These days everyone is talking about Facebook and the frequent improvements and changes that are being implemented, but when the person talking is the head of Facebook in Australia, you tend to sit up and listen.
Presenting at a Business Connect event, Facebook’s Paul Borrud focused on interaction, engagement and relationships.
For people who are not quite aware of the enormity of Facebook, Paul offered some impressive numbers.
• There are 400+ million users on Facebook worldwide
• 3 billion photos are uploaded per month
• Users connect with 20 million pages each day
• In Australia alone there are 9 million active Facebook users with the over 35 age group the fastest growing group of users
Brand Pages
Traditional advertising methods tend not to be effective on Facebook. Paul explained the concept of creating an interactive brand page or ad that engages the user and encourages them to ‘share’ the information they like with friends.
It’s easy to get your page wrong. The common mistake is when a message or product is pushed relentlessly through the page rather than the company listening and interacting with consumers.
Paul recommends:
• Initiating the conversation but let people continue the conversation.
• Listen to customers but only react and respond when relevant.
• Let the page show the ‘behind the scenes’ and personality of the brand.
• Make sure your social media strategy fits into a larger digital marketing strategy.
• Make it easy for users across all social media; use the same name where possible for Twitter, Facebook, blog etc.
• 70% of the communication should come from the community with only 30% originating from the brand.
• Look around the corner, things move fast and you need to stay on top of changes and what is being said about your brand as well.
• Be authentic. The key to all good social media, don’t try and sell.
Engaging Advertisements
New advertising options on Facebook extend much further than click on a link.
Users, who have been targeted as the desired demographic, are offered options such as engaging in a short poll, giving and receiving virtual gifts with friends, sharing the ad or page with friends and one of the most simple and yet effective actions, clicking ‘like’ on an ad or page.
This information can then be used in the ad making it even more effective. For instance, if you see an ad for a brand of makeup and underneath it names three of your friends as fans of this product, you are more inclined to click on the ad. There is, in fact, a 68% increase in brand interest when users know friends endorse the product or service.
Social Plugins
Relatively new in Australia but well and truly up and running in the US, Paul explained the way Facebook’s social plugins will extend social engagement beyond Facebook.
As more businesses include the HTML code for social plugins on their website, people can log in to a news site, for instance, and see what stories their friends like or have commented on. This community interaction on different sites is set to be the next phase of the internet and is being termed Web 3.0.
In a nutshell, you could be on any site and click that you ‘like’ it and this information will be shared on Facebook with your friends. This is just the next step in the world of Facebook and as its popularity continues to grow there are sure to be more advancements just around the corner.
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