Marketing BlackFin360 - Innovation To Reality

January 24, 2014July 3, 2015

Visual Storytelling & Thumbstopping Design

How we consume information is constantly changing. With the shift towards mobile centric visual storytelling and the decrease in organic reach by many social platforms it is even more important that your content tells a story and ultimately gets a users thumb to stop and take notice.

The following deck highlights best in class examples of visual storytelling, atomized content, thematics & real-time examples that are highly creative and drove engagement.

Many examples were featured by Facebook & Twitter teams as best in class.

Even though the deck focuses on best-in-class creative examples, it is important to reiterate that most of the examples are rooted in a formally defined social persona. The tone & voice of the brand is represented while also aligning with the online behaviors of the target audience to create relevant points of connection in addition to being visually appealing.

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January 9, 2014

Social Advertising Goes Native

The line between social & native advertising continues to blur. With that in mind I created the following presentation to provide an overview of native advertising, relevant platform examples and best practices for both open & closed native platforms.

This presentation focuses on the 6 broad native advertising product types such as in-feed, search, promoted listings, recommended content, custom content as well as native in traditional advertising.

Next the presentation outlines the differences between open & closed platforms as well as an ecosystem recap that outlines the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Taboola, Outbrain, etc…

Finally the presentation outlines some of the key elements that should be considered when creating native advertising creative. ENJOY!

Social Advertising Goes Native from Tom Edwards

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December 18, 2013July 3, 2015

Google Blurring the Line of Native, Traditional & Social

There is a reason Google is trading over $1,000 a share and closed platforms such as Facebook & Twitter are at $55. Google owns 66% of search marketshare in the US, the #1 online video site with YouTube and Google claims 540 million monthly active Google+ users and 300 million monthly active “in-stream” users. Now Google is looking to change the game when it comes to paid amplification and content discovery by extending social content through their entire network with +Posts.

Here is a graph outlining Google Plus user growth

Content discovery, distribution and streamlining the user experience across the the Google ecosystem appear to be the future and the future is now. Recently Google deployed single sign on across the ecosytem, rolled out new content discovery options within Google+, refined the TruView suite of paid tools via YouTube and further integrated main properties such as Google+ comments embedded within Youtube.

Here is an example of the latest SSO option for Google properties

Here is an example of Google+ comments embedded within YouTube

I recently published what I call Google+ Circle Impact Theory outlining the intersection of social & search. Google+ represents the intersection of search & social via contextual search driven by engagement. The launch of +posts is a significant addition that truly leverages the breadth of the Google ecosystem vs. simply driving discovery of content within Google+.

The +Post is built to support content discovery. Taking organic content from a brands Google+ page and allowing distribution through Google’s Display network. The key difference is the “open” approach to boosting the content through Google’s Display network and replacing a traditional banner with a piece of relevant social content that can create conversation within the unit itself.

Here is a video overview of +Posts

Here is an example from Toyota USA’s Google+ brand post. The brand post is published via Google+ and aligned contextually with individuals through Google’s display network.

The +Post is extensible through Google’s display network combining Native & Traditional elements. The boosted posts can create more points of engagement and expand the reach to look-a-like individuals further boosting post level engagement.

Once expanded the +Post opens via a lightbox and allows the user to +1, share and comment to that single piece of content directly from the unit.

Then the CTA will direct the user to whatever the specific action is to engage with the content.

From a Circle Impact Perspective, the higher the post level engagement, the higher the probability that content will rank in SERP even for those not following the brand via Google+.

From a pricing perspective, charges for brands boosting +posts is only incurred when a user hovers over the ad for two seconds.

This approach is a major shift from Facebook & Twitter’s closed native platform approach of boosting posts within the confines of their networks. Google’s approach increases the likelihood of content discovery and potentially extends the shelf life of content. Further driving value as the organic reach of some of the closed platforms continues to decrease for brands.

This is an important launch for brands and marketers focused on shopper marketing as delivering the right message at the right time is key to driving a shopper to action. The ability to create a content centric shopper strategy that can be targeted and deployed next to key publishing properties where users can create conversations directly is very appealing.

A final thought is that Google’s display network offers multiple tools for contextual & affinity segmentation across multiple screens. This means that not only are they enabling the syndication of social content but also offering the robust targeting capabilities of Google’s ad tools. +Post ads are currently in beta but you can sign up here.

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December 17, 2013July 3, 2015

Facebook To Launch Video Ads In News Feed

I wrote this post back in May of this year when I was first briefed by the Facebook team about this potential product roll-out. It has been a long go for this feature to roll out.

I hear it now… “Wait, we can already promote a video via paid… how is this different?”

Facebook’s goal is to now incorporate sight, sound and motion in a users newsfeed on both mobile & desktop without a click. They had recently rolled out the feature to general users to test the response with consumers. They have seen a 10% higher engagement than non autoplaying videos since launching in September.

We know that the power of Facebook is tied to Storytelling & amplification. The goal with this new offering is to further extend social context via storytelling + great content = great conversation and to capture a users attention without a click to initiate.

Seeing it in action is impressive and definitely gets your attention as it is ALREADY active when you scroll down your feed. The video starts as soon as it enters your frame of view within the newsfeed.

Initially the sound is off with subtitles and an option to turn the sound on is then prompted to the user.

Here are the details…

The view is defined by 3 carousels, similar to how multiple images show in a post
The first video is a 15 second brand reveal spot that is also subtitled and initiates upon visibility in your stream
There are two other spots that can play the extended cuts of video content 30, 60, 90 to a 10 minute trailer within the carousel
The user is then prompted to share & comment directly within the video post view
The video will pause and start back up again when the user scrolls back up
Each video has to be a minimum of 15 seconds (no vines here)
There will only be 1 video campaign per day. You read that correctly. 1 video per day. Your brand owns that day
Pure impression based pricing at the moment, no CTR or True View type option yet.
Segmentation will be limited to (male/female 18-54) demos. The only segmentation available out of the gate is tied to gender and 18-54. As with all products, after launch the ability to further segment will come into play
This is only available directly through Fb I/O no self serve option. Pricing is comparable to a day’s takeover on other channels

From a strategic standpoint this is a pure awareness driver as of time of launch the product is purely impression based at the moment with Facebook providing guaranteed reach.

From a measurement standpoint, Facebook is claiming guaranteed audience through Nielsen OCR (Online Campaign Ratings) as well as Video insights powered by Facebook insights reporting that will capture everything from sound, engagement (likes, comments, shares) organic reach and fans.

There are a number of brands that are lining up to take advantage of this type of placement. For large programs that center around digitally centric content, this is a great addition to the platform.

Initial reaction even among my team was mixed. Terms like “fascinating”, “interesting” & “awesome” were also met with some concern. A very savvy team member made the point that he was concerned with the recent levels of driving monetization could be impacting the overall user experience… potentially leading to a loss of interest on the platform”.

My takeaway was from a brand perspective I like the opportunity to feature my digitally centric content and drive guaranteed reach. The motion seemed like a natural extension of the News Feed and the “sound off” option did not lead me to remember the days of geocities sites that blared music upon load.

It will be very interesting to see the impact that this new type of offering will have and which brands will be first out of the gate.

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November 26, 2013July 3, 2015

Mobile Marketer and Wearable Technology

My commentary was recently included in a mobile marketer article discussing the success of sports brands and a cross-device approach to wearable technology.

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November 20, 2013November 26, 2013

The Associated Press & Twitter Fatigue

My commentary was recently included in an AP article covering Twitter Fatigue & user burnout. Enjoy!

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November 7, 2013July 3, 2015

Visual Storytelling Twitter Style

In celebration of Twitter’s IPO, I recently put together the following POV on the new visual Twitter experience outlining what changed, potential impact for programs as well as best practices directly from the Twitter team.

When: This update was rolled out to the public on October 29th, 2013

What: Images, Videos & Vines in users Twitter feed for both web client & mobile apps are now auto expanded (contingent on users updating their iOS & Android apps to the latest update version of the Twitter app).

Why: Twitter wants to make the service a more visual experience heading into their IPO. One of the core goals of Twitter is mainstream adoption and user growth. In Q3 their user growth rate declined slightly so the goal is to make the product more approachable by incorporating a more visual feel to the timeline similar to Facebook & Tumblr.

Impact: Previously, a user would need to click on a link to see the preview of the image or video. Now, the user will see a preview of the image and have the ability to zoom in or watch the clip in stream. The visual redesign has also streamlined the ability to replay, retweet or favorite a tweet without leaving the timeline as before.

Currently there is no way for a user to turn off the visual previews via the web. However, users can opt to turn off the visual option in the mobile application via settings. Based on past behavior though, this extra step may not be taken by a majority of users.

From a metric standpoint, this change may have an impact on the total interactions per tweet as prior to the update users would need to click on the link to preview an image and that would count as an interaction.

Thus interactions via the tweet may go down, but providing more visual content directly in the stream may impact overall engagement in a more positive way as the visual content will stand out from the traditional text based tweets.

Final notes: The new visual Twitter update still does not support animated GIF’s and there is currently no filter or blocking functionality for the individual user. Also, Instagram and other services are currently still represented as links vs. auto expanded.

Note this example highlighting Instagram as a link & images uploaded to Twitter as expanded

Recommendation: The new best practice associated with image posting per Twitter renders at 440 x 220 and uploaded via pic.twitter.com in order to be auto-expanded.

Here is additional info that I just received from Twitter RE: Image pixel size and file size:

The longer side of your photo should be 1024 pixels and the shorter side should be proportionately fewer pixels. This applies to horizontal, square, and vertical photos with any aspect ratio. For example, a horizontal photo with a 4×3 aspect ratio should be sized 1024 x 768 pixels. A square photo should be 1024 x 1024 pixels
Photo file size limit is 3MB

To show your entire image in the Tweet preview:

Use an image in horizontal/landscape orientation with a 2:1 aspect ratio (e.g. 1024 x 512 pixels)
If you do this, the preview image will be the same as the image shown when the Tweet is expanded and/or when the photo is fully revealed.

Currently, there are no text restrictions on the images, so there is an opportunity to maximize the real-estate of images. One key point of consideration is that mobile users still need to update their Twitter app to get this feature so that is still a barrier to removing legal copy from photos as only 6% of Twitter users use the web client. Also note that Twitter has been very strict with 3rd parties who use their API, so at some point this update will push through that ecosystem as well.

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November 4, 2013July 3, 2015

Social Search And Circle Impact Theory

One of the questions I receive a lot is the relation between Google+ and search. I commonly hear “of course Google+ impacts search”, but when pressed most don’t fully understand to what extent. Google+ is one of the more misunderstood properties when it comes to mapping it’s value for a social strategy. The key is not to look at Google+ from just a social lens.

Google provides an incredibly powerful ecosystem for a brand but when it comes to strategy Google is often a secondary area of consideration because of the separation of traditional SEO and the entities that manage social properties or the disconnect between paid & owned strategy.

Think about the three primary points of entry, Google, YouTube & Google+. Google is the primary search engine for a majority of the world, YouTube is the #2 search engine and a key point of distribution for video content and the Google+ represents the future of where Google is building the intersection of search & social via contextual search driven by engagement.

You can see more emphasis on the ecosystem via Google’s new authentication Messaging

So I thought it would be interesting to test the impact of Google+ content on search and the impact of content discoverability. I continue to be impressed by how timely Google is mapping newly created content into search results.

You can see that a Google+ post that I added is already associated with the topic in a search query for a broader topic “5 Reasons to Consider Flipboard”. I wanted to understand the point of differentiation from a contextual placement vs. standard.

I enlisted the help of various team members to test the contextual mapping of the post:

Step 1: Please google a recent Google+ post topic such as “5 Reasons to Consider Flipboard”
Step 2: Try this while logged into Google+
Step 3: Try this while logged out to see if you get the same result.
Step 4: If I don’t appear in your results please follow me on Google+ and see if that changes your results.
Step 5: Please send me a quick note directly to me that outlines at which step the content appeared to you if at all.

Why the experiment? One of the key elements we need to constantly consider from a content strategy standpoint is the impact that posting through Google+ can have from a search perspective vs. engagement. If the domain is verified and the author is mapped as a contributor via their personal Google+ profile, content created will associate elements of the authors Google+ profile in search results (You can see my Google+ profile pic is shown in conjunction with the post). Understanding the reach of the end result of Google authorship and if this is purely contextual vs. standard is of interest.

The Results: For those who were not following me prior to the experiment my social content did not have any association with their Google results either logged into Google+ or logged out.

Here are the results without any contextual association

The association did not become apparent until the user had added me to their circle, then 100% of the users saw the content within the next 24 hours.

Here is what users who added me to their circles saw upon searching for the topic

Content that is optimized for contextural search, including correct usage of hashtags, keywords, etc… will show in search results within minutes of posting to Google+. If a user is following you via a circle and happens to search on the topic you just posted about in the traditional google+ ecosystem, they will see your post towards the top of the 1st SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

As a brand, topical content shows towards the bottom of the 1st SERP for those that in your circles. I am a follower of Callaway Golf, and their Google+ topical content now displays in my SERP.

The final signal to Google is via engagement. If the content gets a significant amount of engagement (Threshold TBD) then the content has a higher probability of the content shifting from contextual to standard, meaning the content is now discoverable outside of those in immediate circles. This is one of the driving factors behind driving circle growth within Google+. It is less about Google+ as a social platform, and more about mapping social content into a more traditional point of consumer discovery.

Google will continue to be a key ecosystem to consider in mapping larger integrated digital campaigns. Especially with the increased focus on content creation, discovery & distribution, understanding how to amplify the content and create contextual associations between socially created content and search will be a key point to consider as contextual search moves to the center of the Google ecosystem.

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October 29, 2013April 12, 2017

6 Latest Trends In Marketing Technology

This morning my new article the 6 latest trends in marketing technology is the cover story for iMedia Connection.

The article reviews 6 key industry trends such as collaborative commerce, curation, second screen & social TV, rich social media, crowdsourcing & social + CRM as well as partners and products that bring it all together.

A quick follow-up… I wanted to thank everyone for the great support of this article as it just hit #1.

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October 14, 2013July 3, 2015

5 Reasons to Consider Flipboard to Support Your Content Strategy

I was recently briefed by the Flipboard team and was pleasantly surprised by how their platform is scaling to support brands. Here are 5 reasons to consider Flipboard to support your branded content strategy.

Flipboard is a content curation and discovery social magazine app that over 85 million people are using. The application visualizes your social feeds such as Facebook & Twitter as well as providing access to curated topical magazines all while allowing the user flexibility in how they consume their content of choice.

From a brand perspective there are 5 key areas of interest to leveraging Flipboard to it’s full potential.

Reason #1 – Brand Magazines – Over the past few months more than 60 recognizable brands have launched curated magazines. This includes Callaway Golf, Levi’s and more. With such a large user base combined with users appetite for both curated and original content, Flipboard is becoming an ideal destination to aggregate and present information in a unique and compelling way.

Here is an example from the Callaway Golf Team. They created a brand magazine to support the launch of their new Apex Irons.

Flipboard launched an online editor earlier this year. The editor allows anyone the ability create customized titles and over 3.5 million customized titles have been created.

Here is an example of a BlackFin360 magazine that was created via the editor

Reason #2 – Flip It Web Bookmarklet – Flip It creates a connection point to update brand magazines quickly based on newly discovered external content. Simply add the bookmarklet to your browser of choice and quickly add curated content directly into a brand magazine.

Simply identify the content and hit “Flip It” to add directly from anywhere on the web

Another use for Flip.it links are to extend brand magazines into the web as well. With a Flip.it link, you can connect to a web enabled version of a brand magazine that exists in the Flipboard ecosystem.

Here is an example of the BlackFin360 Brand Magazine viewable on the web via a Flip.it link.

The Flip.it link when opened on a Flipboard app enabled device will open the magazine via the web and offer an option to open directly in Flipboard.

Reason #3 – Sponsored Search – As part of an advertising package with Flipboard, there is an opportunity to highlight a brand magazine via a promoted element appended to keyword search results.

Here is an example from Levi’s promoting their Modern Frontier magazine tied to the Levi’s keyword.

Reason #4 – Full Page Paid Advertisements – Brands have an opportunity to align with prominent publishers and associate their content in the form of full page ads that can also link directly within Flipboard. In this scenario, Flipboard can act as the agent with the publishing partners.

Here is an example of a Levi’s Full Page add that also connects directly to their Brand Magazine

Paid advertising only appears within the pages of formal publishing partners such as Conde Nast publications. According to a recent interview with Flipboards CEO Mike McCue, he referenced click through rates averaging around 3% across both mobile & tablet.

Another Example of a Full Page Ad

Reason #5 – Editorial Opportunities – With Flipboard curating & creating content, there are editorial opportunities for brands that can also drive additional value for a brand. This would require working directly with the Flipboard team but relevant content sessions can be created and distributed through inside.flipboard.com

WIth a total of $111 million dollars raised to date and a growing user base, Flipboard is riding a key consumer trend and providing a service that will be incredibly relevant over the next few years as more brands create content and look for platforms that can organize and distribute content in a relevant and cost effective manner.

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September 25, 2013July 3, 2015

Digital Marketing is Dead

According to Marc Pritchard, P&G’s Global Brand Building Officer, “Digital Marketing is Dead“. I was recently asked my opinion on this bold statement by the team at Commpro.biz. I provided an op-ed piece that evaluates the commentary tied to the statement and add my perspective on the future of digital marketing.

Here is the full post

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September 19, 2013October 12, 2013

Pinterest Launches Promoted Pins

I received word from the Pinterest team announcing the limited roll-out of promoted pins. At this time this feature is available to a small group of brands for testing, but the groundwork is being laid to support paid amplification of Pinterest content.

Here is an excerpt From the Pinterest Blog

“We’re going to start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses. I know some of you may be thinking, “Oh great…here come the banner ads.” But we’re determined to not let that happen. While we haven’t figured out all the details, I can say that promoted pins will be:

   •   Tasteful—No flashy banners or pop-up ads.
   •   Transparent—We’ll always let you know if someone paid for what you see, or where you see it.
   •   Relevant—These pins should be about stuff you’re actually interested in, like a delicious recipe, or a jacket that’s your style.
   •   Improved based on your feedback—Keep letting us know what you think, and we’ll keep working to make things better.

For our first test, we’ll promote a few pins in search results and category feeds. For example, a pin for a Darth Vader outfit from a costume shop might be promoted in a search for “halloween.” Nobody’s paying for anything yet—we want to see how things go and, more than anything, hear what you think.”

This is an important announcement for brands that leverage Pinterest. Having the ability to amplify content and associate with topics such as “seasons” is a key step to going beyond organic reach and driving additional discoverability within the channel.

Back in May, I attended the first Pinterest Partner Marketing event. During that session one of the items that was revealed was the Pinterest Interest Graph. To recap, an interest graph is an online representation of the specific things in which an individual is interested. And because the focus of Pinterest is based on what people are indexing on the web and then categorizing by interests, the Pinterest Interest Graph is the foundation for their business moving forward especially with today’s promoted pins announcement.

The key to the interest graph for Pinterest is the ability to create personalized experiences that change based on an individuals life stage and interests. The association is less with people and more with things. This may include life events such as marriage, children, etc… and Pinterest hopes that by focusing on interests they are building a sustainable platform that can grow with users over time and continue to provide both utility and relevance based on discovery. Now, with the overlay of promoted pins, Pinterest will have the ability to leverage the data from their Interest graph and map that to a promoted product suite to add value to potential advertisers as well as a model to drive actual revenue.

It will be interesting to track how this will ultimately be rolled out, but the groundwork was announced in May, this is the next step in the evolution of the platform.

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September 9, 2013January 7, 2014

Facebook Promotional Engagement Models

My last post talked about the recent Facebook announcement that outlined the new promotional guidelines. Behind the scenes, I was working closely with various internal teams at Facebook over the past two months to better understand the potential impact the changes may have and how to plan for future campaigns.

Based on this information I have written a white paper (available below) that outlines what I am calling the 3 new promotional engagement models that Facebook now supports.

The foundation of each model is tied to aligning the type of brand objective being considered to the ideal engagement model. The models are as follows:

Short Term Engagement Model
News Feed Engagement Model
Sustained Engagement Model

This white paper can be used as a resource when mapping client objectives to the type of promotional engagement model that may be ideal including making the call between an app vs. responsive News feed strategy or how Hashtag promotions differ on Facebook vs. other platforms such as Twitter, Instagram & Vine.

Download the Whitepaper

TMA_Facebook_Guidelines

SUMMARY: The biggest change tied to the recent changes are tied to a brands ability to create short burst engagement opportunities with the additional flexibility now afforded to brand pages.

From an innovation and alignment perspective, the News Feed engagement model is directly aligned with where Facebook as a platform and a business are going. This is a mobile first experience that capitalizes on capturing users attention “in-stream” and reaches them across both desktop & mobile.

The final model looks at when to leverage an app based approach as well as key campaign characteristics that would lead to the use of a canvas page or Facebook page tab solution.

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August 19, 2013July 3, 2015

SXSW 2014 – Evolution of the Hashtag

Now through September 6th is the time to vote on the panels & presentations for SXSW Interactive 2014. I have submitted a presentation for consideration and would greatly appreciate your support.

My proposed topic is Evolution of the Hashtag. Here is a brief outline of the proposed presentation.

The evolution of the hashtag session will take the audience on a highly visual journey that answers the question that is on everyone’s mind… Why the hashtag?

Looking beyond the # key on your phone, we will explore where the hashtag came from and why it has become a staple of today’s social web.

We will also explore how the hashtag connects traditional media with digital and beyond and the potential to create converged media opportunities and how this can create value for brands.

Then we will move on to explore how brands are capitalizing on hashtags to create earned media opportunities.

Finally we will look into the future and review how the hashtag will impact the future of the newly forming contextual web.

Questions Answered

Where did the Hashtag come from?
Why has the hashtag become a staple in today’s social web?
How is the Hashtag extending TV viewership and creating new converged media opportunities?
How are brands capitalizing on Hashtags to create earned media?
How will the Hashtag impact the future and the new contextual web?

I would greatly appreciate your vote. Please click the image below to vote for the presentation.

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August 1, 2013October 12, 2013

Pinterest Pin To Save

Back in May of this year I attended the first Pinterest Partner Event in NYC. At that time they spoke about a number of topics from the newly launched Pinterest Interest Graph to the launch of new product innovation tied to Rich Pins. Here is the recap of that event.

I recently received word from Pinterest that a new feature would be announced today. The announcement will feature additional functionality tied to Product Rich Pins ahead of the holiday season.

Here is the note I received from the Pinterest Business Team:

To recap, Product Rich Pins create direct connections for retailers with consumers by showcasing active inventory as well as price & source reference directly into the pin. This additional data can take a consumer from simply considering a product to potentially enticing them to purchase based on availability of the product. This in turn can add value for the retailer and create a more direct connection between an item & a retailer.

Example of a Product Rich Pin prior to today’s announcement:

Today’s announcement shows that users will soon be able to receive notifications when the price of one of their product pins drops. This can help those that may look for savings tied to some their favorite pins to trigger a move from consideration to action on the product.

Here is what the experience will look like:

According to Pinterest In just two short months there are already tens of millions of product rich pins now on Pinterest. They state the benefits beyond traditional pins as follows:

Higher Click-Through rates compared to regular pins
Better brand visibility since the brand logo is featured on the pin
More likelihood of appearing in category feeds (like gifts, gardening, men’s fashion, etc.)
Details – like price changes – update automatically.

Retail & commerce based brands that are considering ways to drive action beyond consideration on the path to purchase should take note and implement Product Rich Pins ahead of the holiday season. Here is how to get started.

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June 19, 2013October 13, 2013

Benefits of The New MySpace

I was recently briefed by the MySpace team prior to the re-launch of the brand. I had worked closely with the MySpace team back in 2006-2007 and was intrigued to see what’s new with the platform and what value the new platform can provide for brands.

My questions were primarily tied to 5 key areas:

1 – What is the “new” MySpace
2 – Discoverability of content
3 – Brand Value Proposition
4 – Amplification Capabilities
5 – Influencer Identification & Activation

The “New” MySpace

June 12th marked the official re-launch of MySpace.com. You may have seen the comprehensive media blitz tied to driving acquisition of new and nostalgic users. This is definitely not your old MySpace. Gone are rainbow unicorns and other elements that made MySpace what it was in its heyday.

MySpace currently has a user base of 20 million that is primarily 18-29 years of age. The re-launch will focus on positioning itself as the alternative destination for the 18-34 set. One of the key goals is to add enough value with the experience to attract the 29-34 set to increase the affluent user base.

The focus on a highly visual user experience (horizontal scroll vs. vertical) that is grounded in music, editorial & curated content and an advertising light/contextual ad experience was redesigned from the ground up with the goal of increasing the current base of users.

One of the key areas of strength for the platform is the focus on music. From high profile investors such as Justin Timberlake to the 52,000,000 songs free for consumers, MySpace is laser focused on connecting fans with artists and extending those connections through the re-launch.

When I asked the MySpace team to describe the new platform compared to existing platforms the team said that it is part Spotify, part Pandora and a little bit of Pinterest. It was interesting that Facebook was not directly mentioned and after reviewing the platform I can see why.

The key terms that were repeated by the team were tied to affinity, discoverability and connection with the key symbol of the platform being the infinity symbol.

Discoverability

At its core Facebook is a story telling and amplification platform built on individual connections. MySpace, similar to Pinterest, is focused on discoverability and affinity. A subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.

One of the main areas of focus with the new experience is tied to Discovery. From the pervasive bottom navigation to the traditional discover tab, “discover” is front and center for the user.

When a user clicks into this section the MySpace team will feature editorial & trending curated content. This is also going to be a key area of aligning with brands via contextual advertising vs. traditional paid units. More on that in the amplification section.

Another key point of discovery tied to the platform is the visually appealing search functionality. Clear text ques and hashtag support is another element to drive discoverability of people, content & brands.

MySpace Mobile

With the launch MySpace has also redesigned its iOS app to offer users the chance to upload animated GIFs and stream “social radio,”. This again is to further enable connection and discoverbility of artists & content.

Brand Value Proposition

A number of my questions were focused on how brands can get the most out of the platform. I asked questions tied to content penetration, ability to support promotion, and opportunities tied to hyper local targeting.

One of the core areas of focus was tied to a brands ability to drive reach & engagement on the platform. I did not get definitive numbers such as those tied to Facebook and EdgeRank. The responses ranged from we will continue to refine the content that is presented as we continue to scale, so this will definitely be an area to focus on as more brands work to connect with users.

Brands with a close association to music & musical artists can find the platform to be a key element to consider in terms of driving sponsorship or activation. From contextual playlists to the ability to connect an artists performance on a show like Jimmy Kimmel that then kicks over to a exclusive live stream on MySpace, there are many opportunities to connect brands beyond the walls of MySpace to create more integrated engagements.

The platform also supports more traditional promotions that can tie into retail activations similar to the Bud Light example below into more comprehensive user engagements such as the 50 shows 50 states 1 day activation from Bud Light.

In-Store Code Redemption

50:50:1 example

Promotions are deep linkable so cross platform and traditional digital units can support awareness of activations. For brands that require age gating, the Bud Light example also showcases how this is handled in order to present content to those of legal age.

Example of Age Gating

One of the other key attributes to the platform is the ability to drive purchase directly through the platform. This is where a Pinterest comparison comes into play. By enabling e-commerce through the experience the goal is to directly impact revenue for those organizations that choose to leverage the commerce and royalties functionality.

Amplification

When it comes to content and the importance of visibility of owned messages, I asked a series of questions tied to amplification capabilities of the platform. The following is the breakdown of key points of the discussion.

Owned Post Amplification – It appears that organic post level amplification to increase reach on an individual piece of content is not a current option at launch it is not out of the realm of possibility for the future.

Advertising – The ad types will vary depending on how the user interacts with the platform. There will be ads tied to the streaming service which may morph into a subscription type service to be ad free.

When it comes to in-stream advertising there are a few options to consider:

Log In Ad/Welcome Tray – Brands will have an opportunity to “own” the prime spot of log in prior to the user moving through their feed. This unit looks like a highlighted content unit and is built to look like a contextual placement vs. a traditional ad. This spot is owned by the brand for the day and will initially be available to all users. I did ask about targeting moving forward and that will more than likely be an option in future updates.

In Stream Ads – Brands will also have the option to position contextual ads in the horizontal stream of users. No additional details were shared beyond the fact that this option exists.

Discover Ad – This comes in the form of a contextual ad unit that could be as simple as a playlist that leads into a branded experience. The key again is to leverage the brands association with relevant and contextual content to maximize opportunities for engagement.

Targeting – Ad targeting is based on three primary points of targeting:

1) Demographic & In Platform Behavior – The profile of a user is taken into consideration as one point of targeting
2) Inferences based on Affinity – The final element, similar to Twitter’s focus on the Interest graph is MySpace’s own ability to target based on users affinity signals.

Brand Messaging Capability – One of the key differences between MySpace & Facebook in terms of brands interacting with users is tied to the ability of brands to send messages to users via the MySpace mail & message service.

Extensibility – One of the other key elements is for elements of MySpace, such as the MySpace music player to extend to other networks, for example it is possible to live stream an event via an API onto Facebook if there is a goal to drive engagement with sponsored content cross platform.

Influencer Connection

One of the areas I was most excited to see is tied to what MySpace calls the Infinity Score. One of the big missing elements associated with the native Facebook platform is the ability to dive deeper into social & topical relevance of users.

With the upcoming launch, it is possible for bands & brands to see who their “top fans”. Top fans are people who have interacted the most with an artist or brands content. Top Fans are then granted exclusive access or available to activate against.

The key for a user to become a “top fan” is directly tied to factors such as impact of shareability through their network, interaction with the content (e.g. music listens) and other factors that MySpace did not fully reveal.

This level of visualization also incents users to continue to engage to maintain their position with this very passive gamification/engagement layer.

Next Steps

It will be very interesting to watch what happens post launch. Some of my questions were tied to considerations around rebranding vs. keeping the MySpace name. One thing is for sure. Most web users definitely have an opinion about MySpace. With the alignment with Specific Media there are definitely opportunities for MySpace to provide value for the right brand.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

June 14, 2013July 3, 2015

The Move Towards Flat Design

Everywhere I look whether it is working on my desktop or browsing via mobile I am beginning to see recurring digital design patterns. This includes the use a lot of white space, simple and sometimes transparent backgrounds, symmetrical boxes and minimalist styling for user interfaces. This trend actually has a name… Flat design. You may not have heard of the flat design philosophy, but you will definitely recognize it when you see it especially if you have used a Microsoft or Google product recently.

Example from Xbox Live

Example from Windows 8

Example of an HTC Microsoft Phone

Look familiar? It should. For a long time now graphical user interface (GUI) design has tried to make objects seem more familiar to us by using a design philosophy called Skeuomorphism. This is simply incorporating design ques from the physical world into the digital one. The visual cues and details such as shadows, beveled edges and texture create experiences that are relatable or designed to be visually interesting.

Multiple examples of Skeuomorphism from my iPad

The icons themselves such as the Tech Crunch app icon almost appear to be 3-dimensional

The move towards flat design is one that is less about style and more about optimizing functionality and focusing a users attention on the type of content they are about to interact with. The focus is on creating digital experiences that emphasize visual clarity to get the primary point across.

Google has always used a minimalist approach to GUI

Google Now incorporates flat design principles into Google’s card style interface

Especially with the move towards mobile first and responsive design, the limited real estate calls for very clear and simple interfaces that allow the reduced size to be maximized across devices. This is evident when you begin reviewing how Google Glass will present information.

Example of Google Glass Flat Design

Social networks have even begun implementing certain elements of flat design. Take a look at the newly launched MySpace and their use of flat elements to bring their users streams to life.

MySpace has a new UX that features a clean design with the focus on simple visual content boxes

Example of MySpace Feed

Pinterest also incorporates flat design principles in their user experience with the recent redesign.

Finally, with Apple’s recent announcements that iOS 7.0 will incorporate Flat Design elements into the user experience marks a significant shift as Apple since the 80’s has focused on creating graphical user interfaces that lean towards replicating physical objects vs. focusing on telling the user what type of content they are about to engage with.

Dating back to the dot com days, I have been a student of all things digital. Flat Design is yet another entry into the ever evolving digital landscape. What was once old is new again. What are your thoughts and preferences? Do you prefer an interface that is familiar or do you have an affinity towards minimal elements with a clear visual cue to what you are about to do?

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May 29, 2013November 26, 2013

Sports Social TV Summit

I had a great time speaking on a panel this morning at the Sports Social TV Summit. I was a part of a panel discussion with members from the NFL, Turner Sports, Time Warner Cable, the Pac 12 and the Los Angeles Dodgers discussing various topics associated with Social TV.

Below are three clips tied to various questions that I was asked as well as an overview of our recently executed Way2Saturday program.

Way2Saturday & Social TV

Brand Question… Are brands asking for Social TV & second screen solutions?

The final response was from the Q&A session tied to Facebook Targeting

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

May 23, 2013July 3, 2015

Pinterest Partner Event Recap

I recently attended the first ever Pinterest Partner Marketing Summit in NYC. This invite only event unveiled their emphasis on developing a strong partner program and also served as an opportunity to introduce new staff to the Pinterest partner team, new resources for brands and agencies and best practices to maximize the platform.

There were five primary areas of focus for the event.

1) Why Pinterest
2) Pinterest Interest Graph
3) New product enhancements (Rich Pin & Mobile Pin It)
4) Analytics & Partner Tools
5) Partner case studies & Best Practices

WHY PINTEREST

Ben Silbermann, Pinterest Co-Founder & CEO started the day by telling the story of Pinterest. He discussed his love of collections when he was young… stamps, butterflies, baseball cards, etc… he saw an opportunity as there was not an elegant solution to organize collections online.

He had roots with Google and was enamored by how the search giant was able to so seamlessly focus on enabling search & retrieval across the web. If you know what you are looking for Google provides an ideal platform for search & retrieval.

He actually related Pinterest more to Google & search than to other social channels such as Facebook. With Pinterest people vs. bots are indexing the webs content and organizing them by interests, something that is a bit more subjective but aligns with human behavior.

One of his key points was in defining Pinterests role in discovery of content.

“Discovery on the web is an unsolved problem & massive opportunity” – Ben Silbermann

With Pinterest, people are making discovery possible by organizing the web’s content around interests. This is their key point of differentiation as the platform is about discovery and action.

It was interesting to hear Ben’s story about the roots of Pinterest and it also provided insight into where the platform is going which leads to the Interest Graph.

INTEREST GRAPH

The Pinterest team spent a good bit of time discussing what they coined the Pinterest Interest Graph. An interest graph is an online representation of the specific things in which an individual is interested. And because the focus of Pinterest is based on what people are indexing on the web and then categorizing by interests, the Pinterest Interest Graph is the foundation for their business moving forward.

A key point of differentiation between Facebook’s Social Graph & Pinterest & even Twitters interest graphs are the fact that Interest Graphs are used to create people’s interest networks whereas Facebook and other social networks are organized around an individual’s friends and connections that follow them across the web.

The key to the interest graph from a brand perspective is that a single product can be repined into other areas. As the single object passes across the interest graph across categories you are able to leverage the network of interests and passions vs. pushing a message and see how your product resonates in real time. This leads to driving discoverability by interest as well as distribution and lengthens the shelf life of content as it continually gets repined.

Interest Graph in action for me… I like Robots

PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS

Pin it Button – the theme that was repeated the most over the course of the event was the focus on the Pin It button. Pinterest reiterated that a strong Pinterest strategy starts with enabling your domain. By enabling and focusing on driving & optimizing pins down to the individual product level are the key to driving more engagement and driving higher referral traffic.

Mobile Pinning – Earlier this week Pinterest launched the ability to integrate the Pin It button into a brands mobile application to further drive discoverability via mobile for both iOS & Android via SDKs. The SDK allows a brands users to create Pinterest content inside the branded app. Currently, this only supports pinning from the web, but the ability to pin local images is on the roadmap as well.

Here is an example of Mobile Pinning in action from the Brit + Co (launch partner) mobile app

Rich Pins – Also tied to this weeks launch was the release of Rich Pins. Pinterest hopes that Rich Pins lead to action and by adding more brand data to a pin tied to products, recipes & movies that more direct attribution and value for brands and users will be apparent. Product pins from a brand can showcase active inventory as well as price & references the source directly from the pin. Recipe Rich Pins allow more data to be added directly to the pin and movie pins offer insight into reviews as well as cast directly from the pin.

Product Pins

Recipe Pins

Movie Pins

Implementation – In order to implement Rich Pins meta tags need to applied to your domain and decide on the type of rich pin you want to apply for. Then once the meta tags have been validated you can apply to get them from Pinterest.

From a brand perspective, this is the first step to further enabling brand content and attribution. Especially the product pins can be of value to further drive action when discovered.

ANALYTICS & PARTNER TOOLS

On March 11th, Pinterest launched their data analytics tool. This was another key discussion point during the course of the event. The analytics tool supports Pinterest’s position to enable a brands .com as the suite focuses on content pinned directly from the .com and focus on how many people are pinning from the website, impressions & reach over time and which pins receive the most repins and who pins them as well as what other content people are pinning alongside them.

This data can be extremely useful when incorporating top pins into tailoring content for the website as well as other social channels. Nordstrom was a presenting brand and the key takeaway from their presentation was their focus on curating pins and using analytics as a driver for surfacing content on their website, e-mail as well as in store. By leveraging Pinterest in this way, Nordstrom claimed increased sell through in stores and online.

Nordstrom Top Pins via .com

Nordstrom in store

Pinterest also rolled out new partner tools starting with a revamped business.pinterest.com as well as a new business blog that will focused on enabling partners and will serve as the location for new product feature announcements. The team also announced that they will soon be providing webinars on best practices to further enable partners.

Unlike Facebook & Twitter, Pinterest is less about working directly with their partner teams and more about enabling the platform to allow brands to maximize their presence.

CASE STUDIES

During the course of the event four brands were represented including Target, Sephora, Nordstroms & Sony Electronics. I have already referenced how Nordstroms is leveraging Pinterest data to drive their content & in-store strategy. Below are a few key points from the Sephora & Sony Electronics presentations.

Sephora

The most compelling elements from the Sephora case study was their laser focus on identifying trends via pins. Their goals were tied to making it easier to pin from Sephora.com, use e-mail to encourage Pinterest engagement and encourage clients to pin their beauty shopping lists.

Focus on top pins to inform content strategy across channels
Content goes beyond simple product to incorporate DIY type content
Testing various types of Pin to Win initiatives that are cross promoted

Embedded Pinterest across social channels such as Facebook
Created pinnable e-mails drove significant results including a 60% increase in referral traffic from Pinterest that has not subsided
Focus on creating a shoppable experience on Pinterest
Claimed that shoppers are closer to purchase in the path to purchase and stated a statistic of 15x the sales impact vs. Facebook

Sony Electronics

I was most impressed by the work of Sony electronics of the four brands that presented. What I liked about their story is they are not the first brand you think of when you think about the Pinterest platform. They are a manufacturer vs. retailer and their audience is a younger, high tech male group who is not the primary audience of the platform. They had very clearly defined strategy objectives of driving sales, acquisition and brand affinity on the platform and they have leveraged the social power of their internal organization as well as consumers to power their experience.

Audience (Sony electronics appeal to more than women)
They curated content that existed, retro products, artist style, influencers who shoot with their cameras etc…
Launched presence with an employee contest to educate and curate relevant content across the organization
Drove awareness via the Sony Electronics blog & e-mail
E-mail is a critical component to their Pinterest strategy, pin, collect, share –> Pinterest focused messages get double the open rate
Inform their content strategy based on Pins
Leverage 3rd parties such as Curalate to identify influencers
Executed innovative programs such as Pin Deals – unlock via 20 pins – flash sale & Pin it to give it – repins = $1 to charity and received 13,000 pins

Partnered with relevant brands to enter new categories such as Pinterest partnership with American Airlines to enter travel

BEST PRACTICES

The following is a list of best practices that were discussed during the course of the event. This is not a comprehensive best practices list, but does highlight the key points that the Pinterest team & brands represented did speak to repeatedly.

Strategy

The Pinterest team reiterated that the best Pinterest strategy starts with your domain.
Remember boards are not destinations, most of the interaction will happen at the Pin level
Pinnable E-mail is a critical component to a successful Pinterest strategy, enable content to be pinned on the individual content level

Platform

Add Pin-It Button to domain
Verify the business with Pinterest
Enable Domain Analytics
Activate & Incorporate Rich Pins to create a cleaner connection to inventory and enabling action
Leverage the Mobile SDK’s to further enable sharing directly from a brands app

Content

Learn from top pins, timely relevant pins that map to domain are key
Optimize pins, Sony’s audience preferred product shots while Target’s audience resonates with Lifestyle images
Short Captions are key, the goal is to tease to promote click through
Focus on content that will drive repins
Pin your product along with other inspirational content to boards
Focus on creating ripples with content vs. “feed stuffing”

Contests

When it comes to Pin It to Win it type of initiatives, it is important to ensure that there is a variety of content to pin
A pin from a Pin it to Win it is good, but the focus should be on repins. Repins are the key to successful promotion on the platform

SUMMARY

The first Pinterest partner event was definitely insightful and the event closed with the following points:

1) Discovery on the web is an unsolved problem & massive opportunity
2) People are making discovery possible by organizing the web’s content around interests
3) You can make your business more discoverable by inspiring people to pin

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

May 11, 2013November 26, 2013

Sports Social TV Summit

I will be speaking at the Sports Social TV Summit on May 29, 2013 at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, CA.

I will be a part of the 9:15 am- 10:15 am time slot discussing the power of live sports programming and how Social TV is engaging viewers and driving new revenues at home and in arenas & stadiums. Here is the full list of speakers.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

March 12, 2013October 13, 2013

The Rise of Dark Posts

We have seen the Dark Knight Rise, we have seen Darth Vader give in to the dark side, we have seen a very dark rabbit in Donnie Darko. What do each of these film references have to do with Dark posting? Nothing unless they are deploying dark post ad units to promote themselves.

Always looking for any reason to post about Darth Vader

Dark posts sound more ominous than they actually are. No, these are not posts by some secret society or the underbelly of Facebook. Dark posts are a type of ad unit that does not get organic distribution via a brands owned presence.

Basically, the unit would look like a Facebook page post ad unit, only the post does not actually exist on the brands timeline. The post is created for the sole purpose of targeting a very specific and relevant message to it’s intended target. This opens up a number of possibilities to segment messaging to a specific audience (male vs. female, different age demo’s, etc..) with the benefit of the rich creative of page post ads vs. standard marketplace units without compromising the brands publishing cadence.

Today, Facebook announced that dark posting is now supported directly in the News Feed. This is most likely tied to the upcoming changes to the newsfeed to further extend the targeting and segmentation for brands without overposting across feed types.

According to Facebook… “This functionality will allow you to access our most engaging placement on the site while still preserving the tone of your Page. Therefore, you can optimize your ads by creating different versions of the same message to see which one performs best. All advertisers will see this change in the placements section when they create an ad or sponsored story using the dark post via the create flow, Power Editor or API.”

Twitter has also enabled Dark posting or as they call it “Narrow Casting” options as part of their paid suite of ad tools. If you are looking to further segment or target a specific activation or promotion, Dark Post types are an option that will provide additional context to the target without compromising the communication to the whole.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

March 7, 2013July 3, 2015

Facebook News Feed Announcement

Today Facebook held an event to announce the first major change to the Facebook News Feed in six years. The theme reinforced by the Facebook team was reduction of clutter by providing more choice and control over the content and stories users will see in their feeds.

“From the beginning, our goal with News Feed was different from any other social service was trying to provide… You should be able to share any content that you want. Status updates, links, photos, etc… You should be able to share with any audience that you want, publicly, with the world, with just friends, or privately” – Mark Zuckerberg

Here are feature highlights from today’s announcement:

The newly designed newsfeed will start rolling out in limited rollouts today with a focus on a “mobile first” design.

The new design is heavily reliant on the ability to segment content by feed type allowing for more control:

All Friends will showcase everything your friends are sharing. This feed will highlight friend content and add a “facepile” type of overlay to the side of the story to show who has shared the content. Social connectivity is highlighted as the intersection of timeline & the newsfeed becomes more pervasive with the inclusion of friends “add a friend” which allows you to see more about that person directly in the news feed.

Photos will provide a feed with nothing but photos from your friends and Brand Pages you like.

Music a feed with posts about the music users listen to.

Following, a feed with the latest news from the Pages you like and the people you follow, think of this as a Facebook “newspaper” feature.

Within the News Feed design, photos are getting larger in the new design and attachments from links will also get more space. This will include a much larger image, a more prominent title, and a longer summary to accompany a linked story.

This is great, but what does this mean as a brand?

Visual Enablement: Further enabling visual storytelling and cross platform consistency are at the heart of the change. One of the forgotten elements previously is the brands cover photo. Yes, it will pop in the newsfeed when the image changes, but with the refresh the cover photo will be pulled into page “Like” stories in the news feed for both organic & paid. This will provide more context about the page, but also provides another opportunity for the brand to be relevant and engaging with their cover photo & profile photo combination. More frequent updates may be required to ensure that brands are maximizing their opportunities.

Also note that when people and pages post photos, Facebook will try to display the caption on top of the image if the caption is legible and the image does not contain text and when the image is of sufficient size (at least 425x157px). This puts additional emphasis on either minimal or extremely engaging copy.

Engagement: The core motivation of this revamp is focused solely on keeping users engaged by allowing more freedom and control over the platform and the information that is relevant for them. Facebook is positioning this change as a more engaging place for brand messages. The goal is to get more people spending time reading and interacting with the news feeds and this should beget more opportunities for us a marketers to reach & engage with our audience.

In my opinion it is too early to tell whether this is good or bad news for brands. The fear from a brand perspective is to lose engagement opportunities by being relegated to a lower visibility feed such as the “following” feed, which currently will not support paid at the initial rollout, but Facebook left it open for opportunities later this year.

Also, one key point to consider, the affinity & engagement of content is key in this new structure, as the more individuals engage with content, the higher the position within the feeds. Obviously this is a key attribute of EdgeRank, but engagement on a post level is still as important as ever. Facebook did confirm that as of now the change is mainly aesthetic for desktop and there will not be a change to Edgerank as it stands today, however this is something that continues to evolve and I would not be surprised if there are changes when the change is fully rolled out to the public.

Paid: The initial rollout will focus on better utilizing paid assets via incremental value adds vs. new streams tied to feeds . but Facebook did leave the door open for injected paid units into subsequent feeds such as “following”. Let’s fast forward for a moment, the new feeds will offer more opportunities to append paid for both small & large advertisers as a whole. The new model also reinforces spend on the post level to further drive visibility of content across feeds. It will be interesting to test media against feed types as units become available as the new design looks to further enhance existing units and offer more opportunities for engagement.

Example of new Page Post Ads

Example of new Sponsored Ads

Brand Reach & Visibility: More real-estate should theoretically increase the throughput of branded content if it is optimized for EdgeRank. This also reinforces the importance of having a relevant content strategy that can maximize content distribution across the various feeds. The thought is that this change will net more visibility for brands moving forward. The key to increasing reach and visibility is to combine organic engagement and then amplify the content via paid that is driving engagement naturally. This Pwned Media approach will optimize paid while leveraging the best of organic engagement to propel content and further drive impactful brand reach & visibility.

The assumption on increased engagement through segmentation/multiple feeds may have an initial lag. The native user behavior of the primary newsfeed as the consumer catch-all and primary point of engagement will remain for awhile until users are reconditioned to filter feeds. One of the inherent benefits of the news feed over the last six years has been tied to the simplicity and minimal effort on behalf of the user to engage with content. It remains to be seen how much usage the secondary feed options will see in terms of interaction type.

Analytics: From an analytics perspective, my hope is to also append feed distribution as an option to track content performance. This would then inform content decisions in addition to social interactions to further optimize content for optimal impact. As it stands today, Facebook has stated there will be no immediate impact on performance, and they will continue to monitor various performance metrics, including performance of Page posts and paid media.

Here is a link to Join the waiting list for the new News Feed.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 12, 2013July 3, 2015

Evolution of the Newsfeed

Today I met with one of my local Facebook team members as we were partnering on a client initiative and our conversation sparked an interesting thought about the future of newsfeed publishing and how brands should be thinking about maximizing their publishing strategies as Facebook’s platform continues to evolve.

I have recently written a number of posts on the subject of Facebook publishing from the intersection of Paid & Owned, the importance of visual storytelling and best practices for optimizing content. All of these topics are relevant to this conversation and further frame the importance of the following statement:

“Everything happens in the newsfeed vs brand pages”

This was an incredibly simple statement that all of us who publish on behalf of brands sometimes take for granted. The numbers definitely back up the statement with 115 billion impressions served daily via desktop and 65 billion newsfeed impressions served daily via mobile.

Think about your own behavior when it comes to interacting with brand related content on Facebook. How often are you clicking through to a brands page to consume their content? This divide is even better visualized when it comes to users mobile interactions?

Where do you consume brand messages on the desktop?

This becomes even more apparent via mobile!

The reality is most social interaction happens via the newsfeed. Interactions being likes, comments and shares. Most brands approach content publishing from the perspective that users come to the brands page and consume their content in a linear manner. The reality is brands need to create a publishing strategy that is optimized for Edgerank and based on deliberate content buckets that are relevant & engaging for the brands audience that can be consumed in a non-linear manner but still represent the core social persona of the brand. This requires a detailed strategy that is grounded in the core attributes of the brand that then leads to content pillars that are designed to maximize engagement.

The following graphic represents the % breakdown across interaction types.

With so much consumption happening via the newsfeed, shouldn’t the in-stream experience/opportunities be as relevant and compelling as possible? This leads me to what I see as the next step in the evolution of brand publishing and that is going a step beyond visual storytelling and incorporating compelling interactive experiences to enhance the publishing strategy.

The recent announcement and coverage of Stipple’s Facebook support and subsequent usage by Justin Timberlake to provide interactive cover art is a glimpse into the future of newsfeed publishing.

Interactive posting is not a new concept. I remember first seeing this executed by Vitrue’s platform back in 2011 via the Buffalo Wild Wings example below. Leveraging this type of interactive content publishing was one of the enabling factors that has driven Buffalo Wild Wings to acquire over 9 million fans. Their content strategy has led to an engagement rate of 4.8% over the last 30 days with over 477,000 interactions. Having a point of differentiation in-stream has led to positive results for the brand.

The number of vendors supporting interactive posting in-stream has grown since 2011 with shops such as Shop Igniter providing solutions that are optimized to support rich interactive in-stream campaigns to drive lead generation, giveaways, promotions, etc…

The real key point of differentiation now vs. then is the ability to create immersive newsfeed experiences for both desktop & mobile by leveraging responsive design. Now it becomes easier to publish across both desktop & mobile to drive in-stream & even in-app (Facebook’s app) interaction.

The example below shows an example from Shop Igniter’s platform that enables in-stream video that then drives to a mobile optimized experience based on responsive design that allows the flexibility of staying within the application, but also allows the addition of an action object in the experience that extends the reach of a users action beyond the newsfeed into the activity ticker. This is a key element to further drive distribution and discoverability of content as well as the fact that the newsfeed does not support action objects directly.

The GoPro example is a great example of a light weight execution that does not rely on driving to an end destination to generate engagement & story creation. This in my mind is the next evolution of content publishing in-stream.

Similar to the evolution of static banners to rich media, creating compelling content that is optimized for EdgeRank, light weight in design and contains the experience within the existing stream and Facebook application across both desktop and mobile that also taps into the social graph to append actions is an ideal addition to an owned content strategy.

This also maximizes the principles of real-time paid amplification that I have discussed in the past because these are actual posts being created on Facebook’s platform that can fit seamlessly into a paid media strategy.

The other benefit to this type of publishing is the engagement data on the content level that can drive further optimization of content moving forward. By tracking impressions, engagement rate and social actions, we can directly map to our core KPI’s.

When it comes to Facebook, it is not enough to just have a content calendar. It is incredibly important to have a true strategic framework that outlines the brands publishing strategy and how the content will be optimized to drive targeted reach, but it is also important to leverage interactive assets to drive tangible results and activation where appropriate.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

January 30, 2013October 13, 2013

Stipple and Facebook Publishing

I have been following Stipple for a while now and with today’s big announcement tied to Facebook support launched the platform to the forefront of my mind to support social content & publishing strategies. What is Stipple? If you have not heard about the service, Stipple allows you to embed interactive hotspots into an image to create additional connections directly within the image. Today’s announcement is key for those who manage owned properties as now Stipple supports direct publishing support via Facebook a feature that has been missing to date.

Now it is possible to add a data driven overlay to an image that can create connections directly from the newsfeed that allow users to take action. Whether it is to drive to a branded destination such as the brands Facebook brand page or .com, create a quick path to purchase opportunity by linking the image to an e-commerce based product, embed a link to videos that relate to the image, or create additional connections as outlined below.

Today’s announcement is a huge addition for those of us who manage Facebook brand properties. Combine this with my recent discussions associated with visual storytelling to drive engagement and you can create a rich experience that can immediately extend the reach of a static image.

With a majority of engagement happening directly from the newsfeed, adding a rich content overlay to images can optimize associations related to the content. The combinations and support possibilities are endless. Whether it’s supporting branded content, promotion, acquisition, etc… the flexibility to tag and append content to an image is a great way to maximize story creation and connection throughout an integrated approach across channels.

In November of 2012, Stipple rolled out the ability to support Twitter publishing. From a single Tweet you can surface videos, photos, etc.. in-stream vs pushing to another destination. Adding a rich content overlay through this media is a great way to extend static images, or link to terms & conditions for a Twitter driven promotion, etc…

I first noticed a Stipple execution by IKEA and I immediately saw the potential. The ability to claim attribution, but also create a centralized experience with various access points is something that create additional value for online retailers. I immediately started to tout the benefits to this approach, but there were limitations to social sharing until today. Now with the additional support for Facebook & Twitter, the value of this platform increases exponentially for those who drive owned asset creation & publication.

It’s one thing to publish and push content out, but having the ability to measure the engagement and reach of each individual image and the interactions that Stipple creates is another advantage to leveraging this platform. As you can see below, Stipple allows the tracking of engagement and reach so image interactions can be applied into the current KPI’s associated with your publishing strategy.

I would definitely recommend evaluating Stipple and the potential impact to your publishing strategy.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

January 28, 2013November 26, 2013

The rise of PWNED Media

Recently, I had the privilege to speak at the Dallas Digital Summit discussing the convergence of owned & paid media. The talk covered the importance of visual storytelling and the intersection of real-time paid amplification.

One of the outputs of the presentation is a new phrase that better defines the intersection of paid & owned media. Being a gamer of course I gravitated towards “PWNED media” as the new descriptor for this emerging trend.

There is a consistent theme coming from Facebook regarding owned content strategies. Whether it’s a Facebook conference, on-site at Menlo Park or other interactions with Facebook team members you will consistently hear the phrase “Storytelling”.

This definitely makes sense as Facebook’s platform is organized around the generation and amplification of stories.

With this in mind, one of the more powerful elements to incorporate into an owned content strategy is visual storytelling.

Think about this for a moment… when we were first learning to read, our parents most likely used picture books to begin to create associations between visual images and the context of the story.

The same thing still happens now as adults.

A picture paints a 1000 words, images are more powerful storytellers than words. Within Facebook, timeline now showcases and rewards brands that use visual imagery to help tell the brands story.

In the past I have written about the importance of Edgerank as well as recent changes to the algorithm. In order to optimize owned content, it is important to drive engagement around that content.

Creating engaging visual content is definitely the first step to maximize the platform, but there is another step to further drive the reach and impact of visual content.

This is where the paid portion of “PWNED Media” comes into play. Instead of having a separation between owned content & paid campaigns, there should be an intersection to drive a more efficient media spend.

One of the ideal methods to drive engagement both within an existing fan base and beyond is to execute real-time amplification of engaged content.

In layman’s terms take owned content that people are already engaging with and add it to the targeted paid inventory to further maximize the reach of content that people already find interesting.

This is done by setting a pre-determined virality rate based on the size of the fan base and a carefully calculated threshold based on engagement.

This ensures that content that users find compelling can be maximized on behalf of the brand and also serve as an acquisition driver for like-minded fans that align with the persona of the brand.

To my knowledge only 2 brands are actively executing a “PWNED Media” strategy and I lead the social strategy for one of them. If you are interested in hearing more about real-time amplification in action please reach out to me.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

January 15, 2013July 3, 2015

Facebook Graph Search

Recently Facebook announced one of the biggest changes to their search feature to date with the limited beta release of Graph Search. Mark Zuckerberg stated Graph Search would become the third pillar of the Facebook experience in addition to the News Feed and Timeline. This post will review the features of Graph Search while also outlining what it all means.

Here is the official announcement from Facebook

The creation of Graph Search is reflective of the current direction of social which is the inevitable convergence of social and search. With so much information being created and limited alignment between traditional search and the social graph, Graph Search could be a key bridge to a new type of search behavior based on relevant and timely socially curated content.

Example of Bing Facebook integration which applied social as an additive to traditional search. Graph Search takes the inverse approach of searching inside of Facebook.

When you begin to dig into the initial information about Graph Search, it is not intended to be a true web search engine like Google or Bing, but an engine that will search out information across all of Facebook and provide personalized answers to queries about people, photos, places & interests.

Here are various examples of the types of searches that can be conducted.

Here is an example of my friends in San Francisco, as well as recommendations of individuals with similar interests in the area.

Here is an example that leverages Friends Check-In’s via social graph data to uncover Restaurants that may be of interest when in London

Here is an an example of the capability to search for specific types of photos either that you as a user have liked, or topical such as the recent Red Bull Stratos jump.

The Search Graph is a natural extension of the curation of social graph data. By creating deeper connections across interests and access to crowdsourced information, Facebook will now be enabling a cleaner connection to relevant content beyond simply searching for users, brands and apps.

This immediately jumps to questions of privacy from a users perspective. The current explanation is that the Graph Search will honor your privacy settings and only show information to your friends if your privacy is not set to public.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

For starters this will eventually play into the Facebook revenue model. Initially this will be an ad free feature, but make no mistake, by further aligning interests with broader behaviors beyond a profile, it will help to further enable personalization as a search and interest overlay and will become an even more accurate tool to re-target relevant ads.

Also, by adding this as a third pillar, Facebook will eventually be able to monetize against Facebook centric search in a similar manner to how Twitter can place ads via search results with their various promoted products.

Here is an example of a Disney Twitter query that immediately ties into the upcoming Hansel & Gretel movie as a paid unit.

From a brand perspective, this will mean more avenues to differentiate via search results. If the users behaviorally adopt the new way to engage with the rich and relevant content within the social graph, then placement upon search category & interest relevance will be at a premium.

Similar to Google Adwords & promotion of Google+ accounts, brand positioning associated with search may become the new premium Facebook units if users adopt the platform.

It will be interesting to see if the existing Facebook recommendation engine will be put into service as the vehicle that enables placement associated with the results of the search. I did recently speak directly with Facebook and confirmed that the current recommendation engine is not a brand controlable asset, meaning it is not currently part of the paid options to insert a brand, it is strictly algorithm based. But with this new development, the recommendation engine may be a critical component to differentiate from the rest and that will most likely come with a cost.

Example of the Facebook Recommendation Engine for Apps

I am certain that this will have a significant impact on Facebook as a platform moving forward. The amount of objects being added to the social graph will continue to scale at an exponential rate as the introduction of action objects (verbs) into the social graph in addition to all of the various pieces of content that create via interactions with Facebook will now be applied to a system that will make connections beyond the individual more feasible and better align individuals and brands.

Building a system that can now quickly mine relevant information that is based on interests and likes vs. traffic is an interesting proposition, especially when applying the overlay of your social graph with real world use cases such as finding a restaurant recommendation in a new city through the platform you already check 20 times a day.

While there was no immediate mobile support announced, previous behavior suggests that this will also further drive the move towards mobile enablement. If you are able to extend your social graph beyond 1:1 interactions to actually leveraging the data while you are on the go, this is an incredibly important addition and one that will have a significant impact on the future of Facebook’s mobile ad platform.

It will also be interesting to see if a new algorithm, such as edgerank for the newsfeed, can be organically impacted by the amount of followers to a brand (similar to Google+ recommendations via search) or if other factors such as engagement or virality rates will impact which content types (brand content) will be served.

Example of the EdgeRank Algorithm

Facebook initially has recommended the following:

1) The name, category, vanity URL, and information you share in the “About” section should be up to date.
2) If you have a location or a local place Page, update your address to make sure you can appear as a result when someone is searching for a specific location.

There was also an ominous tease towards other factors defining search results. Some early thoughts are possibly tied to engagement & virality rates. It will be interesting to monitor the progression of Graph Search with no immediate mobile version, no Instagram integration, API’s and English only at this stage of the beta, we will monitor the evolution of Graph Search and Facebook SEO.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

December 10, 2012July 3, 2015

DM Confidential Feature

Recently my commentary was featured in a DM Confidential article discussing the Top 10 Best Practices for Creating Effective Landing Pages for Lead Generation.

When it comes to platform providers, I am a big fan of the KickoffLabs product offering. I highly recommend their offerings when creating viral landing pages & beyond.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 26, 2012July 3, 2015

Facebook EdgeRank Changes Impact Organic Brand Reach

On September 20th, 2012 Facebook rolled out a significant change to their EdgeRank algorithm. This change directly impacted the organic reach of brand pages on Facebook. According to initial reports, this change has potentially impacted organic reach for brand pages with a decrease per post upwards of 50%.

After the initial announcements, instead of simply reporting what the changes were, I wanted to see what a month’s worth of data would look like to truly gauge the impact that our brands are seeing. Prior to jumping into the results, let’s quickly recap how we got to this point.

WHY THE CHANGE?

Here is a quote from Facebook’s Q2 earnings call… “Feed quality is crucial in order to not turn off users” – Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook is laser-focused on making sure the integrity of a users newsfeed stays as relevant as possible. With billions of pieces of content being shared, and brands trying to drive organic engagement through content, Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm serves as the overarching authority of what content ultimately gets surfaced to an individual user. Here is a previous post outlining EdgeRank.

Facebook also strives to maintain an 80/20 mix with 80% of the content coming from relevant organic content and the other 20% coming from paid units. The goal is to streamline the newsfeed to reduce the impact of “spammy” messages while seamlessly integrating their paid offerings.

Now with the throttling back of organic brand reach, this may force brands into making decisions about how to proceed.

WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL IMPACT?

Early reports indicated that the new changes take into account the number of individuals who are most likely to take an action on behalf of the brand and removing impressions to users who are less likely to take action such as Like, comment or share. SocialBakers and other groups have reported average post’s reach dropped by roughly 50% since September 20th.

Working with Michael Fein, Fanscape’s Director of Research & Analytics, we took a cross section of 20 tier 1 accounts over the course of 30 days to gauge the impact before and after the September 20th date. To summarize, it appears that by Facebook tightening their formula, they are giving less reach to an individual brand, but that the reach they are eliminating is the reach that was not converting. We saw a decrease in organic reach, but a slight net increase in virality. (Virality defined as engagements / reach).

That said, we saw organic reach change by -4.3%. Industry reports noted a -6.5% shift. This means, (compared with -6.5%) our decrease was 33% less than the average decrease on Facebook. By following best practices tied to our brands content, we were able to reduce the impact but the fact remains that this change will cause fundamental changes in how we approach engagement rate KPI’s and the owned & paid mix.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

After the September 20th change, brands can earn their media or pay for it, or both. In order to drive organic reach, brands will need to continue to focus on an engaging content strategy. To truly maximize content that is driving engagement, paid amplification of content is strongly recommended. Below are recommendations to continue to maximize reach through engagement.

Primary recommendations:

Engaging Content Strategy – This is a best practice and consistently the focus of most Facebook conferences/events/briefings that I have attended. Brands should provide contextual quality/relevant content grounded in the social persona of the brand. According to Facebook, content should be as compelling as information shared by friends and family to break through the clutter.

One strategy that we have seen be very effective is to be very deliberate in the creation of a branded content calendar. This includes developing content buckets that are a direct extension of the social brand persona. Segmenting content by type makes it even easier to track the impact of each type of content and provides consistency & diversity of content. This includes following best practices tied to time of posting as well as mixing UGC with relevant branded content.

Here is an example of a brand campaign extension from Snickers. This content would fall in a “branded content bucket”. It is visually interesting and extends the new “Horseless Headsman” Halloween campaign. Other forms of content could be tied to polls/trivia, pop-culture or brand partnerships. Again, each content bucket is grounded in the core attributes of the brands social persona (voice).

Paid Amplification – We have worked with Facebook directly on a number of campaigns and our focus prior to the September 20th change has been to create relevant and engaging content that resonates with our brands fans. Prior to the change, we had also begun to experiment with creating engagement thresholds tied to content “events” that can trigger amplification of content.

An event is any piece of organic content that receives a high amount of engagement. We then work to create a virality rate that ultimately becomes a threshold for organic content. Once the threshold has been exceeded the content can become a part of the paid Facebook inventory for a brand. This strategy ensures that the content that is most likely to drive engagement is amplified to maximize reach. This also allows for acquisition beyond the core base as the paid components allow affinity targeting beyond the current user base.

Here is an example of how it can work. This is a post from the AT&T On The Way To Saturday campaign. By driving engagement levels past a certain point, for this example if the post exceeded 1000+ likes, it could then be considered for amplification in the model mentioned above with increased targeting tied to college football even more specific, University of Georgia fans.

Here is another example that shows an organic brand post that has been amplified. Note the clear call to action to share. This is another important element tied to driving sharability and engagement with content.

Secondary Recommendations:

Targeted Content – I had recently wrote about the new targeting abilities tied to posting content. A quick recap, brands now have the unique ability to target beyond language and location and focus more on demographic and interest targeting. Targeting content is going to prove to be a very valuable asset in brands content strategies moving forward. The ability to speak directly to certain audience segments on the post level can have greater impact if the content is relevant to the target. By targeting/personalizing the content to the segment can lead to greater engagement rates which leads to increased organic reach based on engaged content amplifying through a users friends.

Facebook Branded Groups – I recently wrote about the potential benefits of Facebook Branded Groups that are currently in Beta. Branded groups can provide many benefits for a brand, including the ability to further segment and target messaging, either by group topic or content within a group.

One of the key benefits to leveraging branded groups is the fact that when a brand posts to a group that user is subscribed to, the content updates show up directly in a users Facebook notifications. This is one of the only ways that branded content can show up in a users notifications outside of the brand directly interacting with the user. Note that the Facebook Brand Groups are in beta and require the assistance of your Facebook rep.

Interest Lists – One additional method to drive greater visibility of branded content is to direct users to action to see a majority of a brands posts. When a user hovers over the “Like” button on a brand page, they will see a drop-down menu. On this list they can be directed to ”ADD TO INTEREST LISTS”. The user can then create an interest list to ensure content associated with this interest is given a stronger weighting. This obviously puts the onus on the user to take action to maintain visibility of your content.

Even though organic reach has been somewhat throttled, virality rates are increasing for content that does get served. But note that more effort may be required to meet Reach KPI’s that were set prior to September 20th. Be sure to re-evaluate your KPI’s and client expectations, focus on creating engaging & contextually relevant content and strongly consider amplifying content that exceeds certain engagement thresholds.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 18, 2012March 30, 2022

Dallas Digital Summit 2012

I was chosen as one of the speakers for the upcoming Dallas Digital Summit which will be held on December 4th-5th at Union Station here in Dallas, TX.

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September 19, 2012July 3, 2015

Benefits of Facebook’s Custom CRM Audience Targeting

Recently a new Facebook feature rolled out of beta that can provide brands with a viable process to connect their offline CRM databases to those users on Facebook. Now, this process of custom audience list targeting has just rolled out to all brands who advertise on Facebook.

This new feature can be a significant enabler for a brand, as most have larger customer databases outside of the social sphere (after years of traditional CRM outreach) than they have engaged on their social properties.

With Facebook’s new targeting capabilities, brands can bridge the connection of their offline data through social channels. By targeting the exact individuals that the brand already has or had a relationship with, the impact of the targeted reach can be greatly enhanced.

With the new Power Editor, the brand has the ability to identify “who” they want to target beyond the general parameters that have been available. This applies to current customers, prospects, people who like specific products, lapsed users, etc… The ability to take these offline lists and create custom audiences via Facebook’s ad platform is a major step forward for the platform and allows a greater level of targeting to a base that has already established a self-selected affinity towards the brand at some point in that customers brand life cycle.

Brands can create lists based on email addresses, phone numbers, etc.. that represent the groups of people in a CRM database. These elements are then matched to Facebook’s own records to create the custom lists.

In terms of ownership of the data, Facebook does not receive the brands customer data fully. The data is protected and resides on your local computer, then the data is imported via hashes. Facebook then matches the hashes to it’s own records and deletes the data. All that remains is a custom target list. This list is then tied to the individuals Facebook ad account. No other advertisers can use the list.

My recent discussions with Facebook state that their clients have seen a higher ROI based on beta interactions. This applied to higher conversion rates, lower cost per fan, lead or reengaged users than with other campaigns.

Brands have the ability to create unlimited lists at no cost and have the ability to keep audiences up to date. One additional benefit, is that it is possible to map the custom lists to those who have and have not liked the page.

This option is not available at the page level, but only as part of the advertising platform. The ability to marry offline data with Facebook’s social graph to further amplify existing connections is a key addition to the platform.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

September 6, 2012July 3, 2015

Linkedin Revamps Company Pages

Linkedin has proven to be an incredible asset for B2B Social Media Strategy & execution. With Hubspot defining Linkedin (45%) as the most effective B2B source for lead generation followed by Facebook at 33%.

Linkedin rolled-out company status updates last October, and followed that release up with a revamp to company pages including the addition of the Company Follow button, Today’s announcement highlighting the new look for company pages demonstrates they are taking the next step in their follower ecosystem strategy.

A few brands have been hand selected to test drive the new look and feel. This list includes Philips, Citi, HP and Dell for company updates and American Express, Unilever & Expedia are testing the newly revamped Careers section.

Previously, this was the view of a Linkedin Company page. Simple CTA’s outlining an overview of the company, the ability to follow, updates and potential connections.

The older services tab provided an opportunity for 3rd party validation of a companies services.

The new look and feel features a streamlined user experience that structures content in a more natural manner. You will notice the company updates look more like a traditional social stream with added capabilities for companies tied to easier sharing & additional emphasis on visual imagery. And for the first time, company pages are now available via Linkedin’s mobile app.

The services tab also received slight adjustment to further align a consistent look & feel with the core brand hub.

The changes coincide with a network wide emphasis on streamlining the overall experience and enabling brands to connect with followers on a deeper more targeted basis.
Linkedin has traditionally been a network reserved for B2B targeting, but with more emphasis targeting individuals who leverage the powerful business network, the ability to drive 3rd party validation, targeted advertising that can support cross social channel promotion, and a streamlined interface to further drive engagement, Linkedin should be considered when developing a cross channel social strategy that includes targeting individuals that are key to Linkedin’s user base.

Follow Tom Edwards @Blackfin360

August 30, 2012July 3, 2015

Twitter Interest Graph

Today featured a rather large announcement from Twitter regarding the future of their advertising product. According to multiple sources the announcements hit the wire today. I was at Twitter HQ in San Francisco just a few days ago and the Twitter Interest Graph was a featured topic of discussion. I just received the green light to discuss publicly from Twitter today, so here we go.

Now that the news has been unveiled, let’s take a deeper look at the Twitter Interest Graph and it’s potential impact for our clients. With 140 million users and strong international growth, further developing their ad platform was an obvious next step to drive increased value and offer additional opportunities to monetize their brand relationships.

Currently, the promoted tweets product was focused primarily on amplifying messages to users who were either already following a particular brand or a similar association as deemed by Twitter. Now by introducing the ability to target promoted tweets via other factors such as location and now interests, this opens up the landscape for brands to capitalize on growth and awareness goals that were simply not feasible until now.

An example of this would be American Airlines. Currently, AA could use a promoted tweet to target it’s 415,000 followers or people deemed similar by Twitter. Now, AA could essentially target new users based on interests tied to travel or destinations.

Google has it’s Google Knowledge Graph, Facebook it’s Social Graph and now Twitter has it’s Twitter Interest Graph. This graph, based on 25 top level and 300+ second level “interest categories” in addition to custom interest segments, uses asymmetrical real-time signals by users to drive the correlation with a users interests. In layman’s terms, Facebook shows a direct relationship between an interest and a user via a Like. Twitter takes other signals such as who an individual follows as well as your retweets to make associations of interest. This is also an extension of the logic used by the “who to follow” suggestions on your Twitter homepage.

From an earned media perspective, this definitely changes the game when it comes to driving value from Twitter. I cannot go into the details of the models discussed, but know that based on actual Twitter data the value of a campaign over the course of multiple years is extremely positive.

From a data standpoint, it is still unclear how this data will extend beyond the ad platform. With Facebook’s social graph, we have access to 180 points of data if authorized by the user that includes interest level data. This is incredibly powerful information to create highly relevant experiences and spark action on behalf of a user. As it stands now, and this could change as the graph evolves but today, the data is primarily tied to insights associated with paid campaigns.

Example of Facebook’s Social Graph data points

This is a great next step for Twitter as it continues to evolve it’s platform from simple utility for brands to becoming a major factor in not only impacting real-time and topical events, but harnessing the true power of it’s 140 million users and more closely associate brand goals with better targeting options to truly maximize opportunities.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

August 24, 2012October 13, 2013

Groups for Facebook Brand Pages in Beta

Groups on Facebook are nothing new. But if you represent a brand on Facebook, groups for the most part have not been an integral part of your engagement strategy. All of that may be changing as Facebook has begun beta testing groups functionality embedded within brand pages.

To date, groups have been reserved for individuals to create either open or private spaces to collaborate and share information. However, there has not been an option to apply this functionality for brand pages. This can be a significant enhancement if leveraged correctly and in conjunction with other elements of your integrated strategy.

To this point, brands have relied primarily on their timeline to drive a majority of quick hitting conversations that vary based on engagement levels. But deeper discussion and interaction by the brand and consumers has been limited to date to varied apps & tabs that can still lack the level of brand to consumer and peer-to-peer interaction that some brands desire.

If you are a very large brand, having the ability to segment conversations or even isolate campaigns has been difficult to facilitate natively within Facebook. Things are definitely changing with the recent roll out of additional precision targeting to segment content by various attributes beyond location and language, Facebook is making it easier to have multiple conversations with different audience segments.

This may also play a key role in the emergence of the groups for brand pages functionality. By leveraging precision targeting to segment content postings and then push conversations into a central location to further foster the conversation and enable peer-to-peer interaction beyond a single post is potentially a key integration point that brands need to consider.

Having the ability to create a specific group around various topics can further drive engagement and extend campaigns to those who are truly interested. This was prevalent from 2005-2008 during the hey-day of branded forums. The value in understanding who of your core fan base is willing to engage in topical conversation can be a very telling insight.

Brands that have capitalized on the concept of user segmentation to drive brand advocacy via task based interactions have been a key driver in building additional affinity and loyalty for brands such as Chili’s & their Chili-head nation via Facebook.

By taking the first step to natively support topical segmentation, beta brands now have the basis for creating both open and potentially private groups.

Here is a shot of the current group setup options

While open conversation is of key interest, one of the other elements of groups, the private, “invite only” option is also potentially appealing if it rolls out to brands as this may provide a deeper level of interaction with those individuals that the brand deems the most topically or socially influential. This could even be a subset of engaged open group users that are then invited into a private group for unique interaction opportunities.

CNN is one of a handful of beta partners experimenting with groups on their brand page. Groups make a lot of sense for brands that either have a high amount of topical content or campaigns that strive to drive deeper user interaction.

Here are the elements of the groups beta as it exists today on CNN.

Groups are consolidated via a visual tile similar to other tabbed elements. Initially the group tile shows fb icons vs. a branded tile. This may be due to the need to show the number of topical conversation groups that are currently active.

Once you click on the tile you are driven to the standard view for tabbed pages with the option to join a topical group. Groups can also support Facebook media campaigns at this level.

As stated below, anyone can see the group and who’s in it if it is an open group.

Below is the view of the default groups landing page. Content flows in a similar manner to newsfeed with a slight difference associated with the “seen by” call out showcasing how many group members have seen the content.

One nice feature is group centric search.

Meaning users can search for specific keywords based on interest within the group.

It is unknown when the full functionality will be rolled out, but it is possible to work with your Facebook representative to potentially secure a spot in the beta program. As a marketer, it is important to identify the potential value associated with this type of functionality and the impact it can have on a branded presence to drive deeper engagement.

Follow Tom Edwards @Blackfin360

August 14, 2012July 3, 2015

Agency Of The Year

Chief Marketer recently named my agency, The Marketing Arm, promo agency of the year for 2012. In this month’s issue of Chief Marketers Promo Magazine, they break down the top 100 promo agencies in the US as well as a two page article about TMA and why we were chosen as this years recipient. The article also includes a key reference to our upcoming Flockstar beta launch. Here is a link to the full article.

Flockstar is the first of our new crowdsourcing service offerings that I have worked intensely on over the past 6 months. More news to come as we get closer to the public launch but if you are a creative, strategist, planner, etc… then there is still time to join the private beta at http://www.flockstar.co

Hmm.. the gentlemen to the far right looks oddly familiar…

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July 30, 2012July 3, 2015

IN FOCUS article 5 Brands that are Instagram Superstars

This morning my new article 5 brands that are Instagram Superstars is the IN FOCUS cover story for iMedia Connection.

The article is an in-depth review of how innovative campaigns from American Airlines, Red Bull, Tiffany’s, Ford & Nike are using visual imagery to evoke emotional responses and to further humanize the brands.

Here is a link to the full article.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

July 26, 2012July 3, 2015

Foursquare’s Promoted Products

Recently I was interviewed by E-commerce Times about the newly released Foursquare promoted products. The article focuses on the pros & cons tied to Foursquares new promoted updates feature.

Here is a link to the article.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

July 14, 2012July 3, 2015

Benefits of Facebook Trending Video

The purpose of this post is to dive into the recently launched Facebook Trending Video option and how it can potentially amplify branded content.

Trending videos appear as a single newsfeed update and are based on video content created by a user or their friends by open graph enabled apps such as Viddy, SocialCam and Chill. The videos that create the most engagement, such as liked by a friend then may appear as a trending video.

For a campaign that calls for the creation of branded content that is more “reality” vs. fully produced, capturing the content via a socially enabled app can be the first step in pushing content beyond your owned/brand social presence within Facebook.

In a recent discussion with Facebook, it was brought to my attention that the Trending Videos are comprised of both user generated content that is based on relevance as discussed above as well as commercially placed content that is published from open graph enabled apps.

So if your campaign has elements of branded content that are captured by open graph enabled apps then this content has passed the first requirement for commercial placement within the trending video stream. The second step is for the agency or brand to have a relationship with a Facebook account rep to help facilitate the placement.

The benefit of this type of placement in conjunction with other awareness drivers can be a key addition to further amplifying the content via Facebook vs. simply having the content reside in the newsfeed or on a tab within Facebook. As we all know, the real advantage of Facebook is the sheer size of the networks users.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

May 31, 2012July 3, 2015

Fortune Magazine

Today I was a contributor to a Fortune Magazine article Brands are learning to “Say Cheese”

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May 22, 2012October 13, 2013

Microsoft Launches So.cl

Microsoft quietly launched so.cl (Pronounced “Social”) yesterday. Developed by Microsoft’s FUSE labs, it is focused on exploring the possibilities of social search.

So.cl is a combination of social networking & search. At it’s heart is social connectivity with like minded people that is topically driven. It combines elements of Google+, Facebook & Pinterest with the underlying goal to further integrate social with search.

With So.cl you can share your searches & help others discover what they might be looking for by aggregating content into topical categories. Many social elements are taken from existing networks. Video Parties are similar to Google+ hangouts. The all too familiar activity stream drives relevant content directly to the user. So.cl also features visually driven topics similar to Pinterest, but the core differentiator is that the content is primarily driven off of a users search results.

So.cl claims that it is an experiment in open search, meaning your searches on So.cl are viewable by other So.cl users and also available to third parties, assuming for relevance & targeted topical advertising. There is the possibility though that this experiment becomes the basis of Microsoft & Facebook’s social search strategy.

Google+ took the first major step in driving connectivity via social search, with the search giant owning 83% of organic search traffic, launching a socially enabled network that also extends via search via the “+1” as well as Google+ direct connect shows how the future of social will become synonymous with search.

You cannot talk about social without referencing Facebook. Facebook’s platform is like a walled garden when it comes to relevant/topical searching outside of Facebook. The “Like” button has become ubiquitous throughout the web, but when it comes to amplifying and connecting via traditional search Facebook is lagging behind Google.

With their recent partnership with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, and so.cl built on Bing API’s, so.cl focuses heavily on discoverability associated with “open search”, this may be the next step in amplifying Facebook topical activity.

So.cl features social sign on with both Facebook & Windows Live ID, which sets the stage for deeper integration into the social graph. One interesting observation when you authenticate via Facebook is that of the 180 data points that can be mined, so.cl only wants your basic info, e-mail & group data. The groups option really peaked my interest as to how they are going to use this data.

One of the interesting options buried in the settings is the ability to set your primary search provider to So.cl to publicly share your posts. So.cl is powered by Bing’s API’s but is branded So.cl.

Similar to Pinterest’s Pin it option, So.cl also deploys a bookmarklet option, essentially providing a quick and easy option to share any web item directly into your so.cl stream.

One key difference from Pinterest is that So.cl allows users to create “Rich Posts” where users can combine interesting images and links on the web and assemble them automatically into a compelling visual montage.

What does So.cl mean for brands? At this point So.cl is still a “research project” and is not designed to take the place of full-featured search & social networking tools, but this project could lead to the future of social + search integration as it pertains to Bing & Facebook. This also provides insight into the coming convergence of search + social.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

May 10, 2012October 13, 2013

5 Types of Socially Enabled E-mail

So much time is spent defining intricate social strategies across owned social channels. But there are certain branded elements that receive minimal attention that can significantly amplify these efforts.

One such item is how organizations incorporate social elements into their e-mail marketing campaigns. This is relevant as organizations that leverage both e-mail marketing & social channels tend to receive better results for their campaigns according to a report from Vertical Response. This strong correlation can be further amplified by fine tuning the social enablement of the actual messaging.

If you review branded e-mail marketing campaigns you will see inconsistency in how social sharing is enabled. The goal should not be to drive awareness that the channel exists, but to create frictionless sharability of the content and in some cases to also provide relevantly targeted messaging based on the users social graph data.

There are multiple buckets that brands across multiple verticals fall into when representing social connectivity via e-mail.

1) The Social Chicklet – Many brands follow the rule of just adding a socially enabled chicklets to the top or bottom navigation of communication. While paying homage to the brands owned channels, the actual engagement on this style of placement is lower than other methods.

Playstation as well as a majority of brands that reference social channels in this manner go with the approach of simply providing visibility into the fact that their channels exist. There is however a missed opportunity to share the message itself or specific content segments that are worthy of sharing.

2) The Social Call Out – The second level of integration takes the social chicklet & applies a direct call to action that is specific to the desired channel. This at the very least calls out to the user that a certain action needs to be taken that may drive additional value to the user.

In the example below, Fandango provides specific calls to action on what they would like for the user to do with the referenced social channels. FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook

Here are other examples from Eddie Bauer which leverages the facebook share call to action, Macys & Red Envelope.

3) Socially Enabled Content – Xbox deploys a strategy that not only calls attention to their specific channels but also the ability to directly share the content of the e-mail, they also take special care to socially enable each individual content block for maximum sharability.

4) Socially Centric Communication – Some brands have invested efforts to provide communication that directly highlights their social channels and how users can benefit from engaging directly with their channels. The benefit to this approach is that individuals consume different types of information across different channels. By highlighting the benefits that their social channels provide, they are potentially driving the user to action to associate with the brands owned social channels. It is also possible to track the organic growth associated with the call to action to test the impact of the campaign as some brands e-mail databases triple their current fans/followers, etc…

Below is an example from CORT that highlights an individual receiving value and drives a targeted message about a potential value exchange from engaging via their social channel.

Pizza Hut dedicated an e-mail message touting the value of becoming a member by leveraging their current network size, teasing with potential exclusives.

5) Socially Relevant – One of the bigger opportunities for brands is associated with the adoption of social sign on & leveraging open graph data to drive highly targeted recommendations and communication. In my recent post I wrote about the benefits of social sign on and open graph.

From an e-mail standpoint, the ability to pull in relevant open graph elements to further drive socially enabled gifting, such as birthday reminders and socially optimized wish lists come to forefront. These principles can then be applied to driving socially relevant and targeted messaging to drive a user to take action on behalf of either themselves or their closest friends.

Example of how Old Navy could further socially enable a post purchase e-mail

By taking the time to consider how to truly socially optimize e-mail marketing, a brand can truly capitalize on the permissive nature of their users to share their content vs. vaguely eluding to the fact that the brand has social channels.

On a final note, socially enabled sharing when it comes to retail shopping experiences are key across the prime millennial & gen x targets when it comes to point #3 below.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

April 17, 2012July 3, 2015

Klout Launches Topical Brand Pages

Back in January I wrote about 3 brand benefits of Klout. Today, Klout launched brand squads, which is their version of brand pages into beta with Red bull as their primary launch partner with more to come in upcoming weeks. Red Bull was also a key innovator with the launch of Facebook timeline for brands as I recently covered as well.

In recent conversations with Klout’s Garth Holsinger, he provided insight into the release of brand pages for Klout. “Previously, a brand was treated like an individual user, which in some cases does not necessarily make the most sense as a Klout score for a brand should mean something different.”

With the new release, Garth’s words ring true in that the new squad pages uncover the top influencers associated with the brand (topic) as well as showcasing the latest Red Bull content and providing a platform for the brand to directly reward influencers with brand centric perks.

Below is an example of the initial beta for the new Red Bull squad page

This presents an interesting dynamic for brands, as they are able to reward those individuals that are already passionate about the brand vs. pushing content to individuals to consume. By aligning influencers directly with the brand, it provides an easy point of connection between brand & influencer.

The example below showcases the top 1000 influencers tied to the topic of Red Bull

The top influencers are determined by +K’s which are given to other users who are influential around specific topics. Note that +K’s are specific to the Klout platform meaning, users who are already engaged with Klout directly are influencing the allocation of +K’s vs. simply using a users Klout score. This is a key point to consider for brands looking to solely use Klout squads as a primary influencer identification & engagement channel.

Top influencers also have an opportunity to receive a news associated with the brand as well as access to brand perks that are centralized within the topical brand page vs. the normal perks location via the navigation.

Normally, perks are exclusive products or experiences that users can earn based on their overall influence tied to their Klout score that are distributed to select influencers based on their topics of authority, location & score. With the introduction of squads, a secondary level of perk associated with topic specific influencers are also available. I have a request in to Klout to confirm if the topical perks are also associated with a premium cost similar to the existing perks program.

This is a significant step forward for Klout as it creates a more relevant experience for brands vs. treating brands as an individual and applying the Klout algorithm solely based on the brands published content. This new model makes more sense from a brand perspective. It will be interesting to see how the topically driven influencers begin to align as the system is predicated on klout’s proprietary +K’s.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

April 6, 2012October 13, 2013

The Relevant Web

By Tom Edwards

Recently, I attended the Facebook Studio Live event in LA. The keynote speaker was author & Facebook employee Paul Adams of the Global Brand Marketing team. Paul provided a very insightful presentation that proved to be the highlight of the event.

In February I wrote about the importance of Social Sign-On for brands. Paul’s presentation reinforced this message and also provided additional insight into 3 fundamental shifts that are key factors to what is quickly becoming the next iteration of the web.

1) The web is being rebuilt around people
2) Amount of information we can access is increasingly exponential
3) Information is everywhere but our physiological capacity to process information has remained the same

From a marketing standpoint, these shifts also represent a fundamental change in how we as marketers should approach campaign strategy as well as the design of brand sites moving forward.

Lets consider the initial statement “The web is fundamentally being rebuilt around people”. Think about how Facebook has redefined how you as an individual represent your virtual persona. You show affinity towards brands via Likes, your opinion and interaction with others are the keys to fueling the algorithm that shows you the most relevant content. You select the types of content that you interact with from the sources that you deem have value. In essence, you are now in control.

The side effect to this control is that you are also providing extensive amounts of data via your social graph that now allow for more personalized experiences across the web.

Web experiences have evolved from the early dot com days of simply repurposing marketing materials to becoming more interactive by nature. The web as it stands today, represents incremental innovation when it comes to true integration of social with branded web sites. Strategies today involve “bolting on” social features. This meets a basic need of interconnection, but the brands who will truly capitalize on the next iteration of the web will provide a social by design approach that drives frictionless and relevant engagement to its users.

Examples of this concept are beginning to appear across the web as more organizations begin to adopt open graph principles into their brand presence. One example is Etsy. When you initially look at a site such as Etsy, you see a standard web presence that could be any commerce driven site that you have seen before. The site puts the onus on the user to drill down via categories or assuming the user knows what they are searching for.

By leveraging Open Graph, Etsy is able to create an experience that is incredibly relevant to the end user and their friends by quickly analyzing their Likes & affinities and presenting items that may be of interest. This frictionless discovery increases purchase intent by quickly surfacing items that may be immediately relevant.

An even richer experience is being provided by Amazon’s new Facebook open graph driven beta.

Amazon has been at the forefront of surfacing relevant items based on purchase history. Their relevancy algorithm’s have been a foundational element of their success over the years. It is very telling that they have recently launched a beta that further integrates a users social graph data to provide additional levels of recommendation.

The Amazon Facebook beta experience quickly scans the LIkes of the user as well as the social graph data of their friends to surface targeted recommendations that are based on interaction by friends as well as actual amazon purchase.

By adding additional utility in terms of gift giving for friends and discoverability of wish-lists, a user quickly has access to items that their friends may be truly interested in receiving.

The process of leveraging social graph data to streamline the path to purchase exemplifies the potential of social graph enabled social commerce. Social commerce should be less about seeding products via social channels, and more about creating seamless experiences that are permissible to end users vs. trying to interrupt. More on the topic of interruptive vs. permissive marketing based on this model in a future post.

The relevant web is also incredibly important based on the statements associated with the amount of information that is available as well as our capacity to comprehend information. With the exponential growth of information and choices, our dependency on our closest bonds to help us process information becomes even more relevant.

By enabling relevant experiences that users can seamlessly engage with, the ability for brands to capitalize on these fundamental shifts become fully realized. Those that embrace the social graph and redesign their brand presence to seamlessly integrate with social channels vs. simply bolting on features will realize greater returns.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

March 8, 2012November 26, 2013

4 Brand Benefits of Twitter Brand Pages v2.0

Last December, Twitter launched their version of brand pages which provided the first step towards leveraging Twitter as a destination for brands. While the validity of brand pages in their current form have been questioned based on how users consume feeds vs. actual page interaction, it is clear that this was the initial step in a broader strategy.

Today, it was announced that Twitter is now taking the next step with their brand pages offering and will soon allow brands to create specific experiences tied to the brand page, including e-commerce, contests and sweepstakes and according to early reports will be contained within the brand’s tweet timeline vs. a 140 character limit.

This is big news for brands for a number of reasons:

1 – Brand centric activation opportunities – By allowing brands the opportunity to directly tie contests & sweeps to a brand page vs. separate landing pages, their is an opportunity for longer dwell times on a branded presence and more of an opportunity for a user to directly connect with the brand. This also provides additional value to brands who have or will invest in Twitter’s advertising platform.

Here is an example of how brands have facilitated Twitter sweeps in the past. The new announcement will create associations directly with a brands page vs. separate landing pages as shown below.

McDonalds is already using a combination of pinned & promoted posts & a Hashtag centric campaign. In the future, this will drill into a Twitter based branded experience vs. micro-site that facilitates deeper brand engagement & also drives a more robust CRM strategy.

2 – Social Commerce – The future connection between Twitter & e-commerce is officially on the product roadmap. Based on the dual role of co-founder Jack Dorsey, who is also the CEO of mobile-payments company Square, we definitely foresee an opportunity to further drive e-commerce interaction that is tied to existing Twitter behavior. This is further fueled by Twitters performance over the 2011 holiday season, where Twitter led the way in average order size over Facebook.

Recently, Twitter partnered with American Express allowing Amex card holders to sign up for a service that ties a users tweet via a Twitter hashtag, or search term, that’s unique to a specific offer. After the user makes a purchase, deal savings are automatically credited to that customers American Express card statement within one to three days.

3 – Destination vs. Portal – Since inception, Twitter has performed as an aggregation hub or portal vs. a true end destination for users. This is supported by the amount of overall referral traffic Twitter creates. By connecting branded destinations with branded acquisition enablement vs. simply aggregating content, advertisers can now create more robust programs via Twitter by providing an end destination within Twitter vs. driving to Facebook or other owned channels.

4 – Connect Organic & Paid Content – This move will also greatly lift the importance of Twitter’s ad programs as brands can leverage promoted tweets and other ad types to drive brand engagement directly with their branded presence. Those brands that incorporate promotion with natural extensions of Twitter’s most compelling engagement techniques will be the ones to truly capitalize on additional engagement & acquisition rates.

While Twitter has a ways to go in order to rival Facebook in terms of direct brand interaction, today’s announcements show Twitters dedication to continue to enable brands by providing more opportunities for users to interact directly with a brands presence vs. simply consuming their feeds.

NOTE: It should be noted that only brands that spend a minimum in advertising are eligible for brand pages.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

March 2, 2012January 7, 2014

Red Bull Facebook Timeline Timewarp

The roll-out of Facebook Timeline for brands on leap day proved to be a showcase for brands that were a part of the private beta prior to the roll-out. One of the clear winners out of the gate was Red Bull. Not only has the brand done a great job of seeding milestone content since it’s founding, they launched an incredibly compelling scavenger hunt that spans the history of the company and integrates brand milestones in a seamless manner with the hunt.

By pinning the contest, Red Bull is highlighting the campaign for 7 days and ensures that any user that drops onto their timeline is met with an inviting opportunity to join the hunt. Terms and conditions are linked to an app that houses the rules of the contest.

Here is the app housing the terms & conditions. Note that canvas apps now have a width of 810 px.

Step 1 – The initial clue called for a user to go back to the 1st Red Bull ever sold. The next step was to identify the date on the bottom of the can for the next clue.

Step 2 – By applying an Instagram type filter and a clue to “look outside the box” the next date was revealed as part of the image frame.

Step 3 – Next, Red Bull pulled in a Spotify play-list image to unlock the next clue.

Step 4 – This clue took a moment as the border states this is a clue. Pull up the image and step back and “clear your mind” and the next date is revealed.

Step 5 – This clue took the longest for me to work through. Driven by a clue by Red Bull in the comments RE: CAPS, I took the first capped letters in the message to unveil the phrase “Find the Timecodes”. This referenced the 4 images below and the time in the YouTube video where they appear to reveal the next date.

Step 6 – This clues photo was tagged with “Anna Graham” and the comment clue was “a rag man” or anagram. Which is simply a puzzle to unscramble the words to form a new phrase. By taking the clues I was able to unlock the final clue.

Step 7 – The final step proved to be the most difficult of the 7 as it was based on clues using prime numbers combined with the final clue of 2=a & 3=x to decipher the final location of the Timeline Timewarp web-site along with the password to complete the scavenger hunt.

The answer to the final question was to take the letters that matched the prime numbers of the final clue. This revealed the secret URL that took you to the final stage.

Once you decipher the last riddle you are taken to a “secret” landing page for one final challenge ;)

Yes, I won a prize!!!

Here is the confirmation response from Red Bull’s media department.

The level of complexity associated with the hunt and the true integration into elements of timeline made the experience fun and engaging, but I question the duration of engagement for the average consumer to stay engaged throughout. I would love to see the level of fall-off at each given stage of the promotion.

You can tell some people really enjoyed the challenge

Regardless, it is the first example of a compelling brand promotion leveraging Timeline.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 29, 2012October 13, 2013

Facebook Timeline for Brands Visual Overview

Today marked a day that we have been anticipating for a few weeks now. No not leap day, but the launch of Facebook’s timeline for Brand Pages. Brands have an option to now preview or publish their brand pages with the comprehensive roll-out happening on March 30, 2012.

Instead of going into a lot of detail out of the gate, I am changing the normal format and going with a more visual representation of changes as well as guidelines for some of the changes based on my roll-out of the BlackFin360 Timeline Brand Page.

Below is an example of the Legacy posts / Brand Milestones. Note the ability to append location & date and to post current & back-dated updates without pushing into the newsfeed. Also note that milestones will appear as full-page width updates vs. the staggered approach used for regular updates.

Once the milestone is published, you have the option to “pin the post” to create a semi-static piece of content towards the top of your brand timeline. Pins can be stories, photos, videos, campaigns, tab cross promotion, contests, etc… this is handy for promotions and highlighting key events or even simply highlighting your fan of the week. Once you have pinned a piece of content it has a “bookmark” signifying that it has been pinned.

Example of a pinned post

In future posts we will explore the ins and outs of the changes as well as what happened to custom landing pages as well as Like gating. But for now enjoy the visuals.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 28, 2012November 26, 2013

Linkedin Launches Company Follow Button

With the roll-out of company status updates last October, Linkedin took the first step towards positioning itself as a marketing channel for brands. Now with Monday’s announcement of the Company Follow button, they are taking the next step in their follower ecosystem strategy.

Linkedin is now expanding the ability to follow a company beyond it’s core domain and now enabling organizations to allow individuals to follow them directly from their branded homepages or other owned properties by adding a quick code snippet to their branded pages. Brands such as Starbucks, AT&T and American Express are initial launch partners.

Similar in its impact as a Facebook like, the individual will receive status updates via their Linkedin feed. By extending the reach of the follow beyond Linkedin, the over 2 million companies in it’s network will have even greater opportunities to execute B2B content strategies both within Linkedin & their branded & owned channels.

Because B2B social is generally more targeted than B2C social, the ability to drive targeted interaction in one location while also providing a comprehensive footprint throughout the channel is key. Now with the ability to more closely associate the follow externally, it enables a more dynamic experience for the brand. As Linkedin can serve as a hub of services & 3rd party validation of those services via recommendations.

For those interested, here is the location to add the new company follow button to your branded website.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 27, 2012November 26, 2013

IN FOCUS article 5 Brands Pushing the Envelope in Gaming

This morning my new article 5 brands pushing the envelope in gaming is the IN FOCUS cover story for iMedia Connection.

The article is an in-depth review of innovative campaigns from Jeep, Doritos, Oakley, Hyundai & Coca-Cola as well as quotes & commentary from Chris Erb, VP Brand Marketing for EA Sports.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 15, 2012July 3, 2015

Facebook Timeline Brand Pages To Be Unveiled

For the past few weeks I have received numerous calls and e-mails on the topic of Facebook Brand Pages & the Timeline roll-out. There have been many discussions with Facebook, with those in the industry and internally looking past the roll out and how strategies will need to be adjusted based on the new direction.

All of the feedback pointed to the fMC or Facebook Marketing Conference on the 29th as the location to unveil Timeline centric brand pages. And with official outlets now reporting what we have known for a while now, such as Mashable’s post today, Timeline brand pages will be announced on leap year.

Since the roll-out of Timeline for general users, it was not an “if” but a “when” will brands have access to Timeline and what does this mean for a current brands strategy. What will happen to custom landing tabs? How will Timeline impact brand engagement and what about my custom apps?

There will be a phase of growing pains as brands transition and I will take a wait and see approach and follow up with a post shortly after the official roll-out as to not drive additional speculation, but there will be some potential changes that will definitely require a new approach in terms of user flow, especially if you deploy tactics that map paid elements to custom tabs to drive a specific user action.

You can see evidence of the shift toward Timeline support in some of the changes that are already rolling out on the self-service ad platform as well as the recent introduction of Timeline based apps and the desire to incorporate new verbs into users newsfeeds as well as expand the footprint of frictionless 3rd party services into Facebook.

Even before we had a date we had begun sharpening our pencils and reviewing current strategies to ensure that the new direction continues to support brand goals & objectives. I am definitely looking forward to the announcements on the 29th.

You can livestream the fMC event directly from their site.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

February 9, 2012October 13, 2013

The Importance of Social Sign-On

We have all dealt with “YAN” in one form or another over the past few years. YAN stands for Yet Another Network login. This stems from brands using proprietary authentication methods vs. leveraging Open Authorization (OAuth) such as Facebook’s Graph API (OAuth 2.0). To put it simply, brands like to use their own username & passwords vs. allowing a user to login with their Facebook or Twitter ID’s.

YAN is an even bigger issue when combined with the fact that 88% of online buyers had at some point intentionally left registration information blank or used incorrect information when signing up for a new account, up 12% from 2010. Also, the expectation of consumers for brands to support Social Sign-On has increased significantly as eMarketer and Janrain recently reported that consumer desire for Social Sign-On has increased to 77% of US Online Buyers in 2011.

The importance of leveraging a single sign on authentication platform that is socially enabled becomes the key to unlocking a brands social CRM strategy. The reason for this is that Social Sign-On can lower the barrier of entry for a user, increase validity of data via the users social graph as well as increase stay rates.

According to recent research from Gigya, web users who log into 3rd party sites with Facebook’s Graph API spend 50% more time on those sites, and view twice as many pages. Think about the impact to a Fortune 500 retailer with 50% increase in stay rates and how that may impact purchase frequency.

When it comes to selecting which service is ideal for your brand, Gigya also released information that shows that Facebook accounts for 61% of those social logins.

Where social sign on really gets interesting is when a brand leverages an OAuth solution, such as Facebook’s Graph API. Instead of depending on a user to input a few sets of pre-determined data, you potentially have access to 180 data points to associate with the user. This includes the ability to access data tied to their feed, friends, activities, interests, music, books, movies, television, likes, checkins and more based on the users privacy settings.

This increases the probability of accurate subscriber data as well as the ability to append your proprietary questions on the back-end of the authorization of the user. Users in this scenario are more likely to share information as they are not repeating the information process. This also means that for a brand, the ability to build a robust profile around an individual beyond the standard data points such as basic demographic data and purchase history becomes a reality.

One of the more progressive brands when it comes to Social Sign-On is Nike.

Nike offers multiple options for authentication.

When you choose to login via Facebook, look at the data that Nike gains access to in one session…

A possible user scenario is as follows. Nike is about to become the uniform provider for the NFL in the upcoming 2012 season. Imagine if Nike had the ability to quickly scan the profile data of those who have authenticated via social sign-on and find team & athlete related Likes, game Checkin’s from the last season (Timeline makes this even easier), team related status updates, etc… tied to the users NFL team & players of choice. They would be able to proactively target those users with highly targeted and relevant offerings around the upcoming seasons jerseys and other merchandise that the user would then be compelled to engage.

This solution combined with other integrated tactics would most likely net better results than engaging in a mass e-mail/traditional campaign. Moving forward, the brands that understand how to leverage the immense amounts of data that individuals are providing via their social graph and then create relevant & highly targeted outreach campaigns will be the brands that will capitalize on socially enabled commerce.

As e-marketer shows below, in 2012 $3 billion in goods will be sold via social media this number jumps to $14 billion by 2015.

The key to this trend is not just positioning products via social channels, but lowering the barrier of entry, mapping CRM & social graph elements as well as highly targeted, relevant and timely offers via social & traditional channels.

The brands that understand how to better integrate their CRM programs with Social Graph data to create robust user profiles that are then the basis for executing their marketing strategy will be the winners.

It should be noted that integration of SSO is a cross departmental effort and this is one of the primary reasons more fortune 500 organizations have not adopted this method. It will take visionary executives who understand the value of data integration to push SSO forward.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

January 27, 2012July 3, 2015

3 Brand Benefits of Klout

Identifying topical influencers has been a key to driving awareness and activation for many socially progressive brands over the past few years. One of the measurement variables many brands have come to rely on is Klout.

Much has been written about Klout since it’s founding in 2008. Some praise & swear by the service, others question the validity of the score and ability to “game” the system. Regardless, users work each day to increase their Klout score and brands are eager to reward those indiviuduals.

At it’s core, Klout provides social media analytics to measure a user’s influence across their social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Foursquare, and many more and assigns a score to the user. This daily score is meant to reflect the influence that individual has to drive action in social networks.

Currently, Klout boasts over 100 million profiles, 2.7 billion+ pieces of content & connections analyzed daily and 5,000+ partners & developers with over 45 billion+ API calls.

From a brand perspective, there are multiple ways to leverage this data and audience to drive action. From the Klout Perks program, to leveraging Klout’s API to the upcoming Klout brand pages.

Klout Perks – The most visible brand programs associated with Klout is tied to Klout perks. Perks are exclusive products or experiences that users can earn based on their influence. Perks are distributed to select influencers based on their topics of authority, location & score.

This summer, I was associated with a perk from Disney to attend a pre-screening of Winnie the Pooh. Being a dad of 3 young children it served as a great opportunity to provide a unique experience for our entire family.

Influencers who receive Perks can choose to talk about the perk/product or not but the thought here is that by enabling the product or experience, the influencer will feel compelled to share the perk with their network as I did with the Winnie the Pooh perk.

Examples of Klout perks offered previously include:

Chilis: Gift cards to try “Lighter Choices” menu items as well as a Chili’s 2 for $20 Steak dinner
Hyundai: Integrating their Social & Gaming activation with VIP tickets to their Veloster Gaming event.
PopChips: Samples of 6 different flavors mailed to recipients
Contraband Movie: Driving Sweeps activation via Influencers

Perk programs are categorized by Entertainment, Experiences, Food & Beverages, Retail, Sports & Technology. For a brand, Perk programs can enable new product launches, sampling programs, experiential entertainment and more. Affordably priced, brand perk programs are the most direct way to activate against the 100+ million Klout profiles.

Klout API – With over 5,000+ partners and developers, Klout’s API is leveraged by brands for multiple purposes. With Klout’s API, you can glean data such as Klout Score, which is the most used API, or specific sets of data tied to topics such as “Marketing” or “Facebook” and unveil up to 5 topics tied to users.

There are some requirements to fully maximize the API, such as in order to request a Klout score for someone through the API, you have to have their Twitter ID. This is key for brands developing their Social CRM programs. A brand may want to map existing data into Klout’s API and the brand should account for capturing Twitter handles as part of their social data mining strategy.

Some brands are using Klout’s API data in innovative ways, One example is CapitalOne. They leveraged the Klout API to accelerate users in their loyalty program. They offered bonus rewards to users based on their Klout scores. This means everyone who participates with a Klout score between 10-100 gets some form of bonus rewards based on their influence.

The API presents unique and compelling data that brands can leverage to drive engagement & target key topical influencers to drive action or reward and accelerate via loyalty programs.

Klout Brand Pages – In recent conversations with Klout’s Garth Holsinger, he provided insight into the upcoming February release of Brand Pages for Klout. “Currently, a brand is treated like an individual user, which in some cases does not necessarily make the most sense as a Klout score for a brand should mean something different.”

With Klout Brand Pages, brands will have an opportunity to build influencers groups that are related to their specific industry. An example for a brand such as American Airlines would be able to associate with specific topics such as travel and interact directly with those influencers.

Brands will be able to show their content & streams and also show the most influential content about American Airlines. Elements such as Facebook comment engagement, Retweets, etc.. will aggregate into Klout brand pages and the brand will have an aggregation point of influencers to drive direct communication. Premium levels will be available for brands to subscribe to for additional outreach capabilities.

I will follow up with a deeper dive into Klout brand pages once the service launches in February.

Thanks goes to Garth Holsinger of Klout as well as Brad Alesi of The Marketing Arm for data points included in this post.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

December 16, 2011July 3, 2015

The Rise of Shazamable Ads in 2012

Let’s play a quick game of word association. I say “Shazam” you say _____. The default answer by most would be “music”. If that was your initial response then you may want to think again as Shazam Entertainment Ltd. hopes to change your association with their app.

From This…

To This…

Chances are that you have either downloaded, used, heard about or seen Shazam in action as it is available for both iOS & Android. With over 150 million users and 45 million installs on smartphones & tablets in the US, the potential reach is impressive. Boosted along the way by great reviews, exposure via Starbucks App pick of the week and continually adding new features to the ever evolving product roadmap, Shazam is quickly moving from simply being a music identification service to a player in the digital activation space.

Shazam’s recent Starbucks Pick of the Week. Yes, I may have grabbed more than one….

With a recent investment of 32 million dollars, Shazam is aggressively extending the platform to support different forms of digital activation & engagement. Key changes in their model such as allowing unlimited tagging of content across all levels of their offering and strategic partnerships with NBC Universal properties has led to new features that support entertainment based tagging vs. simply tagging music.

In other words TV Spot + Shazamable Call to Action + User Tagging = Digital Activation.

By now you may have seen one of the many Shazamable ads or shows that highlights the Shazam icon placed strategically on the screen for a period of time. Initially, you may be thinking “why would I want to shazam this commercial”? Case in point, this recent Marshall’s ad.

Notice the Shazam marker in the lower right

The app then uses it’s spectrogram based audio footprint of the ad to identify and launch the tagged content. Instead of the standard artist & song information, the experience shifts to become the direct response launch point of branded experiences. Now Shazam supports driving a user to a branded destination as well as enable social connections with the brand, or push to an e-commerce offering. The opportunities to create an engaging digital experience is now viable by simply tagging an ad or show with the app.

Without a doubt in 2012 you will see the rise of Shazamable ads. With 150 million user reach and the fact that the second screen is becoming a mainstay to our television viewing experiences, brands & NBC Universal partners will look to Shazam as a means to drive digital interaction directly from your primary screen with the hopes of either enhancing the viewing experience or incenting users to engage with branded destinations.

The biggest barrier at this time is the stigma that Shazam is primarily a music identification service. Work will need to be done to continue to educate the 150 million current and future users that the app is going beyond figuring out what the cool song was in the latest Apple ad to that ad now creating additional digital touchpoints and the ability to buy the featured product via the app and oh by the way still tell you what the name of the song was as well.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

December 9, 2011November 26, 2013

5 Brand Benefits of Twitter Brand Pages

At long last Twitter has decided to allow brands to create Facebook/Google+ style brand pages. This along with a major redesign focused on usability & discoverability of content was unveiled yesterday.

With a slew of launch partners such as Best Buy, American Express, Dell, GE, Nike, Heineken, Disney and more, Twitter is following in the footsteps of Google’s recent roll-out of Google+ brand pages.

One of the primary reasons for the rollout is to better support advertisers. According to eMarketer, Twitter’s global ad revenue is projected to reach $139.5 million in 2011 and approach $399 million in 2013.

By creating branded destinations vs. simply aggregating content, advertisers may engage in more robust programs via Twitter if the possibility to drive additional engagement with specific content over longer periods of time becomes a consistent option.

What is the value for a brand to embrace the change? Here are 5 feature benefits of the new Twitter Brand pages.

1) Customizable Headers | Brands have the ability to further express their essence with a larger profile image and a customizable header.

In the Pepsi example below, they take a creative approach to their header

2) Promoted Tweet | Brands have the opportunity to control the message visitors see when they first come to the profile page via a promoted tweet at the top of the timeline.

The “Top Tweet” becomes a showcase opportunity to drive additional engagement on relevant content, be it promotional, educational, etc.. without the risk of being lost in the timeline.

3) Auto Expand Embedded Content | Promoted content will also go beyond simple links and actually show the content, if it is a video, etc… top tweet will auto-expand to reveal photos or videos from various sources.

4) Optimized Moderation | – The update now allows brands to separate their @ replies & mentions. This will be extremely useful for those that manage the day-to-day engagement on behalf of brands. Users also have a nice option to speak directly to the brand with the new layout with the “Tweet to Brand” option directly under the header.

5) Advertising Performance | Twitters advertising offerings have grown considerably over the last year. With options tied to promoted tweets, accounts & profiles. By creating additional opportunities to drive dwell time on a branded destination, in theory the opportunity to drive additional impressions and clicks becomes greater.

The one issue I have initially is related to how Twitter content is consumed. With a large number of individuals consuming their tweets via platforms outside of Twitter directly & TweetDeck, it will be interesting to see if there is more of an emphasis to not only follow a particular brand, but to also drive directly to their branded presence when specific campaigns are in action.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

November 23, 2011January 7, 2014

10 Strategic Benefits of Google+ Brand Pages

This is a repost of my iMedia Connection Cover Story.

With the combination of 40 million users in a little over 88 days and a 68% share of the search market, Google is positioned to fully maximize social engagement with Google+. The initial launch strategy was primarily consumer focused and any branded solutions were put on hold. With the recent release of Google+ pages, now is the time to define your brands strategy when it comes to fully maximizing the benefits of Google+ both short & long term.

There has been a lot of discussion about how Google+ compares to Facebook and the ideal ways to leverage the platforms. It is important to note that even though there are many similarities, the fact remains that both platforms have some major differences and strategy around maximizing resource allocation will be key moving forward.

On the surface the two networks are eerily similar. Status updates (Newsfeeds & Streams), photo sharing, social games & external activators (“Like” Button & +1). Further, both enable 3rd party development, integration with mobile & a desire to connect & share. But the fundamental difference is that Facebook is a true social network — and has been from day one — and that is the true strength of the platform. Google+ which appears to be a social network but is actually a representation of the evolution of user behavior tied to relevant content, search, discoverability and connection.

Thus, when it comes to maximizing your Facebook strategy, be it acquisition, engagement or advocacy, it is fairly self contained within Facebook’s walled garden, with the ability to aggregate content to third party locations and a limited contextual impact on topical search results. That being said, one of the key points of differentiation is how Google+ content is directly relevant to search results, and how that will potentially drive business value around the +1 as it is pervasive beyond Google+.

This statement was just reaffirmed by an e-mail I received from Google this morning: “Your +1’s reach not only the 40 million users of Google+, but all users who come to Google every day.”

Here are 10 potential strategic advantages & benefits for brands to incorporate Google+ into their 2012 social and search strategies.

Potential Brand Benefits of Google+ Brand Pages/Entities

1 ) Integration with Google Search – Google currently owns 68% of search market share. The fact that the Google +1 icon is now a part of every Google search result shows a glimpse of the level of integration Google has in store for users & brands alike. A user can directly recommend a link from their search results, and that recommendation is simultaneously shared on the users Google+ +1 profile section. By combining paid search and incenting +1 behaviors, you can begin to see the potential of this level of integration as the user may not be actively engaged on Google+, but the ability to drive a user to engage by recommending content with the click of a single button is appealing.

Now, you can also automatically add Google+ pages to your circles from Google Search.

Here is an example of a search for BlackFin360. I choose to +1 the Page

The +1 is then aggregated into my Google+ profile under +1’s

2 ) Google +1 – Similar to the Facebook Like button, the Google +1 button has the opportunity to truly transcend the platform by driving significant 3rd party integration. In fact the Google +1 button overtook the Twitter tweet button on most major websites with a 33 percent spike in integration recently. Granted, it is still far behind the Like button in terms of saturation but the fact that both Facebook & Google+ drive engagement to a central destination — as opposed to simply being a conduit to various destinations such as Twitter — shows the potential of 3rd party integrations to drive engagement.

According to Google, “People can now recommend your brand, not just your individual ads or sites, helping your +1’s add up faster”.

The +1’s value goes beyond Google+ and really speaks to the longer-term goal of Google, which is true integration and relevance across social & search content. This is an incredibly smart move by Google. What will really win the day for Google is the ability to connect social, search & self-service profiling. This will further enable brand sites more so than Facebook’s internalized approach. Further, with the addition of the +1 to image searches as well as integration with YouTube, it is possible to drive additional +1’s from multiple points.

3) Direct Connect – Now, you can also automatically add Google+ pages to your circles from Google Search. By adding +BrandName as part of your search query, you will be taken directly to the brands Google+ page and have the ability to add to your circles. This is not immediately available and certain steps have to be taken in order to enable this process, but the potential benefits are significant.

4 ) Circles & User Segmentation – Allowing brands to potentially segment fans is a big win. One of the issues with brand management on Facebook is tied to messaging across audience segments. By allowing brands to potentially seamlessly categorize fans, it allows the style of engagement to change dramatically. Imagine if you are driving engagement with 13-17 year old segments as well as 18-24 year olds. The brand & social persona’s associated with content could shift to further driving engagement based on audience segment vs. a one size fits all approach.

One important note about “circles” for pages is that the brand page cannot add a person to it’s circles until that user has already added the page to one of their circles. This is primarily based on messaging to users and having to opt-in by adding the brand into their circles first. Another major change from the user profiles is that all content is set to public.

When it comes to driving acquisition strategy within Google+ as a brand, it is initially inherently more valuable for a user to add you to a circle as opposed to giving you a +1. Think of it this way: The addition to a user circle is equivalent to a Facebook “like” in terms of impact to the stream and ability to interact directly with users.

Branded Circles are arranged by Following, Customers, VIP’s & Team Members.

5 ) Google Advertising Programs – Google+ will inherently “increase the performance of your ads: +1’s surface recommendations in search and display ads”. (Or so the email from Google referenced.) Looking at tightly coupled integration with social content, relevance associated with interests within Sparks and Google’s Display Network, Google AdWords and Double Click advertising products, and how robust Google Analytics can be in comparison to Facebook Insights, it is easy to see the strategic benefit to a brand to take advantage of this level of integration.

6 ) Sparks & Recommendation Engine – One of the most impactful elements of Google+ for brands is potentially Sparks. Brands could focus advertising dollars on Sparks programs that are relevant to their brand & product offerings. Taking it a step further, creation of a recommended or +1 relevance based on a users & circles sparks/interests that is then socially shared could be very compelling. This would be very similar to Facebook’s sponsored stories.

7 ) YouTube, Hangouts & Google TV Integration – With YouTube a part of the Google family, Google+ integration was sure to be a part of the strategy. The inherent social nature of YouTube translates well in terms of integration of +1 — embedding video and further integrating the YouTube & Google+ experience to make sharing and recommending content even easier. From a brand perspective, being able to distribute unique, consumer-generated content that is relevant to the brand while driving +1’s back to a brand page is very appealing. One of the interesting additions was also the decision to integrate Hangouts with YouTube’s sharing options.

Now a brand can post video content and possibly give a product preview to VIP’s or influencers. This takes the traditional webinar and flips it into a more engaging way to drive F2F discussions.

One area that really intrigues me is how Google TV may integrate with Google+ to create a truly social entertainment experience. I envision further integration between Google TV, YouTube, Hulu & Android to drive truly integrated entertainment experiences across screens. From a media perspective, you could truly bridge the gap between traditional & digital placement by incorporating a relevant ad placement via information collected from Sparks & Google Search. This to me is the future of enhanced television.

8) Google+ & Social Gaming – Google invested 100 million dollars into Zynga in 2010, and recently rolled out Google+ Games. With over 50% of Facebooks 700 million engaged daily with Facebook social games, it is a key motivator for brands to monitor the Google Games offering. Keep an eye out for how Zynga and others align with Google+ to further drive engagement, creation of options to add users into brand circles, and how game engagement will translate to the Google adwords program.

The success of recent brand integrations on Facebook with Farmville, including Frito-Lays recent world record for driving “Likes”, has given notice to brand managers of the power of Social Games & strategic partnerships with the game providers. With the additional layers of integration found with Google+ it will be interesting to see who can quickly capitalize.

9 ) 3rd Party Development Platform – One of the keys to successful Facebook engagement has been the enablement of third- party developers to create an application ecosystem within the platform. As with the recent rollout of Google+ Games, Google+ will enable developers access to relevant API’s, as it has done in the past, and the ability to extend the platform. This is crucial to creating opportunities to engage and differentiate on the platform.

Take a look at Google’s Robust API’s (click to enlarge):

10 ) Android Integration – With the Android’s market share currently at 49.5%, integration with Google+ is a key point of differentiation for both Google+ & Android. With both an app & web version of Google+ and an Android exclusive with the Google+ Huddle functionality, the level of integration between Android & Google+ is palpable. With the recent release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android’s latest operating system, Google+ also saw a major revamp in terms of user interface, ability to interact with the platform and share directly from Android devices. With the streamlined changes, and the AdMob & Adsense offerings, it will be very interesting to see how brands fully capitalize on +1 and mobile behaviors to further drive engagement & relevant ad serving.

Other areas of focus & interest will be how international or localized regions are supported in terms of aggregating brand +1’s, and how the Google+ commerce & currency platform strategies will unfold.

Brands will need to evaluate the true reach and amplification of the +1 from an earned media perspective. Be sure to note the differences in what shows up individually in your streams versus what is tied to content. Wiht Facebook, one of the secrets outside of edgerank is the level of detail that is shown by interaction.

Regardless, there is enough evidence of the potential benefit of Google+ brand pages to dedicate time & ample resources to develop a platform-related digital strategy heading into 2012.

Add BlackFin360 to your circles here.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

November 17, 2011November 26, 2013

iMedia Google+ Brand Pages Cover Story

This morning my new article 10 Strategic Benefits of Google+ Brand Pages was the cover story for iMedia Connection.

The article reviews Google+ from launch through the recent roll-out of Brand pages as well as 10 strategic benefits of using Google+ Brand pages both short & long term.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

November 7, 2011October 13, 2013

Google+ Brand Pages

At long last Google has finally launched Google+ brand pages. There has been a lot of speculation on what would be included and the potential benefits to brands. Now that they are finally here it will be interesting to see what is fact vs. fiction and more importantly how best to optimize the experience and drive meaningful engagement.

There is already a fast growing list brands positioning their pages from Fox News to the Dallas Cowboys and now you can add BlackFin360 to that fast growing list.

You can add BlackFin360 to your circles here

Here is the direct link to create a Google+ brand page

For now the functionality closely mirrors that of the consumer Google+ experience with the exception of the Google+ Direct Connect option. Google+ Direct Connect allows your Google+ brand page to show in a Google search by simply having the user search +Brandname e.g. +BlackFin360

The Hangouts option provides a new twist on transparency as you can support a F2F live chat with up to 9 people at one time. It will be interesting to see how creative brands can be with Hangouts and what potential policies will be put into place to manage that process.

More to come on the features and functions available for Google+ brand pages in future posts.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

November 7, 2011October 13, 2013

5 Recommendations to Optimize Facebook Media

After managing many Facebook ad campaigns, I wanted to share 5 recommendations to be aware of when executing your campaign.

When it comes to optimizing your Facebook ad campaigns it is not enough to set the campaign and just let it run. It is incredibly important to maximize your spend, test multiple options and continually optimize your campaign.

Facebook’s ad platform is one that is fairly easy to use and the potential reach is one of the biggest draws for brands to engage. Initially, plans were all about driving Likes and ad units pointing internally to brand pages facilitated that need. Now with the platform focusing even more on engagement, having the ability to drive engagement on a post level becomes even more important and having a strategy that maps to both acquisition & engagement are key.

If you plan on managing your own campaigns here are a few tips to further maximize your ad spend.

1). Align ad unit type with Campaign Objectives & Budget – When you elect to run a self service Facebook campaign you will notice multiple options and ad types. And as I mentioned above, the units should be an extension of your strategy. You can select from Sponsored Stories and Facebook ad examples which I have referenced previously.

Sponsored Stories

Page Like Stories are good to capitalize on Social Reach

Facebook Ads for Pages

Fb Page Post Example (Great for driving engagement on a post level to maximize Edge Rank)

Fb external units are good to drive clicks off of Facebook, but Call to Action needs to be relevant & compelling.

If you have a smaller budget and your goal is awareness you may consider a CPM or Pay for Impressions campaign. If you are driving acquisition around a specific event or contest, ensure that you are fully optimizing your targets and go with a CPC or Pay for Clicks campaign but I would recommend the precise targeting option.

Also note from a daily spend perspective if you are just starting to run a campaign for the first time there are daily caps set on your account. Over time Facebook will review and potentially increase your daily spend amount.

Example message from Facebook

2). Captivating Creative is Key – Ensure that the creative of the campaign is compelling and be sure to test multiple options. Strong creative can be a difference maker in driving engagement with your ad unit.

3). Clear Call to Action – Driving Likes and social connections directly from the ad unit are key. Take an opportunity to drive a Like directly from the unit by simply adding text that asks the user to Like Us & Learn more.

Depending on the end destination, it is important to not only have your media driving awareness, but to also ensure that when the user lands on your selected destination there is a clear call to action for the next steps. Whether that is driving a Page level Like, a landing page for a contest, or an application, it is important to ensure continuity throughout.

4). Target, Target, Target – It is not enough to sit back and depend on the Broad Category Targeting, especially if you are executing a CPC centric campaign. Make use of the Precise Interests option and pay attention to how adding additional interests directly impacts the potential reach of the campaign.

Example of Precise Targeting

Targeting tied to Reach

5) Monitor & Optimize – As your campaign gets underway ensure to set specific checkpoints to review campaign performance, test units by both Impressions & Clicks to see what drives the ideal results. And continually monitor not only the performance of the units but also the impact of the campaign on other factors such as delta of Likes from the onset of the campaign to post level engagement. I highly recommend supporting most Facebook acquisition strategies with a Facebook media buy in order to fully take advantage of the platform.

Also, you cannot have the Paid, Owned & Earned benefits without the Paid element.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 28, 2011October 13, 2013

Chime.in a New Way to Social in 2012

In the ever changing social landscape platforms & services come and go but one thing is consistent when it comes to monetization. Most networks are focused on selling some form of advertising next to your content. And outside of YouTube’s recent changes, most of the time revenue does not come back to the user until now.

Chime.in is a new entrant into the social space and just came out of a private beta. What makes Chime.in different is that it will pay users to contribute by sharing 50% of revenue it earns from selling advertising on your profile pages. This applies to both individuals & brands.

If you are feeling very ambitious, if you sell the real estate yourself you can keep all of the proceeds.

As a user, instead of a 140 character status update, you have a the ability to upload photos, videos & 2000 characters of text. Because Chime.in claims to be an interest network vs. a social network, the focus on content that is relevant to users is at the forefront of the experience.

Here is an example of the Chime.in content interface

Where this gets really interesting is from a brand marketing perspective.

With a focus on relevant content, and control over advertising revenue on the brand level, Chime.in can offer brands a new way to monetize their social followings. This shifts the dynamic from a link driven focus to one where direct monetization of followers is possible.

At this point, the site is still a work in progress as I have noticed odd behavior by the algorithm but Chime.in is definitely something to be aware of and consider when planning for 2012.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 10, 2011October 13, 2013

Instagram Infographic

Recently, I posted the Power of Instagram for Brands. This outlined the benefits of incorporating Instagram into existing brand digital strategies as well as highlighting adoption and the top 10 brands on Instagram.

As a follow up, here is a great infographic from the Infographic Labs team.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 6, 2011November 26, 2013

B2B Social Media and Linkedin’s Latest Announcement

When you hear the term social media most people immediately think about Facebook and Twitter and consumer focused campaigns and conversations. But what doesn’t come immediately to mind is that Social is a very powerful channel for B2B organizations.

What is interesting is that 86% of B2B firms are using social, compared to 82% of B2C. And how they are using it is surprising as well.

59% are focused on Thought Leadership
48.9% are focused on Lead Generation
45.7% are interested in Feedback/Reviews/Recommendations
34.7 are interested in paid advertising on social sites

With Today’s Linkedin announcement that they are now enabling company status updates, they are taking another step forward in further allowing organizations to connect directly with potential targets.

Here is an example of the new Company Status updates

With the ability to outline services, drive recommendations and now adding a voice to the brand, it will be interesting to see how organizations capitalize on yet another avenue to interact with potential clients.

Cintas & RackSpace are maximizing the Linkedin platform to further drive engagement with their brand by outlining their products & services and driving recommendations for their offerings.

Here is the RackSpace example

Because B2B social is generally more targeted than B2C social, the ability to drive targeted interaction in one location while also providing a comprehensive footprint throughout the channel is key. Brands can engage via groups, Q & A in Linkedin answers and use the inherent tools in the platform to drive targeted interaction.

Philips Linkedin Group Example

Organizations can also purchase PPC Ads as well as targeted rich media to further drive their acquisition strategy.

With so much attention given to Facebook, B2B organizations should maximize their Linkedin experience. Whether it is to further amplify thought leadership, drive acquisition of leads, or promote feedback/reviews & recommendations, Linkedin’s latest changes can further enable an organization to meet and exceed it’s goals & objectives.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360

October 4, 2011October 13, 2013

Why Edge Rank Matters

With all of the changes on deck for Facebook, it will be interesting to see how the Edge Rank algorithm will potentially change and how this may impact Brands usage of Facebook.

What is Edge Rank? And why would I care if it changes?   When you first visit your Facebook top news feed, you may notice that the topics discussed are not always a live representation of your friends updates but it is actually a collection of updates predetermined by Facebook.

The process to determine what you see in your newsfeed is managed by Facebook’s Edge Rank. This is the algorithm that Facebook uses to display content from your network that it deems you would find the most engaging.

From a brand marketing perspective driving relevance and engagement through the newsfeed is one of the key benefits of the platform. Thus creation of a content strategy that capitalizes on the Edge Rank algorithm is of paramount importance.

Edge Rank is calculated by weighing Affinity, Weight & Time Decay as it applied to your network.

Affinity = The more you interact with certain individuals, the higher your affinity to that individual and the higher likelihood that you will see their updates.

Weight = Weight & interaction are similar as this category is dependent on the number of likes & comments that your update has received.

Time Decay = As with anything, the value/relevance of the post decays over time as new content is published.

Moontoast had a great infographic that highlighted the Edge Rank algorithm.

When maximizing your Edge Rank position it is important to engage as the brand with the comments from your fans as this helps create additional affinity connections.

It is also important to drive engagement on a post level as this is now aggregated on the Friend Activity tab. See previous post on Friend Activity.

It is also important to occasionally drive likes on the post level as this not only drives additional reach via fans networks but also impacts how often the brands message would appear as Top News.

This also ties in nicely with the Sponsored Stories ad units as they can drive likes on the post level.

Finally, by providing relevant & timely content at a cadence your fanbase is comfortable with, it is possible to limit the effects of time decay.

As the new Facebook timelines are rolled out to the masses and additional activity streams are in place, it will be very interesting to see how the concept of Edge Rank evolves with the next iteration of Facebook.

Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360