Okay, so many of you have read about my Facebook woes at work. The good news is -- it appears to be getting better. The bad news? It also appears to be pointless.
Though I have yet to venture out into the world of Facebook Ads, I've been playing around with a ton of the Facebook Fan Page features. For starters, I've been using Animoto to create videos that feature some of our work and posting them on the fan page. The day after posting the videos we had 173 video views and 83 unique viewers (people who hadn't previously visited the fan page). However, we only added 3 or 4 new fans. The following day, we still had a significant number of video views (80) but only 1 new fan. I was a little disappointed.
I also tried to use the Update feature, where I could send updates to all fans at once... needless to say I don't think anyone really notices these updates (please, correct me if I'm wrong). They don't show up on your main page, they aren't in your message inbox, but instead on a separate tag under your inbox. How are people supposed to notice this?
I'm still working on the whole Facebook thing, but my excitement is dwindling. Although people are obviously visiting the page, I don't see any real signs that its improving business or even just improving customer relationships. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I haven't given it enough time... all I know is if I were you, I wouldn't rely on Facebook for too much pr/marketing!!
Here is one of our sample videos, just for kicks:
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Viral Videos - Do they work?
After making the social issues video for class, I thought it would be interesting to do my next blog post on viral videos. So, I was looking around for something to write about when I came across an apparently popular video I must have missed!
The video, which came out sometime this past summer, features a girl who apparently can out catch a pro baseball player. The video -- which was actually an ad for Gatorade -- was so popular it was even picked up on NPR. Click here to listen to a segment done on the video.
I was surprised to learn that the video was part of a marketing/advertising campaign, as the mention of Gatorade was so subtle I hardly even noticed it!! I suppose that is the best type of advertising (because no body likes in your face ads). However, it leaves you wondering if it really made the desired impact.
Then again, Gatorade sure was talked about following the videos release... I'd be interested to see what the impact of the video was. Did anyone else see this and think it was real? Anyone see the ad and actually purchase Gatorade as a result?
The video, which came out sometime this past summer, features a girl who apparently can out catch a pro baseball player. The video -- which was actually an ad for Gatorade -- was so popular it was even picked up on NPR. Click here to listen to a segment done on the video.
I was surprised to learn that the video was part of a marketing/advertising campaign, as the mention of Gatorade was so subtle I hardly even noticed it!! I suppose that is the best type of advertising (because no body likes in your face ads). However, it leaves you wondering if it really made the desired impact.
Then again, Gatorade sure was talked about following the videos release... I'd be interested to see what the impact of the video was. Did anyone else see this and think it was real? Anyone see the ad and actually purchase Gatorade as a result?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Facebook Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing
Recently I blogged about how my dad is obsessing over Facebook and therefore, my work life lately has been centered on creating a Facebook page, Fan Page, and all sorts of (not so) fun stuff as a means of using Facebook as a marketing tool.
Though I still can't seem to find the article that started the whole thing, I managed to track down the "guide" my dad has been reading and basing most of his ideas off of:
Facebook Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing - Get more Business Plans
Overall, I think the guide is a good place to start for those who are Facebook helpless like my dad was (despite the fact that the title implies you can control whether or not something goes viral-which we've learned in class isn't true). It describes what facets of Facebook are most useful to someone trying to market via Facebook and mostly gives good detail.
However, it doesn't always explain things in the best manner. For instance, they don't do a good job of differentiating between Facebook user profiles and Fan Pages. I was able to tell the difference, but my dad (who is technologically illeterate) had a hard time remembering which page was being talked about and repeatdly flipped back through the pages to try and find the answer.
Also, there were times that I felt the writers were purposfully leaving out important details or providing misleading information to try and encourage businesses to use Facebook as a marketing tool. For instance, its easy to send an update to all fans with a Fan Page, but not so easy to message all your friends on your user profile. The guide convienantly leaves this out.
Overall though, I think for those just starting out, the guide is helpful. If you have the time (or are possibly interested in using Facebook for your job) read the guide and let me know what you think!
Though I still can't seem to find the article that started the whole thing, I managed to track down the "guide" my dad has been reading and basing most of his ideas off of:
Facebook Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing - Get more Business Plans
Overall, I think the guide is a good place to start for those who are Facebook helpless like my dad was (despite the fact that the title implies you can control whether or not something goes viral-which we've learned in class isn't true). It describes what facets of Facebook are most useful to someone trying to market via Facebook and mostly gives good detail.
However, it doesn't always explain things in the best manner. For instance, they don't do a good job of differentiating between Facebook user profiles and Fan Pages. I was able to tell the difference, but my dad (who is technologically illeterate) had a hard time remembering which page was being talked about and repeatdly flipped back through the pages to try and find the answer.
Also, there were times that I felt the writers were purposfully leaving out important details or providing misleading information to try and encourage businesses to use Facebook as a marketing tool. For instance, its easy to send an update to all fans with a Fan Page, but not so easy to message all your friends on your user profile. The guide convienantly leaves this out.
Overall though, I think for those just starting out, the guide is helpful. If you have the time (or are possibly interested in using Facebook for your job) read the guide and let me know what you think!
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