Graphing Social Patterns - Highlights from presentation of Charlene Li (Forrester)

Charlene Li’s presentation at Graphing Social Conference highlighted her insights on how to leverage key Facebook trends for a successful Facebook Marketing Strategy. Particularly interesting for me were:

 

• Demographics
  • Between ’06 and ’07 the proportion of 18 to 24 year olds on Facebook went down from 35% to 25%
  • Between ’06 and ’07 the proportion of 35 year old plus segment on Facebook went up from 35% to 46%
• Performance of ads on Newsfeed stories
  • 4% to 26% Click-through rate
• Sponsored Groups on Facebook
  • Expensive (estimated 6 figure commitment for 3 months)
  • Offers custom navigation
  • Great chance to engage a user group but requires creativity and purpose
  • Example: Jeep Wrangler
    • Original Group page created is static, not engaging
    • In comparison, Jeep could sponsor user created groups such as:
      • ‘Yes, I own a Jeep Wrangler and waive to other wranglers’
  • Victoria’s Secret Pink Campaign – great example of engaging group members
  • Best way to leverage Sponsored Groups
    • Create unique user experience
    • Enable key features such as discussion board, wall, etc
    • Read & respond to comments
• On      Facebook Apps
  • Focus on what friends naturally do
  • Plan out how to make the app viral
  • Don’t forget to get feedback from users after launch

In summary, the Facebook experience should not be approached as ‘yet another advertising channel’. The best way to leverage Facebook’s platform and other features, is to put the community first. It’s imperative to integrate engaging, viral applications into any Facebook strategy. Doing so rewards application developers and marketers with viral growth never before experienced.