Facebook Data & Identity Optimization

If you didn’t know, Facebook Ads are much lower than Adwords because you can target by psychographics. Cambridge Analytica made that global news this week. We in the online industry in Menlo Park have known it since Facebook had their Beacon program settlement.

What everyone failed to realize about Facebook is that just because my friend likes something, doesn’t mean I am going to like something, believe what they do, go where they go, eat what they eat. I mean at what point didn’t high school online reunions and long lost friends using Facebook realize they were going to be taken advantage of by ‘bad actors’.

This isn’t a data breach, it’s a full scale assault using Facebook on democracy and individual freedom. That’s why I’ve never been a Facebook user.

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The Power of Awesome

Everyone is awesome in Silicon Valley. That’s what you say to people here in “the Bay” so they’ll like you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter and Instagram and talk nicely about you to everyone. Social currency is traded on Facebook and now as you walk through Valley Fair in San Jose, they sell wooden signs that reinforce the real reason social media is so popular…. take a look…

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Facebook’s Strategy Now Organic Reach of Brand Posts is 2 per cent

Was at a BBQ last night here in Palo Alto and a few FB folks were there – we got to discussing the major issue swirling marketers globally that FB has dramatically changed their EdgeRank algorithm to the News Feed, which has seen organic reach of brands’ wastepage post decline to 2% or less.

One of the FB guys referred me to this official blog post. https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Organic-Reach-on-Facebook-UK

The reality is FB are just moving to a paid platform model. FB should not be likened to Google but rather a TV network like CBS, CNN or Fox. They are all about advertising and not organic.

Basically, FB are saying investing in creating page posts for your brand is meaningless unless ad dollars are spent on FB promoting it. They want you to  think about diverting money spent on content production for FB to using the Click to Website Ads in the RHS Rail of Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/business/a/online-sales/page-post-link-ads

I’ve been consoling our clients saying not to worry too much for their under-performing Facebook Content Strategy. It was arguably people aren’t reading Facebook posts they were sharing. I’ve always been a sceptic of Facebook as an organic content platform and thanks to Facebook for confirming my long held suspicion!

The economics of Social Media Optimization

The winds of change are blowing through Silicon Valley. Clients are compelled to understand how to integrate Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+/Google Authorship and extend Search Engine Optimization by harnessing Social Media Optimization. It’s pretty simple. You have to a) set up accounts for your corporate digital assets at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and b) inter-link content, pictures, tweet, posts between each social media property and c) add new content and links atleast weekly.

Like any assets, the running costs of maintaining social media optimized websites is largely the variable cost of content production. Most clients find it hard to create original content faster for social media than a corporate website. So the economics are not only monetary but intellectual – that is, can you or your content contributor think of a good idea for an article, post, pin, tweet, picture, etc. That is one of the reasons clients work with us as SearchForecast provides ideas around new keyword discovery and help clients with a word analytics solution to measure word appearances, frequency and rank of words on websites.

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Does Facebook drive traffic from Google to websites?

The bottomline is not really. Less than 5% of visitors to websites come from Facebook. The “referral traffic” we see in most of our clients Google Analytics accounts is less than 3%. Website owners and online marketers need to be aware that Facebook is not Google. It is a conversation/sharing platform. Google drives qualified intent based visitors to your website who are searching for a specific product or service.

As travel is a fantastic proxy for general Internet trends, the below inforgraphic shows that on average 4% of visitors to travel websites come from a social network like Facebook.

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The oldest man in the world using Facebook

When Ray Norwood (our esteemed VP of Business Development) was photographed in the New York Daily News yesterday, it wasn’t because of his Jerry Maquire-esque looks and access to A list players like Derek Jeter – mega star of the New York Yankees.

The untold story is how Ray and the power of Facebook helped Mr Bernando LaPallo, the oldest Yankees fan in the world, meet Derek Jeter. Ray’s midas touch and knowledge of Facebook marketing ensured the New York Yankees president knew Bernardo was in the ballpark and he graciously invited Bernard to meet Derek and others Yankee team members.

Way to go Ray, we’re all real proud of you!

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