nitin rajput - facebook developer garage bangalore

Facebook Growth Strategies Understanding various techniques for growth and engagement in facebook apps

Nitin RajputCo-founder www.chakpak.com28th Aug 2009

1 Why Facebook

2 Growth/Engagement Techniques

3 Q&A

Agenda

Why Facebook?

• User growth– Approx 6MM users

• Great overlay of social context– Allows for new product features– Improves the features

Virality Primer

• 10 users add your app– They do some activity like publish feed, send notifications etc

• 7 users add the app because of the activities done by above• Viral coefficient , v.c. = 7/10 = 0.7• This is a single generation. The activities by these 7 added

users would cause more users to join in and so on• The total # of users of the app is the summation of the

Geometric series = 10,7,4.9, … = 10*(1/(1-0.7))=33 approx.

Virality Primer

• Suppose v.c. = 0.9 , then the total users who add the app including these initial 10 users is 10*(1/(1-0.9))=100

• Takeaways– Virality is a multiplier. Can be a big multiplier– Viral coefficient near to 1.0 can lead to a big jump in the user

addition • Many of the facebook’s distribution flows are aligned to viral

flows and many times these are the only options availaible• Facebook product = viral distribution + product

Facebook distribution options

Feeds

Notifications

Requests & Notifications

Profile

Status

Emails

PublisherBoxesAds

Fan BoxConnect

Comment Widget

Share

#1 - Feeds

Feeds (Publishing experience)

Feeds (Friends view)

Feeds

• One of the most potent tool for growth– Is the basis of most of the viral loops

• User should should feel like publishing– Context of the flow (you need help)– Copy of the feed (you beat 99%)

• Friends should feel like clicking on it– Nice UI/Photos. Explanatory text– Call to action

• Resources– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Using_the_Open_Stream_API– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook.showFeedDialog

#2 - Notifications

Notifications

Notifications

Notifications• Doesn’t require explicit user permission• 2 types

– User-user • Can reach to non app users• For growth

– App-user• For engagement

• Sample use cases– Challenges,– Weekly newsletters, alerts, new features

• Resources– RockYou presentation -

http://www.slideshare.net/jefftee/facebook-developers-garage-march-25-2009-2-jia-shen– API - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Notifications.send– How spamminess is measured -

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2205007948&topic=13262&start=30&hash=0ce1d00dde55ae7fc1d6f206621bdfc4#post71908

– Official policy - http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Additional_Policies_Governing_All_Applications_and_Developers#10._Notifications_Policy

#3 – Requests & Invitations

Requests & Invitations

Requests & Invitations

Requests & Invitations

• Were used a lot at the launch time. FB now has allocations buckets

• Can be used for flows where sending invitation is natural– Ask your relatives to join the app– Match your friends compatibility with yours– Invite members to your cause

#4 - Status

Status

Status

• Status permission is required only once• Guidelines when an application can update the

status • Twitter, fan apps

#5 – Profile & Tabs

Profiles & Tabs

Profiles & Tabs

Profiles & Tabs

• Several steps involved in adding an app to profile. • Is a long term insurance against variance in other

growth channels. Is a seed to the viral flows• Is a natural fit for some flows/apps– fans

#6- Emails

• You can get email send permission• Can be used for – Newsletters, Alerts– As a substitute for app-user notifications

• Vs Notifications– better CTRs– Need one time explicit permission from user

#7- Publisher

• Not sure if it can be

used for growth

#8 – Gathering Fans

Gathering Fans

Gathering Fans

Gathering Fans

• Gather fans to send updates and feeds later on– Sort of notifications, but much richer– Better CTRs

• Re-engages the user

#9 - Advertising

• Advertising is usually costly• Whats the lifetime value of a user• Whats the per visit value of a user• A high enough virality factor can make the per-visit or

lifetime value of a user pay for its advertising costs• Can be used for growth and for engagement

#10 - Leveraging existing web properties

• Fan Box

Leveraging existing web properties

• Comment box– http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-ad

ds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/

– Can also publish to a users feed– Can be embedded in an app also

• Share – http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/05/facebook-

adds-new-way-to-share-web-content-without-leaving-the-page/

#11 - Measure, Measure, Measure

• You can only improve what you measure• A/B Test – Flows (add app before take quiz, or between take quiz

and see results? )– Copy (Challenge your friends vs Invite your friends)

• Measure drop offs in the flow to find hindrances

Facebook connect

Summary

• FB Products = (Viral) Distribution + Product• Maximize distribution from each of the channel• Measure – you would only improve with time• Be creative

Resources

• Tracking FB App platform, Who is growing – – http://www.insidefacebook.com/ – http://www.appdata.com/

• FBML and Facebook platform APIs– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page

• Guidelines on FB integration points – http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/

Verification_Checklist• Platform team blog

– http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page

Questions

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