Facebook Marketing Advanced

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Advertising, Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:28:54 +0000

With Black Friday only a week away, Facebook has been ramping up its efforts to prove it can drive sales and become an e-commerce player.

First, the social network added more retailers to its Gift service and opened it up to millions of users in the U.S. The service allows users to attach real gifts to a greeting on Facebook and pay for the gift immediately or at a later time. The Facebook Gift service launched on Sept. 27 with only a select number of brands, but it now includes hundreds of partners selling hundreds of products. Some predict the gifting service is a launching pad for Facebook to get started in e-commerce.

Second, Facebook rolled out a new tool today that will allow online retailers to track purchases by users who viewed their ads. The new Facebook ad conversion tool doesn’t track users’ personal information, but does allow marketers to see how their Facebook ads are performing and target potential customers in real time.

“It lets marketers track the impact of a Facebook ad hours or days or even a week beyond when someone might have viewed the ad,” eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. “That allows marketers to understand the impact of the Facebook ad on the ultimate purchase.”

If you haven’t thought about your Facebook holiday advertising plan yet, it’s high time you do. Check out the 5 Social Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Around the Holidays in our roundup of the Top Facebook Marketing News of the Week to help you get started.

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Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

5 Social Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Around the Holidays, Business2Community

Some marketers may think social marketing requires less planning and preparation than traditional marketing because of its real time nature, but this logic is flawed. Platforms that have the potential to reach, persuade and engage millions of people on a daily basis cannot be a marketing afterthought … especially around such a consumer-focused season. Here are five mistakes that, with a little planning, social marketers can avoid during the holidays. >>Read More

4 Advanced Targeting Techniques Every Facebook Advertiser Should Master, HubSpot

Not everyone “Likes” the Facebook ads platform (pun intended). Its CTRs are lower than Google, it doesn’t convert as well, and it’s just, well … different. And if you’re not already using Facebook Ads (or you’ve tried in the past and failed), you may have noticed there’s not a whole ton of advice out there that helps to explain why Facebook ad campaigns flatline.

Sure, there’s plenty of advice out there about well-designed ads with compelling images and finely crafted, well-written copy. But what if your campaign had all those things … and still tanked? What could’ve gone wrong? Most likely, it was your targeting. >>Read More

New TripAdvisor app helps businesses boost marketing potential on facebook, TravelDailyNews

Photos on Facebook Generate 53% More Likes Than the Average Post [NEW DATA], HubSpot

13 Facebook Marketing Apps Worth Your Attention, Practical eCommerce

New Facebook Features

Facebook Now Testing ‘Ranked Comments’ on Business Pages, HubSpot

Facebook Rolling Out Pages-Only Feed Stream to feature organic posts only, no ads, AdWeek

From Facebook Advanced

How to Launch a Successful Facebook Promotion, Joel Bornzin

From Thoroughly Modern Marketing (our sister site)

How to break down the B2C to B2B marketing siloes, Elizabeth Brigham

Marketing Your Books via Social Media without a Large Investment, Eric Taylor

Facebook Events

Social Media Marketing Bootcamp, from MediaBistro

October 18 – December 13, 2012, Online

Looking for ways to take your Facebook page to the next level? This interactive online workshop will help Page managers and marketers brush up on their skills and learn new tips and tricks for Facebook marketing. The event will feature live guest speakers (via video), along with interactive Q&A sessions. There will also be how-to demonstrations. All of these sessions will be available to registered users at any time. Participants can join discussion boards to ask questions, share resources, and make connections. Marketers can also gain one-on-one feedback from experts on strategic projects as well as participate in industry-specific discussion groups for restaurant, higher education, and entertainment businesses. Register today!

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, from MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

Get an inside look at Facebook innovations and monetization issues impacting today’s top digital media and marketing experts. Packed with case studies and real-world perspectives, AllFacebook Marketing Conference offers attendees a deep analysis of the latest Facebook tools, apps, demographics, research and advertising trends. How are brands measuring ROI in the post-IPO Facebook? Are we entering an era of consolidation in the social media ad buying world? Register before December 3 and save!

How to Launch a Successful Facebook Promotion

Joel Bornzin — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:42:37 +0000

Here at Facebook Advanced we pride ourselves on bringing you the most advanced Facebook advertising and marketing techniques on the planet. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own media bubble that we lose sight that many professionals in small to medium businesses just need help. Good old-fashioned help. They are seeking guidance and honest information. Well, this article is for you. I am going to walk you through a process that I use to set up and execute a simple, seasonal, brand promotion on the Facebook platform.

First, read Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines. Take the time to do it. If you choose not to follow these guidelines then you can lose your brand page. Do not let this happen to you; do not be made an example of. Facebook provides no recourse. That means if you violate Facebook’s promotional guidelines your page can get taken down. You won’t even know what happened and Facebook will not respond to you. Trust me, if you are running your social media community for your company you do not want end up in this situation.

Without further adieu:

12 Steps to Launching a Successful Facebook Promotion

1. Determine a Strategy.

This is the most important step in the process, and needs to be hashed out before you begin. Not sure what your Facebook promotion strategy should be? Try this one: “To Inspire New Fans to Take an Action.” (Find out why this is a great strategy in “3 Tips for Daily Facebook Brand Engagement,” by yours truly.)

2. Set a Clear Goal.

What is your goal? Awareness or Acquisition?
Are you attempting to raise new product awareness around a product launch?
To obtain email addresses from your customer base for audience retention and future marketing?

When you first start I would suggest applying an Acquisition goal to your Facebook promotion. You need to get to know your customers and communicate with them directly, email marketing is designed to communicate with your core customer base and Facebook promotions are a great way to obtain those email addresses. Customers that are into your brand and want to subscribe appreciate the promotion and the opportunity to win prizes. Everyone likes prizes.

3. Pick a Great Prize.

Make up a prize pack that will excite your customer base. Example: If you are local theater, give away front row seats to opening night.

4. Incentivize to Share.

When you run the promotion with a third-party app (more on that below) you have a dedicated micro page that is easy to share. Post this page in your social media channels and alert your customers and fans to the promotion. Ask them to retweet and repost in a respectful way and they will be responsive if you are polite and up front.

Example post:

We are ecstatic about opening night for the theater season this year so we are giving away TWO front row seats to the show! Enter here at this link to get entered to win. We are excited to get the word out! Please share with your friends and repost! Thank you, Local Theater Group.

5. Follow Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines.

No Exceptions.

Did I stress the importance of this enough already?

6. Choose Your Third-Party App.

We use Wildfire App since they work directly with Facebook brand pages. I have had success in the past too with Buddy Media. Wildfire App does make it easy though with templates designed for you and a lot of options to go with. For this exercise just pick the “Basic” package and run your promotion. You will get the hang of it and expand those options later.

7. Secure Those Email Addresses.

One thing that is cool about the Wildfire App is that you are able to secure email addresses for entry. I would recommend not requesting a lot of personal data to enter to win. People feel more comfortable with brands and businesses that are not overly intrusive. Your customer wants to enter and get on their way and in social media their attention span is low and fast. Just give them an easy option to enter name, age (18 to win per legal), email address, and possibly city state. You get the idea. Just make it easy for people, don’t place up a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to enter.

8. Let Everyone Internally Know the Details.

Send an all-points bulletin to the internal staff. Talk with your Customer Service Manager as well. It is important because, inevitably, they will receive calls or questions. If you have your staff prepared prior to launch it makes it a lot easier for them to be efficient.

9. Launch.

You are prepared to launch. Write your post down a few times on a word document and read through it aloud. I can’t tell you how much this trick helps. Keep your launch brief and to the point and not lengthy. You will be posting the promotion plenty in the coming weeks, so you don’t want to be heavy handed about it in your community.

Launch the promotion with the app and secure the enter to win tab on your brand page. Wildfire App has very specific instructions on how this is executed (relatively easy).

10. Be Responsive and Clearly Communicate About How To Enter.

People will ask on your promotion post “how do I enter?” This always happens. Be clear and concise and direct them to the dedicated landing page and you will be fine. Sweepstakes law defines that you must have alternative forms of entry as well. Set up a quick response that lists your snail mail and email address where people can enter if they request such, most people won’t. We recently concluded a promotion with over 2000+ entries and only had 6 email send ins and no U.S. Postal Mail.

11. Wrap Up.

Always provide a brief (2-5 slides) to the senior staff internally. Just a quick and dirty wrap-up, nothing too fancy. They appreciate it and it helps to build a reservoir of mini case studies you can refer back to in the future.

12. Always Announce Winners Publicly.

According to the Promotional Guidelines you cannot notify a winner using the Facebook Platform. The notification has to take place off of Facebook.

Here is the way you can announce after you have email notified the winner:

Winner of the recent tickets promotion has been notified via email. Everyone please give a big “Congratulations!” to Dan H. for winning the theater tickets for opening night! Thank you to all who participated and stay tuned, we have a great Father’s Day Promotion coming up soon! Thanks again, Your Brand

Make sure you announce the winner. If you don’t people in your community will start asking on your page.

I hope this example is helpful for you. If I forgot anything, please leave me a comment below. I enjoy running Facebook promotions and I am always open to hearing new ideas and ways to execute.

Let us know if you have any questions and enjoy!

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Advertising, Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:13:48 +0000

The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes new opportunity to leverage Facebook to cash in on the Black Friday gold rush. More than half (51%) of U.S. shoppers plan to do the majority of their Christmas shopping in November, with almost two-thirds (63%) planning to do this online.

This is all according to customer engagement solutions company LivePerson.com, which also found that 40% of Americans will use Facebook and Twitter to interact with companies this holiday season and see what they have to offer. What are they looking for? Nearly 75% use Facebook to find discounts, with 70% using Twitter to read reviews and 73% using Pinterest to research ideas. Now is the prime time to use Facebook ads, Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories to draw customers in with holiday discounts.

So how do you do this?

Brad Klaus, CEO of social media firm Extole, wrote a great article on “5 Ways to Leverage Facebook’s Open Graph Before the Holidays.”

Klaus says social media will be a critical component of holiday marketing efforts for retailers this year, and retailers can leverage Facebook’s Open Graph to build holiday programs and promotions that “foster the creation and sharing of consumer word of mouth, driving their friends and peers through the purchasing funnel.”

A few highlights from the article include:

Shift focus to the consumer timeline. “Retailers can build holiday promotions to generate consumer stories and claim real estate on the Consumer Timeline to maximize awareness with friends of their fans this holiday season.”

Sponsored Stories create a significant advertising opportunity for retailers on Facebook. They see a 46% higher CTR, and a 20% lower CPC than Facebook Ads

Read more Facebook advertising tips after the U.S. Christmas Shopping Trends Infographic in our picks for the Top Facebook Marketing News of the Week.

Have these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

Why Marketers Shouldn’t Compare Google ROI to Facebook ROI, AdExchanger

In the battle for digital advertising dollars, Google is the established leader and Facebook is the scrappy newcomer. While Google offers an expansive array of advertising products, marketers have built a clear understanding of which are best for driving awareness and which deliver solid transactional value. Facebook is still a young marketing channel, and while it has had an undeniable impact, marketers are still struggling to define exactly how to best utilize Facebook’s advertising solutions. >>Read More

Facebook Ads: Improved E-mail Marketing, Inside Facebook

Consumers Feel “Misled” By Promoted Tweets, FB Sponsored Ads, Sponsored Video, Marketing Vox

Facebook Posts Get Half Their Reach Within 30 Minutes of Being Published, Marketing Charts

Is Facebook’s Drop in Page Impressions By Design or a Sign of the Times?, Marketing Pilgrim

Facebook Simplifies Ad Creation Process, Practical eCommerce

Facebook Text-Only Posts Beating Photo And Link Posts On EdgeRank, AllFacebook

Facebook Page Posts Marked as Spam Spiked Amid Algorithm Outcry, AdWeek

Will Anyone Crack The Secret Sauce Of Facebook’s Keyword Search?, Forbes

Here Are The Sealed Court Papers On ‘Invalid Clicks’ Facebook Doesn’t Want You To See, Business Insider

Facebook Advertising/Marketing Best Practices

Q-and-A: Jersey Mike’s CMO shares the secrets behind stellar social campaigns, Smart Blogs

5 Best Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses, Marketeering Group

An Example of Using Email Marketing to Get More Facebook Likes, Business2Community

Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, Zillow

Other Facebook News

Facebook testing free Wi-Fi at retailers, LA Times

From Facebook Advanced

5 Creative & Easy Ways to Increase Fan Engagement with Photos, Brian Zuercher

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?, Eric Taylor

Facebook Events

Explore Portland, from Social Media Explorer

November 15 – 16, 2012, Tigard, Oregon

Learn from some of the best digital and social marketing minds in the country at Explore Portland. Jason Falls brings Social Media Explorer’s signature event to town with speakers like Scott Stratten, Jay Baer, Michael Brito, Nichole Kelly, Zena Weist, Tamsen Webster, Tim Hayden and more. Falls will also debate (throw-down style) Social Media Is B.S. author B.J. Mendelson! Other topics range from social strategy to content marketing and measuring ROI to marketing automation. No “101″ — All deep, strategic content! Use discount code NONPROFIT for $300 off! Pay just $150 for two days of awesome. Register now!

Social Media Marketing Bootcamp, from MediaBistro

October 18 – December 13, 2012, Online

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, from MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Advertising, Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:48:53 +0000

Small businesses love Facebook. That’s according to a new study by VerticalResponse, which found 90% of small businesses are using Facebook – 20% more than Twitter. As for Google+ and Pinterest? Ehh, “not so much.”

Check out the Infographic below and then dive into our picks for the best Facebook advertising and marketing news of the week, including “The Scoop on Facebook Mobile Ads: Are They Working?”

Have these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

The Scoop on Facebook Mobile Ads: Are They Working? [Data], HubSpot

Yesterday, Mashable published an article that explores some of the more recent findings about Facebook’s mobile ads. Let’s take a look at what they uncovered so you can make a more informed decision about whether Facebook mobile ad spend makes sense for yourbusiness — you know, if you’re considering it. >>Read More

Fanboy Targeting: Facebook Advertisers Can Now Choose What Mobile Devices Their Ads Appear On, Tech Crunch

Facebook Denies It Is ‘Gaming’ Its News Feed To Force Companies To Buy Ads, Business Insider

Facebook Ads Are NOT Display Ads, ClickZ

Facebook Stole Your Fans – and Wants a Ransom to Get Them Back, ClickZ

How a New “Influencer” App Could be Your Most Powerful Content Marketing Weapon, Business2Community

Facebook Advertising/Marketing Best Practices

5 Reasons You Need a Facebook Marketing Professional, Social Media Today

From Facebook Advanced

5 Creative & Easy Ways to Increase Fan Engagement with Photos, Brian Zuercher

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?, Eric Taylor

Facebook Events

Explore Portland, from Social Media Explorer

November 15 – 16, 2012, Tigard, Oregon

Social Media Marketing Bootcamp, from MediaBistro

October 18 – December 13, 2012, Online

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, from MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Advertising, Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:39:04 +0000

Terrorists love naked Abercrombie & Fitch models.

A new advertising study from Adobe found that Facebook brand engagement – defined as likes, comments and shares – has grown 896% on a year-over-year basis. Could this be because of all the terrorists seeking friends on Facebook? We doubt they’re one of the 13,554 people “liking” Abercrombie & Fitch models in Munich. The real reason behind the engagement explosion, according to Adobe, is the introduction of Facebook Timeline – the very thing Facebook marketers hated when it was first introduced.

Adobe’s latest Digital Index report shows that mobile users now account for nearly 25% of all Facebook engagement, a 400% increase from the period prior to the Timeline introduction. Along with the mobile growth of Facebook engagement also came an increase in mobile marketing gains. One in five paid search clicks came from a tablet or smartphone, with iOS conversion rates nearly double that of Android users, according to Adobe’s statistics. Based on these numbers, Adobe recommends that Facebook marketers focus on search spending for iOS by tailoring campaigns to the operating system.

“Mobile and social continue to play key roles in digital marketing growth. Smart marketers are activating this data; taking advantage of opportunities such as advertising on smartphones and tablets as well as capitalizing on Facebook’s platform changes to reach customers in a more personalized way,” said Adobe’s senior vice president of media and advertising solutions, David Karnstedt. ”By strategically adding these elements, marketers exponentially increase their overall return on investments (ROI) and can then accurately attribute value to each channel.”

So how can you take advantage of this Facebook engagement? Check out our top pick this week from Entrepreneur Magazine, which provides 6 tips for small-business Facebook advertising.

Have these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

Facebook Advertising: The Fundamentals for Small-Business Owners, Entrepreneur Magazine

There are a few fundamentals that you must know before you begin spending your hard-earned cash advertising your business on Facebook. These terms and definitions are so important that you really should understand them comfortably and completely before giving Facebook your credit card and telling them to have at it. Here are six terms you’ll want to get familiar with before embarking on a Facebook advertising campaign. >>Read More

Walmart Wants Facebook Sales for Christmas, Wired

Pinterest vs. Facebook: Which Is REALLY the Better Visual Social Network?, HubSpot

Report: What’s a Social Media Share Really Worth?, Inc.

Facebook Marketing: It’s Time To Pay The Price, Sean Clark

Facebook Marketing by Gender: Men Are Cheap!, FBPPC.com

History Proves It: You Should Be Bullish on Facebook and Twitter, Ad Age

Facebook Advertising/Marketing Best Practices

[GUIDE] 12 Awesome Facebook Marketing Campaigns, Constant Contact

5 rules for marketing your app on Facebook, iMedia Connection

10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Following, Social Media Examiner

From Facebook Advanced

5 Creative & Easy Ways to Increase Fan Engagement with Photos, Brian Zuercher

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?, Eric Taylor

Facebook Events

Social Media Marketing Bootcamp, from MediaBistro

October 18 – December 13, 2012, Online

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, from MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

5 Creative & Easy Ways to Increase Fan Engagement with Photos

Brian Zuercher — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:54:05 +0000

Once upon a time, the social media conversation was limited to Twitter, Facebook and blogs, but the advent of location-based and photo-sharing apps has changed the game. More than ever, brands are looking to enhance their reach by engaging with customers in new and innovative ways. Those who have risen to the top understand that online engagement isn’t just about broadcasting a brand message; it’s about elevating and celebrating the people who love their product or service.

So what does this mean for your brand?

Social apps like Instagram have made it easier than ever for people to capture snapshots of their lives and share these moments with their social networks. Your customers are no longer limited to simply talking about where they are or what they’re doing—they can now take a photo and share it with their friends in an instant.

If you’re not monitoring, curating and sharing your customers’ photos, you’re missing valuable opportunities to engage with some of your most enthusiastic supporters and fans.

Following are five tips for increasing Facebook fan engagement by integrating photos into your social strategy.

1. MAKE IT ABOUT THEM: Share your customers’ photos

Sharing and acknowledging your customers’ photos creates an authentic, emotional connection between your customers and your brand. People are delighted when the brands and services they use value and share their passion.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, a Columbus, Ohio-based ice cream company, does a great job of celebrating its fans. Check out how Jeni’s is curating and sharing Instagram photos posted by customers enjoying its ice cream on the brand’s Pinterest page.

Another great social media photo-sharing tool is VenueSeen, which offers a quick and simple way to share customer photos to your brand’s Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter page in order to inspire and engage.

Curate and share your customers' Instagram photos to make them feel loved and coming back for more.

2. REVEAL YOURSELF: Give people a peek behind the scenes

Behind every product or service there is a story to tell about purpose, passion and people. Your customers know what you sell, but they may not know how you do it.

Telling your brand story shouldn’t come off like a self-promotional advertising pitch. When you give customers a peek behind the curtain by sharing behind-the-scenes photos, you extend an invitation to become part of what you do and how you do it. This is also a great way to introduce the people who love your brand to the people who make your product or service possible.

Create an internal hashtag (such as #sarahsscoop or #bobsrestaurant) to track photos from the workplace — and encourage your employees to use it. By sharing internal photos in your social streams, you’ll begin to tell the visual story of your company, your brand personality and your people.

Instead of posting basic bios, pet insurance provider Petplan Pet Insurance shares photos of employees and the four-footed creatures they love, subtly spotlighting the people and the passion behind their product.

Use employee photos to spotlight the people and the passion behind your products and services.

3. FIND A BALANCE: Share with the right frequency

Don’t treat your social stream like a brand broadcast channel, think of it as an ongoing conversation. Not unlike real world conversations, good online social engagement relies on authentic connections and finding a healthy balance of talking and listening. Determining how often your customers and potential customers want to hear from your brand is critical to keeping them engaged. The best way to figure out how your brand can best interact online begins by doing your homework and digging in to explore how your customers are already sharing. When and where are they taking photos? What kinds of things are they photographing? How are they sharing the images they capture? And whom are they sharing them with?

Using date range searches and labels allows you to explore what your customers are sharing during a particular event or at a specific time by filtering and sorting by keyword and category.

4. EMBRACE THE BIGGER PICTURE: Focus on lifestyle instead of brand

Patagonia does a great job of tapping into the lifestyle of their customers. As a result, their brand has indirectly become a trusted source of information in their lifestyle category.

Think about ways you can help your customers get a little more enjoyment out of life. Focus on sharing images that support your customers’ lifestyles, pique their interest and inspire them to dream big. For example, a company like Home Depot could share before and after pictures of home projects, providing inspiration for other DIYers, while a boutique bakery might post photos of unique wedding trends to appeal to non-traditional brides.

Use photos that support your customers’ lifestyles, pique their interest and inspire them to dream big.

5. CHEER THEM ON: A little encouragement goes a long way

Photo contests and campaigns are great ways to encourage customers to take and share photos. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. In her article “10 Great Content Sources for Facebook,” Lara Haehle references a recent brand contest that asked fans to submit photos in funny poses with statues. The campaign was highly successful at engaging customers, and the photo submissions were surprisingly creative.

In addition to hosting contests and campaigns, liking or commenting on customer images in Instagram or Facebook serves as a meaningful touch point that makes people feel valued and important. This small investment of time and energy grows your brand sentiment with customers, increasing the likelihood that they’ll continue engaging with and talking about you long after the contest and campaign has ended.

Which of these tips will you try first?

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Advertising, Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:40:43 +0000

Small businesses turn to mobile advertising as Facebook ramps up its mobile ad network.

This week’s Facebook advertising buzz focused on two main areas: mobile and small business. Both show the potential for significant growth, despite small business owners’ wary attitude toward Facebook marketing.

A new Merchant Confidence Index report from online marketing company Reply! found that mobile marketing is heating up in the small business community. Just 8% of respondents currently purchase mobile ads, but 15% plan to in the next 3-6 months – a nearly two-fold increase. An additional 16% said they will likely explore mobile adverting within the next six months.

This is right on par with Facebook’s push to tap into its 600 million mobile users and drive mobile-ad sales by testing a mobile ad network. The company first introduced mobile ad services in March and continues to expand its suite of mobile ad tools. On Wednesday, Facebook got $850 million more valuable after announcing it’s expanding a tool that helps developers advertise their wares.

This is good news for SMBs, which indicate they are more likely to use mobile services that facilitate transactions. According to the Merchant Confidence Index report, 14% currently use Square and 20% use PayPal. Eleven percent plan to start using a mobile transaction service in the next 3-6 months.

As far as regular ol’ Facebook advertising, however, SMBs are still not convinced. Despite 70% of SMBs surveyed using Facebook, only 7% are using Paid Promotions, Reply! found.

The Wall Street Journal explains:

Having to pay for social media puts small businesses at a disadvantage over larger rivals…. They don’t have the same amount of money to compete with the big companies [and will] have to reshape their online sales strategy or bow out if they can’t afford it.

Still, according to Facebook, Promoted Posts are gaining considerable traction, and the program “has significantly increased over the past three months.”

The WSJ continues:

In its efforts to educate wary businesses, Facebook has compared Promoted Posts to search advertising, where organic search results are free but companies pay extra to show up in sponsored search results. The company is also providing businesses with data on how many people have seen their posts and what percentage of this group came through the Promoted Post program.

Facebook lets brands see how Promoted Posts are performing. Images courtesy Facebook.

SMBs may not have the money to play with the big boys on social media, but they can still learn a thing or two from them. Check out seven tips from Coke’s Facebook marketing expert on how to build a “social” brand and five Facebook brand pages doing it right in our Top Facebook Advertising/Marketing news of the week roundup below.

Have these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

Coke’s Facebook expert on how to build a “social” brand, CNN Money

In social media, Coke is it. Coca-Cola is the biggest consumer brand on Facebook. Wendy Clark, SVP of Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities at Coca-Cola share her seven rules for building a mega-brand in social media. >>Read More

The Best Facebook Brand Pages to Follow, PCMag

A study released earlier this year reveals that only about one percent of fans actually engage with a brand in a significant way. When the researchers excluded simple “likes,” that interaction number dropped to less than half a percent. So to make a more meaningful match between two interested parties, we’ve rounded up five of the best technology-focused Facebook pages to follow. Some post share-worthy content while others feature practical tips and tricks. >>Read More

Facebook Permissions: What Marketers Need to Know, Social Media Examiner

Facebook Offers Are A Viral Hit: Friend-To-Friend Sharing Drives 3/4s Of Popular Coupon Redemptions, TechCrunch

3 out of 4 users who claim Facebook Offers do so after hearing about it from a friend, Inside Facebook

Sponsored Results offer high CTR, low CPC and favorable conversions, Inside Facebook

Figuring out what kind of content works on Facebook, CNET

Almost 1 in 2 Say They Click Facebook Ads Accidentally, Marketing Charts

Nearly 20 Percent Of New Facebook Fans Come From Mobile, AllFacebook

The Formula Behind The Facebook “Like” Number, Marketing Land

Facebook Giving Some Brands a Sneak Peek at Fans’ Other Likes, AdWeek

Case study: do Facebook promoted posts work?, eConsultancy

Only 6% of Fans Engage With a Brand’s Facebook Page [STUDY], Mashable

Facebook Advertising/Marketing Best Practices

Six Simple Tips For Better Facebook Page Success, AllFacebook

5 Steps To Evaluate Your Company’s Digital Marketing Strategy, Forbes

17 Social Media Cheat Sheets, Practical eCommerce

5 quickservice restaurants that are doing Facebook right, Smart Blogs

How to Cultivate the Facebook Fans You Really Need, AdAge

New Facebook Features

Facebook Is Testing A Product That Will Revolutionize Mobile For Users And Startups, Business Insider

Facebook makes quality control changes to Open Graph, Washington Post

Facebook Launches Global Pages to Simplify Brands’ International Facebook Presence, HubSpot

From Facebook Advanced

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?, Eric Taylor

Facebook Tips: How to Run a Successful Facebook Ad Campaign, Anita Loomba

Facebook Events

Facebook Success Summit 2012, from Social Media Examiner
October 2 – October 23, 2012, Online

This online conference features the world’s top Facebook marketing experts sharing their tips for helping your business quickly implement effective Facebook marketing strategies and tactics so you can gain more exposure, build a more loyal following and grow your business.

Social Media Marketing Bootcamp, from MediaBistro

October 18 – December 13, 2012, Online

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, from MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:42:42 +0000

Facebook continues to move toward becoming a more marketing-friendly site by introducing “Collections” – a new feature that will allow users to not only “like” a product, but also “collect” it, “want” it and hopefully BUY it. The timing of the new feature is right in time for the holiday shopping season, signaling the social media giant’s bid to capitalize on social shopping – the new frontier in e-commerce.

Collections will allow retailers to share their products and for the first time allow users to buy these products through Facebook. Facebook began quietly testing Collections on Monday. The social media giant is hoping to find out which of the three actions being tested – “like,” “collect” or “want” – will get the most traction.

Facebook Collections are very similar to Pinterest, with one key difference: Facebook is including a “buy” link, sending people to the sites to purchase products. Despite being one of the most popular social networking sites in history, Pinterest still hasn’t found a way to monetize its popularity.

Currently, only seven retailers are testing the new feature: Pottery Barn, William Sonoma’s, Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, Limited, Fab.com, Michael Kors, Smith Optics, and Wayfair.

Facebook rolls out Pinterest-style 'Collection' for social commerce. Image courtesy HubSpot.

You can see how Facebook Collections work by reading this helpful HubSpot article: Facebook Tests Pinterest-Style Feature Called ‘Collections’

See what others are saying about Facebook advertising in our roundup of the best Facebook marketing and advertising tips of the week. You can have these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Facebook Marketing/Advertising News – Best of the Week

It’s Time to Refresh Your Facebook Marketing Strategy, Ad Age

As Facebook marketing matures, so should strategies and best practices for plotting investment. Winning strategies will look very different in 2013 from previous years. Now that many brands have acquired sizable “fan” bases, the focus is on leveraging Facebook’s new ad products to grow loyalty and retention. >>Read More

How to sell on Facebook, Tech Radar

All businesses should have a presence on Facebook, but moving from a brand awareness exercise to selling your company’s goods or services is the next logical step. The National Retail Foundation in the US recently found that over half of Facebook users have clicked through to a retailers website, with nearly a quarter having made an actual purchase from within Facebook. F-commerce looks likely to be a retail space that all businesses will need to be a part of, as their customer bases will simply expect this in a world were integrated retailing becomes the norm. >>Read More

Your Facebook Fans Are Hiding Your Posts At An Alarming Rate, Fast Company

Facebook in bid to give more bang for ad buck, Business Standard

35 Experts Weigh In: How We Create Influence on Facebook, Business2Community

Facebook Marketing Resources For Reaching One Billion Users!, Vocus

Facebook sponsored stories boost conversion rates… if done right, Marketing Mag

5 Facebook Marketing Resources You Didn’t Know About, SEOmoz

How much are Facebook fans worth to small businesses?, Boston.com

Facebook Best Practices

5 Key Characteristics Every Social Media Community Manager Should Have, HubSpot

How To Use Facebook As A Marketing Tool, Investopedia

6 Ways to Increase the Marketing Effectiveness of your Facebook Page – Infographic, Jeff Bullas

5 Ways To Jumpstart Facebook Ads, Search Engine Land

Putting Into Practice: Facebook Open Graph, Inside Facebook

North Shore marketing agency brings home the trend of thanking Facebook fans with a music video, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Best Western Taps Facebook for Business Traveler Loyalty and Promotions, ClickZ

New Facebook Features

Facebook ‘Want’ Button Gets Tested With Retailers, Huffington Post

From Facebook Advanced

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?, Eric Taylor

3 Tips for Daily Facebook Brand Management, Joel Bornzin

Facebook Events

Facebook Success Summit 2012, from Social Media Examiner
October 2 – October 23, 2012, Online

AllFacebook Marketing Conference, MediaBistro
December 4-5, 2012, New York City

Advertising in Social Networking: Are Facebook Fans Actually Worth the Effort?

Eric Taylor — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:55:43 +0000

In 2012, it goes without saying that any business looking to make a big splash in online advertising needs a well-thought-out, consistently managed, popular Facebook fan page. Offering materials that play into the social context, such as likeable ads and other forms of multimedia, guarantees a company’s social presence and can easily cement a brand’s legacy.

A Facebook page that attracts fans is something that no company undersells. Even the biggest brands out there, like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, spend big money in order to transform their social pages into advertising pages, creating different leads and producing the kind of fervor around their products that only social media could produce. But are Facebook fans really all that important to a business?

Explaining a Facebook “Fan”

For Facebook as a specific social network, the term “fan” is often thrown around loosely and incorrectly. If someone subscribes to your newsletter or another brand of interaction via your Facebook page, you could consider this person a fan. But in this context, a fan is simply an individual who has “liked” a business’s Facebook page.

Liking the business as a consumer, while not seemingly a major step, is actually quite a large action to take. When you break it down, there are millions of different Facebook pages, and millions of different ads and other materials floating around the Internet. To take the time to actually like someone’s material means that a fan is certainly interested in either purchasing from the company, or at least following up.

Why Receiving Facebook Ad and Page “Likes” is a Good Thing

To understand the role fans play for business advertising on Facebook, just take a look at a report released in August on one of the web’s biggest entertainment retailers, Play.com. According to the report, Play.com received an astounding 24% more business from their fans than from their non-fans. This helped the Japanese firm rake in over $3 million in Facebook sales in 2011 alone.

This is how it all broke down for Play.com, and possibly how it can break down for any business choosing to focus more intently on Facebook fans.

It isn’t a complicated number to pin down; first-time customers who were brought to Play.com by way of Facebook spent an impressive 30% more on their first product than customers who found the site by other means.

What this signals is not only Facebook’s potential to drive more customers strong, but the site is actually trusted among consumers. Unlike other social networks featuring shoddy ads, a clean, efficient fan page on Facebook is a trusted source of information and obviously a tremendous advertising tool to have in the arsenal.

Quantifying the costs of fans and figuring out how to lure them in aside, it is more than apparent that having fans equates to increased business. Providing an immediate benefit to customers and allowing them to interact with your business model is a proven formula in online social media advertising.

Facebook Advanced AUTHOR-ity: Facebook Marketing Week in Review

Sarah Pierce — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:55:23 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, Facebook just hit 1 billion users – a feat that sparked an abundance of press coverage over what, exactly, this amazing milestone means. Two great articles from Forbes took two slightly opposing views on the news, mirroring the reactions most Facebook marketers expressed, but both asked the same question: Now what?

Here are some highlights from the articles:

Facebook’s 1 Billion Users: Why the Sky’s the Limit, by Haydn Shaughnessy

Keep in mind that “these are actively monthly users, not just sign-ups.”
“Among professionals in social media, Facebook is by far the most used platform – 85% of the 400 surveyed [by Betapond at Social Media Week], report Facebook as their primary social channel, compared with 2% for Google + and 10% for Twitter. Facebook has incredible support in the professional community.”
59% said Facebook will be much more significant in 10 years than it is now.
Despite the mostly positive outlook for Facebook, Shaughnessy did outline the three main reasons Facebook doubters express skepticism about Facebook’s future: 1) Mobile (despite having more than 600 million mobile users – 60% of its total user base – some think Facebook is ill prepared for the mobile future; 2) The Younger Generation (Facebook’s age profile is getting older, which will push younger users into different platforms); 3) China’s Political Barriers (Facebook’s growth may be blocked if China doesn’t let it in).

Congrats, Facebook, You’ve Hit 1 Billion Users. Now What?, by Robert Hof

Is Facebook getting too big for its own good? “Is it enough simply to be the biggest social network? Does being the biggest… automatically make it the best?”
Facebook doesn’t do a lot of social activities as well as others: Twitter is better for disseminating news; LinkedIn is better at professional networking; and YouTube is better at video sharing. “Facebook’s key advantage now is largely that all your friends are on Facebook too.” That’s a huge feat, but is it enough to catapult Facebook to the next level?
“Facebook’s ubiquity is inexorably steering it toward becoming something like the new television. Another mass medium, even if it’s a uniquely interactive mass medium… So the question now is what Facebook will do with that ubiquity. Maybe simply facilitating those connections is enough. But at this milestone moment the company itself chose to highlight, it’s worth posing some existential questions to go along with that existential ad: Why is Facebook here?

Whatever the answer to that question is, the fact remains that Facebook is here, and it doesn’t appear to be leaving any time soon. So get your creative Facebook marketing juices flowing with this week’s roundup of the best Facebook marketing and advertising tips of the week.

Get these tips delivered every week to your inbox by signing up for our FREE Facebook Advanced Marketing Newsletter.

Want to move beyond Facebook marketing? Then head over to our sister site, Thoroughly Modern Marketing for the Top Marketing Posts of the Week.

Facebook Marketing News – Best of the Week

Are Facebook Clicks Totally and Utterly Meaningless?, HubSpot

Earlier this week, Facebook’s Brad Smallwood spoke at the IAB MIXX Conference in New York… and said something pretty startling for a bunch of data-driven marketers like us.

Clicks don’t matter.

Wait, what? According to Todd Wasserman’s recap on Mashable and a blog on Facebook Studio that recaps the talk, marketers are focusing too much on clicks to measure the effectiveness of their Facebook campaigns, and not enough on two far more critical metrics — reach, and frequency. Let’s dive into this a little bit more, shall we?>>Read More

10 Reasons Brands Fail to Convert Facebook Fans into Paying Customers, Business2Community

According to HubSpot, ninety three percent of adults on the Internet are on Facebook, yet only 1% of a brand’s Facebook fans will ever make their way to the company’s main website. Many blame their low conversion rates on Facebook: “Facebook ads don’t work.” “I have a ton of likes but it doesn’t mean anything because I’m not making money.” “I keep posting things but I’m not getting many views.” Few, however, look to their own efforts for answers. And even fewer put a strategy in place to convert this highly active audience into highly engaged website visitors.>>Read More

Facebook Accused Of Changing A Key Algorithm To Hurt Advertisers, Business Insider

60% of Facebook Users Will Discuss Brands That Offer Deals [Infographic], HubSpot

Facebook Lays Out All Of Its New Targeting Techniques In One Easy-To-Read Blog Post, Forbes

Does Facebook Generate Leads? Depends on How You Look at it, Business2Community

Facebook says small businesses ‘just as important’ as big brands, Inside Facebook

15 stats and insights for every Facebook marketing plan, Content Lead

Why You May Be Losing Fans, Even If You Didn’t Buy Any, Bright Cube

Facebook Best Practices

5 Ways to Improve Your Facebook News Feed Exposure, Social Media Examiner

5 Types of Images That Enhance Your Online Marketing, Business2Community

5 Steps to a Successful Facebook Contest, Open Forum

17 Survival Tips for Facebook Marketing, PostRocket