![Conversational Marketing [home]](/users/conversationalmarketing/site_logo.jpg "Conversational Marketing"){kind=logo}
Social media has become an invaluable part of many businesses' internet marketing strategies. Facebook has become a favorite of many companies for its ease of use.
Facebook Inc., the world’s largest social networking service, will begin displaying advertisements on its smartphone and tablet applications as soon as early March, the Financial Times reported late Sunday.
Seeking higher revenues in advance of the blockbuster US$5-billion initial public offering the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has set for this spring, Facebook plans to introduce what it calls “sponsored stories” into mobile news feeds within weeks, several people familiar with the matter told the FT. Advertising agencies have already submitted proposals for the new feature, the people said.
Making money from mobile was highlighted as a top priority for Facebook when the company filed documents for its highly anticipated and long expected IPO last week. Half of all 845 million Facebook users globally accessed their account through a mobile device last December, yet a lack of advertising means Facebook makes no money from those visits.
Do you think that adding advertisements to help monetize their digital marketing is smart or will it discourage you from using the service?
Would you be willing to try out the following with your facebook fan page?
Before you go, there, can we talk you into liking our Facebook page? That’s the basic premise behind Like Chat, a new tool from Virtual Person. Like Chat replaces the traditional like button on websites with a chat window in an attempt to better engage users and increase total likes. Its features include: Virtual Person Founder and Chief Executive Officer Tomer Sasson believes the next step for search engines will be to emphasize social searching, increasing the demand for Facebook likes.
February 29 only appears on the calendar every four years, and the 2012 edition may include Facebook’s official announcement on timeline for pages. A source told Business Insider that the social network may use its invitation-only Facebook Marketing Conference that day to make the announcement, saying: At Facebook, they pushed back the launch of timeline for brands to the end of February. Those two pieces of information are too much of a coincidence. Another source told Business Insider: Timeline is coming to brand pages. Most people don’t even know.
Facebook has linked up with moo.com to use your Timeline cover photo and contact details to produce a business card. You can select from the cover photos you’ve used and most fields on the card are editable in the straightforward design process. The arrangement is only available to those who’ve switched to Facebook’s Timeline, which is a complete revamp of your Facebook Profile. It uses your historical data to create a digital scrapbook of your life. Go to http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline to find out more.
Best part? First 50 cards are absolutely free! I just requested mine and can't wait to see them. No CC card info was required, and no shiping charges either.
As digital marketers, we’re frequently reminded that magic formulas don’t really exist. Still, our experimentation and experiences often lead to insights about “what’s next.” Hopefully, the following insights and sample tools mentioned in this article will inspire your consideration (and actions) for 2012.
Facebook is testing a mechanism for brands to communicate privately with consumers via their Facebook Pages, said a Facebook spokesperson on Dec. 19. How do you think this will help your Facebook business strategy?
What is the best time of day to post Facebook page updates for your business? There are certain times of the day and days of the week that are statistically more active. Read this article to learn what would be the best business strategy for you.
A year ago now, both Google and Bing announced that they factor social signals from social media into their organic search algorithms. As the lines between social media and SEO continue to thin, social media will gain importance for SEO. As Google described it, social media is about relationships and relationships prove relevance and relevance is at the core of organic search.
Here are 10 reasons why any business needs a Facebook presence:
Google and Bing crawl and index Facebook Pages because they are publicly available. As a result, Facebook Pages do indeed come up in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Google announced in early November 2011 that they now crawl and index Facebook Comments.
People are starting their searches at the Facebook search box. Test to see if your brand comes up when you search for it in Facebook.
SEO is now about web presence optimization (WPO) and Facebook is a must for any web presence.
Your target audience (unless you think they are not included in the 800 million Facebook users) is hanging out there.
The “Like” button is the new “backlink”.
The “Liker” (the Facebook User who did the “Liking”) is the new “lead” or “contact”.
Your Facebook presence adds quality backlinks to your website.
Facebook is easily accessible on mobile devices giving your prospects and clients easy access to your content and brand.
Your competitors most likely have a Facebook presence.
Ever wonder what draws the most attention on social media profiles? Mashable recorded actual eye movements to show you.
When potential dates, employers and friends glance at your online social profiles, what do they see? EyeTrackShop, a startup that runs eye-tracking studies for advertisers, helped Mashable find out by applying its technology to the profile pages of popular social networks.
The study used the webcams of 30 participants to record their eye movements as they were shown profile pages from Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Klout, Reddit, Digg, Tumblr, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Pinterest at 10-second intervals.
These are the key takeaways for businesses dealing with Facebook from this study:
• Profile pictures matter. -It is what gets the most attention, so ensure that you take the time to create a profile picture that is representative of your company.
• Content on top wins. - The further down the page something was the less likely it was to be noticed.
Small businesses are becoming more comfortable with social media marketing and are using it more when engaging with customers, according to the Fall 2011 Attitudes and Outlook Survey from engagement marketing company Constant Contact. Of those using social media marketing, Facebook continues to be the tool of choice for small businesses: 96 percent report they use it. Of those, 86 percent find it an effective tool (up from 82 percent in the last seasonal study).
This survey was administered in October 2011 to 1,972 small business owners and employees. Of the respondents, 87 percent of are located in the US and 81 percent of these organizations have 25 or less employees.
In the last six months, small businesses using online marketing tools revealed a significant reduction in perceived barriers to adoption of social media, according to the survey. There is increased awareness that social media marketing need not be time-consuming or difficult, which were both obstacles reported in Constant Contact’s Spring 2011 study.
© 2012 http://www.conversationalmarketing.com/
