As you know, Facebook isn’t just a website, it’s a environment its 400 million active users use everyday. Thanks to the widgets developed through its API, its influence extends much wider than Facebook to the many sites which conversations are shared on. For many, going online means going on Facebook.
So when Facebook briefs journalists to promise that “I have seen what Facebook is launching on Thursday, and it’s going to change the world of social media”, we have to take notice and ask - does this make a difference?
Well, I’ve watched the announcement by Mark Zuckerberg and read the analysis. Does it really change the world for most marketers? I’d have to say “No”. Yes, it offers a much richer way for users to share profile information, but the same underlying features of status updates, business Facebook pages and advertising remain…
ToBeSocial tools enable you to benchmark your campaigns against competitors
Value/Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: ToBeTracker
We like this simple, free tool which enables you to visualise the growth history of fans of Facebook pages. This example shows how you can see the growth rates of campaigns once registered on the system. Data is extract direct from Facebook Insights using the Facebook API to extract data.
Note: this campaign no longer live, but is still seeing growth.
Marketing implications of this tracking tool
This is a simple tool that can help benchmark what is working for your competitors. You can browse different categories of companies or compare 3 or 4 pages - handy for presentations.…
The anatomy of a fan
A genuinely useful infographic from Moontoast (they create e-commerce software for Facebook pages). This graphic reminds us on the how to market to those different levels of engaged users - all fans are not the same!
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A major Facebook update to privacy and sharing settings also phases out Places
Importance: [rating=3]
Recommended link: Facebook blog announcement
Most sites have reported this update as a response by Facebook to Google+. It’s true that Facebook has surfaced features to make it easier to share with a custom group of friends (sound similar to G+ Circles?):
What we found most interesting in this update was this quote: We are phasing out the mobile-only Places feature. Settings associated with it are also being phased out or removed. (You can read more about how location works and settings affected here.
So Facebook is killing off the Places sub-brand, but the functionality seems to be continuing as a more integrated and less memorable “Share where you are”.
It’s now a much more subtle feature, but once switched on will show all your locations until…
This is a great question to ask since it's easy to get lost in the accumulation of Likes and Follows. I'm not sure of how actionable this info-graphic is though it useful to ask the question.
A few observations:
10% less of the youngest demographic in Facebook
Facebook perceived to be the place to 'friend a brand' - this being an indicator of loyalty
Facebook influences buying decision
Yet isn't Twitter a more useful tool for knowledge sharing and so relationship building?
What are your experiences - which of these two networks provides a better means of connection to your audience?
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Q. How effective is Facebook advertising?
I was recently asked this question by a student putting together a budget model for an online marketing campaign. I pointed them in the direction of this post on online ad clickthrough rates, but they specifically asked about Facebook, so this post is to answer the question and help others.
The best public source on Facebook advertising effectiveness I’m aware of, is the analysis of 2.2 million clicks from 4.5 billion impressions that Webtrends track as part of their analytics system which I’ll summarise here.
Well, the overall number of clicks compared to impressions above give their own story - response rates are low - around than 1 in 2000 page views results in an ad clicks. No surprise since banner clickthrough rates are low and we’re mostly online to socialise.
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Hitwise data reveals the importance of Facebook marketing for online retailers
In a recent post Robin Goad of Hitwise reminds that "Facebook is the second most visited website in the UK after Google and is now the second biggest source of traffic to other websites as well. 1 in every 6 page views from UK Internet users goes to a Facebook page, and 20 million hours are spent on the website every day from UK users alone."
So far, so good - we know Facebook is big! There's no question of the importance of social media, content and inbound marketing, with Facebook being an important part of that ecosystem. The Hitwise research data stresses the value of Facebook for multi-channel marketers. According to Hitwise, the same names are dominating - Topshop, ASOS etc - the majority being own or one-brand online retailers.
The context here is…
Facebook release new best practice guide for Facebook Pages
This week Facebook released a new guide titled "Best Practice Guide: Marketing on Facebook". We think it's really helpful since it has different models to help you think about how to market better with Facebook. But these aren't details on advertising rather the frameworks help you plan or review your Facebook strategy - thee five guiding principles are particularly useful I think. For each, they give you give steps of tools you can use to reach and engage your audience.
The Facebook Ecosystem
Facebook suggest that your Facebook page is at the core of your Facebook marketing. As you post content and offers and interact with your audience then you can engage and amplify. Naturally they suggest Facebook Ads are a big part of this.
They don't highlight the importace of understanding your audience and developing the right types of content and offers to…
The now ubiquitous and copied Like button just got a sibling - the Send button. One word for this simple addition by Facebook - nice, in fact very nice (OK, that's two words).
Facebook announced this new feature over the Easter weekend in its developer blog with a neat travel marketing example. Typically the button lives next to a Like button at the beginning or end of a page or post. It's purpose is, of course, to let you share content that you are reading or watching directly with specific contacts or to a Group.
It's like the "Send to a Friend" or "Forward to a Friend" which has been used for years to make emails more viral. So you could say Facebook has an even stronger viral effect now since these are direct recommendations to an individual or group.
If you look at the screen grab below (from Mashable in this case)…
With more than 30 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook each month, have you ever wondered how to optimise engagement on your brand's Facebook Page and get more people to come back? When's the best time to post, how often and are there variances by industry?
I am currently working on a social media campaign for a client that will use Buddy Media to manage a Facebook page as a part of the project, having taken a look into Buddy Media (my first experience of using it) I came across this interesting white paper and thought that it was worth sharing and summarising for you.
Caveat first: The data Buddy media used is across 200 large brands, this data will change (effectiveness will alter if everyone does…
