The MSLGROUP guide to facebook updates

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The MSLGROUP Guide to Facebook Updates: What Marketers and Bloggers Need to Know

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Transcript of The MSLGROUP guide to facebook updates

Page 1: The MSLGROUP guide to facebook updates

The MSLGROUP Guide to Facebook Updates:

What Marketers and Bloggers Need to Know

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Table of Contents

Four-Step Crash Course: New Facebook Brand Pages

Four Reasons Why Facebook’s Comment Box Will Change Blogs

Facebook’s New Analytics: What We Like and Don’t Like

Brand Do’s and Dont’s: Contests on Facebook

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FOUR-STEP CRASH COURSE:NEW FACEBOOK BRAND PAGES– By Romain Vezirian and Nicolas Sibouni, community managers, MSLGROUP Paris

Life is different these days for social marketers. The entire layout of brand pages has just changed. Some brands made the shift in February. For those who did not, Facebook made the changes for them a few days ago, just as we were making the final finishes to this paper.

As it is our job to advise our clients about marketing via Facebook, we are sharing what these changes mean for your brand, your community manager and your fans.

Here we go:

1. New Look: We Don’t Want to Say We Told You So but……We told you so! The most obvious new feature of this update is the layout itself. This is actually something many of us had predicted here at MSLGROUP: Your official Facebook page now

looks a lot more like a personal profile. We understand why this change was made: Users now expect to find their links on the left column. The old “tabs”—those boxes on the top of a page—are definitely gone!

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Old version of the Renault ZE Facebook page.

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2. A New Way to Create Custom Links So what does this mean? The content from your old tabs is now accessible from the left column, presented as hyperlinks. As this is more than an aesthetic change, developers will have to use iframes (typically used to add an advertisement or small bit of text into an HTML page) to build custom links.

Facebook has indeed officially announced that it is phasing out FBML code (Facebook Markup Language), which had made it easy to develop applications for Facebook according to the network’s specifications. Starting March 11, businesses will no longer be able to create new FBML apps and pages will no longer be able to add the static FBML app.

This is all for the better as it should lead to: » Better design: iframes allow for

more flexibility so you can make links more consistent with brand guidelines.

» Better tracking: Content within an iframe actually resides on your own site, even though it is displayed on your Facebook page. This means that you can use your own web analytics program whereas in the past you had to rely exclusively on Facebook’s analysis of your page’s performance. You can use both to measure the effectiveness of your marketing program. (For more info on analytics, check out article No. 3).

The new brand page

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3. More Power to the Admin! This has been a long-awaited feature for administrators of Facebook brand pages all over the world, as they can finally receive notifications (“likes”, comments, etc.) on behalf of the brand—by email and directly on Facebook.

For example, we manage the Renault ZE community page. In the past, even when on Renault ZE’s page, the notifications that appeared pertained to our personal Facebook accounts. Now the notifications pertain to consumers interacting with the brand.

On behalf of all our brands, we used to have to check pages constantly and use external tools such as Conversocial or HyperAlerts to make sure we were keeping track of all fan activity. Now, we get notifications in real time.

This means: » No more missed comments » Better overall reactivity,

especially in case of negative comments about a brand

Speaking of negative comments, admins can now define a blacklist of forbidden words and ensure that such words do not make it on to the brand’s Facebook page.

Because of the new brand notifications, we now have an “administrator’s view” where we see every published post. Posts containing any of the blacklisted words are automatically put aside in a “spam” section. As the admins, we can choose whether to publish the message or not. And if we don’t allow it, the user who published the post can still see the message…but he will be the only one. It’s the ultimate smoke & mirrors move to discourage trolls and facilitate a community manager’s life.

A brand can also decide if it wants to publicize the names of its page’s admin(s) in the right-hand column. This feature could be useful for companies who want to communicate directly through their community manager and give a “face” to their online presence.

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4. Interactions Between Brand Pages Finally, and this is probably the most exciting new feature, admins can now “log in as a brand” instead of through their personal profiles. As a result, admins can act on behalf of brands in new and creative ways.

In the past, despite our ability to manage brand pages, we couldn’t comment on behalf of the brand on other brand pages. Today, we can. A brand can now “like” other brand pages (not personal profiles) and comment as the brand on another brand’s page, just as consumers who like things can

comment as themselves. Time will tell how this new functionality will evolve: however, it seems obvious that new partnerships or co-marketing opportunities between brands will emerge, helping them to promote each other’s news, “share” friends and grow their fan bases.

In addition: » When Brand A likes Brand B’s

page, Brand B’s logo is displayed on Brand A’s page. The “like” function replaces the “favorites” category.

» Brand A will now receive news from Brand B in its newsfeed.

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FOUR REASONS WHY FACEBOOK’S COMMENT BOX WILL CHANGE BLOGS– by Romain Vezirian, community manager, MSLGROUP Paris

So you thought Facebook might leave the blogosphere alone, that it had enough responsibility on its hands? If this is the case, Zuckerberg and co. are about to prove you wrong. The social networking site just launched a new Comment Box that uses Facebook Connect to make your blog more social. Moreover, the Comment Box marks the first time Facebook is allowing automatic external posting (from Facebook to a blog).

Here are the four reasons why we believe this might be a game changer for blogs and people who read them.

1. No need to log in We’ve all been there: You just read an article on a blog, you have something to contribute, you click to post a comment. But then the torture begins. In many cases you have to create an account, give your email, decipher a captcha and so

on. But if the blogger has installed the Facebook comment plug-in, and if you’re already logged into Facebook, you won’t have to go through this. The Comment Box lets you post automatically through Facebook, making conversations seamless.

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2. Say goodbye to derogatory comments What is more annoying than having to read through insults or derogatory comments? Facebook helps keep blogs clean.

Consider this: Insulting someone while hidden behind an anonymous user name is easy. When comments you write are posted under your real name (and your Facebook account), not so much.

With so much transparency via Facebook, will everyone want to post a comment? We’re not so sure. Nevertheless, we think this system could possibly mean one thing: bye, bye, spammers and people with an axe to grind.

3. More conversation for your blog This might be the real incentive for bloggers around the world to switch to the Facebook system.

Whenever you leave a comment on a blog using Facebook’s plug-in, you will see a box (already ticked!) that asks you if you also want to publish the comment on your Facebook newsfeed.

That’s nice but there’s more to it: Any friend who responds on Facebook to your comment will then see his or her post appear on the blog’s comment thread. (This is on the up-and-up, as people will see the name of the blog on Facebook and know where their comment is going before deciding to post.) Naturally, the Facebook Comment Box provides a multiplier effect for comments, helping to build the blogger’s fame and broadening the reach of conversations and ideas. We bet this will be the reason why « the box » becomes a hit.

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4. Easy admin This system also comes with the expected moderation tools: blog admins can moderate and delete comments, check for spam, etc. Moreover, as we discuss in the next paper, Facebook has new analytics tools to measure engagement, including on the Comment Box. It is important to note that Facebook has the right to comments made via the Comment Box, as the plug-in is the company’s intellectual property.

In general, we believe this could be a major advancement for bloggers. Much like when Facebook Connect was launched, the big question is to know whether this system will be broadly adopted. If it is, it could become a dangerous competitor for companies like Disqus.

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Facebook’s New Analytics:What We Like and Don’t Like– by Romain Vezirian, community manager, MSLGROUP Paris

Remember that time not so long ago when marketing managers wanted to install Google Analytics to monitor the traffic of their Facebook brand pages? It seems like this problem is long gone. Not because Facebook opened its doors to Google (of course not!), but because its own analytics system is becoming increasingly efficient.

Some of the new features are great… But are they really going in the right direction? We take you through what we “like” and what we dislike about Facebook’s analytics.

What we likeThe numbers behind your “like” buttonWhile Facebook has been letting webmasters import Facebook elements for years (Facebook widget, “like” button, etc.), they had no way until now to monitor how efficient these tools really were. It all changed in the last week with Facebook’s new analytics tools. As explained on

the Facebook developers’ blog, you can now see the number of times people saw “like” buttons, clicked “like” buttons, shared stories on Facebook, clicked on stories to visit your website and made comments to your blog via the new Facebook Comment Box, the subject of article No. 2 in this report.

In short, Facebook analytics work both ways: You get to see the traffic you sent from your website to your Facebook page (through the “like” button), and the traffic Facebook sent to your website (through stories on people’s news feeds).

Know how much of your traffic comes from FacebookEven if you do not have a “like” button installed on your website, the new analytics allow you to see how people are sharing links to your site in status updates and wall posts on Facebook. To enable this, simply claim your domain by associating it with your Facebook user account.

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What we dislikeWhat is there to dislike, you might ask? Well, for community managers like ourselves, quite a few things at least.

Is bigger necessarily better?What makes a Facebook fan page successful? If you believe the new metrics logic, you would answer “numbers”, i.e. the amount of traffic you can generate. This is surprising coming from Facebook, the platform that literally defined 2.0, where “feedback” and “engagement” are key, not traffic or how big you can get. Certainly, we would trade 1,000 heavy engaged fans against 10,000 not-so-interested ones any day.

What we really need is more insight: What are the posts that work best? What time are they posted? Do your fans comment more frequently under pictures or videos?

Answers to these questions are key to distinguishing good Facebook pages from bad ones. Unfortunately, Facebook does not provide such tools to arrive at these answers. Let’s hope they’re on their way.

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Brand Do’s and Dont’s:Contests on Facebook– by Romain Vezirian, community manager, MSLGROUP Paris

Newsflash for you: Facebook is changing. All the time. And we are not talking about your friends’ updates here: we’re talking new functionalities, new layout for your brand’s page and even new rules. This last point may be the most important to keep in mind, even though it is also the issue that no one talks about: Facebook’s official “Terms of Use” can change anytime.

Facebook and Your Brand: Separation of Church and StateIt is important to recall that Facebook does not want to be seen as endorsing any brand or commercial activity other than

its own. The company will not assume liability should anything go wrong with a brand’s contest—your activities are distinct in the strictest sense of the word.

A Company Banned on FacebookIn the past couple of months, a French brand’s Facebook page got cut off (with no warning) because the company failed to comply with Facebook’s Terms of Use. The page had 130,000 fans, a number significant enough to show that Facebook does not discriminate. If you do not respect the rules, you will log in one day to find your page is missing, even if your fan base is in the 6 digits.

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So here’s a quick recap of what you can and cannot do on your Facebook page when you want to run a contest for your fans:

The sad part is: This article could soon become outdated because Facebook’s Terms of Use continually change. Make sure your agency and community manager monitor this issue closely.

The Dont’sThis is the most complicated

point, but also the most important one: You cannot use any Facebook functionalities for your brand’s contest. “Likes”, “comments” and “tagging in a picture” should not enable one of your fans to win anything. If you see a brand asking its fans to “change their profile picture” or “click on like to enter our contest”, know that this company could be cut off any minute by almighty Facebook.

It is forbidden to organize a contest on your Facebook wall (see below for what you can do).

The Do’sYou can organize a contest

on your Facebook page, but it has to be contained within a dedicated tab.

You always have to specify that your brand is the contest organizer and Facebook is not.

You can limit a contest to your fans but use the right words to do so. As opposed to the phrases in the “dont’s” column, you could write “Join our community” or “Click ‘like’ to see more info on our contest.” Recall that once someone likes you, your page opens up and the person can see all your tabs (including the one for the contest). We know this is subtle, but this kind of knowledge can make the difference between a successful contest on Facebook and a banned one.

We advise including a link to your brand’s usage guidelines for Facebook fans. These are the guidelines typically including language prohibiting personal attacks and inflammatory language on the brand’s page.

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Thank you for reading, and please send us a note if you’d like:

[email protected] manager, MSLGROUP Paris

[email protected] Digital Practice Leader, EMEA

[email protected] of Digital & Social Media, Asia

[email protected] of Digital & Social Media, Americas

[email protected] Strategy Officer (Global)

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