Jan 272015
 
facebook

Basically, before an ad campaign launches, advertisers can create two test groups: a control group of Facebook users who won’t see the ads, and a second group of users who will. Then, after the campaign runs, advertisers can compare the behavior of the two groups.

The new service move is just one way that the giants of the net—and a wide range of other companies—are working to show that modern technology can not only deliver ads in more pointed ways, but actually prove that people are responding to ads. Google, Twitter, and Adobe are the other big names here. But for Forrester analyst Richard Joyce, who closely follows the online advertising market, Facebook is uniquely positioned to track the success of ads, because it collects so much personal data about its users.

“This can be very powerful,” Joyce says. “It’s hard to create this kind of 360-degree view of the user without the kind of data that Facebook has.”

via Facebook Rolls Out a Tool for Testing Ads With Control Groups | WIRED.

 

 


 

Jun 022014
 
facebook

facebook

It’s becoming clear that brands looking to get their way into more fans’ and users’ News Feeds, there are two main options — advertising and getting a friend to share a message. Referral marketing is one way to get that important share.

Facebook announced recently that explicit shares from a third party app now hold more weight in its News Feed algorithm. But how can you get a Facebook user to willingly share your content with their friends? Offering some kind of reward or incentive works, according to Extole Vice President of Marketing Chris Duskin. He said that Extole’s clients have seen a lot of success with referral marketing, motivating fans and customers to share content and have the message spread across Facebook.

For Extole customers in Q1, 33 percent of acquisitions happened within an hour of a friend receiving a referral message from an existing customer. While referral marketing may be a little easier to do via email, Duskin talked with Inside Facebook about ways that brands can use this technique to get back into the News Feed.

via How can referral marketing counter Facebook’s organic reach problem? – Inside Facebook.

 


 

 

 

May 282014
 
facebook

facebook

Facebook’s News Feed algorithm is tweaked constantly to ensure a better experience for users and a more profitable experience for advertisers. The company announced the latest major change today, as stories shared automatically from third parties will receive a lower ranking in News Feed.

Facebook found that when a user posts content to News Feed through a third party or an app, that generally gets more activity than a post automatically generated via a third party. For instance, the News Feed post generated by automatically listening to a Spotify playlist or artist will move down in the algorithm, while an album or song manually shared via Spotify to Facebook will receive a better ranking.

According to Facebook’s Peter Yang, many times, automatically generated posts from a third party were marked as spam. Additionally, the users didn’t like how stories were being shared implicitly.

via Latest News Feed algorithm change: third party implicit posts punished – Inside Facebook.

 


 

Jan 222014
 

 facebook

Facebook announced the change to its algorithm on Tuesday in a post aimed mainly at owners of “Pages,” which are generally created for companies and public figures rather than individuals.

The company explained that it had previously begun showing more text-only posts in users’ newsfeeds, because internal tests showed that it caused people to write more status updates themselves. In fact, when Facebook began showing more text posts at that time, users posted an average of nine million more status updates each day.

But over time, Facebook realized that text updates from Pages didn’t have the same effect. So, Tuesday’s newsfeed change treats text posts from Pages “as a different category from those of friends.”

MORE: Facebook’s latest tweak means less text-only Page posts for you – NBCNews.com.

 

 

 

Sep 172013
 

facebook

I have been involved in social media since the early days when Facebook was exclusively used by college students. I helped build one of the first and largest social agencies, MRY — now part of Publicis Group. I have since founded a social marketing platform for large brand marketers.

So, how can I view social media as the worst term in marketing when my career has been built upon it? In short, its a misleading term that confuses both consumers and marketers. Heres how:

Its NOT media

Its communication. Its how we communicate with groups of friends, share photos, and make plans. It is also a filter that we use to personalize what we read, watch, listen to, and do. Our social filters are key to achieve relevance in what we consume and how we remove the rapidly expansive noise.

MORE:  Social media: Why its the worst phrase in marketing – iMediaConnection.com.

 

 


 

Jun 032013
 

 facebook

We’ve put together some useful tips on how to create your first Facebook advertising campaign.

If you are a brand that’s new to Facebook advertising, the first thing you’ll need to do is open a business account.

Note: This process is a bit different than opening a private Facebook account and is used solely for business purposes. You can create a business account even if you don’t have a personal Facebook account. To get started, first you need to create a Facebook Page.

Business accounts:

Accounts are not publicly available

Accounts do not have individual profiles

Are used to manage Pages and ad campaigns

First steps:

Create a business account by visiting this link

Once there, choose from six classifications that best suit your business

MORE:   Getting Started: How to Create your First Facebook Ad Campaign

 

 


 

May 292013
 

 facebook

A new scam going around Facebook recently begins with a message to page owners about a new “Fan Page Verification Program.” From there, users are prompted to share their Facebook email and password, which is part of a phishing scam.

Similar to another scam that targeted page admins in the past, the message purports to be from Facebook Security and is designed to trick users into sharing their Facebook login information. This latest scam, detailed by Hoax-Slayer, tells page owners that they qualify for a new security feature and must choose a 10-digit security code by May 30, otherwise their page could be suspended. The message includes a link to a site with form fields for their page URL, email address, password and a “transferring code” of their choice.

MORE:   ‘Fan Page Verification’ scam goes after Facebook page admins.

 

 


 

 

May 282013
 

 facebook

Marketers at Vistaprint, Dove and Nissan will have been very busy recently. All three have fallen victim to advertising appearing next to compromising content on Facebook. The companies found their collateral next to materials supporting and making light of domestic abuse which has led to a customer backlash and severe criticism in the media.

Both companies were quick to respond to the issue, with Vistaprint posting an explanation on their Facebook page, and Nissan on their Twitter feed. While Dove hasn’t replied on either platform, it’s written to campaigners to apologise. However, the fundamental problem with the Facebook platform is that it targets individuals and not the content of each of the pages where the adverts land. Because of what might be totally innocent searches of Facebook or page ‘Likes’, adverts can then appear on pages which have the worst kind of content on them. And according to Facebook’s own rules, it’s up to users to self-regulate the site. There are no protective measures in place for brands.

All of this comes at a time when the pressure group the Everyday Sexism Project has been challenging brands to better manage where their advertising appears. The group wants companies to introduce stricter practices to help prevent against them appearing to support such material.

MORE:   Vistaprint’s Facebook fail just the tip of the iceberg « iMediaConnection Blog.

 

 


 

May 212013
 

 facebook

Since the beginning of last year, we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of ad placements and supported platforms available to advertisers on Facebook. Now, knowing what options you have at your disposal is more important than ever!

Facebook took improvements in ad space pretty seriously and implementing these changes proved to be a successful – Facebook’s mobile efforts, in particular, are starting to achieve impressive results.

During the first quarter of 2013, 30% of Facebook’s ad revenue came from mobile devices, rising from 23% during the previous quarter and 14% the quarter before that. In the first quarter of 2012, Facebook mobile constituted 0% of its total revenue. The company has also begun focusing more on ads in the News Feed, opening up a lot of opportunities for advertisers.

Ad Placement Options

Currently, there are six different ad placements available to advertisers:

Homepage

All Facebook

News Feed (desktop, mobile)

Typeahead

Logout Page (available only through Facebook IO)

MORE:   Know Your Place! Where to Put Ads on Facebook | Social Media Statistics & Metrics | Socialbakers.

 

 


 

May 212013
 

Facebook is maturing as an ad platform, but are brands really seeing ROI? Here’s a case study that examines the true potential of this social network.

When Southeast Toyota Distributors decided to focus ad spend on Facebook, it didnt guarantee dealerships that sales would rise. However, after launching several local Facebook campaigns, revenue with a Facebook footprint started to pour in.

 

MORE:  Do Facebook ads work? – iMediaConnection.com.