Authored by Jeff Taylor

Facebook Timeline Apps: Why Brands Should Begin Building Now

Brands have invested in maintaining and growing Facebook pages for several years now.  Pages enable two-way conversation between brands and consumers, and the effectiveness of this single outlet is evident in the fact that millions have connected, commented and interacted with their favorite companies and organizations via Facebook Pages. Pages will continue to be an important component of brands’ overall social media strategies into the foreseeable future, but they are now joined by a new, complementary contender on the platform – Facebook Timeline apps.

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The Verdict: Should Your Brand Pursue a Presence on Google+?

Google+ is in many ways Google's final opportunity to capture a substantial share of consumers’ social media activity, and Google is betting the farm on it.  This company is in the midst of pulling apart their array of web products – including Blogger, Gmail and YouTube – and is slowly but steadily rebuilding each with Google+ functionality baked in. For brands, Google+ pages represent one piece of this larger puzzle, but they have limited functionality right now, and the audience is small and niche-focused.  This scale makes Google+ certainly worth continued observation from the sidelines, but in deciding on whether to set up shop with a page right now, brand teams should answer the following questions.

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Measuring Facebook Engagement Across Competitive Pages

Comparing your brand’s Facebook page to the pages of competitors is a challenge, as you are not privy to several key data points that ultimately have significant influence on the level of success. If you’re analyzing your own page, the metrics to look at in general are monthly active users, post views (impressions) and engagement rate. These metrics provide a clear view of how many people are actively taking in your content and interacting with your brand. Since these metrics are inaccessible on competitors' pages — and the number of lifetime likes is not an effective measure of consumer engagement —how can one compare their page to the competition?

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Facebook Places Extends to Events

The Facebook App for iPhone was just updated, providing users with the ability to check-in to Facebook Events. According to Facebook, the event check-in ability is extended to invited guests—but only those who have replied “I’m attending” or “Maybe”. Guests may begin checking in up to three hours before the event is scheduled to begin, and event creators have ultimate control over moderation of unwanted check-ins. Facebook has a full explanation of a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=20251">how to check in to an event; though for most it will be intuitive.

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Facebook Insights Update: Website Owners, This is for You!

Facebook Insights – the built-in analytics tool set from Facebook – has changed for the better. For brands that have yet to include Facebook social plugins on their websites, now is the time to reconsider. These advanced Insights enable brands to be truly informed of which web content is resonating with visitors, who is sharing it (on Facebook), and what net effect (click-through rate) it is driving.

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Using In-Person Signage to Activate Check-ins

The Facebook Place Page for Washington Dulles International Airport has 47,220 check-ins, and its foursquare venue has amassed 57,965 check-ins.  It is instinctive to check-in at the airport, as this action has become social proof of one’s jet-setting adventures. Retailers and brand-sponsored check-in venues do not generally experience an airport-like momentum of instinctive check-ins. Brands can begin by offering a healthy incentive to check-in, such as a discount, preferential treatment or insider access to information; however an extra push is needed to activate those customers who remember to check-in at the airport but are not instinctively thinking “I should check-in” when shopping at their favorite store.

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Facebook Places: Where Are People Checking In?

Frequent travelers – especially business travelers – are among the most active early users of Facebook Places.  This became apparent when two colleagues checked in to the Chicago O'Hare International Airport yesterday.  They were not alone; 1,790 others have checked in there as well in the five days since Facebook Places was released, making this one of the more popular Places to date.

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Gen Y’s Ultimate Car is a… Zipcar

I have little desire to buy, lease or even take care of a car, and this is a small but growing industry trend – especially among younger carless urbanites.  ‘Car sharing’ services such as ZipCar are capitalizing on this unmet need.  Since 2/3 of ZipCar’s customers are under 35, I decided to explore how this company has been so successful at reigning in the Generation Y market.

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