Facebook's Big Changes: Implications For Marketers

Facebook's Big Changes: Implications For Marketers

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Last week, Facebook unveiled some major changes that will have far reaching implications for users and marketers. The following is our point of view for companies using Facebook to engage customers and prospects.

Users have already noticed changes to Facebook such as the running stream of posts in the right column called the ticker and a new ranking of top stories and recent stories. Also, users can now subscribe to aspects of friends feeds or to people who are not their friends a nice feature for following bloggers or content producers as you would on Twitter.

The biggest changes in last weeks updates include a reimaging of user profiles and the use of apps to interact with companies and your friends in real time. With this POV is a summary of recent articles and analysis that will give you specific details surrounding such changes as well as insight to Facebooks strategy.

Market Landscape

Before looking at the recent changes it is instructive to review the financial and competitive landscape. Google+, Twitter and FourSquare, among others, are gaining momentum and competing with Facebook for user attention, online time, and marketing dollars. The Financial Times recently reported that Facebook is delaying their IPO until later next year.

Facebook is looking to fend off other social networking sites and capture a larger share of user time and online engagement. The stronger they cement their hold on end user time and online commitment, the higher the share price.

1.The increased amount of personal data and activity generated from users will give advertisers greater opportunity to run behaviorally targeted ads. Again, more revenue streams mean a higher initial price.

2.Create a possible revenue stream from apps developed by companies seeking Facebook users.

3.Management likely wants to have all these changes implemented before the distraction of key employees concerned with shares and payouts begins. Anyone who has ever gone through and IPO knows that the focus becomes internal when the payout time comes close.

Implications for Users:

Users will have the ability to create a timeline which takes the profile concept to a new level by telling the story of their life to quote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It remains to be seen if this is a response to user needs or an opportunity to get more detailed information on users for marketers and advertisers. While we think this may appeal to a younger demographic, it is unclear how older professionals (the fastest growing segment of users) will respond. For many, Facebook is about connecting with friends in the here and now, not taking a trip down memory lane.

Implication for Marketers

Fan pages are not changing for now, but will likely change into the Timeline format. If you have a fan page you need to be mindful of the new GraphRank, which decides what goes into top stories in users news feeds. Ranking will likely depend on the overall quality of the content and the level of interaction. It will be more important than ever to have a cohesive content strategy that can be distributed through your fan page.

Apple proved how apps transform the relationship between company and customer, and now Facebook is adopting the app model and many companies already signed on at launch (Nike, Hulu, Netflix). Companies will have an ability to distribute content and sell products within the walls of the Facebook community. And, activity will be broadcast to each customers friends when they take an action. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have recently launched social readers on Facebook that have a Flipbook format (an iPad app feel).

About the Author:
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