The Future of Social Web: Facebook’s Vision for Brands being Social

Technology for Marketing and Advertising (TFMA)
Earls Court, London, Wednesday 2nd of March 2011

Where to start? Facebook, the sexiest of digital brands and the social-networking trailblazer, give a keynote at TFMA 2011.

This blur Group blogger managed to acquire a seat without too much bother at the previous keynote (thanks, Mindshare). Getting in to the Facebook keynote at all was a bonus.

And a throng of people listened from outside the theatre as Facebook’s UK Commercial Director, Stephen Haines, gave the lowdown on where we’re at with social media, and where we’re going.

Inside the Facebook keynote, TFMA 2011

The keynote got off to an interesting start, as Haines announced that Facebook had just hit the 30 million users mark in the UK. Curiously, he said the figure last week was 26 million but a little common sense tells us that Facebook almost certainly hasn’t jumped up 4 million users in a week. The ‘official’ figure last week was 26 million people.

Oh, and from those 30 million users, 14 million spend an average of 28 minutes a day on Facebook, which is plenty of time to consume lots of information.

Anyway, moving on, what came out of Facebook’s keynote? Well firstly, Haines provided many examples of brands that are using Facebook to get its message out…but users are also using Facebook to get THEIR message out…to the brands.

The example Haines cited was Wispa, a Cadbury’s chocolate bar available in the UK. It was discontinued in 2003, but then brought back again in 2007 following campaigns on Facebook and other social channels. If ever we needed proof that social media better enables a two-way conversation between brand and consumer, this was a defining moment.

We’re now starting to see a far greater level of engagement between brand and consumer, and the future of the social web could even see websites become obsolete. Or, at least, perform a much different function to what we’ve come to expect.

Company websites: RIP?

According to Haines, Starbucks has already suggested it may not even bother with its website in the future, given that Facebook and the social web is proving to be where it’s all happening. Consider the following stats from today’s keynote, showing the monthly visits to these top 4 brands company pages on Facebook and their respective company websites.

Monthly visits: Facebook vs. Company Website

Skittles is a particularly good example of the role websites may play in the future. The Skittles website is essentially a hub that brings together all its social activity, linking through to its Twitter and Facebook accounts. There’s very little other content on the website itself, it’s all about getting people to engage through its external social channels.

So even if brands such as Starbucks don’t abandon their websites altogether, it’s clear the role a website plays is changing because of social media.

Tailored content

When commuters stream through stations each morning, armed with whatever ‘free’ newspaper they’ve collected at the entrance, they’re all essentially consuming the same content.

Social media is already enabling tailored content, where a person’s activity on social networking websites and elsewhere on the web influences what adverts they see and what recommendations they receive. This in turn promotes virality – the more relevant content a user is subjected to, the more they will engage with it and then the more this information will be passed down the line to like-minded friends.

Apparently, the fastest growing group on Facebook is in the over 35 year-old age-group. So Facebook as a platform for teenagers to arrange parties certainly isn’t true, which has massive implications for marketers on the lookout for people with money.

Different ads

Advertising on Facebook can take a number of forms. The classic ‘banner’-type ads, consisting of a flashing graphic that takes the clicker off to another website are still possible. But then you also have ‘like’ ads, ‘polling’ ads, ‘event’ ads, ‘comment’ ads, ‘sampling’ ads and ‘application’ ads.

As an example of app ads, Zynga is now the second most valuable games company in the world, on the back of its usage on platforms such as Facebook. And marketers can get in on the act too by advertising on one of Zynga’s games.

Future trends…

Check-in deals will be massive on Facebook. As we saw with Gap’s ’10,000 pairs of jeans’ giveaway in November, the collective power of smartphones, social networks and e-commerce will prove too much for brands to ignore.

Indeed, this was consistent with what we heard at Google’s m-commerce keynote yesterday.

Leveraging e-commerce through social channels will also increase, and the F-commerce revolution has already started, though this isn’t a term Haines specifically used to describe it. ASOS recent became the first fully integrated Facebook store in Europe, and consumers can now shop and complete transactions entirely on the social network.

Pampers has a Facebook webstore too and this is something many brands will be launching in due course.

Social by design

Ultimately, the rise of social media means the future is likely to see a lot more of the ‘social by design’ concept. General Motors Co. has already integrated Facebook technology into its cars, whilst HTC has announced the first ever phone to have a dedicated Facebook button on the handset.

‘Social’ will be a forethought rather than an afterthought and will influence product design across the board.

Don’t dabble, just do it

One of the final points Haines made was this: businesses shouldn’t dabble with Facebook as a commercial platform. It should be planned in advance and executed properly. Brands that are succeeding on Facebook engage with consumers on a regular basis, if there’s no engagement then what’s the point?