Changes to Facebook
The world of social is changing faster than ever before. Changes in fact are coming so fast that most can't keep up. Here is an
entertaining video that highlights some of the most impressive changes. The
recent Facebook changes a few weeks ago caused some serious confusion with marketers as well as introducing some bugs that are still being fixed by the Facebook team.
One of the most impactful changes is the degrading of the FBML language (Facebook Markup Language). I posted a notice in the LinkedIn NAMM group several weeks ago that you needed to install the FBML app before March 12 to easily create custom Facebook landing pages. You can still create custom pages but you need to use a third party service or register as a Facebook developer now. The upside to this change is that programming for Facebook, including apps and custom pages is much easier so we will continue to see this aspect of Facebook marketing grow.
You can now grab your Facebook URL (thank goodness!) instead of using the whacky Memorable Web Address app that was more about self promotion than providing a solution. You can also post either as the company or as yourself which can make your interaction with your fans much more personal.
Facebook Apps
It's true, Facebook apps are being created very quickly now. There are apps for many types of applications. Need a Facebook store? There are many ecommerce apps that provide SSL security. The most popular ecommerce app from
Payvment is free! Others let you adjust your content in just one place for your website store or for your Facebook page. How about a registration sign up? Yup, several companies offer these services for a small monthly fee. Now there are dealer locators, help desk apps and much more.
Facebook Contests
Contests are popular on Facebook now.
Wildfire and
Offerpop provide cost effective contest services. I have had excellent results with Wildfire. Their support team is responsive and very helpful. One recommendation I have is to be careful with a consumer voting contest. If the prize is valuable enough you will see people creating fake Facebook accounts to vote for themselves! In an effort to maintain integrity and fairness in your contests I highly recommend creating a panel of judges for your contests until the contest services figure out a way to detect spamming (if they ever do). Also make sure your contest rules cover you in every way possible. Valuable prizes can bring out the worst in people so you want to make sure your liability is as limited as you can make it.
MySpace Layoffs
With the layoff of half of the MySpace employees the writing may be on the wall for the once hugely popular social site. Some companies have many MySpace friends although the quality of many of those friends is questionable due to the high spamming rate. Convert those people to Facebook, Twitter and newsletter signups!
Social Monitoring Tools
Social monitoring tools are springing up so fast it's very hard to keep track of them all. Indeed according to a
study by Altimeter Group, the number one objective for 2011 is creating ROI measurements for social. I try 2 or 3 new social media monitoring tools a month always looking for the best features and services. These tools go way beyond what you can do with free services and provide you with metrics you can measure over time to analyze the buzz and conversation generated by your efforts. I'll be discussing some of my findings on social media monitoring tools in a future newsletter.
Dealers Use Those Free Tools!!!
One thing I find very interesting is most brick and mortar businesses do not take advantage of all of the free resources available to them. This is not indicative of just the musical instrument industry. Check in services such as
Facebook Places and
Foursquare provide opportunities to motivate people for return visits. The ability to put a QR code for smart phones, text message incentive or your Facebook URL next to the checkout counter takes minutes to do and increases your community and your return visitors. Even the easy to use Google Places service is not
optimized by most businesses.
Claim Your Social Sites Now
One piece of advice I have is this: claim your social sites! I have a client that had a disgruntled user grab their Twitter page and let's just say the tweet was not one the company wanted out there! To fix this required an officer of the company and timely communication with Twitter. I would even grab company names that are used by your customers in online searches. Even if you don't plan to use that channel in the immediate future put a link there that says "for the official company XXX page click here". It can save you LOTS of grief. Trust me on this one!
Strategies not the Tools are the Key
So if you think it's going to slow down or get easier from here - it's not. There is already talk of some new social channels coming possibly in 2011 to take on Facebook and Twitter. But remember the strategy should be the focus, the social channels are just the tools in the toolbox. So sharpen your pencil and jot down what you want to accomplish before you start web surfing for technologies and solutions. Some things never change even when the platform is racing underneath your feet!
