Inside Facebook
Inside Facebook |
- Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Showcases Another Deep Facebook Integration
- ReverbNation’s “Venue Profile” App Helps Music Venues Promote on Facebook
- AdParlor Launches Facebook Ads API Tool Specifically for Ad Agencies
- Share Buttons on Third-Party Sites and Facebook Now Provide Micro-Sharing Options
- Featured Facebook Campaigns: Camarena Tequila, Smirnoff Vodka, Gigaset, Excedrin and (RED)
- Music, Quizzes, Birthdays, Cupid, Dating and More on This Week’s Top 20 Facebook Apps
| Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Showcases Another Deep Facebook Integration Posted: 09 May 2011 04:49 PM PDT
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia line is the latest in a series of so-called “deeply integrated” mobile devices that put Facebook functionality at their core instead of in third-party, standalone apps. > Continue reading on Inside Mobile Apps. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ReverbNation’s “Venue Profile” App Helps Music Venues Promote on Facebook Posted: 09 May 2011 04:08 PM PDT ReverbNation, developers of Facebook musician app Band Profile, this week launched a new Page management tab application called “Venue Profile” that helps performance spaces promote themselves and their upcoming shows. Venues can provide location details, take email signups, list upcoming shows, stream music of performers, and link to ticket sales. Venue Profile will allow venue owners to create a much more compelling presence than Facebook’s native Places pages, helping them convert one-time visitors into regulars, while giving ReverbNation exposure to bands who are its core market.
To date, there haven’t been many useful Page or Places tab applications for venues. Most, including Context Optional and BetaPond’s, have focused purely on driving check-ins, or have been designed for restaurants like that offered by Exit41. Meanwhile, tools like ReverbNation’s own Band Profile and AuthorPage by Rethink Books have helped musicians, authors, and other public figures set up a multi-media presence on Facebook, but there was no app designed specifically to help venues. Now, venues can set up their own rich media destination for free through Venue Profile. Set up is simple and straight forward, only requiring the minimun basic information about a venue before an admin can publish the app to their Page or Place. Admins can then choose to add email signup and booking contact widgets, and ReverbNation walks users through the process of making Venue Profile their Page’s default landing tab. Upcoming shows can be added manually or imported from a CSV. If the performers have ReverbNation Band Profiles, details about them and a music player are automatically imported into the show’s listing, allowing admins to give visitors a sample of their material without hosting any MP3s or other media. A venue’s next show is automatically promoted just below their banner, and the show list updates itself as dates pass. All shows can display details and ticket links, and Share buttons let visitors tell their friends and organize outings.
Admins can choose the look of their app by choosing pre-made themes or creating custom color themes. They can choose to show their Page’s latest update, add info to fields that are relevant to venues such as age limit or capacity, and they can edit and set a custom URL for the tab. Venue Profile already has some prominent music performance spaces featuring the app on their Page, including The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, and The Roxy in Los Angeles. The app is free, but we suspect ReverbNation is using it to generate leads for its Band Profile app that monetizes musicians through email marketing services. When artists see their shows displayed in the app, they’ll likely ask the venue or investigate how they can similarly promote themselves on Facebook. As more brands and local businesses establish a presence on Facebook and look towards how to gain and engage fans, expect more of these vertical-specific Page management tools. Though they might not be standalone money-makers, these types of apps can help developers gain exposure to less niche, more lucrative markets. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AdParlor Launches Facebook Ads API Tool Specifically for Ad Agencies Posted: 09 May 2011 11:58 AM PDT
The API lets third-party companies build advanced tools and service that let big advertisers test and run a large number of campaigns efficiently. Social game developers were some of the first heavy users of the API, and those companies have been AdParlor’s core clients to date. But now, with the growth of Facebook as an advertising platform in the US, AdParlor is looking to bring in more brands, which is what the update is about today. Pulse will allow AdParlor, which specializes in social game and performance advertising, to scale its business and serve a wider range of media buyers.
AdParlor launched its managed spend, cost per acquisition-based Ads API service in mid-2010. Its advanced optimization algorithms helped maximize return on investment for clients, and by November it was running advertisements for 7 of the 20 fastest growing games on Facebook. In March 2011, AdParlor signed a deal to exclusively handle Groupon’s millions of dollars in Facebook advertising. The company now also counts SEGA, and ad agencies Publicis and Omnicom as clients, and manages over 15 billion impressions a month, making it one of the most popular Facebook Ads API services or tools on the Platform. However, AdParlor’s CEO says that "Large digital advertising agencies are looking for more control and transparency over the campaigns they are running", so it developed Pulse. The company charges Pulse clients a percentage of spend. There’s no minimum spend, though AdParlor is approving inquiries to use the tool on a case-by-case basis and a large spend probably helps. The full-service option is better for companies without in-house media buying teams, while Pulse allows clients to manipulate targeting and creative themselves instead of just receiving performance reports. Though Pulse is self-serve, AdParlor account managers will train Pulse clients and make recommendations on campaign management.
Agencies can use Pulse to hone in on target markets through CPM and CPC ad campaign multi-variant testing, and ad landing pages can be multi-variant tested as well.Agencies can also optimize for cost per fan, as many large brands that advertise through agencies are seeking to grow their Facebook fan base. A robust user management module lets clients give different employees ands brand representatives different permissions Through the white-labeled version of the tool, umbrella agencies can offer AdParlor’s ad management system to their sub-agencies or clients that want more control. Advertisers use their own Facebook ads account, and can use their own Ads API key, allowing them to be recognized by Facebook for their high spend.
The AdParlor-branded tool can also be used by affiliates and Facebook-integrated websites with performance targets. Both versions support Facebook’s social ad units including the new Sponsored Stories, as well as conversion tracking through a detailed native reporting and visualization system to measure ROI. Reports can be exported in .csv format as well. We’ve seen a growing demand for Ads API tools and services from leading ad agencies over the last few months as the major brands who employ them turn their attention towards social advertising. Havas Digital recently agreed to use a tool developed by BLiNQ Media. Facebook is also courting agencies, having recently launched Facebook Studio as a destination site where they can learn Facebook marketing best practices. AdParlor is now leveraging the brand it has built around top-notch optimization technology to grow its business through Pulse while allowing its managed full-service team to remain focused on clients that need assistance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Share Buttons on Third-Party Sites and Facebook Now Provide Micro-Sharing Options Posted: 09 May 2011 11:44 AM PDT Facebook now provides more distribution options when users click the “Share” button third-party sites as well as Facebook photos, Pages, and rich media news feed stories. In addition to being able to publish to one’s own wall and the news feed, or via a private message, content can now be posted to Facebook Groups or a specific friend’s wall. The expanded distribution options show Facebook’s growing drive to get users to share more frequently by letting publish to those who’ll find a piece of content most relevant, rather than cluttering the feeds of all of one’s friends. It effectively ports the functionality of the new Send button to all existing Share buttons.
Previously, Share buttons Facebook defaulted to publishing to one’s own wall — which in turn triggers news feed stories for friends. They also offered the option to switch to sending a private Message by using a small link in the lower left hand corner of the publisher. Now, the top of the Share publisher shows a prominent drop-down menu allowing users to choose from posting content “On your own Wall”, “On a friend’s Wall”, “In a group”, or “In a private message”. The last three options provide a typeahead for selecting which friends or Groups will receive the post. The Share links appear across the Facebook site on photos, photo albums, Pages, user profiles, Notes, Events, and news feed stories.
Facebook has been providing more selective sharing options over the past few months. It launched Groups in October to make it easy to share to a specific set of friends. It then launched the Send button at the end of April so users could share content from third-party sites to Groups, via Messages, or by email. Web publishers, especially niche content producers, are realizing that users may be more likely to share if they don’t have to broadcast content to all their friends at once. Since the launch of the social plugin, 25,000 sites have integrated the Send button. Now content that lives within Facebook, has already been shared there, or that display’s Facebook’s now deprecated “Share” button can transmitted directly to those who’ll find it most compelling. Since Groups and wall posts generate notifications, publishers should be excited about the potential for their content to be shared in ways that might receive highly qualified clicks, even if fewer impressions. Strategies for how your website can use Facebook’s social plugins, including the new Send button, can be found in the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network’s comprehensive guide to marketing through Facebook. [Thanks to Lionel Bonnaz for the tip] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Featured Facebook Campaigns: Camarena Tequila, Smirnoff Vodka, Gigaset, Excedrin and (RED) Posted: 09 May 2011 10:39 AM PDT Giveaways, photo contests, Mother’s Day and talking birds were part of the campaigns featured this week in our Facebook campaigns post. Two alcohol companies utilized free giveaways to grow their fan bases and engage users on Facebook, a charity tried to steer users celebrating Mother’s Day to a greater cause and a talking bird chatted with users about German phone products. We've excerpted two of the campaigns below. You can see the full week's coverage in the Facebook Marketing Bible, which also includes detailed breakdowns of dozens of other featured campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.
Camarena Tequila Cinco de Mayo SweepstakesGoal: Page Growth, Engagement, Network Exposure, Product Purchase Core Mechanic: On Cinco de Mayo, the Camarena Tequila company gave away a prize every five minutes for 24 hours on its Facebook Page. Method: Starting on Thursday at midnight and running for 24 hours until the next midnight (Friday), Camarena Tequila gave away a prize every 5 minutes. Prizes included beach towels, sunglasses, coasters and similar prizes. The promotion was Like-gated, thus increasing the Page's fan base with the promotion, and fans could enter the promotion every five minutes if they didn't win the first time. Impact: The Page grew by thousands of Likes during the period of the promotion, as well as appeared in the news feeds of thousands more. The promotion was simple, instantly gratifying and left users with a pleasant brand experience. Overall, giving away sunglasses and coasters (plus postage), is a cost effective way to promote your brand on Facebook, considering the amount of exposure the Page received; currently the Like count stands at 19,600. Gigaset's Talk to the Bird CampaignGoal: Engagement, Network Exposure, Brand Loyalty Core Mechanic: A series of video spots featuring a talking bird using the Gigaset phones, and also a livestream that allowed users to "talk" to the birds. Method: The campaign included three commercials in which users can watch the bird "talk" using products by Gigaset, a German phone manufacturer. Then, users are encouraged to talk to the bird themselves by participating in the app, which streamed them with a live macaw parrot to the rest of the app’s users, then this video was uploaded to the Facebook Page for other users to see. The campaign lasted for seven days. Impact: The Gigaset Page is just under 3,000 Likes currently and more than 100 users uploaded their "chats" with the bird to the app during the course of the May 2 through May 9 promotion. The campaign is interesting because it's the users who are the focus of the app — not the product. The promo allowed users to both interact individually, and collectively, with the promotion.
How are top brands in the industry designing their Facebook marketing campaigns? See the Facebook Marketing Bible for detailed breakdowns of dozens of Featured Campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Music, Quizzes, Birthdays, Cupid, Dating and More on This Week’s Top 20 Facebook Apps Posted: 09 May 2011 08:25 AM PDT
Apps on our list grew from between 377,400 and 2.1 million MAU during the past week. The list is compiled using AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook, and covers those that gained the most users in the past seven days. Top Gainers This Week
Two Page administrator apps were on our list. Iframe + Static FBML + Welcome Tab = iwipa with 1.6 million new MAU this week and Welcome Tab for Pages with 788,200 MAU. Both apps allow users to customize a landing tab for Pages either with social media content or in different programming languages. There was another Page tool, Badges, which grew by 556,300 MAU and creates a "badge" for a Page that users can share to their stream from a Page tab. Two music apps on the list grew significantly, too. BandPage by RootMusic grew by more than 1 million MAU mostly in the United States, then Band Profile: Profile Pages for Musicians grew by 495,300 MAU. We wrote recently about the updated RootMusic app, which includes Like-gating, more customizations, music streaming, more opportunities for downloads and branding, as well as other features.
The rest of the list included a photo app, 60 Photos with 1.4 million MAU, which allows users to see and rate friends' Facebook photos, publishing a feed story each time. Quiz Taco with 978,900 MAU is a quiz app for your Facebook friends that publishes feed stories every time you answer a question. Birthday Greeting Cards grew by 909,500 MAU and seemingly allows users to send birthday cards to friends, but asks you to buy an in-app currency first. The friend.ly Connect app grew by 675,100 MAU. Cupid the dating app grew by 434,300 MAU mostly in the US, United Kingdom and India; the app asks you dating questions about your Facebook friends, publishing a story to their Wall. Video İzlemek is a Turkish video app that grew by 407,500 MAU allowing users to view, share and Like videos. Finally, Yahoo's Facebook app grew by 406,200 MAU. Check in later this week for our look at the top weekly gainers by daily active users on Wednesday, and the top emerging apps on Friday. |
While Facebook has been busy denying the existence of any single “Facebook phone” and instead pointing out that there are many such devices, Sony Ericsson is 
Facebook Ads API full-service provider AdParlor today will launch its new s
| You are subscribed to email updates from Inside Facebook To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |