How did F8 impact me?

LEARNINGS FROM F8

In May of 2007, Facebook opened its platform for application developers to build upon. Besides being the launch of a myriad of businesses (including appssavvy), it also became a defining moment as to how marketers viewed Facebook. This was the beginning of Facebook as a tool, and thus the question became as much, “How do I leverage Facebook?” as it was, “How do I buy Facebook?”

At the F8 Conference in April, Facebook made some of its biggest announcements since the original F8 in 2007. Facebook is socializing the Web and providing tools for developers and marketers alike to increase our ability to connect with users through social activity across the Internet.

What do these changes mean for you? Here’s a breakdown of the changes and additions made by Facebook:

OPEN GRAPH:The collective announcements from F8 can be grouped under the term Open Graph and represent a massive shift by Facebook toward powering the social Web. Essentially, through newly available tools and APIs, any Web site can now be treated like a Facebook fan page, complete with social functionality, the ability to “Like” the entire page or individual pieces of content, and the ability for the site owner to publish feed stories to their fans.

Our Take:
From 2007 until now, we’ve seen a Web-wide migration to Facebook – this change marks the beginning of a return to the Web, with sites now bringing the tools and audiences previously available only on the Facebook platform. Additionally, let the “Like” rush begin, as we’ll likely see social recommendation become a big piece of data discovery in the future.

SOCIAL PLUGINS:Facebook released an expansive set of APIs and Social Plug-ins that allow Web sites across the Internet to socialize quickly and easily using the Facebook social graph. Sites like Pandora and CNN have debuted integrations allowing you to discover what music friends are listening to or what articles they find interesting. User activity is published to the Facebook newsfeed.

Our Take:
Social plug-ins are the quickest way to make your site personally relevant to your audience. Early reports suggest increased traffic and interaction across sites that have already integrated these.

SEARCH & AGGREGATION:Facebook’s new Open Graph API’s allow for new methods and possibilities for search and aggregation. With new and expanded amounts of data being made available to 3rd party sites, we’ll begin to see an increased emphasis on social information discovery. Services such as Likebutton.me have already sprung up and provide centralized hubs for a user to track their friends’ activity across the web. Additionally, Facebook’s new system for categorizing and tagging sites across the web marks the beginnings of a new standard and a truly semantic social web.

Our Take:
This potentially marks the beginning of a new generation of truly social search. Whereas up until now, information discovery has primarily occurred through a universal page rank, search may begin to shift towards a more social-page-rank. This is a huge move by Facebook.

ADDITIONAL CHANGES:Additional new or expanded Facebook services include a robust analytics package (similar to Google Analytics) that can be used on Facebook or on conventional Web sites, more details about the Facebook virtual currency platform soon to be rolled out, and refined methods for identifying site visitors by their Facebook ID and collecting user permissions.

Our Take:
These tools and services are all designed to encourage Web site developers to integrate Facebook features. From a user standpoint, navigating the social Web will be smoother and Facebook accounts are well on their way to becoming the universal user-IDs of the Web.

Owned Paid and Earned

Things are changing, blah, blah, blah. Consider how your owned, paid, and earned media are contributing to your bottom line. I’m betting they can give you more if you simplify the formula.

Cut everything else out and use owned, paid, earned media to take advantage of new social tools and established advertising models, creating relevancy, long term growth, and loyal, brand advocates.

Owned - message from company to consumers through channels controlled by the company

Paid - message from company to consumers by lpyaing to leverage a channel not controlled by the company

Earned - message about a company passed between consumers as result of an experience with the brand

Utilizing all three for a wide variety of company needs will provide versatility, cost efficiency, and the ability to engender loyalty from consumers.

If done correctly, the brand will have access to a loyal customer base over long periods of time. This has also opens up the opportunity to aggregate and reach niche audiences, i.e. General Mills has a community dedicated to Gluten-free products for the 2& of Americans that have Celiac disease.

The brand will also have the ability to turn its fragmented digital presence into a series of connected consumer touch points.

There’s no questioning that Paid is the immediate, guaranteed-scalable medium.

But Earned offers the most value. It’s the most credible becuase people trust their peers above all else before making a purchase. It influences sales during the research stage of buying. It has reach and permanence - forever indexable by Google.

If your brand isn’t where you want it - consider simplifying the formula. Evaluate your mix of owned, paid, and earned media.

The source for this information is a Forrester research study, No Media Should Stand Alone (December 2009).