Facebook’s new pages present a significant opportunity for brands to more effectively utilize social media as a marketing channel. Recently introduced functionality allows brands to better communicate with their current and potential customers, spread advocacy message, and perhaps most importantly provide a central location for consumers to interact with the brand and each other. Specifically, two changes have given brands fairly powerful means to improve their communication and presence: news feed inclusion and custom tabs.
Before we get into how these features alter the social marketing landscape, a bit of history (if one can realistically call something that has only existed for a handful of months history). The prior iteration of pages was in itself rather innovative – Facebook was the first network to provide any and all brands that were so inclined a presence on the social network. Brands simply had to enter a bit of information, upload some content, and viola! a brand page. Users could then come to that page, become fans, and by doing so distribute a news/mini feed item endorsing that brand or product to their entire friend group. They served well as a means of distributing brand advocacy, but beyond the fanning action there was really very little to do on brand pages. Some more forward thinking brands (and or their agencies) worked to enhance their pages with widgets or applications that provided interactivity and added to the branded experience, but even so after that initial interaction took place the only way to reengage with fans was to send out a mildly-intrusive “update.” There was no means of casually informing fans of new content, promotions, or other messages, and as a result few brands saw any significant re-visitation to pages after the initial fanning activity.
Only a few days ago, this dynamic was altered. Brand pages now have two new tools at their disposal that when used properly considerably alter the social marketing landscape. The status updates of pages are now included seamlessly in fans news feeds, and pages now contain a tab structure with a default tab editable and selectable by the page administrator.
The inclusion of brand page activity in the news feed greatly enhances brands’ ability to reengage with fans. Content such as wall-posts, photos, notes, and video uploads now passively (without the page administrator specifically having to send an update) appear in fans’ news feeds, giving those fans a reason to re-visit a brand’s page. For content producing entities such as newspapers, television channels, blogs, artists, and others, this provides a simple and effective means of encouraging repeat visits. However, most brands (such as packaged goods, electronics, clothiers, or automobiles) don’t have regularly updated content. Put more concretely, while I may be a fan of Tide, even one so enamored with the brand that I’m willing to publicize my use of the product to my friends, I don’t really want to receive updates about Tide’s thoughts and feelings or learn about the wonders of the new mountain fresh scent. And that’s precisely why the second change, custom tabs, is so important.
Custom tabs allow a level of interactivity and design that has never before been available on Facebook pages. Prior to their roll out, all page-enhancing features had to live in either 380 or 180 pixel wide “boxes” on the brand’s page. The ability to customize the look and feel of that page was thus highly limited, as was the ability to direct a user to a specific page location. With the new tab-based layout, brands now have a customizable full-page layout. We at Context Optional are frequently asked “Can we make this look like our brand’s website or microsite?” Up until now, the answer had been no, and consistent branding across multiple digital channels wasn’t feasible. Now the answer is yes, and that’s a very dramatic shift. Tabs can be set as the default landing-page for non-fans and can be directly linked to by advertisements or from off-site. Brands wanting a specific experience for page visitors can now provide exactly that, clearing away a major barrier to social network participation and investment.
Look and feel however is only a minor component of what makes the tabbed view so powerful. For those brands that don’t have regularly updated content, tabs can house applications that allow page fans and other users to interact, in effect generating engaging content for the brand in question to distribute. Using the Tide example above, a tab could offer coupons, house a contest challenging users to submit photos of Tide “in the wild”, or provide a forum for visitors to exchange laundry-related advice. The brand could then distribute those photos or tips to all page fans through status updates, rewarding contributors with recognition and delivering valuable information to brand advocates.
Combined, the proper use of these two features will provide numerous examples of social marketing best practices. We expect to see a noticeable upswing in the presence of and investment from major brands in social media, and are excited to enable the sincere embrace of social media as a marketing channel.
