There’s been a lot of speculation about the future of Google+ since it launched last June. Recently, we heard about their strong December showing with a hefty increase in sign ups, but the jury is still out on whether this offering will end as a flop or resounding success.

After going public in September, the nascent social network now has around 50 million active users. Some estimates put the number over 60 million, with still others going as high as 150 million. The approach so far has been to emphasize the use of Circles which allows users to easily control what they share with members of their network. This, along with Hangouts, has formed their core value proposition thus far. While it may not be destined to overtake Facebook as the king of the social world, it may be able to carve out its own niche and help Google stay relevant in an increasingly “social” world. One can only imagine how targeted Google could make its ads once it pulls in a user’s Google+ info.

Either it will be a huge success or it’ll suffer the fate of Buzz and countless other failed pet projects the internet giant has launched in the past. The new network certainly has several things going for it, so this could be a case where the final ruling lies somewhere in the middle.

Brands Can Augment Paid Search and SEO Efforts

With the introduction of Google+ pages for businesses, one trend we have noticed is that Google+ pages are enjoying increased visibility within organic search results. As reported by multiple sources, many top brands now have Google + pages which now appear in organic results, taking up a decent amount of real estate to boot. This could serve as a clear sign to businesses that setting up a Google+ page is akin to an investment in SEO, allowing them greater presence on and potential dominance of the search results page.

Integration with Android Devices

The latest generation of Android smartphones are now optimized for Google+, allowing the social network to grow along with the Android platform. The Android OS already owns about half of the US smartphone market. As adoption grows, Google+ will come along for the ride, enjoying the benefits of Android’s success. With the activation of every new Android device, Google+ will be given the opportunity to increase its ranks.

Google’s Acquisition of 200+ IBM Patents

Google’s recent move to purchase patents from IBM was undoubtedly an effort to bolster its defenses against litigation of the intellectual property variety threatening Android. Yet, there were some curious patents in its latest haul that could hint at new products/innovations. Perhaps the most interesting was a patent detailing the analysis of user-generated content to ascertain potential interests and preferences. The system would use semantic cues from user posts to identify individuals who may be interested in particular topics without having to rely on self-reported interests. This would allow Google+ to connect its users with other individuals who may share their interests based on their behavior within the Google+ community and would also allow for even more relevant search results.

Since we all know Google is in the business of providing results that are as relevant as possible (read: those most likely to be clicked), this validates the purchase of these patents. Also, the benefit to advertisers cannot be ignored, as this could serve as an invaluable tool allowing for more precise targeting of potential customers.

If Google+ is to survive, it will need to distinguish itself. Given their preeminence in search, the continued growth of the Android platform, and any potential innovations they may have planned (whether related to newly acquired patents or not), Google may carve out a truly unique identity for its little social network that could. They will need to continue highlighting the benefits of Google+ and how it differs from its competitors, so that users are motivated enough to try yet another social network. The road ahead will be a long one, but if they arrive at their desired destination, it will be well worth the effort.

FACEBOOK INSIGHTS OVERVIEW

As of December 15, 2011 current Facebook Insights will no longer be updated or supported (the “old” data will even be deleted in early 2012). Facebook Brand Page metrics will now come from the new engagement-based analytics, released at F8 this year. This Facebook Insights POV will review the major changes to the way brands can track Facebook efforts and provide implications of each.

• Engagement becomes an even more important variable in the somewhat mysterious Facebook newsfeed algorithms.
• Facebook has adjusted the way it tracks and reports on your page and content to better focus on this shift.
• Smart marketers will use this new data to optimize content publishing for maximum engagement and resulting buzz

THE (NEW) MAIN DASHBOARD

Total Likes: The number of unique users that Like the page. (Fans)

Friends of Fans: The number of unique users that are friends with the users that currently like the page. (Total potential reach)

People Talking About This: The number of unique users that have created a story (spread the word) about the page through Likes (of the page or content), comments, shares, wall posts, photo tags, etc. Stories are created through the various types of Facebook engagement that will become more diverse when more “actions” (read, ate, ran, etc.) are allowed to be incorporated into more apps.

Weekly Total Reach: The number of unique users who have seen content within a seven day date range. This number includes Ads and Sponsored stories.

Effects on Social Marketing: Growing new page Likes via organic means via current fans has always a brand goal. Friends of Fans and People Talking About This help quantify that goal; however the emphasis on sharing and interaction with posts provide new opportunities for brands to connect with users. When brands focus campaigns on Word of Mouth, they are now provided a calculable metric.

INDIVIDUAL POST METRICS

Say goodbye to Impressions and Feedback. Their successors are Reach and Virality, respectively. Joined by the metrics Engaged Users and Talking About This, brands can further analyze individual pieces of content, optimizing their content calendars for reach and gather insights on what makes content spreadable on Facebook. Also notable: These new post performance metrics only graph the first 28 days after a post’s publication. However, you can can all historical data via a data export.

Reach: The number of unique users that have seen a specific post. More on this in a moment.

Engaged Users: The number of users who have clicked on a specific post.*

Talking About This: The number of unique users that created a story about the page through Likes (of the page or content), comments, shares, wall posts, photo tags, etc. *

Virality: The percentage of users (from the Reach) that created a story about the post.

*Engaged Users includes users who click on a specific post. This does not necessarily mean the user commented, liked or interacted with the post.

Effects on Social Marketing: The previously missing metric, Engaged Users, bridges Reach and Talking About This. Feedback Score was based solely on Likes and Comments on pieces of content. However it overlooked what Engaged Users now addresses: the users who took the time to read and engage with the comment but did not interact further. In addition, Virality provides a metric to assess which posts resonated most with users. After all, how many users read specific blog posts but do not leave comments on the thread?

REACH

Facebook breaks Reach down into 3 categories: Organic, Paid and Viral. Pages can now decipher where most of their engagement comes from. Overall this alters how brands must view their content. At first glance, it appears the new algorithm adversely affects Impressions. But in exchange, it provides useable insights that help identify which content is innately spreadable.

Organic: The unique users that saw page content from their News Feed, the Ticker or visited the page. These users are being served content directly from the brand or opting to view the content from the page.

Paid: The unique users that viewed page content from a Facebook ad or Sponsored Story.

Viral: The unique users that viewed content from a story published by a friend.

REACH AND FREQUENCY

Facebook also expands on reach via the paired, “old school” metrics of Reach and Frequency, sortable by All Page Content,Your Posts and Shares by Others.

EXPECTED CHANGE:

Major changes in the Facebook algorithm redefine the standard for content visibility. There appears to be a significant drop from the change in Impressions to Reach. In initial sample testing over several posts, it appears the average difference is approximately – 77%.

Conversely, there is an increase in the Feedback/Virality Score. In the old Insights, posts fought for a rating of 0.10% or higher. Now these numbers are significantly higher. Again based on initial sampling over several posts, from the initial data it is an approximate increase of 312%

Effects on Social Marketing: Brands will now have a better understanding of “engageable” content. As the brand collects data over time, posts that have high readability versus high comment and likes will make themselves apparent. Again, this helps the brand optimize and craft their future content calendars and strategy.

LIKE SOURCES

This reflects the number of times your page was liked, broken down by where the like happened; a useful tool to track the effectiveness of your (possible) multiple Like Button locations and mobile apps/sites.

Remember, Facebook Likes can come from on and off Facebook.

DEEP INFO (OR TMI?)

Although not visible via Facebook’s primary Insights dashboard, a very, very in-depth look at brand page statistics is available for download (one would hope a newer query-based interface would make for easy cross-tabulating of variables). A sample of the ways marketers can slice data:

Daily, weekly or monthly breakdowns of each metric – further broken down by location or another variable – examples include:

• Daily breakdown of users who liked your page from their mobile
• Monthly (28 days worth) number of people who saw your page posts via a story from a friend
• Weekly number of impressions of stories published by a friend about your page by story type
• The number of people your page reached broken down by how many times people saw any content about your page

Insights go as far as a noting the daily top referring external domains which send traffic to your page – broken down by site – in total, over 1,000 columns of data are available.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the new Insights help brands focus on one thing: Post Engagement. It is counter balance to the aggregated News Feed. Only relevant, engaging content will get prime placement at the top of a user’s feed. Insights provides the necessary tools to optimize in order to secure that location.

“Advertising on the web is less about hitting someone with a message… it’s about engagement.” -Mark Zuckerberg

What are your thoughts on the changes to Facebook Insights? Continue the conversation in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter @searchshots.

What makes people share? What makes YOU share (or ‘Like’)?

As Google+ surpasses 50 million users, Facebook pushes out over 750 million, and Twitter reaches over 100 million active users, we must consider the end consumer’s motivation to share content throughout these networks.

As marketers hoping to capitalize on the growth of these networks, we have to improve our understanding of the fundamental motives behind consumer’s behaviors within them. The following post examines several theories on this topic, but please, add your own color and tell us: what makes YOU share?

Extending Your Own Credibility by Borrowing the Credibility of Others

Most of us follow people we admire, trust, or respect as thought leaders within our own industry, whether that industry is marketing, architecture, medical, financial, automotive, entertainment, etc. Most likely, we strive to be more like these people, to have the respect of our industry, with the greater intention of moving it forward. So why do we share so much content from these mentors: on behalf of ourselves or for the behalf of the creator?

Maybe this is the transitive property of “borrowed” online trust:

 

Affirmation of Personal Tastes

Why do people share or like content from brands or content within the entertainment vertical (where a great majority of share content comes from)? Receiving a ‘like’ to your own personal beliefs is the new feeling of “YAY, I received a real letter in the mail.” When you share this type of content, a part of you secretly (or not so secretly) hopes that others feel the same, that they affirm your own beliefs. Before social networks, we could only attain this affirmation from the few people within our physical circle that we felt comfortable sharing it with. However, we can now passively pass on our beliefs with a level of transparency that has never before existed. Our posts on this matter will either fall upon silence or they’ll be met with a shared understanding amongst our peers. If you don’t believe that still matters, recall your days in high school. Affirmation of our own beliefs is a great, morale and confidence boosting attribute of social networking.  Likes are confidence boosters.

 

Call for Interaction

The opening quote from the movie Crash sums this up perfectly, sans its negative connotation:

“In any real city, you walk, you brush past people, and people bump into you. In L.A, nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other just so we can feel something.”

In the Information Age, data moves fast. Our personal lives, however, move even faster. We are constantly bombarded by what is immediately in front of us, and maintaining relationships from the past or with those we don’t see any more becomes more and more difficult. At times, we may comment on or ‘like’ content that these people share in order to strike up a conversation, in hopes of rebuilding what we feel we may have lost.

It may take just one ‘like’ to break the ice and build the relationship anew. Think about the last time someone meaningful from your past, that you hadn’t spoken to recently, liked something you posted on Facebook. Did that ‘like’ entice you to respond? Did you at least recall off-Facebook memories of that person? Many would gawk at the idea that something so simple, within the confines of “online”, could have such meaning, but that’s the era we live in now. A simple ‘like’ can be powerful.

Invent or Alter Your Perception

Most people know who they are, but they also understand who they’d like to be. In the environment of a social network, we are given the opportunity to reposition our perception:  who we are to our network vs. who we’d like to be. Developing your personal brand is a hot topic these days, and what you share, what you put your name against, is a powerful tool to create this brand. Go ahead, try it out: connect with other coworkers on Google+, Facebook or Twitter, and especially LinkedIN. Some you may already know well, but for those you don’t, what is your perception of them after reading their posts, their shares, and their +1’s? Chances are, your perception of them is pretty close to the perception they are hoping to create. In an environment where we have more interaction with acquaintances than real connections, we all have this same level of control:

…if we utilize it.

These days it seems like you, me and our neighbor’s pet are all on Facebook. Facebook is certainly changing how we interact with each other and the world. We have digital records of college, weddings, birthdays, kids growing up and all other special occasions. Where these things used to be physical albums, now they are public and digital. Facebook has become the repository of our life’s memories.

Today, social media strategies are considered an integral part of any comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Brands and their marketing execs understand that social is the place they need to be – that’s where their consumers are. If you look up any big brand on Facebook, they will be there. As a consumer, we almost expect that any legitimate brand will have a Facebook page. Arguably, social media strategies are the most widely talked about, publicized and coolest/controversial digital strategies out there.

Social media is here to stay, with the percentage of social networking users increasing every year. Social media is important and there aren’t many people who will deny that, but… why Facebook? If you compare Facebook to other sites by the sheer number of unique visitors, you see that Facebook blows other social networks out of the water.

In the comScore media metrix, which measures the top online properties, Facebook ranked 4^th in the U.S, not to mention the top-ranking social network. For the marketers out there, Facebook ranked at the 10^th largest ad display network in the U.S.

 Simply put Facebook is hot right now.

 

Investing into a social media strategy seems like a good idea but there’s a slight issue:

Do current brand strategies resonate with Facebook users? There is a disconnect between the perceptions of what interactions between Facebook users and the brand actually mean.

Brands hope that Facebook users will buy their products, become an advocate, or for friends of friends, to become customers’ advocates. Facebook users, on the other hand, may be much less enthusiastic about the potential meaning of any particular action taken on the social network.

Within Facebook, the most popular way that users engage with a brand is through the “like” feature. In fact, 84% of users engage with a brand’s posts on Facebook through the “like” button. There is also data that suggests that Facebook likes will influence shoppers to purchase. In a study done by eMarketer on a sample size of 1,202 people, 35% of people said that seeing Facebook likes on a product would increase the likelihood that they will buy the product. 83% of users who have already liked a brand have also clicked the like button on the brand’s page. From a brand perspective, this sounds pretty phenomenal. Brands are interacting with their customers directly through the “like” function; thereby developing a relationship with them and gaining users who are now fans of the brand.

Or so it might seem.

According to one study, less than 42% of users actually found that the “like” meant that they were actual fans of the brand, while 58% of users perceived a “like” to mean that they were only subscribing to the brand with an expectation of special perks. A “like” may not even mean that much, 37% of people in the same study said that it meant nothing to them. In other words, a “like” doesn’t mean that the user is now a fan of the brand.

In addition to lackluster interest, some people have negative perceptions of the Facebook “like.” The graph below shows that people don’t want brands interfering with their lives or the lives of their friends. The largest reason people have not liked a brand is that they don’t want to be bombarded with messages or ads.

With these statistics, you might start to think that the social networking giant doesn’t provide as much value to the brand.

Now, I’ve given you a lot of reasons why a Facebook “like” isn’t all that it seems to be. However, you have to remember Mugatu and that Facebook is hot right now! Social media still has a lot of potential than can be tapped into with the right strategy. Brands have to give Facebook users content and utility that is more than just throwing advertising dollars into media strategies that give users negative perceptions or make them apathetic to their ads. Brands have to provide entertaining content and utility to the user where the brand becomes the backseat.

“Another example is from Orangina in Europe. Its slogan is “We’re the original.” It created an app that tells you who the first 10 people were you became friends with on Facebook. That’s cool. Occasionally, you’ll get a message from Orangina in your newsfeed suggesting a purchase of Orangina on a hot day. It offers a reason to enjoy Orangina rather than a 20% off promotion. Perhaps you’ll “like” Orangina because you have a reason to.”

-eMarketer

Facebook has a lot of potential, as we can see in digital and social trends, and people are still trying to figure out how to best utilize it. At the same time, we are getting there, to a point where brands are effectively communicating with their consumers by providing real value.

The Foundational Approach to Facebook CPC Ads

Executing for a Single Interaction

When developing a foundational Facebook media plan, you need to incorporate the needs of the client request and a desired goal into the strategy.  A project brief and planning session can help create the framework of the campaign and answer questions, such as:

• Target audience (demographics:  M (25-49), educated, in GEO, with certain behaviors)
• Product information (price, seasonality, use cases)
• Goal (build a fan base, drive conversions on a website)

 

With this information you devise a marketing plan as usual, while utilizing Facebook’s vast amounts of targeting options to create detailed audience segments and match the right messaging to these segments.  By segmenting your audiences clearly in Facebook (or via a management tool like Marin’s Facebook Management Solution), you can efficiently manage and optimize your segments easily and:

• Measure performance by audience including location, age, likes & interests
• Filter new ads by targeting criteria
• Create automated bidding strategies by segment to desired goal

The execution of a foundational Facebook CPC ads campaign is to support a relevant set of placements for a SINGLE interaction. (Search Marketing minded approach).

Executing on Paid & Social Synergies

Executing for a Series of Interactions

To effectively target different segments that may have different goals (engagement vs. conversion) at different stages of a purchase cycle (or seasonality), you can build a more complex plan that feeds off and builds from its own momentum.    Unlike the foundational Facebook campaign that drives to a single desired action, this approach incorporates a series of consumer interactions.

It all starts with a Facebook ad with the goal of driving Fans and “Likes”.  This is where Paid & Social Media collide and can do powerful things together.  The Facebook CPC ads in a more intricate model take the consumer mindset and social interaction stage into account to drive a multi-stage cycle.

Introducing the Facebook “Like” Cycle

 

Facebook ads have a lot of opportunity to reach, communicate and interact with audiences within its own social environment, or cycle.  Break out of the mold of thinking of simply the foundation but applying a more complex and dynamic campaign execution that speaks to consumers at different stages of their brand engagement.

Let’s break down each segment further and discuss the possible consumer mindset within each:

1. AWARENESS:  Build a Fan Base

This might be the most obvious but could also be shortsighted and capped of its extended benefits.  Serving Facebook CPC ads (Sponsored Stories Ads, CPC ads or Video ads) to increase traffic, are valid ad types to make consumers aware of your Brand.  The capability of directly “Like”ing your brand fuels your Fan base that is not only a pool of loyal customers that can develop and share positive sentiments of your brand, but those positive sentiments can then be turned into your Sponsored Stories ads in your campaign.

Additionally, adding “Fans” to your brand’s Facebook page has more value than just counting the #s of likes.  Driving Facebook Likes can also benefit your SEO program as “Likes are the new Links.”  Further value are mentioned in the next segments of the “Like” Cycle.

2.  dWOM:  Facebook Interaction and Engagement

As the Fan base to your Facebook page grows the fans will inevitably voice their opinions and interact with the fan page.  The positive sentiments and stories (even simple “Likes”) can become Sponsored Stories ads that will show to a Fans’ Facebook Friends which acts like Digital Word of Mouth (dWOM).  This ad type brings a new power to online advertising as it integrates dWOM into its copy that it isn’t surprising to hear Facebook claims Sponsored Stories ads “perform twice as well in engaging users” compared to standard CPC ads on the network.

Facebook recently announced at AdWeek its belief in Facebook WOM and belief “that word-of-mouth conversations among friends are the most influential for getting a brand’s message across.”  They went on to cite comScore research “showing that fans and friends-of-fans of a Page are more likely to visit a store, website, and even purchase a product or service.”  For instance, “Fans and friends-of-fans of Starbucks spend 8% more in stores than the average Starbucks customer and transact 11% more frequently”.  (Source: Fast Company: Oct 3, 2011)

3. ACTION:   Convert Your Audiences

Now that you have an established (and growing) Facebook Fan Base and built out audience segments to target with Facebook you can run a Facebook CPC ads campaign with a direct response message that leads the consumer to a desired action.  This campaign can build off the momentum of the first 2 cycle segments that drove Fans and inspired Engagement with the brand to build demographic targeting segments.

 

4. CRM:  Consumer Retention

As you continue to build the fan base and loyal customers, you need to retain them and continue the conversation and build further loyalty.  From here you have access to the Fans through creating a Facebook email strategy or implement contests and promotions on Facebook.  Additionally, Sponsored Stories ads can be run throughout the year to not only drive new Fans or “Likes” but also to leverage positive sentiments and push those stories and wall posts to Friends of Friends as a Digital Word of Mouth (DWOM) campaign.

Conclusion:

Executing for a Series of Interactions:

The PPC Ads Facebook “Like” Cycle has the ability to continuously evolve, grow and drive results for your Brand.  The “Like” Cycle requires executing placements for a SERIES of interactions that aren’t easily identified in advance, but if planned for strategically can result in more sales.

It is a complex ecosystem that takes the basics of targeting, buying and optimizing to a new level of campaigning that is dynamic, complex and potentially more rewarding.  With Facebook’s movement of viewing the act of online Sharing as an indication of Value, it is a testament of the “Like” Cycle and how marketers should adapt to this new model.

Think through your own Brand’s campaign and how the “Like” Cycle fits your Brand’s needs.

Caveats:

* People can enter the cycle at any moment, not necessarily at #1.

**This cycle has many “legs” to it and doesn’t fully represent Social Media’s engagement and interaction experiences and benefits

***This cycle is a depiction of the number of ways to reach, engage and retain customers through Facebook ads and interactions.  We realize this cycle is not perfect or one size fits all.