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Inside Facebook

ComScore Report: 27% of Facebook Browsing on News Feed, Just 10% on Apps

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 05:40 PM PDT

Today, internet marketing research company comScore released a white paper detailing which Facebook features receive the most usage and where users interact with branded content. The report shows that 27% of Facebook browsing is on the news feed and home page — 4% of all time spent online in the US.  21% of time was spent on profiles, 17% on Photos, 10% on applications, and 25% on the rest of the site. Most engagement with branded content happens on the news feed, not Pages, yet the average brand in the top 100 Facebook Pages reaches only 16% of their fans per week if they post five days a week.

These stats should illuminate that brands should put more effort into optimizing their news feed posts than developing apps for their Pages if they want to reach the most people. The report is based on a two million person opt-in panel of web internet users that agreed to be monitored, so the sample size is ample though it might skew towards savvier, less skittish users.

Most Time Spent on News Feed and Photos, Not Apps

Facebook’s Photos feature is often considered a core driver of time spent on Facebook. ComScore’s stats showing more usage of the news feed than Photos don’t necessarily disprove this, as time spent reading news feed stories and notifications generated by photo uploads and tags are counted towards the news feed’s time. Facebook has yet to develop other features as popular as the news feed or Photos.

Some might expect that applications and games would take up more than 10% of user time. In September 2010, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said over 200 million people, or roughly 40% of users were playing games on Facebook when the service had 500 million users, and that stat might still hold true. A few months prior, Playdom CEO cited undisclosed personal sources saying 40% of all time on Facebook was spent on games — a much higher percentage than comScore’s figures. These new stats should serve as a reality check that brands shouldn’t be too focused on building tab applications or marketing within social games.

Brands Must Focus on the News Feed

ComScore’s data supports a similar conclusion as findings by Facebook Page analytics tool provider PageLever, which showed that the average Facebook Page receives an average of just 7.49 news feed post impressions and only 3.19 unique Page views per day per 100 fans. Essentially, each post a Page publishes only reaches a small fraction of its total fans via the news feed, and an even smaller portion of its fans visit the Page itself.

Pages that want to increase the percentage of their fans which they reach with news feed posts should make sure to post every day. A study of the top 100 Pages showed that for each additional day per week that a Page posts, it reaches 2.5% more of its fan base. Those that post every day can reach as much of 22% of their fan base each week.

A study of three popular brands on Facebook, Starbucks, Bing, and Southwest Airlines, showed that they saw 40 to 151 times more impressions in the news feed than on their Pages. While this study only had three data points, marketers should take note of the disproportionate amount of exposure that occurs in the news feed. This is partly because re-shares of news feed posts by a Page’s fans help drive news feed exposure.

ComScore’s white paper also stresses that a great deal of potential for exposure lies in the friends of a brand’s current fans. If Pages can post content compelling enough that fans are willing to re-share it, they can reach a huge new audience. This is because Facebook has said for years that the average user has 130 friends, though we’ve heard that could be closer to 170 now. ComScore’s report shows that the total count of the friends of fans of Facebook’s most popular Pages is on average 31 to 84 times higher than the fan counts of those Pages.

In conclusion, users are spending the most time on the news feed, and thats where engagement with brands happens. Brands should post every day and aim to attain high levels of Likes, comments, and re-shares to increase the visibility of their posts and maximize exposure to both fans and their friends

For Page posting strategy tips that can help you leverage your existing fan base and gain new Likes, visit the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network’s complete guide to marketing and advertising through Facebook.

Facebook vs Twitter – How Smart Marketers Use Both Differently

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 01:42 PM PDT

Facebook Marketing Bible

The following is an excerpt. The complete article, available in our Facebook Marketing Bible, includes more key differences between Twitter and Facebook, Twitter mistakes to avoid, and how to optimize your marketing strategy for the two platforms.

Facebook is not Twitter, and Twitter is not Facebook.

For veteran users of both platforms, this statement is well understood. But for marketers and brands new to either network, or for those with an extensive level of experience in one but not the other, the differences are not immediately apparent.

In this article, we compare brand Twitter Profiles to Facebook Pages, looking at the ways in which one is different to the other and the pros (and cons) each platform offers to the marketer.

How Do Facebook and Twitter Compare?

While the marketer's aspirations for both platforms are similar – namely, to build a large and engaged audience to raise brand awareness and drive footfall – the manner in which each network and audience is approached and cultivated needs to be tailored specifically to that network.

Facebook and Twitter have many apparent similarities, both in functionality and in jargon, including:

  • Usernames
  • Profile Pages
  • Avatars
  • Status Updates
  • Tagging

Both platforms also provide an outstanding way for businesses to market themselves to users, and offer first line customer support. However, the use of similar terminology aside, the ways in which these features are both implemented and received are often very different.

Size

Perhaps the most important difference between Facebook and Twitter is the size of the respective networks. As of July 2011, Facebook said it had over 750 million registered monthly active users. Twitter is cagey with the release of its user data but recent estimations put the platform at somewhere between 200 and 300 million users. However, these numbers only reflect registered accounts — the active user count on Twitter is considerably smaller. For example, third party measurement firm comScore shows it reaching 139 million unique users worldwide in May.

Post Frequency

Popular Facebook Pages typically post one or two updates every day. Whether a Page’s fans see that post is determined by the Facebook news feed EdgeRank algorithm. This is designed to show users the most relevant posts in the default Top News tab of the news feed, though users can also select to view a more comprehensive stream of updates in the Most Recent tab of the new feed.

The goal for marketers with Facebook Page posts is to attain the most Likes and comments, which increase a post’s EdgeRank, and drive re-shares of posts, which expose branded content to the friends of fans. Therefore, marketers should compose posts that they think will be the most engaging for their audience.

Popular Twitter profiles typically post much more frequently, sending out closer to a half dozen tweets a day. Twitter’s stream displays tweets in strict reverse chronological order. A profile followers are therefor only likely to see the tweets if they’re reading Twitter within a small timeframe after an update is published, or if it is retweeted by a high volume of people they follow.

The goal for marketers with Twitter updates is therefore to publish as much solid content as possible in order to catch followers when they’re reading. The real-time nature of Twitter also favors breaking news. The first profile to post about breaking news or something important will often receive many retweets. Therefore marketers should try to turn as much relevant content about their brand into tweets as possible, and move quickly when posting about topics that appeal to a wide audience.

Brand Presence vs. Broadcast Channel

Overall, however, Facebook appears to be most focused on reinforcing its focus on private, real-world connections through ongoing improvements to features like Groups and Chat. It is also focused on providing a platform for full-featured brand presences, where business can host engagement applications, contests, and rich media content as well as distribute updates. Twitter has meanwhile settled into becoming a broadcast channel for brands with some conversational functionality.

Facebook and Twitter share some similarities but these are considerably outweighed by the differences between the two networks and their audiences. Marketers looking for success on both must invest time and expertise into tailoring strategies that fit within the unique constraints of each.

Learn about more key differences — and how to optimize for each platform — in the full Facebook Marketing Bible article.

BrightWhistle Raises $1.1 Million to Offer Facebook Ad and Landing Page Optimization to Health Care

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 12:07 PM PDT

BrightWhistle is a customer and patient acquisition platform that uses the Facebook Ads API and its own landing page optimization technology to lower acquisition costs for health care providers, as well as multi-location businesses. Currently a managed spend service, BrightWhistle has just raised $1.1 million seed round led by Hamilton Ventures to fund development of a licensable tool for marketing departments and their agencies.

BrightWhistle automatically generates special landing pages for every ad its clients run so those who click through immediately see relevant content that increases the likelihood of conversion.

Landing Page Optimization to Reduce Customer Acquisition Costs

Here’s how the company’s service works once BrightWhistle signs a health care provider client:

  1. Websites are created for each of the clients doctors, locations, or products to drive organic leads and search discoverability.
  2. Content pertaining to the client’s services such as blog posts from journalists and physicians is licensed and published to these sites.
  3. A client’s Facebook ads are loaded into BrightWhistle, which optimizes them around click through rate and other ad metrics.
  4. Landing pages incorporating the licensed content are automatically generated for each ad creative and targeting permutation.
  5. These landing pages are published where they’ll drive the highest conversion, either as a tab app on the client’s Facebook Page, or on their website.
  6. Potential customers see relevant ads, click through to a landing page of relevant content that qualifies the lead, and they fill out a form to use the client’s services.
This system can significantly reduce the cost of customer acquisition because ad clicks aren’t wasted by directing leads to one-size-fits-all landing pages that are irrelevant or located on sites that don’t facilitate conversion. Landing tab apps are focused on driving sales and immediate ROI rather than gaining Facebook fans for a client’s Page. BrightWhistle co-founder and CEO Greg Foster tells us, “Some people in the industry still think it’s just about Likes, just about brand building. I think that’s selling Facebook short on its potential to generate more customers and revenue.
In February , Facebook began allowing ads to point a specific landing tab app, paving the way for BrightWhistle’s automatic landing page optimization technology. TBG Digital, one of the largest Facebook Ads API partners, has also released a landing page optimization tool called SmartPages, but it only allows manual landing page creation.

Managed Spend Service Available, Licensable Tool to Come

The 8-person BrightWhistle team is based in Atlanta. Its board will be joined by Jamie Hamilton, managing partner of Hamilton Ventures, Emerson Fann, managing partner of Eastside Partners which participated in the $1.1 million seed round, and former Disney and Weather Channel executive Paul Iaffaldano. BrightWhistle will use the seed round to hire for its development team so it can finish building its licensable tool. Its sales team will also be expanded to court more health care providers and agencies.

The company was approved in February to join the limited set of Facebook partners with access to the Ads API. BrightWhistle now manages hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in Facebook ad spend for several clients that pay 10 to 15% of total spend and a per-site per-month fee. It can also handle Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn marketing. Once the tool is finished, it will be licensed to agencies that will integrate the developer’s cut into what they charge clients. Eventually, BrightWhistle hopes to license its tool directly to health care providers as a software-as-a-service.

Over the past few months we’ve seen some consolidation within the Facebook Page management and Ads API industries, with Efficient Frontier acquiring Context Optional, Vitrue partnering with TBG Digital, and other deals. When asked if he thought this consolidation would continue, Foster said “Absolutely. It feels like we’re maybe a year from companies with more sales or money in the bank starting to consolidate the ecosystem to build a more robust service.”

With an performance-boosting customer acquisition service that could be translated from health care providers to other verticals, BrightWhistle itself could become a target for partnership or purchase. Foster tells use “We aren’t stupid. We want to find the best outcome for us and our investors. We may be the acquirers, who knows. Right now we think we’re in the place (the Facebook Ads API) where there’s the highest willingness for clients to pay.”

Amy Winehouse, Jesus, Dior, Domo, “Captain America,” and More on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Pages

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Popular musicians composed about half of our list of the fastest growing Facebook Pages by Likes this week. Topping the list was the recently departed Amy Winehouse, although other pop musicians also made the list. Then there was a bunch of movie and TV show Pages, a few big brands, Jesus, Snapfish and cereal.

Most of the Pages are list regulars in categories like music and media, requiring between 190,300 and 649,400 Likes to make the list this week. We compile these lists with our PageData tool, which counts the number of fans added to a Page each week.

Name Likes Gain Gain,%
1.  Amy Winehouse 2,824,662 +649,428 +30%
2.  Special K 462,976 +462,976 +0.0%
3.  Nicki Minaj 12,125,807 +416,398 +4%
4.  Jesus Daily 7,613,180 +414,841 +6%
5.  Dior 4,358,483 +405,517 +10%
6.  Titanic 12,272,585 +382,572 +3%
7.  The Bad Girls Club 3,493,769 +359,674 +11%
8.  Beşiktaş 341,384 +341,384 +0.0%
9.  Domo 338,405 +338,405 +0.0%
10.  Kesha 15,630,328 +303,903 +2%
11.  Captain America 969,959 +297,608 +44%
12. Sagopa Kajmer, En Anlamlı Söz Yazan Rap’ci Diyenler … 246,554 +246,554 +0.0%
13.  Bruno Mars 10,076,700 +244,363 +2%
14.  Chris Brown 13,976,774 +221,274 +2%
15.  Pitbull 9,162,669 +218,603 +2%
16.  Pirates of the Caribbean 8,398,011 +206,042 +3%
17.  Snapfish 201,319 +201,319 +0.0%
18.  Trey Songz 10,932,424 +197,266 +2%
19.  Britney Spears 13,042,547 +190,981 +1%
20.  Wiz Khalifa 10,195,789 +190,281 +2%

As mentioned Amy Winehouse's Page grew the most this week with 649,400 Likes in light of her death. Nicki Minaj's Page grew by 416,400 Likes; she's currently on tour with Britney Spears, whose Page grew by about 191,000 Likes. Kesha's Page grew by 303,900 Likes, as she's giving out free tickets to her concerts. Bruno Mars saw 244,400 new Likes, while Chris Brown's award of free Spotify invites for fans attracted 221,300 Likes for his Page. Pitbull's new single, combined with his tour and media posts, generated 281,600 Likes while Trey Songz's new song gathered 197,300 and Wiz Khalifa added 190,300.

There were brands and other Pages on the list. Special K breakfast cereal has been providing users with a free diet app on Facebook, generating about 463,000 Likes in the past week. The Jesus Daily Page grabbed 414,800 likes, Dior's Page saw 405,500, Turkish Beşiktaş saw 341,400 likes and the Japanese character Domo's Page grew by 338,400, perhaps in part due to ComiCon or new merch. Snapfish photo service saw 201,300 likes this week, and the Page is currently running a free stuff promotion.

Movie and TV Pages also made the list in force this week. The "Titanic" Community Page grew by 382,600 Likes. Reality TV show "The Bad Girls Club" grew by 359,700 Likes, the "Captain America" movie saw 297,600 new Likes, a Turkish music Page,  Sagopa Kajmer, En Anlamlı Söz Yazan Rap’ci Diyenler … grew by 246,600 Likes and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie Page grew by 206,000 Likes.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top weekly gainers by daily active users on Wednesday, and the top emerging apps on Friday.

New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: Buddy Media, Syncapse, North Social, 140 Proof and More

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 08:19 AM PDT

There were some big and interesting hires this week. Buddy Media brought in a managing director for their Europe office, there were various engineering and sales positions across several companies, 140 Proof hired a VP of Product, North Social hired a VP of Business Development and SocialShield hired a chief of safety.

If your company is bringing in new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we'll get it into next week's post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here's this week's list of hires:

Buddy Media

  • Luca Benini, Managing Director, Europe – effective August 1; previously worked as VP, Commercial Director, comScore Europe.

Syncapse

  • Edward Chow, Statistician - formerly a Data Analyst at the Canadian Red Cross.
  • Mohammad Adil Khan, Manager, Client Solutions - previously a Summer Marketing Intern at Tkaro, Inc.

140 Proof

  • Alan Shusterman, Vice President of Product – founder of Jobnob and formerly worked as VP of Client Services for Edusoft.

TBG Digital

  • Gregory Vindry, Client Services Manager – previously worked as an account manager specialist at Microsoft Advertising.
  • Reginald Sebastian, Social Media Analyst – formerly worked as an associate at the Life Management Institute at LOMA.

Involver

  • Kefan Xie, Ruby on Rails Developer Intern – formerly worked as a QSL Developer at Qualcomm.
  • Chase WIlson, User Interface Developer - previously worked as a Frontend Web Developer at Oakley.

BranchOut

  • Abhik Pramanik, Senior Software Engineer – formerly the founding engineer at Top Prospect.

Wildfire

  • Bradley Wolf, Sales Manager – was previously an Account Executive at Wildfire.
  • Mithya Srinivasan, Sales Associate – worked as an International Communication Intern at Facebook.
  • Natalie Parks, Account Management Intern – previously worked as an intern at UBS Financial Services.
  • Gregory Furmanek, Software Engineer – founded Elegant Software.

North Social

  • Mike Johnson, Vice President of Business Development – formerly a digital marketer with Electronic Arts.

SocialShield

  • Steve DeWarns, Chief Safety Officer – founder of Internet Child Safety and a former police officer.

onsdag den 27. juli 2011 at 07.19