – not to respond to nominations.

However, as this article on Mashable explains, while cases of pod-related poisoning rose dramatically in the USA, the numbers were still very low. Statistics from the American Association of Poison Control Centres show that 39 such cases were reported in the first 15 days of 2015. Yes, there were only 53 cases in the entire preceding year, but ultimately 39 cases from 40 million teenage Americans remains a small number.

Nonetheless, the Tide Pod hashtag gained 2 million mentions in the first two weeks of 2018. In this case, though, the mentions relate mostly to discussions around the idea of the challenge, rather than executions of the challenge itself. Also, the warning nature of extensive media coverage saw most sites taking down videos of Tide Pod consumption. When you search for Tide Pod Challenge videos today, the returns are almost always of fakes – videos purporting to be Tide Pod Challenges that actually end up being a warning not to do participate.

7. We love riding the challenging wave because it's social

Social media challenge participants generally have a strong feel for what the ‘range’ for their effort should be, including an instinctive sense of the reputation risks that come with pushing the boat out too far. This ingrained social instinct allows us to enjoy through the process even as we obey ingrained social rules. The authors of Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes offer a neat summary:

“For most of the participants, negotiating these boundaries and tensions produced an enjoyable, creative, and fleetingly shared moment. The latter point suggests another important feature of participation, namely an overarching desire to be part of the social.”

There are a number of organic online challenges that brands can participate in, especially on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. By using a social media monitoring tool, you can identify what is currently trending among your audience and then focus on creating a strategy where you organically participate as well. 

Once you have identified a challenge you want to join, make sure that you know which platform and video functionality you will use. Whether you want to film in-app or use a DSLR camera to edit later, keep the platform's 9:16 aspect ratio in mind when creating the video content for the challenge. 

Where music is involved, ensure that you utilise the same song found in other challenge videos. Click on the challenge hashtag to find what song is being used for the specific challenge so that you can match it.

Some online challenges may require a certain filter or editing technique to use. TikTok and Instagram, however, make it easy for you to add these features to your videos as an enhancement to the video overall. 

From here, once you have the complete video ready to post, don't forget to use the challenge hashtag. You want your video to be discoverable so include the hashtag in the caption of your video. Post it, promote it, and see just how viral your video can go.

Social media challenges have been a great way for people to connect and inspire creativity despite the circumstances of remaining indoors. Regardless of all our well-founded anxiety about the changes our new digital lifestyles have wrought, most of us still relish the opportunity to share the fun with friends and family. And that’s probably a good thing. 

It’s this insight that, ultimately, defines why challenges are destined to remain a strong feature of social media. Despite all our well-founded anxiety about the changes our new digital lifestyles have wrought, most of us still relish the opportunity to share the fun with friends and family. And that’s probably a good thing.

To learn how you can stay on top of trending memes, popular online conversations, and brand opportunities, fill out the form below to chat with the Meltwater team.

How Social Media Challenges Become Wildly Successful

It's true when you hear the phrase "People don't buy businesses, they buy from other people". And that's why word-of-mouth marketing still holds a valuable place in the digital landscape. The person they could be buying from could be a salesperson, sure, but they could also be influenced by a post from an employee, existing customer, or influencer. 

As a brand, you need to make sure that you have people who can vouch for your products and services positively online. And there are multiple places where people could be reviewing your products either positively or negatively. Maybe people are leaving reviews on Amazon, but several more may also be leaving them on social media platforms. And you need to be on top of both. 

When it comes to leaving and collecting reviews on social media, one of the best platforms that you could use to get recommendations and reviews from customers and users is Facebook.

The more reviews you have on your Facebook account (even more so if those reviews are positive and have a high star rating), the more likely it is that potential customers will trust you, and buy into your business. In this article, we share everything you need to know about Facebook Recommendations for their business.

Why Your Business Needs Facebook Recommendations

Who Can See Your Facebook Recommendations? 

How to Enable Facebook Recommendations on Your Business Page

How to Disable Facebook Recommendations on Your Business Page

How to Ask for Recommendations on Facebook

Did you know that Facebook's algorithm, known as EdgeRank, impacts what will appear on a user's News Feed? Yes, the content shared on your Facebook Page is susceptible to this algorithm, which means that as marketers, you might want to pay attention to how the Facebook algorithm affects the reach of your content. 

But how exactly does EdgeRank affect Facebook Recommendations? Firstly, EdgeRank is calculated based on the below formula:

EdgeRank = Affinity (the interaction between a Facebook user and a brand) x Weight (the importance of that action e.g. Like or Comment) x Recency (how long ago the edge was created).

Knowing the components EdgeRank uses to determine what type of content to display to users, it's clear that recommendation could impact both your Affinity and Weight score. A low or high score based on the volume of interaction the recommendation generated can determine the overall visibility of your Facebook Page and the organic reach of the content you share on your Facebook page.

Recommendations make your business more discoverable across the Facebook platform when people are searching for, or talking, about your business. One of the best advantages of Recommendations is that Facebook will first show the recommendations provided by your closest friends or users, which can have a positive impact on the purchasing decisions of other customers. As Facebook Recommendations encourage other customers to rate your business, the opinions of others build brand transparency and increases trust in your business altogether. 

The reviews and recommendations that users post on social media platforms are also very important for any business’s online reputation.

According to Facebook, only Business Pages that allow Facebook Recommendations will show a rating, and a Business Page may not have a rating if the Page has not received enough Recommendations. 

However, when a customer recommends a business, they have the option to choose which audience to share that recommendation with. So, if a Facebook user posts a recommendation and selects 'Friends' as the audience who can see that recommendation, then only their Facebook friends are able to see it; you won't. It is only the recommendations that have been posted for the 'Public' to see, will it appear for everyone to view and this will be included in your own Business Page's overall rating. 

If you discover a negative recommendation or review on your page, unfortunately, you cannot delete it (or at least, you cannot delete individual reviews). The platform doesn't allow you to delete a Facebook Review the way you can delete comments or content. Instead, you would have to report the review or recommendation that does not meet Facebook's Community Standards. 

You can enable reviews by going to Facebook Recommendations under Facebook Business Page settings. 

Note: This section replaced the Reviews tab, which consisted of only ratings and comments. Additionally, Facebook users no longer give a simple rating. Instead, they click on either the “recommend” or “don’t recommend” button and give extra information, with the added possibility of attaching text and photos, allowing for customers to create more in-depth Facebook reviews. 

The changes that Facebook made in its reviews system to allow users to post recommendations, provided more options for customers to give their thoughts and opinions about the businesses that they purchased from. Recommendations act as a personal endorsement from your customers, and so when you get recommended by customers on public platforms, like Facebook, these recommendations will also appear on your own Facebook Business Page.  

Any user with a Facebook account can publish a recommendation on your Facebook Business Page, as long as you have actually enabled Recommendations on your Page. 

To do this, follow the simple steps below:

Click 'Page Settings' in the bottom left of your Facebook Page

Click 'Templates and Tabs' in the left menu of your 'Settings'

Click to the right of 'Reviews' to turn the tab on

Once recommendations have been enabled, you want to ensure that you keep an eye out for any new reviews. Just like how actively responding to your customer's comments on your content is important for engagement, responding to any Facebook Recommendations is important for maintaining a strong brand reputation online thought online reputation management. You don't need to reply with lengthy replies but be thoughtful. This will show customers that you value their reviews. You also increase engagement and boost your EdgeRank.

If, at any point, you want to disable Facebook Recommendations from your Facebook Page:

1. Click 'Settings' at the bottom left of your Facebook Page

2. Click 'Templates and Tabs' on the left side of your 'Settings' page

3. Click the right of 'Reviews', toggle the On/Off tab to turn reviews and Recommendations off

Everyone likes to get recommendations on Facebook. The question is: How to ask for recommendations on Facebook? 

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