startup guide to facebook marketing

START UP GUIDE TO FACEBOOK MARKETING

Copyright @. Unspun Consulting Group

FIELD GUIDE TO FACEBOOK MARKETING At the end of 2013, there were 1.19 Billion active Facebook users. To put that figure into perspective, consider that approximately one in every eight people globally are Facebook users, and about half of them are logged in on any given day. With staggering figures like these, marketers cannot afford to ignore Facebook. Regardless of size or marketing budget, brands can benefit from an effective Facebook strategy. WHY YOU NEED THIS GUIDE Are you currently searching for ways to: •  Accelerate the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns through Facebook and social media? •  Integrate social and CRM data to grow subscriber lists and update or strengthen subscriber information? •  Implement paid, owned, and earned content into your social strategy? •  Understand how Facebook Timeline and other recent interface changes can be used to promote

consumer engagement?

Consumers are more active on social media than ever before, and not surprisingly, many marketers are struggling to keep up. It seems that, with an ever-evolving sea of data and technology, marketers don’t know where to start. Marketers are told what they need to do, but no one’s telling them WHY these tactics are important or HOW to execute a campaign around them—until now. In this Field Guide to Facebook Marketing, you’ll get the tips and detailed instructions you need to confidently build a branded presence on Facebook and beyond. Each page of this guide is filled with commentary on recognizing, implementing, and nurturing your social communications for cross-channel success. As you continue on your social marketing journey, take this guide with you to make social success a reality in your organization. Happy hunting!


OPTIMIZE CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE!

OVERVIEW Most successful marketing campaigns running today have one thing in common: they include consumer touch-points that cross multiple channels. And in today’s consumer landscape, the one channel you cannot afford to ignore is social media. Want to increase conversion and consumer engagement across ALL of your marketing campaigns? Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels consistently by offering engaging content that gives your consumers a reason to come back. HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION •  Build a social brand presence on Facebook by publishing Pages that facilitate consumer

interaction. •  Then maintain consumer engagement by posting frequently and being an active part of your

brand’s social conversation. •  Offer Facebook fans and Twitter followers a reason to engage via social channels and drive

conversions with fan-gated promotions and coupons. •  Engage loyal users through contests, polls, videos, and consumer-driven content. •  Keep your content consistent—people like to know what they’re signing up for and are quick

to disengage if content is too frequent or uninteresting.

Once you’ve established your Facebook presence, expand into other social

networks including Twitter.


GROW YOUR SUBSCRIBER LIST WITH FACEBOOK!

OVERVIEW Data collected via social media, combined with CRM and behavioral marketing data, has proven to increase overall campaign effectiveness. After all, the more you know about your consumers, the better you can deliver relevant, timely messages. Where marketers have previously gone astray is failing to tap into the rich resources they have at their disposal—most notably, the social web. Facebook contains a wealth of consumer intelligence and social data that marketers are anxious to get their hands on. And through the use of Facebook’s Open Graph technology, finding ways to collect social data from customers and prospects is easier than ever.

FIELD FACT: Open Graph is an extension of Facebook’s core technology. It allows Facebook actions to be replicated across the web, which provides marketers with valuable opportunities to leverage Facebook data and connections

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION If you want consumer data, you’ve got to ask for it. So start by promoting a branded lead form on Facebook that requests email addresses along with basic demographic information.

Social Pages: Simply drag and drop Gears onto the editor to design your Fan Pages.


ENGAGE LOYAL CUSTOMERS BY “STARRING” & “PINNING” STORIES ON THE TIMELINE!

OVERVIEW The way consumers interact with brands on Facebook has recently changed with the introduction of Facebook’s new Timeline feature. The basic profile or Fan Page that was previously a vessel for promotion now requires much more thought and creativity to be successful. In order for a brand to be successful on Facebook today, they must see engagement from their fans. While it does require more strategy and higher-quality content, it also provides a greater opportunity to engage with previously idle fans, turning them into customers and eventual brand advocates.

FIELD FACT: A “pinned” post always appears in the top left corner of a Fan Page Timeline and is identified with a flag. It stays at the top of a Page for seven days. After that, it’ll return to the date it was posted on the Page’s Timeline.

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Gather your most engaging content and draw attention to it by “starring” and “pinning” it to your Timeline. For your brand, this may include: •  Video footage •  Commercials •  Event promotions •  Special announcements Whatever content you decide to “pin” or “star,” make sure it’s capable of enhancing your Facebook presence. Your network of Facebook fans should find it interesting, relevant, and be eager to engage with you because of it.

Example of a “pinned” post.

Don’t overthink it: email best practices for engaging content apply to Facebook too.

Engaging content produces results- clicks, “likes,” comments, etc...


USE FACEBOOK INSIGHTS TO MONITOR PAGE AND APPLICATION ACTIVITY!

OVERVIEW Facebook Insights allows users to easily monitor their Facebook Page or app activity. By better understanding consumption of content, user growth, and fan demographics, marketers can make better decisions regarding their Facebook brand presence. HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Facebook Insights is free—but available only to Page administrators and developers on Pages that have been “liked” by at least 30 users. If you have technical resources at your disposal, you may also consider utilizing Insights API, which helps you access metrics beyond what’s available through the standard Insights dashboard.

Overview screen of Facebook Insights.


UNDERSTAND YOUR NEWS FEED!

OVERVIEW Facebook uses an algorithm to determine which connections are most important to a user, what content should appear most frequently in their News Feed, and what socially-enabled ads they see. It carries a lot of weight, so it’s in your best interest to get familiar with this algorithm, and adjust your social strategy accordingly. The way to succeed and have your content appear in fan News Feeds is to consistently show high activity and engagement. For an individual consumer, this might include making frequent status updates, uploading images, or changing relationship status. For a brand, this is driven by fan base engagement. This means your fans might not even see your content unless you receive consistent engagement!

FIELD FACT: Consider these three factors when evaluating content relevance: •  affinity refers to the

relationship between two Facebook users. Each time a user engages with you on Facebook, your affinity with that user goes up. Note that your engagement with a user doesn’t influence this—only their engagement.

•  Interaction considers what actions users have taken with your content. Each action is recorded and given more precedence based on the amount of energy required to engage (i.e. a comment shows more engagement than a click).

•  timeliness takes into account the age of the content. Recent content is most likely to show up in a News Feed.

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Produce content that encourages your fans to engage and interact with your brand through Facebook. This might include: •  Polls •  Surveys •  Video downloads •  Status updates Remember, the more engaged your fans are, the more likely your brand is to show up in consumers’ News Feeds, making your socially-enabled ads more frequent and effective.

Heard of EdgeRank? It’s the same concept.


BUILD YOUR FANBASE!

OVERVIEW There’s no question that a robust and healthy fanbase provides numerous opportunities for brand engagement, promotion, and loyalty. But, while building a substantial Facebook fanbase won’t happen overnight, it’s important to lay a sturdy foundation by establishing both a plan for acquisition and maintenance. Remember that getting a “like” isn’t enough—you need consistent engagement to turn a Facebook fan into a customer.

FIELD FACT: Research reveals that 40% of Facebook users are motivated to “like” a company, brand, or association to receive discounts and promotions. And, 51% of fans say they rarely or never visit a company’s page after “liking” them.

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION •  Remember that regardless of the channel, a feeling of exclusivity goes a long way for most

consumers.

•  Pair that with a promotion, and you’re sure to see engagement from new audiences.

•  Take that strategy one step further and geo-target by utilizing data provided by Facebook Insights.

•  Consider where you’re delivering this content—Timelines, News Feeds, or Facebook Tabs. Identical content is rarely appropriate for all locations, so be selective and strategic.

Sound familiar? You might be using these same tactics to manage your email program!


EXTEND REACH AND DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR MOST COMPELLING CONTENT!

OVERVIEW Facebook’s Reach Generator is an “always on” premium package that recently became available to advertisers. Facebook guarantees that with this product, content will reach a higher percentage of fans more frequently than it would organically. By increasing overall content distribution, brands can ensure that their most compelling content receives visibility, traffic, and page engagement.

FIELD FACT: Facebook estimates that a company’s branded Page reaches just 16% of their fans per week on average. Remedy this by ensuring your most valuable content is prioritized through Reach Generator or Premium on Facebook

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Focus on creating compelling messages on your Facebook page—and don’t forget that you can borrow content that has proven successful in email, and use it here. Reach Generator does the rest!

Facebook’s Reach Generator.

WHAT TO EXPECT •  Reach 75% of your fans on a regular basis. •  Double brand engagement through “likes,” comments, and shares. •  Receive monthly reports that review reach, engagement, and brand tracking.


INVEST IN PREMIUM ON FACEBOOK

OVERVIEW In the past, Facebook advertising has been posted on the side of the screen, away from the News Feed or profile Pages. With the introduction of Premium on Facebook in early 2012, advertisers now have the opportunity for their content to appear in more prominent, eye-catching locations including: •  The far right side of the homepage •  On a mobile News Feed •  On a homepage News Feed •  On a user logout screen

HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Customize URLs with important keywords or phrases that are relevant to your campaigns. You can even include subscriber information like name or email address as part of the link, providing the ultimate personalized touch that your site visitors will love.

WHAT TO EXPECT 5-10x more engagement is seen with ads that appear within the News Feed or right side of a user’s homepage in comparison to any other site location.

Location is Key


MASTER FACEBOOK TIMELINE WITH ENGAGING CONTENT!

OVERVIEW Facebook Timeline offers brands a great outlet for promotion, but places an emphasis on images and engagement. It offers brands the opportunity to provide personalized experiences and a forum to promote interaction across other channels including email, Twitter, or your website. HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION Deliver a personalized experience by using metrics collected from Facebook Insights to determine your brand’s most popular content and the demographics of your most engaged users. Then distribute targeted messages that drive social conversation. And don’t stop there—turn highly-engaging posts into new content and add important milestones to keep content relevant and fresh. Use Timeline’s image-heavy layout to humanize your brand, highlight popular products, or facilitate across-channel experience by repurposing creative from TV, print, email, or other non-social campaigns.

Example of a Facebook Timeline.


ASK CUSTOMERS TO DRIVE YOUR BRAND’S CREATIVE!

OVERVIEW Making sure that consumers are receiving the type of content they want is critical to staying fresh and relevant, especially in the ever-evolving social landscape. Testing content on Facebook is one way to stay on the pulse of what consumers want. This also allows marketers to gather customer insight and actionable performance metrics that can provide valuable campaign lift. HOW TO PUT IT INTO ACTION One way marketers can get the data they need is to ask customers to provide feedback on your marketing content. Launch Facebook polls and surveys: •  On a homepage News Feed •  On a user logout screen •  Offer incentives for submitting feedback •  Add a level of excitement by publishing the results daily or weekly

Or, a more traditional way is to perform A/B tests to gather: •  “Like” counts or user growth •  Page views •  Demographic information Then, adjust your creative strategy accordingly, making sure the insights you’ve gained translate to the creative you produce for other channels.

FIELD FACT: Facebook reports that “well-run campaigns that leverage social media drive ROIs of 3x or greater.”

Facebook Insights is perfect for gathering these metrics.


GLOSSARY OF FACEBOOK MARKETING TERMS

ACTION RESPONSE OR “AR” The percentage of users who complete an action (such as a “like” or “RSVP”) or are exposed to a Facebook ad. ACTIVITY LOG A new administrator control on Facebook Pages found under the “Manage” button at the top of the admin panel. Users can view Page posts and “star,” hide, or delete stories, or change the date of a post. ADS AND STORIES Facebook Advertisements or featured News Feed stories that consist of an image, ad copy, and title. Sponsored Stories are considered the evolution of Ads and provide additional exposure in the News Feed, which is where the majority of Facebook fans spend their time. APPLICATIONS OR “APPS” Brand and consumer-made interactive outlets for sharing and engaging in games, news, activities, events, and more. CPC OR “COST PER CLICK” Allows marketers to specify how much advertising spend they are willing to pay each time a user clicks on their ad. CPM OR “COST PER THOUSAND IMPRESSIONS” Allows marketers to specify how much advertising spend they are willing to pay for 1,000 impressions (or views) of their ad. FAN PAGE A business profile used to help brands market themselves on Facebook. Often referred to simply as “Pages,” they have many similarities with personal Facebook Profile Pages, but present additional administrative and marketing capabilities. FANS Fans are Facebook users that “like” a Fan Page.



GESTURES Actions that mirror real-life activities like “read,” “watch,” or “eat,” instead of just “like.” INSIGHTS A dashboard which tracks and displays user activity within Pages and Applications, providing baseline analytics capabilities. MILESTONES Story types that mark important events, such as store openings or product launches. NEWS FEED The homepage of every Facebook user where Stories from friends, brands, and applications are aggregated and updated in real-time. This is where most Facebook users spend their time and is the center of activity on Facebook. Algorithms based on engagement and recentness determine when and where a Story shows up in a user’s News Feed. OFFERS A promotion delivered as a Story on a brand’s Facebook Page, allowing fans to claim it easily and share with friends. OPEN GRAPH As an extension of Facebook’s core technology, Open Graph allows Facebook actions to be replicated across the web, which provides marketers with valuable opportunities to leverage Facebook data and connections. PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS A Facebook Insights metric that calculates the total number of people sharing and commenting about your page over a seven-day rolling period.



PINNING A way for brands to highlight their most important or relevant content on their Facebook Page. Marketers can anchor their most important stories to the top of their Page for up to seven days. PREMIUM ON FACEBOOK Allows marketers to create content or Stories that appear in premium user locations including News Feeds and logout screens. REACH GENERATOR Takes Facebook posts and moves them to the top of a user homepage to for additional distribution and exposure. SOCIAL CONTEXT A metric that determines the percentage of an organization’s ad impressions that were “liked” by at least one friend. SOCIAL GRAPH Describes the public web and the interconnectedness of people. Various APIs are available to access and leverage this information. SOCIAL PLUGINS Extensions of the Facebook platform that enable marketers to see what their fan base is doing across the broader web. STARRING Enables marketers to enlarge a Story so it receives more attention, and is managed in Activity Log. STORIES Any content, whether created by a user or re-purposed from an external website.



TABS Also known as Views, Tabs are a way of navigating to different locations within a Facebook Page. With the latest design, fans see four Tabs at once. TIMELINE Facebook’s latest personal page layout design, which includes a chronological history of user actions taken. TREND A record of what topics and Stories are trending, gauged when multiple users share the same link or discuss the same topic. VIEWS Also known as Tabs, Views are a way of navigating to different locations within a Facebook Page. With the latest design, fans see four Views at once.

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startup guide to facebook marketing

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