What does Facebook’s facelift mean for brands?
In this guest post, Lucio Dias Ribiero points out what the new-look Facebook means for users and advertisers
It has been a week of suspense and speculation regarding changes to Facebook that began rolling out at the start of the week. At the F8 developer conference in San Francisco, the company revealed a new way to integrate applications that reproduce content without the user having to leave the site. We have also seen user profiles updated, new applications for playing music and watching video and social news apps.
I watched the conference broadcasted online, and it seems pretty clear where Mark Zuckerberg wants to take Facebook in the coming years. The main focus is to increase user engagement. By using a series of media and lifestyle-centric applications, he wants to capture more qualified user data and drive up ad revenue – currently around $3.8bn – as a result.
Wired magazine described the changes by saying, “Facebook’s vision of the future involves bringing its users entirely into its social platform, allowing for the Facebook page to be a sort of one-stop shop, scooping up all of your activities and displaying them in one grand, blue and white frame.”
Nice post Lucio, will be good to know how this will / is affecting fan pages as I have noticed a drop in reach since these changes kicked in….
12 months ago edgerank did not play such a big part, it now seems that it does, what are your thoughts on getting the best impression count?
Any tips?
@Shai,
yes and the main reason you probably noticed a drop in reach and fans increase is probably because of another change.
From tests carried on by allfacebook, When users like content within Facebook, that activity no longer being publishes in the news feed,
That includes liking posts on brand pages, friends’ walls, or the newsfeed. Pages liked within Facebook were also not showing up on newsfeeds
However, liking content outside of the Facebook platform, such as a news story on another site, is still displayed on news feeds, and content can still be shared.
The equation is simple – less like = less word of mouth, also decreased impressions for brands
Hope it helps
so, um … what does it actually mean for brands?
one would be to get your content from outside facebook to be shared on facebook, the days of simply posting on a fanpage and getting traffic to your page through likes has moved on….facebook is now looking at content that comes into the site….
So Facebook fans are worth less then?
So I can understand this better, having a fan page on F/B is a waste of time.
http://www.facebook.com/HotChilli
@logic – Read the article again.
@Devil’s – no, I’d say the opposite, real emotionally connected fans are worth as much as (or more) than before.
@Chilli – I can’t understand why you came up with that conclusion. However let me say something.
NO it’s not a waste of time if you’ve got a plan and if you’ve got a reason to be there.
We know that many companies are rushing to try and jump into social media because they feel tremendous pressure to prevent being left behind.. It’s not surprising then that when faced with building a business social media presence, most are turning to Facebook as the answer. Facebook has become the strategy that nobody gets fired for (for now).
The biggest reason Facebook pages fail is the lack of resources, planning and know-how intelligence .
Done properly, Facebook offers companies (small and large) many chances to connect and enhance customer’s experience and many opportunities to create your story with your consumers and take them in a journey.
Before going to Facebook one needs to ask herself. “Is my product/service/advice/story better than it sounds, or does it sound better than it is?”
The first will enchant consumers, something worthy of word of mouth. The second? Hype, not worth a cent.
Good luck with http://www.facebook.com/hotchilli
Sorry to be corny, but from an overall view, the core issues remain the same. Create compelling and cool content and ideas that people want to share, and you will be fine.
The only way in which it may also effect brands is that plenty of kids who grew up on FB may react really badly to the Timeline changes, which makes their social history one click away to their original profiles and communication from 2007. So, who knows.
Agree with GG – Content and a real strategy will be more important than ever. . Companies that invest in strategy and execution will be more effective and the brands who were ‘just there because it seems like the place to be’ will no longer be in the frame – literally.
Facebook sees its users as ‘the product.’ The more connected to Facebook users become the more compelling is the environment for marketers.
Brands who expect returns from pages will need to get serious about it.
@Lucio … Have been doing multiple testing with my friends ( thanks everyone!) and my own profile… Seems for me LIKEs are very visible from all profiles- so if my friends liking a page or post it will make in my Top Stories – depending on my connection with this friend… So all activities carried out on Facebook inside Facebook still working for brands. Here is a screen grab http://tribecount.com.au/likes-travel.jpg
It is another question how well the brand is working edgerank.
@Vesna1313
Thanks, Larisa! That might explain it! Some of my friends have brands all through their newsfeed, while I have none. Thanks for experimenting!