Inside Facebook

On a recently released page on Facebook’s help site, users can read about the way this new ad unit will display in their Feed. These featured stories will be denoted in users’ News Feeds by the word “Featured” on the bottom right hand side of the post. It is important to note that these Featured Stories are part of the Sponsored Stories ad unit and will only be shown to users who currently like the Page buying the ad unit. This means your news feed is safe from unsolicited ads, for the moment.

This ad unit is being rolled out slowly and users will only be exposed to one featured story in their News Feed a day.

Have you seen a featured story yet? Do you think it will affect your Facebook usage?

Katchpole is the Washington, D.C., graduate student whose angry social media petition sparked a nationwide revolt against Bank of America’s plan to charge customers $5 per month for their debit cards. After losing thousands of accounts, B of A backed off.

The target of Hardwick’s online petition is his employer: Target. His ire was sparked by Target’s decision to fling open its doors to Black Friday bargain-hunters at midnight on Thanksgiving. “All Americans,” Hardwick declares, “should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night’s rest on Thanksgiving!” With a little more than a week to go before Thanksgiving, Hardwick’s petition had already racked up more than 154,000 signatures, many from fellow Target employees.

And Hardwick isn’t the only one facing an early wake-up call. Macy’s, Kohl’s and Best Buy are also opening at midnight. Wal-Mart, which had hoped to steal a march by opening at 10 p.m. Thursday, has since been one-upped by Toys “R” Us, which announced a 9 p.m. start.

It’s not just employees who are angry, though. There are growing signs that even the most hardened shoppers are fed up. The New York Times recently reported that outraged Black Friday veterans are flocking to the social media barricades, declaring that they’re not going to cut short or eliminate family gatherings just to save a few bucks at the nearest big box store.

Battered by the Great Recession, retailers are understandably desperate to boost sales any way they can. But there’s an intriguing question here. Will a grassroots social media drive again thwart the plans of big business? Are customers really ticked off enough that they’ll gravitate to stores like J.C. Penney – which says it won’t open until 4 a.m. Friday to allow its employees to spend Thursday with their families?

Or will finance trump family, with value-seeking consumers blearily charging through the doors at midnight because they need to save money any way they can?

The answer is coming soon to a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and a shopping center parking lot near you.

But what exactly is Google+ and how does it match up against the dominant players in this space?

What is Google+?

At its core, Google+ is a social network that allows its users to build personal profiles, post status updates, upload photos and videos, share links, and the other standard social networking activities.

Upon logging in to the site, users are presented with their “Stream.” Think of it as Google+’s version of the Facebook “News Feed,” or in other words, a running feed of all status updates posted by one’s network of friends.

Unique to Google+ is its “Circles” feature. With “Circles,” users can group their friends into various categories, such as “Friends,” “Acquaintances,” and “Family.” This feature allows users to target their posts to specific audiences.

For example, if I didn’t want my friends to know that I spend my weekends practicing show tunes from various Broadway musicals (which I’ve been known to do), I could choose to exclusively share my audition videos with my “Family” circle. This would prevent anyone outside of my family from seeing my embarrassing post.

As part of the “Circles” feature, users also have the ability to target posts to an “Extended Circle,” meaning that their posts could be seen by one’s friends of friends. Additionally, users can select the “Public” circle, which would allow any user to see their posts.

Google+ users can also use these “Circles” to filter their “Streams.” For example, if I only wanted to see posts made by my work friends, I could choose to view the “Work Stream.”

Users also have the ability to form “Hangouts,” which are Google’s version of group chat rooms. In a “Hangout,” up to 10 users can participate in a video/audio chat, and have the option to watch YouTube videos as a group.

Photo courtesy of RavensTools.com

The +1 button, as seen sprinkled throughout the site, is Google’s answer to the popular Facebook “Like” button. +1’ing something serves as a user’s endorsement for that piece of content. It’s another way of saying, “I like this thing you’ve shared.”

Once logged in, users also have the ability to +1 content outside of Google+’s walls. For example, when visiting Gizmodo.com, a Google+ user could +1 a certain article that he or she enjoyed. This would then be shared with the user’s network of friends via a +1 section of his or her profile.

Additionally, Google has incorporated the +1 button into its search pages, allowing users to +1 and bookmark their search results. Users are also able to use this functionality to +1 search engine ads. These +1’s may then be displayed to a user’s friends who may be performing similar searches.

Advantage

Without question, Google+’s biggest advantage is Google itself.

Let’s face it – Google owns everything. It owns search, email (Gmail), video (YouTube), online advertising (Google AdNetwork), analytics (Google Analytics), blogging (Blogger), etc. And once it begins integration of + and +1 features into these popular tools, you better believe the public is going to pay attention. They won’t have any other choice.

For now, Google+ also benefits from offering a unique way to hide personal information from specific groups. One of Facebook’s most common complaints comes from users who demand more privacy. “Circles” offers just that – a new level of sharing privacy.

It’s yet to be seen how users will come to adopt this method of content targeting, but for now, it’s something to keep the media talking about why Google+ is the savior of all social media.

Google+ Statistics

With a built-in potential user base of 200 million (a recent count of Gmail users), the search powerhouse has had no trouble in getting the word out about its newest product. In just a matter of weeks, Google+ proudly announced that it had acquired 20 million registered users.

But what does a “registered user” really mean? Well, not much. It simply means that someone signed up for an account, regardless of whether or not that account was ever used.  And with a flurry of Google+ invites flying left and right over the past month, it’s no surprise that the new social network was able to acquire so many users in such a short period of time.

So that leads us to the question of, “What about usage?” After all, a social network is nothing without a highly active user base. Well, things aren’t lookin’ so hot in this category.

In the week ending July 23, 2011, Experian Hitwise announced that Google+’s total visitor count had dropped to 1.79 million (non-unique visitors), far short of its total user base of 20 million.

Only time will tell whether or not Google+ has staying power, but in the short-term, the social network seems to be suffering from “flash in the pan” syndrome.

Businesses and Google+

For marketers hoping to begin exploiting taking advantage of the new opportunities offered by Google+, the powers that be have asked that you hold on to your horses…for now.

While Google+ will eventually allow brands to create their own profiles and interact with users (just as they do through Facebook and Twitter), the site isn’t there yet. Google is still testing various methods for this brand-to-consumer engagement, and has actively shut down brands that have created their own profiles.

As a temporary solution, the company has offered brands the option to engage with consumers via personal profiles. So if you have a particularly social CEO or customer service rep, he/she could use the network to begin seeking out conversations and interacting. Not an ideal situation, but something to get you through these tough times.

Question

So here it is. We want to hear from you: Are you using Google+ yet? What are your thoughts so far? Does it feel like a ghost town? Where will it go from here?

This news comes as no surprise to industry insiders, who for months have predicted a partnership between the two or even an acquisition of Foursquare  by daily deal giant Groupon.

And the partnership makes sense for both parties– Groupon boasts close to 90 million subscribers, but has yet to move into the mobile app space, a market whose profits have skyrocketed this year. And with a subscriber base of 10 million and no clear monetizing strategy, Foursquare will reap the benefits of partnering with such a high-profile, revenue-driving company.

I’m less interested in this particular partnership than in what it signifies about the direction these three dominant species in the internet kingdom – daily deal sites, geo-location services and social networks – are headed. Is Foursquare a geo-location service? Yes. Is it a social network? Yes. Is it a daily deals site? Now, yes. The same goes for Facebook. And it looks like Google’s making moves in the same direction with rumored connections between newly launched Google+, Google Places and Google Deals.

Lines are becoming increasingly blurred between what we were previously able to separately identify as social networks, deal sites and geo-location services. Groupon’s partnership with Foursquare isn’t the first time we’ve seen this type of crossover. Facebook Places Deals, Foursquare specials, and even Groupon’s other partnership with the less popular geo-location app Loopt are all evidence that these types of companies are actively seeking to adopt elements from one another.

Now that Groupon’s throwing itself into the mobile social networking mix, it’s becoming more and more clear that to be just a daily deal site (or for Foursquare, just a geo-location service) isn’t enough. And with Groupon’s $750 million IPO on the table, this partnership appears to be just another aggressive move towards establishing the deal site as a viable long-term company. Like its partnership with Expedia announced in June, Groupon’s agreement with Foursquare indicates its strategy to put its hands in as many pots as possible, so to speak.

Now my question is this: is the amalgamation of these different internet entities leading each individual company to participate in its own demise? Or is this encroachment on each other’s territory a sound business decision?

This confession serves to preface my stance in the Foursquare vs. Facebook Places battle that rages on in the world of marketing blogs and in the screenlit chats of geo-location enthusiasts. I’m here to swear my loyalty to Team Facebook Places, and before any of my Foursquare friends accuse me of hypocrisy, I’ll admit that I use both. But that’s because I quite honestly don’t know how to handle myself when I have to wait more than five seconds for a table or when I’m standing in any formation resembling a line.

Yet if pushed to choose between the two, I’d side with Facebook Places without question. And my reasoning isn’t based on numbers or statistics, but on one thing that we all know yet don’t want to admit (avert your eyes, Mom and Dad, because I know you’re convinced that a Facebook post gone awry will result in me getting burgled or worse).

Here’s the secret about me and most of the people I know: I want people to know where I am and what I’m doing.

If we’re honest, we’ve all got a little bit of the mythological Narcissus in us. The only difference is that the image of ourselves we can’t seem to tear ourselves away from is reflected on a computer screen, not a Grecian pool. We love seeing the way we appear to others, and we love when other people notice us. Admit it – you stand just a little taller when you hear the self-validating “ping” of a new Facebook notification. You collect “Likes” as if they’re the adult equivalent of gold star stickers. New friend requests are proof that you’re putting yourself out there, making friends, having fun.

But it’s not just an obsession with ourselves that we’re cultivating on Facebook; it’s that we are, more than ever, in control of how other people view us. We just want to be “Liked.” It’s human nature, an understanding of which Facebook has capitalized on – and something that smart marketers can take advantage of, too.

Which brings me back to Facebook Places. Ultimately, I check in at a given place to share some insight into my life with my friends, coworkers, family members and even those people who fall into the “maybe I met you but have no idea who you are” friend category.

I want local friends to see that I’m at the corner bar so they can meet up for a drink. I want my sixth grade frenemy to know that I grew out of that awkward hair phase and am now seated at the salon whose waitlist spans the duration of an entire human gestation period. I want my foodie friends to see that I’m dining on kangaroo and pear cactus at that quirky new fusion restaurant in the city. I want my former soccer coach to notice my regular gym check-ins and accept them as a belated apology for the daggers I shot at him with my eyes for making me run sprints after practice.

Sure, I can check in at any of these places on Foursquare and a handful of people will see. If they go to the trouble of looking. Alternately, I can check in using Facebook, where my location pops up on my profile and takes its rightful place on the news feeds of hundreds of my closest friends, even those without smartphones.

I know I said I wouldn’t, but let’s talk numbers. If we take the average number of friends people have on Foursquare and Facebook (5-8 and 229, respectively), there’s a potential for at least 221 more people to see my check-in on Facebook . Which is a lot more. 2762% more. And if I tag my friends in my Facebook check-in? You don’t need an exact percentage to figure out that exposure to hundreds of people is more beneficial for your business than a tiny fraction of that.

For those of you with a hankering for more statistics, Facebook just reached 750 million active users. Foursquare claims a mere 1.3% of that number with 10 million users. More numbers, you say? Thirty million people were Facebook Places users as of last October. Which is, math lovers, three times the total number of people currently on Foursquare.

Okay, okay, I know people can “share” their Foursquare check-ins on their various social networks. But only 20% of people push their check-ins to Facebook and Twitter. Thank God – the only thing more annoying than seeing the big square Foursquare map clogging up my Facebook newsfeed is when someone posts about a catastrophic failure of their internet corn or a bad sale of virtual livestock.

My point is that if I’m going to check in somewhere, I’m going to do it where my online self and my online friends live. Which is why, if you’re a business, you want me to check in to your Place on Facebook. Some people may need a little more coaxing to check in, but creating a Facebook Deal is a simple trade-off for all of those impressions.

If I come to your place, I will be your best word of mouth marketer. You won’t even have to pay me for it. You may never even meet me.  But the chance is pretty high that one of my 900+ friends will find themselves thinking of you after they’ve seen your name alongside “Most delicious sandwich I’ve ever eaten” or “Relaxing at the spa!” or “OMG Best bar in the universe!!!!!!!!!”

The MGH team has rounded up its 15 favorite marketing usages of QR codes. Which are your favorites?

Deployed to smartphone users, the survey aimed to better understand how and why consumers are using this up-and-coming technology – in order to unearth ways in which marketers could better use the codes.

Many of the survey’s results should come as a welcome surprise to advertisers who have struggled to understand if and how the codes could fit into their marketing mix.

The results

Overwhelmingly, the study found increasing consumer interest in the use of QR code technology, and possible implications for the future of adverting.

In particular, the study found that 72% of smartphone users would be likely to recall an ad featuring a QR code. This can likely be attributed to the unique design, interactive nature and “new” appeal of the codes. For advertisers looking to cut through the clutter of a crowded marketplace, QR codes could offer a solution to gaining consumer attention and eyeballs.

In terms of QR code awareness, the survey results found that 65% of smartphone users had previously seen a QR code. Over the next year, as marketers continue to include the codes on products, ads and collateral, this awareness level is likely to climb.

But has awareness translated into usage?

Of those respondents who had previously seen a QR code, nearly 50% said they had used one. It’s still unclear as to why awareness has not resulted in higher usage numbers, but could likely be a result of consumer uncertainty or misunderstanding about the codes. It could also possibly be attributed to the need to download QR code reader applications on certain smartphones.

But a lack of past usage does not necessarily mean consumers are uninterested in using the technology. In fact, the survey found that 70% of smartphone users would be interested in using a QR code again or for the first time.

A previous study by In-Store Marketing Institute (conducted by Catapult and Ipsos OTX, September 2010) found that 35% of U.S. shoppers (smartphone and non-smartphone users) were interested in using QR codes as shopping tools.

Among those who were identified as being interested in the technology, 87% responded with an interest in using QR codes to gain coupons, deals or discounts. Even more impressive, however, is the fact that 60% of those interested in using the codes would use them to make a purchase.

For businesses looking for new ways to expand through advertising, QR codes could offer that opportunity by creating direct ties to sales through mobile purchases and coupons.

Conclusions

• Consumers are increasingly interested in interacting with advertising that bears a QR code – thus, the promise of additional benefits in the form of deals, coupons, videos, sweepstakes, social media interactions, etc.
• QR codes can help an ad break through the clutter by increasing the chance it will be remembered – great news for advertisers who have already integrated a QR code strategy into a traditional advertising campaign or are looking to insert them in a future campaign.
• Mobile is here to stay, and brands that don’t embrace ways to weave mobile tactics into their marketing place are going to be left in the dust (just remember all of those companies that thought the Internet was a fad).

So what are these strange symbols, and how can marketers begin using them to drive business?

What are QR codes?

A QR code is a barcode containing a hidden message, which is unlocked by using an application on one’s smartphone.

Here’s how they work the real world:

1. John Smith spots a QR code on a window cling of a restaurant.

2. He pulls out his smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) and opens a QR code reader application.

3. He holds his phone over the QR code, and the phone’s camera recognizes the symbol as a QR code.

4. The application then “reads” the QR code, and provides him with a link to read reviews about the restaurant.

The QR code can be programmed to provide users with either a block of text (a special message, phone number, address, etc.) or point consumers to a URL. If unlocking a QR code with a URL, users are able to visit that website directly from their mobile device, alleviating the need to remember the URL for a later visit. Through QR code technology, marketers are able to directly connect consumers with websites and Web content via real-world locations.

Why do marketers like them?

The marketing community is all abuzz about QR codes, meaning that you’ll likely see them everywhere in 2011.

But why are we as marketers so obsessed with the technology? A few reasons:

• Simplification – When it comes to consumer marketing, the easier you can make things for people, the better your results will be. Through QR codes, we’re able to put a URL in the palm of consumers’ hands (almost literally), saving them from having to remember that Web address for a future visit. No more misspelled URLs. No more endless Google searches. Just think about the implications this could have for driving traffic.

• Interaction – The general consensus among advertisers is that if someone engages with your ad, they’re going to be much more likely to remember it. QR codes create a direct interaction with advertisements, ensuring that your ad will get more than just some eyeballs here and there.

• Eyeballs – Let’s face it, consumers ignore a lot of ads. There’s just so much competition out there, that’s it’s hard for marketers break through. But QR codes are different, and stick out among the clutter. They draw the ever-wandering eyeball, and could help drive impressions (at least until everyone else is using them).

• Cost – One of our favorite things about QR codes – they’re completely free. You can visit http://goqr.me (or a handful of other sites) to create your own.

Things to remember when using QR codes

Before you start throwing QR codes on every ad or piece of collateral, ask yourself the following questions:

• What am I trying to accomplish? If your goal is to drive new email subscriptions, you may want to program your QR code to point to a landing page with an email sign-up form. Or if you’re looking to increase awareness and understanding about your products, your QR could point to a video that explains their benefits. Know your goals and use them to tailor your QR code campaigns.

• Who am I trying to reach? We’ll admit it – QR codes aren’t for everyone. And they certainly don’t work for every campaign. So know your audience, and if you believe they’d gravitate towards something like a QR code, then use them. If not, save the real estate for something else.

• Are you mobile friendly? This is probably the most important question you can ask yourself before using a QR code – is my website mobile-friendly? If not, might want to hold off, or point people to an external mobile-friendly site with your content (example: YouTube). Test your website on multiple smartphone platforms, and remember that the iPhone hates Flash.

So those are the QR code basics. If you have any questions or are looking for more information on QR codes, feel free to contact us here (and keep an eye out for some exciting news next week from MGH regarding QR codes):

Appearance

The first element we compared was appearance.  As you’ll see below, the Sponsored “Like Story” ad focuses solely on the connection between the target audience and their friend’s connection to the Page, while the traditional “Like” ad predominantly focuses on a creative message.

Directing Action

After developing the ads, we took a look at our ability to dictate a user’s action once they clicked on the ad. Using the Sponsored “Like Story” ad, our options were limited, as Facebook automatically set the ad to direct to the Page’s Wall, or default tab setting.

Traditional “Like” ads, on the other hand, allowed us to send users to any section of our Page we denoted. This is part of a recent update by Facebook, allowing admins to choose a destination tab for each traditional “Like” ad they create. This means Page administrators can drive users to customized tabs based on their demographics. For instance, a company that serves both the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas could create two different welcome tabs and different ads for each city so that when a user clicks on their respective city ad, they will immediately be directed to a tab customized with more localized and relevant information.

Comparative Results

So how do these two types of ads compare in terms of results? We ran a quick test campaign with the two ads pictured above, spending roughly $15 on each type of ad and targeting the same audience (people who live within 25 miles of Baltimore, MD; are age 25 and older; whose friends are already connected to MGH).

Here are the results of our experiment:

Sponsored Story Ad:

Spent: $14.58

Likes directly to the ad*: 2

Click-thrus from ad to page: 41

Traditional “Like” Ad:

Spent: $14.79

Likes directly to the ad*: 30

Click-thrus from ad to page: 38

*Only includes Likes directly to the ad itself; not Likes collected after a user clicks-through from the ad to the Page.

As you can see, preliminary results show, in this case, the traditional “Like” ad out-performed the new Sponsored Story ad. However, further experimentation will be needed in order to determine the conversion rate of users who “Like” the page after clicking-thru from the ad.

Conclusion

The point of sharing our quick experiment is not to discount the new Sponsored Story advertisements. Every ad campaign is unique and, had we used a different image/copy in our traditional “Like” ad, or had we tested the ads against a different target audience, our results could have significantly varied.

What we do hope you take away is the importance of exploring all of Facebook’s  ad-type options, as well as the necessity to test various target audiences and creative options, in order to find the best fit for your message and brand. Additionally, it is equally as important to constantly monitor your ads’ performance and make adjustments in order to make the most out of your Facebook advertising investment. Because, with the right strategy in place, Facebook advertisements can be one of the most cost-effective ways to recruit new potential customers to your subscription Fan base.

We’ll take “Sponsored Stories” for $500, Alex.

Last week, in addition to rolling out new Page upgrades, Facebook made changes to its Advertising Platform. Among these changes include a new class of Page advertisements called Sponsored Stories, which are created using content that is typically posted in a user’s newsfeed.

There are currently two types of Sponsored Story ads available to Page administrators: “Like Stories” and “Page Post Stories.” These ads are similar in that they’re both displayed on the right-hand column of a Page within Facebook, and display information that could typically get lost in a sea of news feed status updates. However, each of these ad types serves very different purposes for Page admins and advertisers, alike. Let’s break them down…

“Like Story” Ad

This type of ad is created using: Notifications when a user’s friend “Likes” a Page or checks in to a Place.

This type of ad targets: Friends of your current subscribers/fans and friends of those who check-in to your Place.

Use this type of sponsored ad if your goal is to: Attract new subscribers to view your Page.

The idea behind a “Like Story” ad is that users who see their friend “Like” a page or check into a Place, may be more inclined to take a look and “Like” the Page/Place themselves. This, in turn, will help admins increase the size of their Page subscription base, as well as increase awareness of their physical store locations (through Places).

“Page Post Story” Ad

This type of ad is created using: Your Page’s most recent status updates, including any text, links, photos or video included in the update. Additionally, the number of “Likes” and comments can be viewed within the ad.

This type of ad targets: Current subscribers/fans.

Use this type of sponsored ad if your goal is to: Increase engagement with current fans or drive traffic to an external site.

The important thing to note about this particular type of ad is that it can only be targeted to your current subscribers, not friends of connections. Therefore, this type of ad is not meant to directly increase the size of your Page subscription base. Instead, it is designed to increase engagement to your page (which can, in turn, help build your page) and drive traffic to external sites, such as blog entries. This type of ad is also useful if you want to draw attention to an important announcement/photo/video, which could otherwise go unseen in your subscribers’ newsfeeds.

While these new Sponsored Story advertisements will make an interesting addition to the Facebook marketing mix, it’d be unwise to discount Facebook’s traditional “Like” ads, which also received upgrades last week.  MGH recently ran a preliminary test campaign, comparing the new Sponsored ads to the traditional “Like” ads. For results of the test, click here.