A company that invests in building the right content on its Facebook Page is more likely to increase Fans and achieve a lift in customer engagement, but it is important that this serves a communications objective.

1. Make specific targets

Whilst most brands are looking to grow the fan base on their Page, that in itself should not be your objective. Companies should look to deliver a key message or to promote a video or campaign through a particular tab; and by doing so will successfully secure fans along the way. By integrating YouTube or your website into a tab, you can seek to improve your customer’s familiarity with your product range or organisation; helping you to deliver against traditional business objectives.

2. Have a clear tab strategy

By implementing a clear strategy around tabs, companies can create a simple consumer journey for its customers. Companies should look to inform and entertain customers, and to separate out these paths. Take advantage of events tabs to publicise calendar hooks, and ensure info tabs are up-to-date.

Tabs should complement one another, it should be clear to a user where the information they are seeking is housed and campaign tabs should not be abandoned or left unpopulated.

If you are looking to hold a dialogue with your customers, do not over complicate things; instead, focus on keeping the wall engaging and fresh.

3. Incentivise

Whilst valuable content and a thriving community are important to the survival of any business in a social environment, it is still important to consider the consumer journey and to offer an incentive to drive consumers to the page from an external source. The more signposts you put in place, and the more you reward customers for engaging with your business through the platform, the more your community will grow.

4. Attract, reward, share

Once you’ve determined your strategy, it’s time to build great content. The best tabs are the ones that encourage repeat use and expose customers to a specific product or service. Try to consider how your customer uses the platform, and the sort of information they might choose to share; according to a recent report for instance, video will soon account for 90% of all online traffic [2].

5. Audience

The most important factor in any social media programme is the audience. Identifying your target consumer and building content that they can enjoy is imperative to the success for the page. Remember, you are talking directly to your consumer, not through the media or a third party, so make it count. Above all, make it relevant.

[1] http://clearslide.com/view/mail?iID=V8YFCRBY2JCCKGKSFMAK
[2] http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/video-soon-to-be-90-of-online-traffic-0117979

Lindsey Reaney
Account Manager, Golley Engage

When Google acquired Android Inc. in 2005, no one could have predicted the success story it would go on to become. With the 2008 launch of the HTC Dream, the first commercially available handset to run Android, Google’s operating system went from strength to strength, slowly but surely biting into the Apple market share. According to a recent Guardian report, about 42 million Android devices were activated in December alone, suggesting that there are now just less than 280m active Google Android devices worldwide – that’s 47% of the market share. [1]

Of course, we’re not just talking about mobile phone devices. Now tablets and e-readers account for a huge share of tech sales, and with a number of tablets running the Android OS stealing customers from Apple’s rival iPad, there is no doubting that Google Android is packing a huge punch in the market. But why? Here’s what we’d put Android’s success down to:

ANDROID

Google released the Android code as open source, and it is this that lies at the heart of the battle between the Android OS and Apple’s iOS. Unlike Apple, with Android, compatibility is the name of the game. The so-called ‘Android Open Source Project’ (AOSP) is led by Google, with “the goal to create a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users” and ensures the continued compatibility of all Android devices. Google also heads up the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a consortium of 34 companies, including HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola and Samsung, committed to developing open standards for mobile devices.  On the surface of it, the majority of users won’t even be aware of the open source nature of Android. However, for a number of reasons, it has a profound effect on the service they receive:

- Fast reactions

There is a huge community of developers able to write apps that extend the functionality of Android devices. So instead of just one company working on the code, an unlimited number of people are able to do so, meaning that open source software tends to be more secure than proprietary software because thousands of developers are monitoring the code every day. As a result bugs in the software are quickly fixed.

- Creativity

The open source nature of Android means that developers’ creativity is encouraged rather than quashed. Working with the open source Android code gives developers a huge amount of freedom to produce exciting new apps.

As of October 2011 there were more than 400,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Android Market as of December 2011 exceeded 10 billion [2,3] – a measure of the popularity of Android with developers and customers alike, and therefore with brands interested in investing in apps.

- Freedom

So long as the user gives approval at installation time, Android apps are free to do whatever they want, i.e. ‘accessing the internet’ or ‘reading the state of the phone’. Apple apps, on the other hand, are tightly restricted – they are not allowed to communicate with each other for any reason, or run in the background. The increased functionality granted to Android apps, makes the possibilities for developers and users far more wide-ranging than their Apple counterparts.

APPLE

However, Apple is still indisputably a world leader in the tech field and still boasts the largest market share. So how can Apple fight back against the attack of the Android?

- Love

Apple has the so-called ‘sticky factor’ – the addictive desirability of its products that keep customers coming back to them time after time because they love the brand.

- Money-making

Whilst the open source Android offers many advantages to developers, Google has not yet made an app market that makes publishers more money than Apple, so developers are continuing to pick iOS over Android because it is here that they can make the most money.

- Upgrade time

The upgrade path from developer to user is much shorter for Apple users. Android upgrades have to go from Google to the phone manufacturers to the carriers to the devices, whereas iOS upgrades can be sent from Apple directly to devices. As a result, Android users can’t get an upgrade until they buy their next phone, whilst Apple users don’t have to wait.

- Innovation

If there’s one thing that Apple represents, it’s innovation. The consistently exciting new Apple releases, such as Siri, iCloud, iTunes Match and iMessage, ensure the successful future of Apple. As long as people still believe they are getting the latest, and the best, from Apple, they will continue to remain loyal members of Team Apple.

So when it comes to one of the biggest battles of the 21st century tech world, one that defines and divides the tech universe, there’s a real dichotomy – and the choice is yours. Whilst Apple is all about making it as easy as possible for the user, Android’s motto is “it’s your phone, you have the right to do whatever you want with it”. The choices they make over the next few years are critical for both operating systems. Will Apple endeavour to let go of the reigns a little and increase compatibility? Will Android be able to improve its ‘sticky-factor’ so that customers come back time and time again? We don’t know, but it’ll certainly be an interesting ride.

[1] http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-30/tech/30571342_1_android-platform-smartphone-windows-phone#ixzz1ihCS2ozs
[2] http://www.t3.com/news/android-market-reaches-500000-app-mark
[3] http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/12/10-billion-apps-detailed/

Phillippa Holmes
Account Executive, Golley Engage

Customer services on Twitter

More and more consumers are turning to Twitter to complain about poor customer service, particularly when they feel let down by existing channels. However, few companies have the infrastructure in place to manage queries directed via social networking sites. The company will need a specific workflow that feeds complaints made via social media into the traditional customer service process and ensures that queries are resolved efficiently and communicated effectively.

It is important that responsibility for each complaint is communicated internally right from the off, as often the social media manager will not be the person dealing directly with the case, but will need to constructively communicate any developments to the consumer. It seems that at the very least consumers expect a response from businesses when they engage with them through a brand social media channel, regardless of whether that platform is an official customer services outlet. It is therefore imperative that every brand carries out an online reputation audit and highlights any potential hotspots, allowing brand managers to implement processes for responding to consumers.

Mobile enabled site

Just under half of the UK population now owns a Smartphone, and Google’s mobile operating system Android is powering half. Consumers are using mobile internet on the move and so it makes sense for businesses to ensure that at the very least their site and store locator is negotiable via a smart phone device; and that the site or app is compatible with both Android and iPhone technology. Mobile offers brands a real opportunity to be useful to their customers. Using existing technology such as QR codes and near field communication, retailers should look to alleviate consumer bug-bears by helping customers check availability or price compare. Businesses can use advertising as a prompt to launch local store locators, or to fulfil an online order for a consumer who can’t find the right item in store. Businesses are really missing a trick if they do not target customers on the move.

Rewards

Consumers expect rewards for showing their support of a business or service online. A recent survey amongst consumers who are ‘fans’ of businesses online found that 65 percent of respondents are connecting with brands to take advantage of promotions, contests and games. Whether it’s an offer, a voucher code or simply a free prize draw, if you are looking to extend your brand presence online then it is valuable to offer an incentive. Consumers are used to being rewarded for participating in brand related activity online, and therefore are most receptive to companies that offer useful or entertaining apps, fan pages or online services.

A social experience

The growth of social networking has shown that, given the right tools, consumers will participate in conversations and share with friends. In order to be more social, brands should put the user first – responding to how users socialise online.

When shopping for a new dress online, a customer will search for information from a range of sources to decide what to buy. They may browse fashion websites, ask for recommendations from friends, look at celebrity blogs or pictures or look for advice through Facebook/Twitter. It is therefore important that a brand looks to replicate this process through their online marketing activity. This could include signposting customers to product reviews or allowing them to connect with like-minded individuals through a forum or Facebook community.

Making reviews and opinions an integral part of the shopping experience replicates offline behaviour where users will often seek the opinion of a friend before purchase. It is also important that the brand can be contacted with ease and those questions or queries are resolved efficiently. A major part of the social experience is about opening a two-way dialogue.

[1] Practical Ecommerce, January 2012 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3255-Social-Media-Users-Look-for-New-Products-and-Offers-Survey-Finds

Lindsey Reaney
Account Manager, Golley Engage

Martin Long, Group MD, PR

Last week Facebook made three key changes to the site functionality; it revamped Friend lists and introduced the news ticker and Subscribe button. These changes are designed to increase the dwell time spent on the page by creating more connections between you and your friends. For example, the news ticker is designed to allow you to track what your friends are commenting on right now, which encourages comment to become discussion. This really is just the beginning though, the landmark changes will come this Thursday when Facebook will overhaul user profiles with the Timeline feature, and launch a plethora of apps letting you listen to music, watch movies and monitor news through your profile. Facebook hopes users will create profiles that are a visual history of their lives, right through from birth.

The key changes to the service are listed below:

1. Timeline – This plots your Facebook updates, photos, apps and well, everything really, against the time and date, creating a stream of activity that is trackable. The idea is that users will be given a place to post more stuff about their past, such as baby pictures, creating a virtual scrapbook. Timeline is in beta now, and will be opt-in to start. In the long run, it will become the new default profile page.

2. Where previously you could only ‘like’ a comment or post, there will now be a whole host of verbs to choose from. You can tell your friends what you’re listening, watching or reading. Overshare? Maybe. Marketable? Definitely.

3. Changes to Facebook apps mean that branded apps will only have to ask at the point of authorization for permission to publish information through your profile. This is perhaps the most contentious of the new batch of changes.

4. Information that is deemed less important to you will be relegated to the news ticker, and you can control what will be filtered through into your newsfeed. Hopefully helping to make updates more relevant to you.

5. Thanks to an unprecedented number of partnerships, you will now be able to do so much more than just Facebook on Facebook. You can watch a show on Hulu, listen to a song on Spotify, or check out a story on Guardian news. The ticker will tell you what your friends are watching, listening to or reading too.

And what of the usual questions about privacy? Well, once again, Facebook stands accused of gathering and sharing more of your information than ever before. The latest accusations, from self-confessed hacker Nik Cubrilovic, have highlighted that Facebook can track your browser activity long after you leave the site. In fact, unless you delete all your Facebook cookies, they can pretty much follow your every move.
Facebook has hit back at critics claiming that any tracking they do is purely to improve user experience, and more notably, security. Facebook engineer Arturo Bejar said:

“We don’t use our cookies to track you on social plugins to target ads or sell your information to third parties. I’ve heard from so many that what we do is to share or sell your data, and that is just not true. We use your logged in cookies to personalize (show you what your friends liked), to help maintain and improve what we do, or for safety and protection.”

So all that said, where do users of the social network stand? Well users will be sharing more of their lives than ever before, and will be spending more time on the site as they view news sources, listen to music and watch films through Facebook. Brands will have more freedom to create content for the site, and Facebook is more receptive than ever to partnerships, but ultimately companies are still heavily restricted in the data that they can collect. Unless users give specific permission for brands to use data outside of the platform, the information stays on Facebook, to be added to the reams of information that the company already holds on each of their 800 million registered users. Brands are sacrificing the rights to this information, by requesting that consumers engage with them through the networking site and not through their websites.

Facebook dwell times will soar, helping to build convincing advertising models, and Facebook will be able to continue to track users’ activity and hold their information, making them more valuable to marketeers than ever before. So, what of the changes that Facebook has made this week? Well, they certainly benefit one party – Facebook.

Lindsey Reaney
Social Media Consultant, Golley Engage

With the recent acquisition of Zagat, an online restaurant reviews site, Google has taken its first step into acquiring businesses for their content and not their technology. So, is Google diversifying its portfolio by investing in the publishing industry, or does it intend to draw advertising revenue by optimising third-party sites such as Zagat thus guaranteeing reviews appear higher up in the search results listings. The latter route would prove a bold move – at present, a lot of Google’s usefulness is in its transparency. Consumers trust the search engine, and therefore value the brand, selecting it as their browser homepage and adopting the name into their vocabulary. If consumers no longer feel that the internet giant is impartial in pulling its content this could seriously affect the trust held by the end user.

That said, all in all there are only about 1 in 3** of us who understand how a search engine such as Google generates results. For instance, 24 percent believe that a website’s position in the listings cannot be influenced by the people running that website, whilst 22 percent believe it is entirely down to how much money has crossed hands. Over 19 percent have no idea where the data comes from and one in twenty believe results are generated at random. With much of Joe Public still in the dark as to how the technology works, Google could potentially pull off this contentious move without consumers becoming aware of the conflict of interest.

With other review sites such as Yelp and Open Table attracting more users than Zagat, it is difficult to see what Google stands to gain if its interest lies purely in accessing the publishing industry, though this is unlikely to make publishers feel any less uneasy about the move. More likely than not, Google, like most major consumer brands worldwide, has recognised the value in endorsement from third parties; PR is a vital component to maintaining brand health online, as it offers consumers a reason to believe. More and more consumers are consulting review sites before making purchasing decisions; IF Google does choose to walk this path, what it takes from the consumer in transparency, it gives back to brands through trusted, word-of-mouth recommendation.

*http://www.itpro.co.uk/635515/more-brits-browse-with-bing

**http://www.topclickmedia.co.uk/pay-per-click-advertising-blog/brits-don%E2%80%99t-understand-google

Lindsey Reaney

Social Media Consultant, Golley Engage

Consumer adoption is integral to the success of a social platform, and there is no doubt that Facebook and Twitter are right at the fore, but what of the loyalty of other platforms such as FourSquare and Groupon? With consumer adoption so intrinsically linked to obtaining buy-in from brands, and branded offers key to incentivising users to spend time using the site; Golley Engage’s Phillippa Holmes asks, which comes first – mass market appeal or big brands?

In July 2011, FourSquare hit 10 million worldwide users, and celebrated the occasion by publishing an infographic with heaps of interesting facts about the social network and its consumers.

And, there are certainly some FourSquare marketing success stories. The History Channel ran a geo-location campaign through FourSquare which offered trivia and discounts to users checking in at over 600 historic sites across the UK. Within a month of the campaign’s launch, ten thousand people had unlocked History’s badge – equating to the 40,000 check-ins needed in order to achieve those badges. Before the UK campaign launched, History had 110,000 followers on Foursquare – mostly in the US. That figure rose to 130,000 thanks to just one month’s worth of activity in the UK. Brands such as McDonald’s also rate the platform, Social Media Director Rick Wion likened a check-in on FourSquare to an actual visit to one of the fast-food giants’ restaurants which is of significantly more commercial value than affiliating oneself to a brand on Facebook or Twitter.

The real value of geo-location, truth be told, lies in the retail space. By offering discounts to consumers for regularly using your restaurant/store you are effectively recreating the loyalty card experience online, and even the least tech-savvy executive can recognise the value in that.

However with many users, particularly in the UK, frustrated by the lack of deals available as an incentive to check-in, and Facebook Places threatening to flex their muscle, it remains to be seen how the geo-location landscape will develop. What is certain is that newbies such as Loopt and Gowalla have their work cut-out, and if I were a betting woman our money would be on Facebook dominating the UK space. They are best placed to crack this market by growing their portfolio by linking geo-location to their existing marketing packages.

Phillippa Holmes
Golley Engage

Facebook has often been criticised for its reportedly ‘lax’ attitudes towards users security, especially in light of Google+ ‘circles’ offering users greater control over what they share. The social networking giant has responded with the following security measures that aim to hand back control to Joe Public:

EDITING YOUR PROFILE

You can now amend the privacy settings for each element of your profile down the right-hand side of the screen, so that you decide exactly who can see what. By selecting ‘view as’ from the menu you can see your profile as another user would see it.

TAGGING IN PHOTOS

One of the most significant changes to the current security measures; you can now approve photo tags before they are visible on your profile/brand page. If you do find yourself needing to untag images on a brand page, you can also request the photo be removed altogether, or even block the person who uploaded it.

THE PUBLISHING BAR

The bar where you can add a link or update your status has also changed. Not only can you tag your location and who you’re with using the ‘inline audience selector’ (a drop-down menu with the options of ‘public’, ‘friends’ or ‘custom’), you can also choose who sees each update.

These security measures won’t do much to abate user concern over Facebook’s invasive Instant Personalization service. Internet Personalization is a service that allows brands to pull information from a user profile to offer a more personal experience on a webpage. For example, if you visit an internet shopping site, the brand in question can pull information directly from your Facebook profile to ascertain details such as your gender, age or the pages you ‘like’ and use them to make suggestions as to what you might like to buy/read. In short, for us as marketeers, it’s gold dust. The downside of course is that as a user it means more and more information about us is out in the ether, vulnerable to threats from hackers and some of the more invasive forms of online marketing.

The main criticism for this new bout of Facebook security measures is that it is all administered on an opt-in basis. Users are required to jump through lengthy hoops to successfully increase the level of privacy offered by the site. Personalization services, on the other hand, are opt-out. From a user perspective, this could become yet another reason for consumers not to trust the site. After all, these new measures mean you can restrict your profile’s visibility from just about anybody, except Facebook.

Lindsey Reaney
Social Media Consultant, Golley Engage

In the battle of the ratings, television companies are doing what they can to fight back, and with Twitter they might just have found the answer. By creating a third online dimension to television, networks are hoping to tempt viewers away from watching television on Sky+ or catch-up TV and back to scheduled air times.

Hashtags are making it easier for production teams to aggregate conversations about a specific programme and to help them to trend. We have seen this happen most recently with XFactor returning to our screens on Saturday night and Celebrity Big Brother monopolising trending topics during its daily highlights show. What we are now seeing is this phenomena driving viewers back to their televisions, as tweets signpost them to something ‘unmissable’.

A recent survey by Yahoo and Nielsen found 86% of mobile phone users are playing on their phones whilst watching TV, with 40% specifically using social networking sites. A further 53% of those surveyed are actively using their computers to check sites like Facebook and Twitter whilst tuned in to a TV programme.

So, as marketeers, what can we learn from this shift in behaviour? Well according to the research one in five 18- to 24-year-olds will buy a product because they have seen it on TV. This means it is the third most powerful factor driving purchase amongst this demographic. Product placement during popular TV slots and clever social media optimisation in television advertising and sponsorship idents could pay dividends for big brands as long as they remain sensitive to viewers. Too flagrant a plug could result in backlash from viewers who find branded activity intrusive.

Want to know more about Twitter #tags and the way they are used at Primetime? Check out the following video:

http://blog.twitter.com/2011/05/watching-together-twitter-and-tv.html

Lindsey Reaney
Social Media Consultant, Golley Engage

Following Rebekah Brooks arrest, and with many consumers questioning the ethics of the tabloid newspaper industry, your brand could be increasingly vulnerable on the basis of your media spend. So can investing in the online space and looking to influence consumers directly through new media channels safeguard your corporate image.

PwC says internet marketing is projected to rise by 11.2% between now and 2015, to £17.7bn. This certainly suggests that more and more brands are recognizing the power of digital marketing and the ability to open a two-way dialogue with consumers instead of relying on a third party.

Lindsey Reaney
PR Account Manager & Digital Consultant