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Inside Facebook

Another Mobile Talent Acquisition as Facebook Buys Photo App Maker Digital Staircase

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 06:25 PM PST

Facebook picked up yet another small startup in what may help efforts to build a full-featured, standalone photo or video app.

The company bought Digital Staircase, the maker of a handful of photo and video editing apps like MovieCam, according to the startup’s blog.

“We’re announcing today that we’re being acquired by Facebook to help bring these mobile innovations to a broader audience. Many things may change, but our dedication to immersive experiences will not,” the company wrote in a statement.

Digital Staircase had a modest amount of success with a handful of paid apps. The company had published five apps to date, although three of them hadn’t seen any updates in two years. Its two most recent releases were MovieCam and MovieCam Go, priced at $2.99 and $1.99 respectively. Those apps seemed to hover in between the #100 and #200 range in the paid apps part of the photography category, indicating it might have been difficult to scale up beyond much of a lifestyle business.

>> Read more on Inside Mobile Apps.

Google Releases Google+ Pages for Marketers, Resembling Facebook’s Pages

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 04:07 PM PST

This morning, Google announced the worldwide release of Google + Pages via blog post, establishing itself as the newest competitor to Facebook’s Pages. For consumers, this comes as a rapid advancement for the Google + network, but for marketers who tried to get an account when Google + was first released, it's about time.

“For businesses and brands, Google+ pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face,” writes Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering.

Earlier in the year when Google + beta was unveiled, marketers rushed to build their social branding presence. New business pages were quickly deferred and deleted by Google in effort to make Google+ user-centric at first. To disgruntled marketers, Google said there would be upcoming solutions—and now here we are. Almost. For the time being, Google + Pages are only available to select companies.

Google + Pages has launched with big brand names leading the healm and stretching the gammot of social influence. Key names include Pepsi, The New York Times, Burberry, Save the Children UK, Coldplay, and of course, it's own Google and YouTube Pages. With the ability to create video and chat "hangouts" with a Page's social circle, G+ Pages is creating an intruiging cool factor for personal connection.

Pepsi on Google +

Google+ Pages Profiles look somewhat like a ghost town compared to the application add ons with Facebook’s platform; however, the basics are there. Google has set up its brand Profile Pages similar to Facebook, with a main focus on the Stream. Brands can post "what's new" via video, photo, text, attachments, and location-based check ins. With the popularity of mobile companies like food trucks, Google + decision to add check-ins could be a leveragable integration. Otherwise, Profiles are simple. There is the Stream, an About page, and tabs for Videos and Photos. In testing, we found the check-ins are not quite debugged.

While Facebook has been getting rid of internally built features for Pages, like Discussions, Google has built in a variety of extra tabs– but only related to the Stream. For Pages, there are several Stream categories: Following, Customers, VIPs and Team Members. Google and Facebook Pages can both be accessed via mobile apps. As we’ve reported, the iPhone/iPad has 52.3 million daily active users and 92.7 million monthly active users according to AppData, so marketers tapping into both Google + and Facebook pages have ample opportunity to gain consumers.

Similar to Facebook Pages geographic targeting for posting, G+ is taking a age-related route to "targeting." Content on a G+ Page can be posted to any G+ user, or limited to 18 years or older. Soon, content visibility can be limited to 21 and older and anything alcohol-related. Similar to Facebook, Google is focusing its Pages on storytelling and connecting. Google prohibits contests or sweepstakes, and doesn't provide any promotion-related opportunities as Facebook does.

Of all the Google + Pages hype, the most promising and differentiating feature is the ability to Direct Connect from Google search to a Google+ Page.

Remember when typing in + used to bring up more advanced Google searches? They took it away for a reason. It's now called Direct Connect. To search for a company Google+ Page, users just indicate [+] in the search bar, and the Page will appear. Users can then option to automatically join the circle of anything they put a [+] next to. For example, users looking to join the Twilight circle before the movie comes out can just type in +Twilight to be seamlessly integrated to its social circle.

For developers, the feature takes an extra code that will be picked up by crawlers and approved before a Page can Direct Connect. Like the general G+ Pages feature, this ability is limited to a select number of companies at present.

[Thanks to Eti Suruzon for the tip]

Facebook Marketing Showcase: Clothing Retailers Take Facebook Pages by Storm

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 02:50 PM PST

Facebook Marketing Bible

The fashion industry lends itself particularly well to Facebook – the platform's most prolific (and engaged) demographic is 18 to 34 year-old females – and many of Facebook's most popular Pages come from this sector. Fashion by definition strives to be up-to-the-minute and 'in', and this, plus the strong use of color and powerful visuals by brands in this field, mean that a well-managed Facebook Page can be a very powerful tool in the digital marketer's arsenal.

In this week's Facebook Marketing Showcase we'll be looking at some of the most popular clothing brands on Facebook.

Zara

Established in 1975, Spanish fashion chain Zara expanded so quickly in the last decade that it overtook The Gap as the world's largest clothing retailer. Zara's rapid turnaround (the company claims to take just two weeks to develop a product and get it into stores) and incredible prolificacy (around 10,000 new designs are launched each year) has led to the brand being described as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world.”

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Zara

Overview: Zara's Facebook Page represents the brand well, with over 10 million fans and a very high level of engagement – new posts receive thousands of Likes and hundreds of comments. The landing page ("The Mood") uses strong black and white visuals that click through to the Wall, and (fairly unique amongst Facebook Pages) top-screen navigation menu that allows visitors to move between the main custom tabs.

Customized Page Tabs: 5 – The Mood (landing page), This Week (showcases the latest fashions), People (fans can create a look using items from Zara collections and have their photos displayed on the Page, plus a chance to win cash prizes), LookBook (collections) and Mobile (downloadable iPhone and iPad apps).

Likes: 10,447,132

Like Accumulation: 50,000/week

Fan Reward/Incentive For Liking The Page? No

Does The Page Support Check-Ins? No

Update Frequency: 3-5 posts per week

Can Fans Post On The Page Wall? Yes

Is The Page Moderated? Some spam is visible in Post comments and on the Wall

This is an excerpt from the first post in a series of profiles on Facebook Pages by company and product category. For the complete profiles article, including coverage of Zara, Levi’s, Gap, Victoria’s Secret, and Old Navy, plus more strategies for Page marketing on Facebook, check out the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network's comprehensive guide to marketing, promotion, and advertising on Facebook.

Featured Facebook Campaigns: Pepsi and SavingStar, Banana Republic, Tabasco, Nokia, Honda and More

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 10:13 AM PST

We saw an interesting new promotion on our weekly roundup of Facebook campaigns — paying customers cash to buy products. There was also a branded dress-up contest, a branded game, a Facebook customer service tool, contests, travel apps and more.

Below is an excerpt of this week's full Featured Facebook Campaigns entry in the Facebook Marketing Bible, which also includes detailed breakdowns of over 100 other Facebook marketing campaigns by top-performing brands and other organization on Facebook.

Pepsi and SavingStar Launch Spend $15, Get $5

Goal: Product Purchase, Brand Loyalty, Network Exposure

Method: In an interesting new Facebook promotion, Pepsi Max is using SavingStar technology to ask users who buy $15 worth of Pepsi Max or Diet Pepsi products on November through participating retailers to receive $5 cash at the end of the month.

Core Mechanic: SavingStar built a network of 24,000 retailers throughout the country and by using SavingStar technology, Pepsi customers do not have to drastically alter their shopping behavior to participate. Simply registering a frequent buyer card, say at CVS, is enough to participate. At the end of the month users have several options to redeem their cash, SavingStar CEO David Rochon tells us. "The money goes in an account in your name and you can choose how to receive your money — through a PayPal account, bank account, Amazon gift certificate, or you can donate it to charity."

The idea behind the SavingStar platform is to make it simpler for customers to receive value, and also to make that process fully digital, Rochon explains. This way, these branded offers may reach not just loyal Pepsi fans, but even people who may not normally drink this product. Such promotions are positioned to take the place of dwindling ad campaigns like the Sunday newspaper coupon, Rochon told us.

"The reason that we love Facebook is that these are the kind of promotions that are inherently social, people want to share them, that's the reason that a national program [like SavingStar] is important," Rochon explained.

Impact: The offer launched last Tuesday and Rochon told us that thousands of folks had taken advantage of the offer just a few days later. The Diet Pepsi Page and the Pepsi Max Page are both getting some bumps in Likes, according to our PageData tool. But, this campaign's success is better measured in brand awareness and sales than Likes, since the feature is not Like-gated.

Want to learn how top brands are designing their Facebook marketing campaigns? See the Facebook Marketing Bible for detailed breakdowns of hundreds of Featured Campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

Horror, Android, Page Tabs, Yahoo, Scribd, Skype, Photos and WashPo Reader on This Week’s Top 20 Growing Facebook Apps by MAU

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 08:09 AM PST

A creepy Connect integration topped our list of the fastest growing Facebook applications by monthly active users this week. Then there were a few Page tab apps, photo apps, horoscopes, the Washington Post Social Reader, Skype, Scribd, Facebook's Android app, Yahoo and more. The titles on our list gained the most MAU of any apps on the platform, growing from between 400,000 and 3.7 million MAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

Top Gainers This Week

Name MAU Gain Gain,%
1.  TakeThisLollipop 8,400,000 +3,700,000 +84%
2.  Mafia Wars 2 15,000,000 +2,500,000 +20%
3.  Facebook Messenger for Android 9,500,000 +1,800,000 +24%
4.  Static Iframe Tab 17,600,000 +1,700,000 +11%
5.  Yahoo! 3,100,000 +1,600,000 +145%
6.  Ravenskye City 5,900,000 +1,400,000 +33%
7.  Pagemodo Custom Welcome Tab 9,100,000 +1,100,000 +14%
8.  FarmVille 29,100,000 +1,000,000 +4%
9.  Scribd 12,200,000 +900,000 +8%
10.  Bubble Witch Saga 6,500,000 +800,000 +14%
11.  ShareAndTell.com 870,000 +720,000 +480%
12.  Skype 7,500,000 +600,000 +9%
13.  Zynga Game Bar 4,100,000 +600,000 +17%
14.  Mis Fotos 2,100,000 +600,000 +40%
15.  My Photos+ 920,000 +520,000 +130%
16.  Washington Post Social Reader 950,000 +510,000 +146%
17.  Welcome tab app for Pages 12,300,000 +500,000 +4%
18.  Texas HoldEm Poker 30,300,000 +500,000 +2%
19.  Horoscopes 820,000 +460,000 +128%
20.  Wildfire’s iFrames for Pages 9,400,000 +400,000 +4%

TakeThisLollipop is a horror Facebook Connect integration that incorporates your profile photos to make it seem like a creepy man is obsessed with, and coming for you. The app grew by 3.7 million MAU. Then Facebook Messenger for Android grew by 1.8 million MAU.

There was a group of Page tab apps. Static Iframe Tab grew by 1.7 million MAU, Pagemodo Custom Welcome Tab by 1.1 million MAU, Welcome tab app for Pages by 500,000 MAU and Wildfire’s iFrames for Pages by 400,000 MAU.

Yahoo grew by 1.6 million MAU. Document service Scribd by 900,000 MAU. A website within a Page tab app, ShareAndTell.com, grew by 720,000 MAU. Then there was Skype with 600,000 MAU. A pair of photo apps made the list, Mis Fotos with 600,000 MAU and My Photos+ with 520,000 MAU, and these apps present users with a photo gallery of their friends' photos, allowing them to Like or save them. Liking them publishes a feed story.

Closing out the list was Washington Post Social Reader with 510,000 MAU and Rock You's Horoscopes, which asks users to publish daily Wall posts and grew by 460,000 MAU.

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.

tirsdag den 8. november 2011 at 07.40