Facebook is now apparently encouraging users to delete friends.
Possibly, they are realizing people with too many friends are not seeing relevant posts from their "real" friends in their newsfeed. With their rollout of Graph Search, connections with only "real" friends will be even more important.
This is the second time in recent weeks a social network has come out with a bigger-is-not-better policy. Niche site A Small World closed to new members to focus on "the integrity of their membership".
Questions to ponder:
Could this be the end of vanity metrics, like the raw number of Twitter followers (rather than engaged followers in the target audience)?
How will this trend to reduce network size impact Klout scores?
Could Facebook hold the key to MySpace's successful resurgence? With their repositioning as a "social and music discovery destination", MySpace can target relevant Facebook users. In fact, they can cherry pick the demographics they want to lure back by age, gender, location, and interest.
However, since I don't "like" any music-related pages or bands on Facebook, and I am presumably slightly (ahem) older than their target audience, it looks to me like they are casting a pretty wide net. Still.. maybe it's time to dust off my old MySpace profile.
Fortune 100 companies had an average 23.02% drop in traffic between Nov. 2009 and Nov. 2010. This is adapt or die.
Facebook fans vs. monthly site visitors: if only 10% of Coke's Facebook fans were active in any give month, there would be 10 times their current monthly web traffic.
Average Facebook users have 130 friends. People who click "like" have an average of 310 fans. For every one click an average user has, fans click on 5.1 links.
Fans are customers looking for deals, news, and community. 84% are existing customers. 83% want exclusive offers and benefits. 36% buy MORE after becoming a fan.
Think of your Facebook fan page as a loyalty program that nurtures existing customers.
Response rates
A study of 11k Facebook campaigns showed:
.05% average CTR of ads to acquire fans - half the industry standard for banner ads
.35% average CTR of ads to existing fans - targeting ads at existing fans - 7x clickthrough rates
John Underwood's presentation Ecommerce on Facebook has seen early adoption by small retailers, but the big brands are launching... analysts project $30 billion in Facebook store commerce b 2015.
After first month, 1 to 10% of fans visit Facebook store once a month.
Wall post best practices
2 to 4 per week
Experiment with promotions, audience targeting, images, specific merchandise categories
Facebook stores engage visitors
Average earned media reach to friends of fans equals 20% of fan base
Average 17% social engagement rate (likes and share per visitor)
Average 5.8 page views per visit
Conversion rates of 2-4% on par with ecommerce sites (av. 3.4)
Success as an ecommerce channel requires great stores and great marketing. Consistent wall posts dive traffic and awareness and build an organic base of users. Early adopters will be rewarded with a long-term, meaningful ecommerce channel.
Eric Ludwig's presentation "Be a scientist, challenge believe systems and be agile (or choose to have a lame career." Facebook looks like the most amazing database marketing platform ever developed. CRM is back!
You can have two-way conversations - if you have the wrong customers for your brand [as fans], they are typically the ones that will post non-positive comments.
Tips for testing and sales growth
Test copy for use in email, display, and call center scripting. Use CTR as proxy for likely success.
if you have call center support, make your 800 number available and prominent. A good portion of buyers will not convert without it.
Drive them off Facebook. If you have special pricing options available in other channels, use Facebook to promote those response vehicles. Soft sell - mostly.
Bonus tip: make up words - cranialvascular health. [Good for SEO.]
ROI: Facebook increases lead collection and downstream conversions through CRM (Email is BACK!).
Facebook advertising tips:
Friends of fans targeting is a must. They are natural lookalikes.
Image first, then copy. Facebook is a platform of emotion vs. other platforms, Google, etc. Look for resonance with targets.
Change creative often to avoid ad fatigue.
Really think about the writing.
Facebook post tips:
The wall is a place for your fans to interact -- a community space
Questions get a ton of interactions
Interactions on promotions are much lower; this lowers your post quality score. Then your reach goes down because the Facebook algorithm stops putting you in your fans' feeds
Many brands are asking "how can I get more people to like me on Facebook"? Did you know that you can create a custom tab and use that as the default landing page for anyone who is not already a fan (e.g. anyone who does not "like" your page yet)?
Here are six examples of brands who have used custom Facebook tabs as their landing page to encourage more people to "like" them.
Red Bull: this is a clever and straightforward page and in keeping with their brand in terms of look and feel. I like how it creates some movement on the page while still featuring the product prominently.
QR codes are being used by an increasing number of brands - from airlines to banks to retail. QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes which can be read by select smart phones. Users can scan the QR code to display a web page within their mobile browser, display text or access contact information.
The benefit for marketers is to be able to provide relevant information to users who are at a specific place, or who have your physical product in their hands. It also gives advertisers useful metrics to understand who is interacting with their ads and where.
Here's how it works:
The brand publicizes the QR code. In this case, it was on a print ad for Hearts of Fire diamonds.
Here's a close-up of the code:
The user then opens a QR code app on a smart phone to scan the QR code:
A customized web page opens in the user's smart phone web browser:
While it may seem like QR codes will only appeal to the tech savvy crowd, I think practical applications such as mobile boarding passes and bicycle registration will drive adoption.
In addition, Google sent out 100,000 QR code decals to businesses in December 2009, so expect to see an increasing number of these in store windows and point of purchase displays in the future.
QR codes are already being adopted by fashionable brands such as Missoni, Clinique and Calvin Klein.
In Japan, Louis Vuitton even used a designer QR code in one of their campaigns.
QR codes could be used in businesses with physical locations to encourage people to sign up for your email list, "like" you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter. Brands can use QR codes to create campaigns with hidden content or other game-like elements. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies can use QR codes to provide additional content about their product and drive people to their website for further engagement. QR codes are not complex and the cost is relatively low. The timing is right to start considering how QR codes can fit into your overall marketing mix.
Seth Silverton, a self-proclaimed social media guru who blogs about how to become a social media guru has topped the Billboard Download Charts with his number one single "Top 10 Tips for Social Media Rockstars".
Silverton said his hit single started as as a blog post that was "link bait" designed to improve his search engine ranking. His link bait attracted the attention of blogger/personal branding expert/disc jockey DJ BlogzALot who quickly saw the potential of Silverton's post.
BlogzALot and Silverton then crowdsourced the melody and commissioned musicians to record the tune with the promise of "publicity and blog traffic".
"People really seemed to connect with the song," said Silverton. "Especially the part where we break into a rap about OPB: Other People's Blogs."
"Who know after blogging about this song incessantly for six months, sending thousands of tweets, directly engaging with our Twitter followers by sending '@ messages' with links to download the song, setting up our own Facebook Fan Page and sending scores of micro-targeted social media press releases that we'd have a hit single."
Here are some quick tips on marketing a local business with little or no budget:
Let your customers speak for you.
Ask your customers to post honest reviews on high-traffic sites like Yelp.com. Be sure to respond to any unfavorable reviews.
Post customer testimonials on your web site.
Ask your customers for referrals.
Ask complimentary businesses to link to your web site; for instance, if you are a wedding photographer, ask a wedding florist to link to you.
Use Google.
Google offers a number of services that can help – post your business on Google Local Business, create a Google Profile for your company’s key executives and link to your web site, consider spending some money on Google AdWords.
Use social networking sites.
Set up a Facebook fan page, start connecting with prospects on Twitter and join groups on LinkedIn. You can also set up your company profile on LinkedIn (rather than only using your personal profile).
"You're on Facebook whether you want to be or not."
- Dan Rose, Facebook VP
Last night I attended a social media forum hosted by Kellogg. It was moderated by Tom Bedecarre and featured: Dan Rose, Vice President at Facebook; Seth Goldstein, CEO at Social Media; Jeremiah Owyang, Partner at Altimeter Group; Marisa Gallagher Vice President User Experience at Razorfish; and Clara Shih, Author of The Facebook Era.
I "live tweeted" the event and earned some geek cred (not quite as cool as "street cred") when Tom Bedecarre gave me a free copy of Shih's book for being the most prolific tweeter.
Here are some of the highlights of what the panel had to say to the roomful of MBAs:
On the state of the industry:
Goldstien: Advertising is changing. Ads need to be real messages from real people; otherwise people ignore them.
Shih: Facebook is still dominating. There are more users on Facebook Mobile alone than on Twitter.
Owyang: Facebook's biggest competitor is Google.
He mentioned that Google has set up a stealth social network, referencing Google Profile (here's mine) and highlighting the fact that
users interact through e-mail, IM, Google SideWiki and Google Wave. Shih also mentioned Google Latitude. Later in the evening Owyang
claimed that e-mail itself is a social network, an idea which had
Goldstein shaking his head in disagreement, but a debate did not ensue.
Owyang: Social media impacts all of your digital marketing assets. Social media is a horizontal in your strategy, not a vertical.
Owyang: Social search will be very disruptive to the SEO/SEM industry.
On brands getting involved in social media:
Rose: You're on Facebook whether you want to be or not.
Owyang: The earliest brands that got punk'd on social media are now the most successful.
Gallagher: You shouldn't use Facebook and Twitter for the same thing. The content should be different.
Gallagher: Customers are looking to engage with brands. And they want discounts.
Who's doing it right?:
Shih: BestBuy and 1-800 Flowers are doing a good job of letting you buy on Facebook.
Owyang: Volkswagen uses your Facebook profile information to recommend a car for you.
Rose: Sprinkles gives away a free cupcake to the first 25 people who mention a secret word revealed on their Facebook fan page.
On new tools:
Rose: Brands with Facebook pages can now send messages targeted by geography and language, so you don't spam all of your fans.
Owyang: Flowtown will find all of the social networks a person is on, based on their e-mail address.
Goldstein: There are 100 thousand people on FourSquare. Checking in on FourSquare is even easer than tweeting.
Gallagher: Yelp's augmented reality iPhone app uses the phone's camera and GPS to show reviews of the businesses right in front of them.
On data and privacy: Owyang: I believe Facebook has more information on Gen Y than the U.S. government.
Shih: Use privacy settings in Facebook to segment friends because "our Facebook profiles represent our personal brand."
There was a lot of discussion on privacy, what information Facebook and other sites have access to, and how individuals and brands should manage data-related risks. There were many people in the room who don't trust Facebook to keep their personal photos and information in a silo if they also set up a business presence on Facebook.
Although the panelists noted that using Facebook's privacy settings is easy, the attendees did not agree. Some users even admitted to setting up fake individual Facebook profiles to use in order to set up fan pages for their business. Rose's response was "why wouldn't you want to be associated with your business on Facebook?"
Actually, there are many reasons someone might want to keep their personal and professional lives in iron silos. For instance, those in certain professions need to avoid any crossover: psychologists, prosecuting attorneys, etc. Those types of professionals might want a Facebook page where they post resources, etc., but they don't want their patients or clients to have any chance of window into their personal lives.
Overall, the panel did a great job of discussing what's going on in the industry today and Bedecarre did a great job as moderator, getting the attendees involved in the discussion. Below is a (blurry) picture of me and Jeremiah Owyang at the event.
Back in April, New Media Age* reported that branded apps on Facebook were struggling to attract users. While I do think that any brand getting ready to jump on the bandwagon must offer something truly unique, engaging and relevant to make any headway, branded apps still hold possibilities on Facebook.
Though the initial investment to create and promote an app, according to NMA, is anywhere between £2k and £30k, brands should take a long-term view. Perhaps this is why Facebook is now reporting on monthly active users, rather than daily active users. Do you really care if your users are interacting with your app every single day?
Take a look at how the apps NMA reported on are doing now (below). MTV, which looked like a loser at 115 daily active users, looks to have gained a following. Even if you assume it was 115 different people each day over the course of the month (say 3,450 daily users), they have experienced a 50% jump in numbers in six+ months.
Other apps, such as Woolworths' Catapult Game and Handbag.com have failed to gain ground.
The lesson is that, while Facebook apps may be a risk, don't give up on them (or fire your agency prematurely!). Some may take time to gain a following.
*NMA's site requires registration.
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Strategic digital and social media marketing helping companies generate demand, create loyalty, and engage with their customers.
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