This post originally appears on the Stuzo Insights Blog.
Are you balancing your brand and user goals?
As we reach the point where every Fortune 1,000 brand has a Facebook Page under management, we’re also reaching the point where ROI and differentiation become a must. Moving forward, to achieve success and drive ROI, brands have to focus on developing more compelling consumer experiences that align consumer goals to the brand’s business objectives and direct consumers through an experience funnel that ends in the desired brand action.
Say you are managing a brand that has both a corporate and a localized presence and you are planning to roll out a directory on your Facebook Page. Yes, you want to ensure that the look and feel are on brand, that the interface is seamlessly integrated into the Facebook experience and easy to navigate, and that you have unique interactive components to keep consumers continually engaged and sharing. But what happens after the consumer has navigated through the directory and found what they wanted? Have you given the consumer the opportunity to execute on their findings? Do you have the appropriate Call To Action in place at the appropriate time? Is there a “contact us,” a “make an appointment,” or an “add to cart”? If not, you’re miss-aligning goals and providing partial value to both your brand and the consumer, and possibly even causing aggravation if the consumer has to complete additional steps outside of their environment of choice.
As Facebook becomes saturated with brands, two things will happen:
- Like billboard advertisements that contribute to noise and get tuned out by the consumer, the prevalence of campaigns and consumer experiences that do not present value to consumers will increase.
- Smart marketers will evolve to develop well planned out campaigns and richer consumer experiences that fully align consumer and brand goals.
It will be the latter of the two groups, the marketers that learn how to effectively present true and full value to the consumer, that will rise to the top and cut through the clutter to gain traction and achieve tangible business results within Facebook and other social channels. Which camp are you in?
So, how does this all get done effectively? When designing social engagements, ensure that your concept takes into account not only the end goal of the brand, but also the wants and needs of the consumer, and ensure to align the goals into a mutually beneficial consumer experience. For example: Don’t just let consumers browse through reviews of vacation destinations; enable them to book a trip and incentivize them to do so. Don’t just let consumers take a virtual test-drive of your new model; let them contact their closest dealership to set up an appointment for a real test drive and again provide a compelling reason for the consumer to do this. Don’t just let users leaf through your digital weekly circular for deals; let them add items to a shopping cart or printable shopping list and give them motivation to do so. To deliver compelling executions you will need to develop or find a partner firm with the following competencies:
- An intricate understanding of how consumers operate within various social platforms
- Expert knowledge in the development and integration of social technologies
- A creative process that considers the intricacies of the technical aspects of the campaign in the initial development of the “big idea”
Marketers will dramatically increase the success and long term viability of their social marketing programs when the brand’s campaign objectives align to provide utility to consumers, and the consumer experience is developed to funnel consumers into taking mutually desired actions at the right times in the right places of the consumer experience funnel.
Posted in strategy by .
Aug 10
27
Amazon Integrates Facebook Connect
First, Some Background
Amazon is the number one Internet retailer on the Web, pulling in roughly $24.5 billion in 2009, or about 19.4% of all sales generated by the top 500 Internet retailers. It is the seventh most trafficked site on the Web, with about 73 million monthly visitors and over 540 million monthly visits.
With nearly 23% of users’ time spent on social networking in 2010, it is now the number one activity on the Web – more than double the next most popular activity, Online Games. Facebook is by-far the largest social network with over 500 million registered users – more than double the next most popular network, Qzone, based in China. Facebook is also, logically, the second most trafficked site on the Web, with over 130 million monthly visitors.
What Happened
In July, Amazon integrated with Facebook Connect – which essentially allows third-party sites to utilize Facebook features and functions with the user’s authorization – in a more sophisticated way than most other sites had done previously, and thus, opening up the ecommerce giant to the 500 million-user social graph.
When a user connects their Amazon account to their Facebook account, it comes with a number of notifications, starting with “You can disconnect at any time.”
A light-box then pops up and lists out the benefits of connecting your two accounts and the following assurances:
- Amazon will not share Your Account information with Facebook.
- Amazon will not share your purchase history with Facebook.
- Amazon will not attempt to contact your friends on Facebook.
Due to Facebook’s parade of privacy snafus, these warnings are a ‘must’ to have any hope of adoption. It is important to note that Facebook will not gain any account information or purchase history from Amazon. This means that a user can disconnect at any point, and be assured that this data will remain with Amazon.
Posted in social networks by .
First, Some Background
Location-based services (LBS) have been gaining major steam over the last twelve months, both in usership and in publicity. The idea behind LBS is that users “check-in” to places around their city using their mobile device and friends within your network can see when and where you check-in. The value to the user is an increased connectivity with their close circle of friends. For example, if I’m walking around downtown, I can scroll through my list of friends, see if anyone is nearby, and pop in to have a coffee with them. It’s this idea of serendipity that really piques users’ interest. The LBS viral loop is that the service gets more useful and robust the more friends you have in your network; therefore, it’s in your best interest to recommend the service to as many of your friends as possible.
The other driving factor behind the LBS craze is the game element that many services have woven in. Some networks give you points based on the situation of your check-in (e.g. your first check-in at a particular place gets you 5 points, and you get one point for each additional check-in), some have badges that you can unlock (e.g. a Starbucks badge for checking into three different Starbucks locations), others have passports that get “stamped,” some have items that you can pick up or drop for other users to find later, and still others have a scavenger-hunt activity element built in. People love playing these games that involve “leveling up” and seeing how you compare to your friends; that part is just human nature.
Today, there are many LBS, but only a few that are truly considered “players” in the space:
• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• MyTown
• Yelp
• Loopt
• Scvngr
• Latitude
Foursquare has the largest user-base, at roughly 3 million, while other services like Gowalla and MyTown have significantly fewer. Yelp is notable because their LBS ties into their restaurant & business reviews, making their offering more robust. Loopt has the most advanced rewards system, called LooptStar. Scvngr is a relatively new player whose game centers on group tasks and scavenger hunts. Latitude is interesting because it was a service originally called Dodgeball that Google purchased in 2005 (the creators of Dodgeball would later go on to create Foursquare), and it may play a pivotal role in Google’s rumored social network.
Posted in social networks by .
So woohoo, Facebook finally announced their location-based service (you can watch a recording of the live stream here), called Facebook Places, yesterday at a conference/launch-party at the Facebook Palo Alto headquarters. A couple quick highlights from the presenters:
- Places functionality is similar to existing LBSs
- “Checking in”
- “Here now”
- “Friends Nearby”
- Location Pages
- By creating a location to checkin to, you’re creating a unique page on Facebook
- Kind of like a Foursquare venue, kind of like a Facebook Community page?
- Privacy settings are addressed right off the bat
- This is not a game
- Facebook stressed that Places doesn’t have any gaming elements
- There aren’t any badges or stamps to collect and there are no points
- It’s purely about connecting people IRL
- You don’t necessarily need a smart phone to participate
- An iPhone user can checkin other Facebook friends whom they are currently with using the @ symbol
- The checkin will appear on that friend’s wall, so long as they’ve “allowed” it (Notifications?)
- You can only checkin friends, and you can only check them into the place you’re currently at
- That’s right: iPhone only
- Currently the Places update is only for iPhone users
- No date has been given for Android and Blackberry upgrades
- Facebook Places syncs with other main LBSs
- Foursquare, Gowalla, MyTown, and Yelp are all partners
- Checkins on the various services can be shared on Facebook
- Badges, stamps, etc will transfer between services
- Yelp Monocle will also display friends who have checked in
- Fuzzy GPS
- Just like the other LBS, you can checkin to places that you’re not currently in
- Seems like this is unavoidable until the phones’ GPS gets more precise
- People will cheat
- API access
Posted in social networks by .
Hubspot wrote last week that Ben & Jerry’s would be putting the kibosh on their email campaigns in favor of social media efforts. Always a counter-culture brand, they signed off in their final email by inviting their customers to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. Why will Ben & Jerry’s succeed with this bold plan?
Because their brand is already very well established within the social media sphere and delivering value to both the brand and its consumers; the Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page has over 1.3 million Likes and their Twitter accounts (@cherrygarcia and @benjerrystruck) have over 11,500 Followers combined. Those growing numbers, coupled with a consumer-centric culture bent on delivering value and community service, create a veritable social media monster, and it’s no wonder that email, the one-way messaging go-to tactic of the ’90s, no longer suits the ice cream maker.
Costs associated with email service, such as contracting an email service provider, can be greater than expected, and the negatives of an email campaign, like noise contribution and brand fatigue, are very often not considered or is underestimated. While eMarketer reported recently that email is still the preferred delivery method for online marketing, Ben & Jerry’s realized that its consumers weren’t connecting with the email campaigns, but were connecting extremely well via social channels.
Posted in strategy by .
Jul 10
16
How Not To Approach Facebook PPC
I feel like this should go without saying, but it doesn’t. Social media isn’t like any other marketing channel you’ve ever worked in. It isn’t like PR; it isn’t like direct mail; it isn’t like email; it isn’t like affiliate networks; it isn’t like comparison shopping engines; and it certainly isn’t like paid search.
So you can’t and shouldn’t approach social media like any of these other channels. People seem to often get hung up on the success (or, rather, failure) of their Facebook PPC campaigns. Why isn’t Facebook conducive to PPC ads the same way that a search engine, like Google, is? I mean, in 2009 alone, Google made $23 billion on AdWords. Isn’t some of that success transferable to social networks?
The short answer is no; we know that people have different goals on search engines versus social networks. People are in completely different mindsets. On Google, a search mindset might be, “buy circular saw,” and we probably know that they’re about ready to buy a circular saw, possibly just looking for the best price. On Facebook, a search mindset might be, “I wonder how Jenny’s vacation in California is going? Let’s see if she posted any pics,” (ie. they’re almost never trying to buy anything!). To go along with that, people’s eyes are drawn to different parts of the page on Facebook as compared to Google (thanks Mulley Communications). See how the first sponsored Google ad gets burned right through immediately while the Facebook ad gets little love? And since you know what blog you’re reading, here’s an analogy to explain:
Posted in strategy by .
In two weeks, the Facebook Gift Shop will be closing its virtual doors; a move that has some relieved, some surprised, and others excited. Many are relieved that they won’t be pestered with virtual (read: fake) gifts that Facebook suggests users purchase for their friends and which clutter everyone’s profiles. The move is also a bit surprising for a number of reasons, namely that the Gift Shop has virtually no overhead costs and is considered a $100 million revenue driver for Facebook.
Also, at the f8 Developer Conference a few months back, Facebook was expected to make a big announcement about the evolution of their Credits system, which not only didn’t happen, but they then turned around and signed a huge 5 year deal with Zynga, the popular gaming application network, which lead some to believe that Facebook was turning away from a redesigned Credit system and focusing on other functionality.
Now that we see that Facebook is committed to the evolution of their Credits, we’ll be getting a much richer experience. Businesses won’t be worried about creating branded gifts that will go largely unnoticed by users, but will instead focus on developing immersive and engaging campaigns within the apps of their Facebook pages. Facebook’s recent acquisition of nextstop, a mobile location service, may also play a hand in the new Credits system, as more users, developers, and brands begin to invest in richer mobile experiences.
Posted in social networks by .
Ready? Nothing. My Google Reader (I know, “why do you still use a Google Reader??” I like my Reader, chill out) has been inundated with chatter about the new Google social network, “Me,” that is supposed to rival Facebook, and, while it does seem like big news, really is not what I want to be reading about.
Why is Google trying to make another foray into the social network biz? Not sure. Orkut is great (if you’re Brazilian), I use Wave at work (great for collab’ing), Buzz is awful (nobody needs another noisy aggregator), and Google Universal Search, itself, is already a sweet social aggregation tool as far as Personalized Search and Results From People In Your Social Network. Is Google nervous that Facebook’s internal search (confusing semantically and from a user experience, narrow in scope, and overall poor) will rival their own? (never say never, but this is pretty much a “never”)
I used to be a huge Google advocate (I voted for them in the 2008 Presidential Election and made plans to name my first daughter ‘Googleplex’), but now I’m on the fence. After their stint making phones (not going so well?), their attempt at imitating Twitter (Buzz) with no real user value, and this nervous nelly move at a legit social network, Google “Me” (don’t get me wrong, I like the pun; I Google myself weekly) is another chink in the armor of the search juggernaut. While I am sick of reading about it at the moment, I will definitely be tuned in when Google “Me” actually rolls out (and praying that it isn’t another huge bomb), but until then, there’s nothing to talk about.
(And I may have set the record for most extensive use of parentheses in under 300 words…)
Posted in social networks by .
Jun 10
23
Crushin’ It With Gary Vee
Just recently finished Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! and feeling motivated. The message isn’t new: do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life. Easier said than done. Gary does a great job of highlighting shifts in technology – the advent of the Web, instant publishing, and social networking, to name a few – and giving the reader a blueprint to not only achieve their goals, but to attack a niche that you’re passionate about and blow it out of the water. A die-hard business developer, Vaynerchuk runs WineLibraryTV and vodcasts constantly on his site about new business ideas, social tips, speaking gigs, and a general stream of (valuable) consciousness. The book is about 140 pages, and you’ll blow through it in a day; the only question is, what will you do with what you learn when you’re finished? If you plan on just reading the book to find some interesting tidbits or to learn some social media tactics, don’t even bother. But if you’re ready to REALLY get motivated, watch this keynote from Web 2.0 Expo NYC 2009 (it’ll get you acclimated to his style) and then go out (or to Amazon, Audible, Vook, or iTunes) and grab this book.
Other Fun Facts:
- I just signed up for Gowalla a few weeks ago, and I picked up the Crush It! book somewhere. Very cool!
- A small group of Drexel Alums are going up to the Wine Library on July 12th, and it’s going to be awesome.
Posted in book reviews by .
Jun 10
22
Social Media Day Philly!
Hey all you social medialights, guess what next Wednesday is?? Yes, it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Independence Day (they separated from Belgium in 1960), but more importantly, it’s Social Media Day in Philadelphia! On June 8th, Mashable announced that the 30th would be forever declared Social Media Day, a holiday celebrating the revolution of media becoming a social dialog.
We thought this was an awesome idea, and jumped right on the bandwagon, opting to organize the Philly meetup. Chevy joined in as a sponsor, we worked with the Field House on 11th and Filbert near the Convention Center to plan the event, and other groups clamored to join in on the festivities. Mashable updated their original post and event featured Social Media Day Philly as one of the cooler Meetups taking place!
This year’s Social Media Day Philly is shaping up to be the best one EVER (technically, it’s the first ever, so it will be the best ever by default, but regardless!), and we have lots of fun stuff planned for the nearly 100 people who have already RSVPd, including Twizzo! So grab your friends (even if they don’t have a blog and aren’t on Twitter), because we’re going to have a blast on the 30th. RSVP Here!
And don’t forget to follow @smdphilly on Twitter for details about the event and for a chance to win more drink tickets from Chevy!
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Jed Singer – Socialight Media
Jed Singer is an Engagement Associate at Stuzo in Center City Philadelphia. The views and comments in the Socialight Media Blog are those of Jed Singer and not necessarily those of Stuzo.