It didn’t take long after the IPO for Facebook to make a fresh announcement about plans for developing revenue generation – and it is the move into mobile advertising.

Despite Mark Zuckerberg being described as having, “an evangelical approach to advertising,” and seeing the Facebook platform as, “a vehicle to open up communication, not to monetize”, there is no doubt that things have to change now the shareholders have more of a say. Let’s not forget, however, the billionaire does still own over 25% of the company and more than 50% of the voting power.

US based Nanigans, a firm that specialises in the Facebook Ads API and served over 175 billion ad impressions in 2011, released new data confirming a year-on-year jump in Ad spend over the Christmas period.

Nanigans also reported a 1,600% growth in Facebook Ad spend over the past year. Whilst this figure is not representative of Ad spend across the platform as a whole, there is still a compelling story to be told (feel free to Tweet these);

Facebook ad revenues grew from $738 million in 2009 to an estimated $3.8 billion in 2011

Tweet #FacebookAds

Facebook ad budgets grew 109% between the 3^rd and 4^th quarter of 2011. This is compared with just 27% growth in paid search spend in the same period

Tweet #FacebookAds

The number of view of Facebook Ads grew 47% in the last quarter of 2011

Tweet #FacebookAds

Click rates have risen 27% since the move to GraphEdge through more effective targeting

Tweet #FacebookAds

Come March, Facebook will introduce ‘featured stories’ into users’ mobile news feed as the first step on the mobile advertising ladder. With all of this in mind, and with Facebook’s growing number of mobile users, (currently at around 425 million), don’t be surprised if we are looking at some exponential growth over the next couple of years from the platform’s mobile Ad revenues.

Especially as there is no mobile advertising platform…yet…

Research from Kenshoo Social, eMarketer Inc and Nanigans

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Subsequent to my last post on Pinterest and whether it is set to be 2012′s social media success story – this insightful infographic surfaced which certainly suggests it may well be…

Want to know how Pinterest may impact UK brands?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Launching into the realm of social customer service may seem like a daunting prospect, however, failing to take the leap may actually lead to even more frightening consequences.

A shocking statistic from a recent consumer survey commissioned by Conversocial, revealed that: “If confronted with unanswered customer complaints on a company’s social media site, 88.3% of respondents said they’d be either somewhat less likely or far less likely to buy from that brand”.

That same study found that: “78% of respondents believe that social media platforms would either soon entirely replace other means of customer service altogether or become the dominant way for consumers to communicate with corporations”.

Still not convinced that you need to consider your social service offering? Bain & Company may persuade you. They discovered that companies, who engage with their customers through social media, score an average 33 points higher NPS score than those who don’t.

So, now is the time to act. Particularly as the social customer service revolution is more or less still in its infancy. Sooner rather than later, all customers, not just the early adopters and digitally savvy, will begin to reject the original customer service channels and, in turn, the volume of social customer service queries will grow exponentially.

Customers will expect to be able to communicate with brands, both big and small, through social mediums and so the assimilation of social customer service into your existing multichannel offering becomes paramount. Take control of your customers’ social experience to improve brand sentiment tenfold.

A word of warning: ensure that your social customer service adoption is paced. Do not just dive in at the deep end without considering the technology, process and resourcing implications.

If you don’t want to pay the price for poor social customer service, we can offer you expert guidance and training, so give us a call. 

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Few events in the sporting calendar command as much media coverage or social chatter as the US Super Bowl. Last year, French data intelligence company, Semiocast, reported that the American football championship was the focus of 4.5 million tweets, driving a 25% increase in global tweets during Super Bowl Sunday, while The Huffington Post reports that some 162.9 million people tuned into to watch the big event on TV.

While powerful advertising secured Doritos the most branded Twitter mentions surrounding the game in 2011, a number of brands have chosen to tackle social media head-on by putting real-time at the heart of this year’s campaigns. We’re kicking off with the best three.

1. Coca-Cola

With Pepsi reaching the top three most mentioned brands during last year’s Super Bowl, it’s no surprise that Coca-Cola has hit back. The drinks giant has developed a Facebook app, which enables viewers to watch videos of the brand’s iconic polar bears reacting in real-time to the game.

2. Pepsi

Keen not to be sidelined after last year’s success, the brand is using its social TV platform, Pepsi Sound Off, to show a real-time, celebrity-laden viewing party during the game. The web application enables viewers to engage with and shape the viewing party conversations by sharing comments using core hashtags via Twitter and Facebook.

3. National Football League

The NFL has kicked up controversy by announcing that players will be allowed to tweet from the sidelines during this year’s Pro Bowl, the first match of Super Bowl Sunday. While supporters have applauded the move for delivering entertainment to the fans, skeptics have criticised the NFL for taking players’ eyes off the game.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites