The emergence of social media has changed the face of marketing; it’s no longer about the push, it’s about the relationship.  And social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide the perfect platform for these conversations to take place.  Companies are competing for the limited attention of consumers today and Ford figured out the right way to do it with their launch of the 2011 Explorer.

The “old’ way was out; revealing the redesigned 2011 Explorer model at the Detroit Auto Show with the hopes of broadcast coverage or a small photo and write up to compete against the gaggle of other new designs wasn’t going to do it for Ford this year.  Tapping into a medium where they knew would grab attention, Ford utilized Facebook in the way it was meant: to give users a unique experience that would be customizable.  To allow for interactive, multimedia tours, videos, text and images on the Explorer’s Facebook page; for the experience to be unique but feel “real” to each user.

This multi-faceted project was a hit for Ford because they did it right.  It was well thought out, appropriately timed and authentic to the Facebook audience; demonstrating what can be done with an appropriate investment of time and money (and planning).  This web based approach allows for engagement, measurability and continuous earned value; who says you can’t measure ROI with social media?

To learn more, check out: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=132672&nid=116969

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

This morning, Facebook announced that it would be taking it’s highly praised and highly controversial Open Graph and Like Button to the streets.  Soon, this functionality will be available on mobile phones via mobile applications.  Given the explosion of mobile internet and app use in the past few months/years, this was the next logical step in the progression of Open Graph.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about this announcement is the language used by Eric Tseng, Facebook’s Head of Mobile Products.  He said Facebook “really sees mobile as the future.”  With Facebook’s recent usage and cross-platform functionality explosions, it seems as though the overall digital landscape will be largely influenced by moves made by Facebook.  Mobile sites and applications will soon be able to take advantage of this new social functionality.

Let’s take Foursquare or Yelp for example; Many of us are used to checking in or reading reviews on this type of mobile app.  When Facebook brings the Like Button to these apps, we’ll not only be able to check into these locations on Foursquare, we’ll be able to see which of our Facebook friends have liked that venue.  We’ll be able to read reviews or see Likes from those same friends from a nearby restaurant on Yelp or Urbanspoon as well.  Sure, we have “friends” on these applications already, but the potential is much greater with the bucket of hundreds of my Facebook friends than it is with the 15 or 20 close friends I have on Foursquare.

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Over the last few days, there has been a great deal of talk surrounding Facebook’s immanent “check-in” to the geolocation space.  Sources close to Facebook have admitted that users will soon have the ability to tag their location within their status updates.  So, is this feature a direct threat to location-based applications like Foursquare and Gowalla?  Probably.  But… maybe not.

It appears that Facebook will be launching its location service in the form of a custom application for McDonalds.  What’s interesting about the discussion surrounding the McDonalds example is the speculation of how Facebook will monetize this feature – especially since it is launching with one of the world’s largest advertisers.  Initial signs point to Facebook not making money from the actual application or functionality, but from an associated media buy.  A lot of the impact Foursquare and Gowalla will feel from this move will be determined by just how “local” Facebook decides to go.  If Facebook allows every mom and pop under the sun with a Facebook page to create a “Place” for their business, Foursquare and Gowalla could be in trouble.  After all, a majority of the locations in those apps are user created and not part of huge national/multinational chains.  If, however, Facebook decides to keep the locations to major partner chains as an incentive for media buys, the current location players may be ok.

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As you may know from our previous post, we’ve been digging into the massive Facebook changes to try to uncover what they mean for Facebook users and the internet landscape in general.  For the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus on the potential impact Facebook’s Open Graph will have on digital advertising.

For a while, Facebook has been trying to bring a social aspect to its display ads within their site.  We’ve all seen the engagement ads telling us our friends are a fan of something and encouraging us to become a fan (now “like”).  There’s a great deal of research supporting the theory that friends and acquaintances are much more trusted and influential than brands and advertisers.  So, it is clearly advantageous to tap into a user’s Facebook friends to help sell products or services.  With Open Graph, I can now more readily see what my friends are doing or what they are interested in across the web – not just on Facebook.  This is information that they are willingly sharing with their network (again – privacy post coming soon…).  Right now, early adopters like Levi’s have crafted content portals that show users what their friends think about a particular pair of jeans.  If I see my one of my friends likes a pair and why, I’m more likely to consider purchasing those jeans.

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After yesterday’s Facebook F8 Developer’s Conference announcements, I noticed myself doing something very interesting.  After hearing about the new Facebook integration on Pandora, I found myself racing to Pandora to make sure I had an updated station list of my current favorite bands.  I haven’t been a heavy user of Pandora in the past few months, but you can bet I went there straight away to start using it again when I found out my friends were going to be able to see my public artist list.  Now, I’ll be using the tool more to see what my Facebook friends are listening to.

I love sharing music with others to discover new tracks or artists, and love giving people suggestions on new bands to check out.  At the root, it’s what Pandora has set out to do from the beginning.  It is no longer just “Discover New Artists and Songs (that our robot is plugging into your playlist)”.  It’s now “Discover New Artists and Songs (that your friends are already listening to and are now sharing with you socially…. and all that other robot stuff too).  Facebook has given Pandora a well-deserved boost in usage by me, and I can almost guarantee that I’m not alone.

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[Note: Following sentence to be read in your best valley-girl dialect]  Since we haven’t been, like, increasingly bombarded with the word “Like” enough in, like, everyday language, Facebook is making moves to, like, hammer us over the head with it.

[Ok, back to your own voice] Many of you have already heard the news about Facebook’s decision to soon do away with the “Become a Fan” button on brand pages and replace it with a simpler “Like” button.  This news follows the other recent “Like” announcement that will allow people to like just about anything across the internet via Facebook functionality.  For the sake of this post, let’s focus on the impact the new Like button has on Facebook brand pages and their former “Fans”.

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Over the years, we’ve had a lot of great interaction with clients, prospects, employees (current/future/past), industry leaders and professionals and the general community.  Like many companies, we have seen a surge in the possibilities of interaction and engagement through the use of social tools and platforms.  Whether it’s talking about our work in media and marketing, explaining our favorite television shows, discussing our favorite tunes or sports, or sharing information on our favorite cause or charity – we’re an agency that loves conversation!

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As marketers in the social media world, we often hear how we don’t know what “the next Facebook” will be.  The funny thing is, we say this phrase like it is a certainty.  We have become used to seeing social networks or platforms pop up and be successful – only to dwindle and be replaced by a stronger social superpower.  Myspace has turned from the social network giant to a niche entertainment portal in a short amount of time.  With all of the technology and talent out there today, it’s natural for us to assume massive sites like Facebook and Twitter will follow in the Newscorp property’s footsteps.  In presentations we all deliver and hear, we find ourselves reverting back to the idea that Facebook is on top today, but something else will clearly pop up in a year or two to take its place.  After reading the immense amount of news over the past year or so, I’m ready to refute that statement.

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Over the past 5 years, there has been a steady increase in seniors’ use of online media. So, it is no surprise that as of November 2009 there were about 17.5 million active persons 65+ using the Internet, which accounts for the 55% growth from November 2004.

A new report released by Nielsen suggests that not only are seniors Googling and engaging in their “normal” habits, but more revealing is that they are adapting to the mainstream social media networks. Facebook was ranked as the number three site visited by people 65+ on the Top 10 Online Destinations list. This is a big shock, considering that just a year ago Facebook came in at #45.

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