10 Ways to Hook Into & Onto Facebook.Part II: On-Facebook

Ryan Spoon: ryanspoon.comPolaris Venture Partners: polaris.vcDogpatch Labs: dogpatchlabs.com

About Us: Sample Companies

On-Facebook.

6. Interact. Don’t Push.

It’s not an advertisement.It’s a conversation.

Remember, you’re asking fans to follow you.Ask yourself, is this worthy of an SMS?

“The biggest mistake we see companies make… is to think about it as a channel to push out information.”Tim O’Reilly.

6. Interact. Don’t Push (example)

Broadcast. Interaction. Fun.

6. Interact. Make Fans the Stars!Dunkin Donuts spotlights one fan with most interesting picture each week in their Facebook Icon. Drives significant page activity & photo tagging.

7. Optimize for Engagement

Conversations have at least two participants!And if you don’t optimize for engagement… Facebook will assume fans don’t want to interact.

Meaning: Facebook penalizes low engagement by hiding from the feed. Effectively killing that relationship.

7. Optimize for Engagement. How?

Understand Edgerank: Facebook’s algorithm to determine what content gets surfaced.

According to Tim Chae (PostRocket) four components to optimize for. Each dependent on your users, brand:

1. Time: optimize for when to post based on users, geo.2. Type: status update vs. images vs. polls, etc. 3. Frequency: stay relevant without annoying.4. Content: must be interactive & more than marketing.

Read more

7. Optimize for Engagement. How?

Track, test, repeat.

Facebook Insights reveals what’s working with your content. Study time, format & frequency.

…Then study what works for other high engagement brands.

7. Optimize for Engagement (example)

Best example? The Rock.

Unique, fun, fresh, & personal content.Mix of content type. Frequent poster.

10 hours after last night’s picture:50,000 likes, 6,000 comments, 2,000 shares.

Higher engagement than Starbucks: rate & total.

7. Optimize for Engagement (example)

And users take notice… organically.

8. Target & Refresh Ads

Use Facebook Ads to test & validate:- Demand- Conversions- Demographic relevance- Site creative- Landing pages- etc

At scale though, it can require full time dedication and/or working with platforms like: AdParlor, Context Optional, TBG, etc. Larger list here.

8. Target & Refresh Ads

Facebook Ads work differently than AdWords.At highest level, they require:- sensitive demographic targeting- great attention to visuals- greater refresh rates- and flighting numerous campaigns to optimize creative + copy + targeting + cost

… And it’s getting more expensive by the day. So test & optimize now.

9. Drive Likes, then Conversions

Many brands try to convert Facebook ads to off-Facebook transactions. It’s tough.

- Try driving Likes and converting fans to traffic & transactions.

- Might find better success and get fans / relationships / virality atop that.

-More likely to “like” and build relationship than transact click and transact in-line.

9. Drive Likes, then Conversions

Applicable off-Facebook as well.Use your web product to drive brand fans. Try building more topical hubs as fan pages too. Content more topical = engagement is higher.

9. Drive Likes, then Conversions

Leverage fan page & canvas applications to boost likes

10. Be a First Mover

Facebook is continually rolling out new features for consumers & brands.

Be a first mover. It’s an opportunity to:

- test & learn- find market inefficiencies- distinguish yourself (to users & to Facebook)- strike gold (hello Spotify!)

10. Be a First Mover (example)

Facebook Photo Tagging for Brands

10. Be a First Mover (example)

Facebook Open Graph & Verbs

10. Be a First Mover (example)

New Ad Formats

10. Be a First Mover (example)

Publishing: Subscribe, Comments, etc

Learn more.Connect with us.

polaris.vc@polarisvcfb.com/polarisventures

dogpatchlabs.com@dogpatchlabsfb.com/dogpatchlabs

ryanspoon.com@ryanspoonfb.com/ryanspoon