Facebook Places: First Impressions

August 19th, 2010 View Comments

This post also appears on The Archer Group blog.

A little after 8pm EST last night, Facebook announced its much anticipated location base feature dubbed Facebook Places.   The three main components of Facebook Places will be sharing where you are, finding where your friends are and discovering new places around you.

There are no gimmicks, scoreboards, games, Mayors, Lords or made up names to go along with this new feature.  Current location based services like Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp and a few others will be able to push their check-ins through Places from the start.  It has been widely noted that Foursquare didn’t seem thrilled at the announcement of Places.

Another critical element of Places is the ability for friends to tag you as being present at venues just like as in photos.  There is also a “Here Now” feature that will show up once you check-in somewhere.  As you can imagine, Places comes with a slew of new privacy settings to control who sees what and who can tag you at venues.  Privacy groups began voicing their concerns only hours after Facebook made the announcement.

While there is plenty of coverage on the specific features and privacy controls, I want to discuss the way Facebook went about announcing Places and some potential ramifications for users and businesses.

Privacy Settings and Notification

First, for such a major addition to the platform, I would expect more information to be available for users right from the start.  On previous occasions when new features have been announced, users are greeted with a big box at the top of the page when they login explaining what’s new.   I would venture to say the average Facebook user wouldn’t come across coverage of Places today, even with decent amounts of mainstream coverage.

My initial thought was the majority of Facebook users, especially the older demographic, will be completely freaked out over the idea of telling people where they are.  On top of that, add in the fact you can tag friends at locations without them explicitly giving permission and this sounds like another huge privacy snafu.  I know all of this can be taken care of with the privacy settings but that leads me to the next issue.

Why wouldn’t Facebook make a video that explains everything? They could have walked people through exactly how Places works and the new privacy settings for these features, including a walk through of the settings page. They could have even gone over the considerations users should have when setting them up.

When I went to look at my privacy settings this morning, I saw no call out for these new options I had to consider. Has Facebook learned nothing from what happened when they rolled out the Open Graph?  It seems like they are content with letting users fend for themselves when dealing with privacy settings.  I guess the negative press doesn’t scare them one bit, and maybe it shouldn’t considering the average person spends over 7 hours on their site a month.

Initial Availability

I was also a little disappointed when I updated my iPhone app this morning and was shown a graphic that said Places wasn’t available in my region yet.  I understand the idea of a soft launch to make sure their servers can handle everything, but I didn’t get that feeling watching and reading everything last night.  They should have announced Places yesterday, done a few days of PR and education and then rolled it out to a bigger user base.

It also seems that large businesses with multiple locations (the Starbucks of the world) won’t be able to merge all their Places pages with their main business page yet.  I think that is a mistake on the business side of things because you want the big brands to be able to integrate new features quickly to spread the word about them and get users on board.   A great example of this is when they rolled out the Open Graph functionality with Pandora and its over 50 million users.

Final Thoughts

I do, at the end of the day, like this new feature and I think it is a great addition to the platform.  I have been a big fan of Foursquare and it will be interesting to see how existing location base services can quickly integrate with Places and build better experiences on top of the platform.  Or, if they try to go at it alone, they may simply cease to exist once Places can start offering rewards.

Facebook is exactly what was needed to bring location services to the masses.  There is no doubt local advertising will get a huge boost from Places and hopefully users will be able to reap the benefits as well.   I have to say the biggest initial winner is the small business that can now merge their Places page with the business page for deeper engagements with users.

I give a thumbs up for Facebook Places but a thumbs down for how Facebook is handling the rollout.   Maybe this time they will finally learn how to announce a new feature, but probably not.  In the end, Facebook is one more step closer to their goal of global domination.  Or at least occupying all of a user’s time online.

What do you think? Will you use Facebook Places? Do you think businesses will know how to leverage Places at first or will it take a lot of time? Share your thoughts and first impressions in the comments section.

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Auto Industry Hot & Heavy Over Social Media

August 11th, 2010 View Comments

Last week as I read through the social media newsletters I get sent to me via email, I realized a subtle trend.  They all were being dominated by stories on car brands leveraging social media for new campaigns.  Within the last few weeks I found seven big stories about an auto brand using social media in some way to help spread awareness for new models and in turn sell cars.  This doesn’t surprise me, and not just because social media is the first word out of any CMO’s mouth these days.

The automotive industry has been hurting bad the last few years.  Worldwide production of cars dropped 13.5% in 2009, including down 21.2% alone in the United States.  In the last few years, the terms bailout, doors closing and all inventory must go have been too closely associated with car dealers and factories.  To me, this is why it makes perfect sense that the auto industry has overwhelmingly adopted social media as a huge part of their marketing mix in 2010 and show no signs of stopping.

With the recession, Super Bowl ads, expensive billboards and endorsements just weren’t moving the needle anymore.  Executives got smart on the shift in how consumers are spending their time and brought their advertising online and in places where their consumers are – Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to name a few.  Car companies are creating experiences around car launches and encouraging car owners to share their own personal story around their cars.  Maybe you can call all of this Ford Fiesta Fever after that out of the box campaign idea, but here are the recent examples I have seen of the auto industry involving social media heavily in their marketing:

Kia Contest Is Casting Call For ‘Lifecasters

Inside the 2011 Ford Explorer Facebook Reveal

Subaru Teases WRX With ‘Get More G’s’

Can Mazda’s DriverVille Facebook Game Improve Sales of the Mazda2?

Suzuki Program Rewards Social Media Visits

Toyota Pushes ‘Auto-Biography’ Facebook Campaign

Buick Aggregates Feedback On Its Regal

What do you think?  Is the auto industry trying to do too much with social media or is it a great fit for the car buying experience and life cycle?  Which campaigns do you think have been the most successful?

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The Most Overlooked Factor of Social Media Measurement

August 6th, 2010 View Comments

This post also appears at The Lab on The Archer Group blog.

Businesses often get discouraged when they decide to make the jump into social media and do not have the huge user following they read about from other brands.  Where are their 100 thousand Facebook Fans or 1 million YouTube views?  If you are just leveraging social media marketing to count things, like followers or Likes or check-ins, than you are missing the boat.

Social media is all about engagement and brands being able to interact with users in ways they couldn’t before.  However, a lot of businesses, especially those just starting out, fail to measure engagement in the proper way.

Let’s say Brand A has a Facebook page with 1 million users who “Like” their page.  On average when they are making updates they get around 200 people commenting on the post and 500 people “liking” it.  Brand A might be the typical consumer brand that is very popular and just built up a huge user base on Facebook by signing up and putting a Facebook logo on their homepage.

Brand B’s Facebook page has just 10 thousand “Likes” and when they post updates they usually muster up 10 comments and 10 people “liking” the post.  They might be a smaller brand that doesn’t have a big time marketing budget and is looking to make a big splash in social media by connecting with loyal customers.  They look at Brand A and think “Wow they are killing it in social media and doing way better than us.” Surprisingly, they would be wrong.

When looking at engagement numbers in social media, whether it is “likes”, comments, @ replies, etc., brands need to reevaluate how they judge them. Brands need to look at engagement numbers compared to their user base, not just at the numbers by themselves.  Sure Brand A has more engagement on their Facebook page but Brand B has a much better engagement rate compared to its user base.  To quantify it more, Brand A is having an engagement rate of .07% for its updates where Brand B is .2%.

Now it doesn’t end there for social media analytics, but putting metrics into the proper perspective is key when starting out in social media. Success doesn’t happen overnight and the hardest work is definitely up front in establishing a core user base.  The best part of social media is that even a user base of 10 could have a bigger positive effect on your brand than 1 million users.  You just have to engage with the right people.

What do you think some of the most important factors of social media measurement are?  Would love to hear your opinions in the comment section.

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Looking for ROI? 13 Things Social Media Can Do for Your Brand

July 28th, 2010 View Comments

This post also appears at The Lab on The Archer Group blog.

The topic of social media and ROI will never go away and that is a good thing.   Any marketing effort for your business needs be tracked and measured, whether it’s a billboard, TV spot or employees.  The problem with social media is that the results are not so cut and dry and old school media metrics can’t really be applied to this constantly evolving channel.  To just view social media as a marketing channel is selling it short of its full potential.

Social media can support so many different functions for your business that it is hard to lump all the benefits together and compare it to the money and time spent.  Reports over the last several months have even tried to peg the dollar value of a “Fan” on a social network from $3.60 to $136.38.  Calculating an exact ROI to social media will never be possible with all the different ways it can affect your business.  Here are 13 things that social media can do for your brand:

1. Product Development – By monitoring social networks for people talking about your product, you can discover new uses for existing products or learn about needs your product isn’t fulfilling.

2. Customer Service - In no other channel can you have such quick and easy 1-to-1 access with your customers to help solve their issues, no matter where they are or what time of day it is.

3. Create Buzz – If you are putting out quality content to users they will reward you by spreading your message organically across their own social networks.

4. Build Content – Content is king in social media and a passionate social media fan base can help you with this by sharing their own pictures, videos, and stories that involve your brand.

5. Focus Group – No need to sit behind a two-way mirror Mad Men style and listen to a group of consumers talk about your products.  Today you can ask your social media followers for their opinions on products or just monitor across the web to get unsolicited feedback.

6. Generate Leads – With the amount of information being shared on the web now, it is easy to find potential new customers who can benefit from your product or services and open a dialog with them.

7. Advertising – Users love showing their affinity for brands whether it is part of their profile images, background, joining your brand page or constant mention in their status updates.

8. Public Relations- You can no longer wait for lengthy press releases or news conferences to deal with PR disasters.  By leveraging social media you can get responses out faster than ever and deal with issues before they get out of control.

9. Establish Authority – By sharing quality content and educating followers, social media can help you become an industry-leading source for information.

10. Beta Testers – Where can you go to find passionate and knowledgeable people to test your new products?  Your social media fan base is the perfect place.

11. Copy Writing – By scanning the social web for mentions and discussions of your brand, you can see how consumers actually talk about your products and discover a new tone and style that was not considered before.

12. Consumer Research- As people spend more time on social networks, they are sharing more information about themselves and what they like.  You can dive deeper into your current user base or identify untapped markets. 

13. Sales- While you shouldn’t get into social media with just sales in mind, you are crazy to think users aren’t influenced to buy in someway by what they see and hear on social networks.   Users might not come to social networks with buying in mind like they do when they Google something, but everything your brand does in social media can help lead to a sale.

Do you agree or disagree with this list?  What are some other benefits you think social media can have for your brand not mentioned here?  Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

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Try Not to Be a Tool

July 20th, 2010 View Comments

This post also appears at The Lab on The Archer Group blog.

The rumors of Google Me, Google’s social network project, are getting more intense and realistic everyday.  It seems that any day now a headline of “Google Me Launch Date Set” will dominate the morning scan of our RSS readers.

All the news thus far points to Google attempting to blatantly mimic the already dominant Facebook, in terms of features and functionality but with tweaks where Facebook has fallen short with its 500 million users.  There is no doubt that understandable, workable privacy settings and the ability to easily integrate with all other Google products will be two enticing features of Google Me.

The thought of another major social network coming into the mix has the C-level asking marketing managers the inevitable question of “What will our Google Me strategy be?”  There lies the problem that is plaguing brands both big and small since social media marketing catapulted from a so-called fad to a communication revolution.

Brands should never just think of social media in terms of the tools they use to connect with users, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  The tools will inevitably change, just ask MySpace and Friendster, but the strategy for how to engage users should not.

A social media strategy, whether stand alone or heavily integrated in the marketing mix, should always aim to provide value to users – whether they are called Fans, Followers, Likes or the next buzzword.  Your strategy should never be to “post 2-3 updates a week on Facebook with at least one being a photo album.”

On the social web, quality content is king as the recent Old Spice campaign showed with its highly engaging and entertaining videos.  Valuable content can come in many forms such as: behind the scenes information, coupons or deals, fun facts or even just friendly customer service.

Social networks are just a way to distribute this great content to users that have taken the time to follow your brand on the web.  The tools also allow you to have a 1-to-1 connection and actually establish relationships with customers, something that wasn’t possible before.  The name of these tools shouldn’t matter because your strategy and goals should remain the same across the board.

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Why Getting Engaged Is Just Like Forming A Social Media Strategy…

June 10th, 2010 View Comments

It has been a little while since my last blog post but I have a good reason – I recently got engaged to my girlfriend of 3+ years.  The last several weeks have been filled with sneaking around, driving across three different states, lots of research and tons of stress.

But it was all worth it when I saw the look on my girlfriend’s face when I got down on one knee and proposed.  However, this monumental decision in my life got me thinking about how buying an engagement ring is a lot like forming a social media strategy.

  1. Listen and Research – I have known for a while that my girlfriend was the one I wanted to marry one day but I was waiting for a good time to set out on the process of purchasing a ring.  When I knew the time had come to start seriously looking into buying a ring, I started paying close attention to whenever she talked about engagement rings or commented on rings of her recently engaged friends.  Brands need to listen and see what people are saying about them before jumping into social media.  Just like getting engaged, you never want to rush into starting social media. Researching the 4′s C’s of diamonds was a crucial part of my process and I learned a great deal about  engagement rings.  After finding where customers are talking about your brand and listening to what is being said, researching what social channels and tools can best be leveraged to obtain your social media objectives is key.
  2. Commitment – After you have listened to what type of engagement ring your girlfriend wants and done all your research and then some, it is time to commit to a ring and put down some money.  Buying an engagement ring was the biggest purchase of my life thus far and  a lot of thinking went into it.  The same is true with social media.  Brands can’t half ass interacting with customers on social networks or it will clearly show.  You need a thought out social media strategy and then need to commit the proper time, resources and money into carrying it out.  The days of letting the intern set up your Facebook page or having the PR team just tweet out press releases are long over.
  3. Think Long Term – I was ready to buy an engagement ring because when I thought about my future, I knew I didn’t want it to be without my girlfriend.  I wanted the most beautiful ring I could afford and one that I knew she would love forever.  When choosing to get started in social media, brands need to not just think about short term goals or get caught up in day-to-day tactics.  Make sure you have a long term strategy in place that is not just acquire as many Fans as possible or drive sales to your website.  Think about ways that you can continually provide value to users that have followed and engaged with your brand so you can turn them into loyal evangelists.

In the end after countless hours and lots of stressful thinking, I was very satisfied with my ring selection and I think my girlfriend would say the same.  The most crucial part of the entire process was definitely listening and research because in my mind I only had one chance to get this right.  Just like I would never take back my engagement ring and ask for a second chance to propose, brands can’t just delete their social media efforts or hope all the customer questions and comments magically disappear.  Take your time and do things right the first time.  And just in case there was any doubt after reading this, my girlfriend said yes when I asked her to marry me and is now my fiancé.  Calling her my fiancé with take some getting use to…

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Why 2-3 Updates a Day is NOT Good for All Brands’ Facebook Fan Pages

May 18th, 2010 View Comments

Facebook Fan PagesLast week Vitrue came out with a Social Page Evaluator tool that is suppose to give a value in dollars to a Facebook Fan Page. This estimate is based on their now infamous $3.60 valuation for a Facebook Fan that was backed into using a lot of assumptions and a $5 CPM.  I will save my gripes about the Fan evaluation for another day.

A key part of the Social Page Evaluator is post frequency.  An easy way to drive the value of your Fan Page higher is to post more frequent updates that in turn lead to more impressions.  Now to be fair, Vitrue does have a disclaimer that says “Be aware of what content you would like users to see from your brand and how frequently you are posting.”  For that I applaud them because I completely agree, however, in their best practices list they say brands should aim to post 2-3 times a day.  Let’s take a closer look at this 2-3 number because I have seen it mentioned on several other social media best practices lists around the web.

Certain types of brand verticals are ideal for posting 2-3 Facebook Page updates a day such as news sources, industry blogs, health brands, TV channels, private sale sites or large retail chains that sell thousands of different items.  I wouldn’t mind seeing several daily posts from these types of Pages if they provided me with valuable information and were spread out in a timely fashion.

However, brands that fall into categories such as consumer packaged goods, restaurants, niche retailers, seasonal products, movies, and several others do not need to update me more than once daily (if that) with a post to the already crowded News Feed.  Users don’t need 2-3 updates daily about how great a certain men’s razor is or daily reminders that a new hamburger is available at a national fast food chain.

A study last year by Sysomos found that on average Facebook Page administrators create one wall post every 15.7 days and among pages with more than one million fans, one wall post is created for every 16.1 days.  This suggests there is no correlation with frequency of posts and popularity.

When deciding how often to post for your brand’s Page, take into consideration what type of product or service you provide and how much a user actually wants to hear about it or related information in their daily life.  If what you provide affects users on a daily basis, like health food products for example, then maybe it is ok to post several health facts a day along with a product promotion a few times a week.  As always, test what frequency is right for your audience and closely monitor how many people are unsubscribing to your updates via their News Feed or completely removing themselves from your Fan Page.  Facebook Page Insights provides all this data for you.

Facebook says that the average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events and also has 130 friends so don’t overwhelm your Fans with pointless updates just for the sake of posting.  When it comes to social media, quality and not quantity rules all.

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Social Media Success Summit 2010: Guy Kawasaki Keynote on Twitter

May 11th, 2010 View Comments

Social Media Success Summit 2010All this month is the Social Media Success Summit presented by SocialMediaExaminer.com.  This is a purely online conference that has some of the biggest and most respected names in social media conducting sessions and panel discussions.  I am one of 2000+ “attendees” at the conference so I will share some of the  social media tips and tactics I pick up along the way as well as my opinion on some of the topics being presented.

Here are some interesting nuggets from the social media guru and former Apply Fellow Guy Kawasaki during his keynote titled “How To Use Twitter As a Marketing Weapon.”

  • search.twitter.com is one of the best (and free) social media tools on the web
  • Utilize OR when searching on Twitter to see results about several topics at once – like “coke OR pepsi“
  • Use the Twitter advanced search to see what people are tweeting about a certain topic within a specific area such as “football near:philadelphia within:25mi.”  This is great to look for prospects for local businesses or regional sales teams.
  • You can use Google to search in Twitter usernames or real names and also in the Twitter bio field.  This is great for brands to use to find potential new people to follow since people use the bio to share what they do and their interests.  For example, in Google type “intext:”bio * photographer” site:twitter.com” for all people that mention the word photographer in their Twitter bio.
  • Follow @CleverAccounts to learn about new and exciting ways businesses and people are using Twitter worldwide.  This account is run by a team at Twitter.
  • Guy shared a little known fact about Dell and all the social media case studies written about them.  Back when they had only 2,500 followers they made $500,000 in revenue from Twitter and now with 1.6 million follows they have made $1.5 million in sales from Twitter.  Still a big number but it shows how it isn’t always the size of the following that is important but how engaged each individual person is.
  • Guy often gets criticized for repeating all of his tweets a lot in a 24 hour period.  To this he says go watch CNN for 2 straight hours and tell me if they don’t repeat news stories within that time.  I couldn’t agree more with him on this and with time differences and the amount of people that quickly check Twitter on their mobile devices, it is definitely worth it to repeat some of your best tweets to make sure all your followers have an opportunity to see them.

That is all for now.  I’ll be providing some summaries all month from certain sessions from the Social Media Success Summit 2010 so stay tuned.

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