03.13.08
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media at 4:10 pm by Christine
This was of course the big news making the rounds today. AOL is apparently to pay $850 million to purchase the social network.
With MS investing a pretty penny (1.6 percent stake for $240 million) for Facebook, it was invevitable that another SE should invest in what is a very upcoming Social network - Bebo.
And by SE I mean, Google does of course own a percentage of AOL (back in 2005 it bought 5%) …so besides Orkut.com, now Bebo.com, which is making a bit of noise as the fast contender to FB.
We have already seen quite a bit of interest in the world of Application development enquiries for specifically Bebo…
Bebo itself is not that small with a global membership of more than 40 million users already, but according to statistics it does still fall behind on daily, and even monthly visits compared to FaceBook and MySpace.
Read more in the article which details a little further on the AOL Bebo investment.
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01.17.08
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media at 8:24 am by Christine
Is Facebook online gambling advertising’s NBF?
Like cigarette advertising (for South Africa - we’re not allowed to advertise cigarettes), Gambling advertising was banned from the likes of Adwords etc and had to seek other ways of market penetration. Yes, they have many resources and ways of getting those markets - there are many Online Marketing agencies focussed solely on doing that… Facebook however is still openly marketing gambling. Through applications and also flyers…
I attended the unofficial Geekdinner with Jason Hoffman last night, and one of the points brought up (I think by Henk) was whether one could subscribe or unsubscribe to which flyers you see, or rather block ones you don’t want to see. To be honest, those gambling ads annoy me for some reason and if I could I would block them…
Just because I fit the “perceived demographic”, does not mean I am a potential client etc. I guess some would argue that it would still give them brand awareness to the market at least…
Now this is where it gets tricky, as I am first and fore-mostly also an Online Marketer, and yes, I do sell this stuff…So why this opinion?
Simple, because of relevancy.
Yes, you might get brand awareness per say, but not click throughs… So just as with Search, the more targeted your ad to the demographic, the more qualified clicks and impressions you will receive. This in itself would be tricky, as naturally you want your advertising to display to the widest possible audience, but surely your return would be that much better if your viewers subscribed to seeing your information…Perhaps they could do something like they have done in the News feed page whereby you can say what you want to see and what you don’t - after they show you everything first…
What ‘irks’ me even more is the annoying little emails I started getting after I had installed one of the card game apps. Not to my Facebook profile, but my personal email address. Not at anyone stage was I asked to “opt in”. I would have understood to receive an opt-in email to my Facebook Inbox from which to choose to receive further updates, but directly to my personal account? No thanks. I needless to say disabled this feature immediately.
Some of these Apps are giving other good ones a ‘bad image’. Enter the last few ones I’ve seen: “past life” and I think also “name reveal” or similar, that require you to invite 20 friends before you can even install the App! Clearly this is just a way of building their database…IF they can get people to make this ‘annoying’ step before adding their application. Strange thing is that if you decline the step, the application installs itself on your profile irrespective, but you are not able to see your relevant report. Which is what it incentivised you with in the first place to install the App!
I think its time for a “best practice Facebook App guide”- from a users & usability point of view.
Now there’s a topic to include in the next CT Facebook Application Development Garage. Maybe I’ll touch on that 
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12.21.07
Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media at 6:25 am by Christine
Is social media marketing the only solution to ROI? Or is that the buzz word that agencies are tuning into?
Agencies are loving it.
With social media marketing there are a variety of options that one could choose.
To name but a few: Blogging, Linked In, MySpace, Twitter, Plaxo and of course the current popular choice, Facebook.
I personally think one of the reasons for its surge in popularity is not only because it is something tangible, but because there is a marked improvement in both brand awareness and ROI. And as a marketer you want to see people interact with your brand.
Facebook’s applications are a great and powerful way to get fantastic brand awareness for your company. We’re not talking about the annoying ones such as “Vampires” or “Hotness” etc, but the real marketing gems such as Roshambull (RedBull); Visual Bookshelf (Amazon) and Movie Quiz (Flixter) to name a few, where companies are gaining super exposure based on fun activity applications.
They are a hybrid between Social and Viral marketing, so the more useful they are, the more exposure the company will gain. And what better way than to target where you can captivate your audience on a daily basis?
The ideas for good, useful and fun applications are abundant, and there is a creative solution for every single industry. But you have to get on this sooner rather than later as many companies have realised this and been getting on board with some awesome applications. So get it whilst it’s hot!
AlterSage offers Facebook Application Marketing consulting as part of its Social Media offering. We are partnered with an exclusive Application Development specialist to create these solutions for you. Speak to us if you’d like to learn more about this very exciting medium!
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