Inside Facebook

Purchase this report The Facebook Marketing Bible - Current Edition Buy PDF: $49 USD OR Buy PDF + 1 Year of Free Monthly Updates: $149 USD

The newly revised, expanded, and hot-off-the-press Facebook Marketing Bible: 40+ Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook - July 2009 Edition is now available!

The Facebook Marketing Bible has been purchased by thousands of agencies, marketers, social application developers, entrepreneurs, and educators, and is the leading resource on Facebook marketing today. It is also available in French, Spanish, and Italian. (A special edition for agencies and big brands is also available.)

The densely-packed Facebook Marketing Bible contains four detailed sections: Tools for Guerilla Marketers, Tools for Advertisers, Tools for Application Developers, and Tools for Webmasters. Each part outlines the best available channels and strategies for reaching your audience inside Facebook. Please see the full table of contents below.

In addition, Inside Facebook is happy to announce that through July 31st all customers who purchase the Facebook Marketing Bible will also receive a free $25 Facebook Ads advertising credit, courtesy of Facebook (see terms).

The July 2009 edition includes updates on the following topics:

• The latest updates on Facebook Pages (public profiles), including the vanity URL landrush and rule changes for generic Facebook Pages. We’ve broken down all the new elements piece by piece and offered detailed and specific advice for marketers hoping to reach more users inside Facebook than ever before - including details on why marketers should choose Facebook Pages over Facebook Groups, new updates to Facebook’s new Insights dashboard, and new rules for administrators of generic Facebook Pages. See the table of contents below for more details.
• The latest details on Facebook’s new “Pay with Facebook” virtual currency payment program for application developers. Find out the latest on what Facebook’s new payment program means for the future of virtual currency payments on Facebook (and Facebook revenues) - including Facebook’s latest international currency efforts.
• The latest details on Facebook’s new “Open Stream” API and what it means for marketers, publishers, and developers. With the new Open Stream API, Facebook has released the power of the Facebook stream to live anywhere developers can put it - including publisher websites, desktop applications, and mobile phones. Find out exactly what you can do with the new Open Stream, and what it means for the future of the Facebook Platform.
• The latest tools for webmasters to drive more traffic to their site and build more social context through Facebook Connect and Facebook Share. With Facebook Connect and Facebook Share, publishers have new opportunities for both enriching their sites with deeply social features and leveraging Facebook’s powerful feed system for driving traffic to their site. Get new details on metrics early Facebook Connect partners are seeing, and learn how to optimize your Facebook Share integration.
• New tools for advertisers to target their Facebook Ads better than ever before. With enhanced Facebook  targeting tools, advertisers now have the ability to reach their target audiences in much more powerful ways. Learn how to use these new tools to get the most out of your performance marketing dollars. Plus, check out ways Facebook is experimenting with virtual currency gifting and branded virtual gifts.
• Plus, more updates on Facebook’s “Live Stream” widget for live events on your website or Facebook Page, recent rule changes for Facebook Platform ad networks, and more.

Purchase this report The Facebook Marketing Bible - Current Edition Buy PDF: $49 USD OR Buy PDF + 1 Year of Free Monthly Updates: $149 USD

For those interested in learning more, click the purchase link above. The price is $49, or $149 with 12 months of free updates emailed directly to your inbox. As always, please make suggestions if you’d like to see more attention paid to any topic!

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Tools for Guerilla Marketers

1. Profile Page

2. Pages / Public Profiles

• “Facebook Pages 2.0″
  • The New Wall Tab - Making Pages More Dynamic and Viral
  • Status Updates - Now for Pages, Too
  • Application Boxes - Changing Places
  • Tab Management - Choosing a Landing Page
  • Conclusion - Facebook Learning from Twitter, Pages Getting Better
• The Future of Sharing on Facebook: A Hybrid Public/Private Model
• Branded Virtual Gifts on Facebook Pages Opening New Doors for Viral Advertising
  
• Adding Custom Modules to Your Page
• Strategy: 4 Reasons Why Marketers Should Choose Facebook Pages Over Facebook Groups
• Strategy: I’ve just created a Page. How do I promote it?
• Group to Page Migration
• Guidelines for Promoting Pages Outside Facebook
• Official vs Unofficial Pages
• Pages and SEO
• Vanity URLs for Facebook Pages
• Which Celebrities are the Most Engaging on Facebook?
  
• Ways Page Owners Can Restrict Content for Underage Users
• How to Import Your Blog into Your Public Profile
• Page Invitations
• SMS Subscription Service for Pages
• Updating Facebook Page Status Via Text
• Getting Page Status Updates Via Text
  
• More Features Coming Soon
• Interesting Conversion Rate Metrics from Adobe Students Facebook Campaign
• Marketers Actively Bidding for Generic Facebook Pages
• Facebook Upgrades “Insights” Metrics Dashboard for Page Managers
• Facebook Disabling Stream Publishing for Generic Pages

3. Groups

• Strategy: What about spamming existing groups?
• SEO
  

4. Events

• Events API
• Events SEO
  

5. Notes and Photos

• Events API
• Events SEO
  

6. Messages

7. Status Updates

• Public Timeline Search

8. Share / Posted Items

9. Mini Feed and News Feed

10. Feed Importing

> Data: Latest US Facebook Age and Gender Demographics

> Recommended Strategies for Guerilla Marketers

II. Tools for Advertisers

11. Social Ads

• How Specialty Brands are Driving Sales on Facebook
  

12. Engagement Ads

• Summary of ad units available to Facebook advertisers
  1. Sponsorship Units on the New Facebook Home Page
     • Social Video Ads
     • Sponsored Virtual Gifts
     • Events Ads
     • Pages Ads
     • Polling Ads

  2. Advertising in the New Facebook News Feed
  3. Advertising on the Profile Page (and other pages)
     

13. Virtual Gifts

• The Future of Virtual Gifts on Facebook
• Scheduled & Holiday Virtual Gifts
• Facebook Testing Virtual Currency Gifting Program with Branded Virtual Gifts
  

14. Performance Ads

• Radius and Language Targeting
• Multiple Currency Support

15. Localization Opportunities

16. Integrated Opportunities

17. Facebook Platform Ad Networks

• List of Leading Facebook Platform Ad Networks
• What eCPMs do apps charge? Data from Facebook application developers
• Facebook Bans Platform Ad Networks for Deceptive Ads

18. Facebook Platform Application Sponsorships

• List of Leading Facebook Platform Sponsorship Resellers/Rep Firms
• Strategy: Why sponsor applications when I can sponsor Facebook itself?

19. Specialized Facebook Platform Advertising Service Providers

> Recommended Strategies for Advertisers

III. Tools for Application Developers

• Strategy: What is the Right Way to Market Through Facebook Applications?
• Strategy: Where do most new application users come from?

20. Profile Box

• 5 Things Developers May Not Know About the Facebook Redesign
• Profile Integration: Tour of New Facebook App Settings

21. Application Tabs

22. Application Info Sections

23. Designing Feed Stories

• Strategy: Designing High Performance Feed Items
• News Feed Optimization: Strategies and Techniques

24. Feeds 2.0

• Feed Forms
• Feed Clustering
• Action Links
• Policy Update: All Feed Story Calls to Action Must Now be Action Links
  

25. Feed Publisher

• Publishing in the Feed with Feed Comments

26. Requests / Invitations

• Policy Updates: Requiring Invites to Access Hidden Features, Offering Incentives for Invites, Ads on Profile Page Prohibited
• Strategy: Facebook’s Evolving Approach to Platform Governance
• Sending Application Invitations to Non-Facebook-Members

27. Chat Invitations

28. Facebook Notifications

• Chat Integration: Facebook Wants More Synchronous Notifications
• Policy Update: Bulk Pre-Selection Prohibited
• Facebook Turns On Instant Notifcation Popup Alerts
  
• Spammy Affiliate Marketers Sure to be Shut Down
  

29. Email Notifications

• Updates: Email’s Status as Core Application Marketing Channel in Doubt

30. Application Bookmarks

31. Application Directory & About Pages

• The Publisher Comes to Application About Pages
  

32. Status Updates & Donations

33. Demographic Restrictions

34. Verification and Certification

• Great Apps Program
• Application Verification

35. Translations

• Data: Stats on Facebook Apps Built for International Markets
• Tutorial: Translating Your Applications Using Facebook’s Crowd-sourced Translation Service

Purchase this report The Facebook Marketing Bible - Current Edition Buy PDF: $49 USD OR Buy PDF + 1 Year of Free Monthly Updates: $149 USD

36. Analytics Tools

• List of Leading Third-Party Facebook Platform Analytics Providers
• New Metrics for Developers with Facebook Profile Redesign

37. Search Engine Optimization

38. Mobile

• Facebook for iPhone and Connect for iPhone

39. Customer Service

40. Custom Tags

41. Open Stream

• What Does Facebook’s “Open Stream” Mean for Marketers?
  

42. Pay with Facebook

> Poll: Which viral channels do Facebook users hate most about apps?

> Recommended Strategies for Application Developers

IV. Tools for Webmasters

43. Facebook Connect

• Overview: Integrating Facebook Connect with Your Website
• Related: Google Friend Connect
• Examples: 40 Sites Live with Facebook Connect Today
• Variety of Facebook Connect Plugins Now Available for Blogs and Wikis
• Citysearch: Each Item Shared Through Facebook Connect Generates 30 Clicks
  

44. Comments Box Widget

45. Live Feed Widget

46. Facebook Share

Conclusion

Recommended Partners

This morning I gave the opening presentation at the Social Gaming Summit, discussing an overview of the major platforms, players, and monetization stats in the social gaming industry. For those interested in checking out the slides, they are embedded below.

Topics covered: Facebook, Facebook Connect, iPhone, MySpace, Hi5, Twitter, Monetization, ARPUs on Facebook and MySpace, IP, copycats.

Zynga, itself being sued by Mob Wars creator Psycho Monkey for IP issues regarding the Zynga title Mafia Wars, has now filed suit against other leading rival Playdom for misuse of the mark “Mafia Wars” in ads it is running for its popular game, Mobsters…

>> Read More at Inside Social Games

As Facebook works out the ideal privacy model for the site, the topic became the center of conversation in Washington D.C. this past week. Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly, testified before congress about the social network’s privacy policies. Meanwhile, the Washington Post profiled the lobbying efforts of Timothy Sparapani, former senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who joined Facebook as its director of public policy back in March.

Privacy and the management of user data has begun to catch the attention of lawmakers. Facebook, Google and other companies in Silicon Valley have begun revving up their lobbying efforts to ensure that any future privacy laws don’t impede upon their business models, which rely heavily on advertising.

The addition of both Sparapani and Kelly to Facebook’s staff was welcomed by members of the privacy community, who have often been critical of Facebook. Most recently, Facebook experienced a backlash from users when it revised its terms of service. Many perceived the change to imply that Facebook would hold onto users’ data even after they cancel their memberships. Facebook reverted to its original terms of service, claiming users own their data, and later had a user vote to reflect what the new terms of service should be.

During his testimony, Kelly highlighted the terms of service incident and how the company responded in a way that would not only be fair to users, but that would also mirror the reality of Facebook’s business model. Facebook does not reveal the identity of users to advertisers — just basic information (such as keywords) that allows Facebook to service up relevant ads.

“In offering its free service to users,” Kelly told congress, “Facebook is dedicated to developing advertising that is relevant and personal without invading users’ privacy, and to giving users more control over how their personal information is used in the online advertising environment.”

Kelly also said that Facebook was “inartful” in the way it introduced Beacon - which quickly became a major PR incident for the company. With Beacon, users’ buying actions were broadcasted to friends without their clear consent. The feature sparked controversy and drew the ire of MoveOn.org, the political advocacy group.

“We learned many lessons about the importance of user education and extensive control from the imperfect introduction of our Beacon product in 2007,” Kelly said. “As a result, Facebook continues to be dedicated to empowering consumers to control their information in both the noncommercial and the commercial context because we believe that should be the future of advertising.”

Kelly’s role in the privacy lobbying will become less significant this fall, as he runs for California Attorney General. As he campaigns, Sparapani will move to the front and center of Facebook’s lobbying efforts to help shape future legislation concerning online privacy. As the Post story detailed, Sparapani brings a high level of credibility to how seriously Facebook takes privacy: When he worked for the ACLU, he championed privacy rights on key issues. He opposed “racial profiling in airport security lines and pushed for stricter rules for how patient information should be used in electronic medical records.”

With privacy, the stakes for Facebook are high. The company has built robust privacy settings that allow users to control what friends can see certain pieces of critical information on their Facebook profiles. From a business perspective, Facebook will thrive if people feel comfortable to share information that advertisers can target their advertising against.

Some reports suggest Facebook users, on a wide scale, care about privacy very deeply, but the terms of service incident and Beacon only caught a minority (albeit a loud one) of the Facebook populace.

Conclusion

Facebook should lobby congress as much as it can to influence the legislation. Try as they may, many congressional members do not understand the complexities of legal issues facing the Web (Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ remarks on Net Neutrality still ring fresh in memory). While privacy matters, advertisements will sustain Facebook’s growth. Facebook, and any laws that congress may pass, must balance that reality.

There have been ample stories about employers scanning Facebook to find unflattering pictures and content of potential hires. Well, if you find that to be an unnecessary invasion of privacy, you might be appalled if you applied for a job in the City of Bozeman, Montana.

According to a report by ABC News, Bozeman asks you for your Facebook user name and password (or any social network you might belong to for that matter). Here is the precise wording, as listed in the city’s hiring document:

“Please list any and all, current personal or business web sites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”

Apparently, the policy has existed for nearly three years. It didn’t surface until last week, when a citizen who contacted WBZK TV in Bozeman called the station to complain how the policy clearly violated people’s privacy. Such a policy not only represents a serious ethical breach of privacy; it also violates Facebook’s Terms of Service.

After the station ran a story, the city received several calls and e-mails, both locally and across the country, expressing outrage against the policy. The city reversed the policy on Friday, saying:

“The extent of our request for a candidate’s password, user name, or other internet information appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community. We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the City of Bozeman”

Conclusion

The city commissioners in Bozeman were right to overturn this policy. Leaving it in place would set a dangerous precedent. Religion, political affiliations and sexual orientation come to mind as pieces of information on Facebook profiles that an employer has no business knowing about employees. We doubt we’ll see many more cases like this incident. While people want jobs (especially these days), they also don’t want to work for organizations who would violate their privacy in such a personal way.

Thanks to everyone who attended this morning’s Facebook Marketing Breakfast in San Francisco! It was great getting to meet many of you and to see several familiar faces.

The Facebook Marketing Breakfast is Inside Facebook’s half-day event series geared toward bringing together leading brands, Facebook’s own brand market solutions team, and experts from the space for an intimate conversation on best practices and realities of the Facebook marketing landscape.

Today’s event, hosted by Razorfish, included presentations by Trista Handisides, Manager of Brand Market Solutions at Facebook, Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst: Social Computing, Forrester, Michael Brito, Social Media Strategist, Intel, Kevin Barenblat, CEO, Context Optional, and Garrick Schmitt, Group Vice President of Experience Planning at Razorfish.

After the presentations, we concluded with a panel discussion including Betsy Burkett, Senior Manager of Digital Media at Mattel, Karl Long, Social Media Strategist at Nokia, Alyson Hyder, VP Digital Media, Razorfish, Keith Rabois, VP Strategy & Business Development, Slide, Katherine Bateman, VP Marketing, Buddy Media, and Justin Smith, Editor, Inside Facebook, followed by drinks on the Razorfish patio.

Below, check out some photos from this morning’s talks and great San Francisco weather (or view photos on Facebook). Video and presentations from this morning are also coming soon. You can also find tweets from the event at #fmbsf (thanks to @coryobrien for live tweeting many highlights from this morning). We look forward to seeing you at our next event!

Facebook Marketing Breakfast San Francisco - June 18, 2009

Garrick Schmitt, Group Vice President, Razorfish

Trista Handisides, Manager of Brand Market Solutions, Facebook

Kevin Barenblat, CEO, Context Optional

Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst: Social Computing, Forrester

Justin Smith, Editor, Inside Facebook
Keith Rabois, VP Business Development & Strategy, Slide
Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst: Social Computing, Forrester
Karl Long, Social Media Strategist, Nokia
Betsy Burkett, Senior Manager, Digital Media, Mattel
Alyson Hyder, VP Digital Media, Razorfish
Katherine Bateman, VP Marketing, Buddy Media

In a legal battle that began almost a year ago, the latest development in the Facebook vs. StudiVZ case has gone in favor of the German social networking site. On Tuesday, the court in Cologne (in western Germany) wrote:

“Although there are overlaps and similarities between the two sites that are impossible to overlook, no dishonest copying could be established by the judge.”

However, the judgment “is not legally binding” and Facebook can appeal, according to the AFP.

In July 2008, Facebook sued German social networking site StudiVZ for copyright infringement. Facebook alleged that the German company developed a pure knock-off that merely replaced its blue color scheme with a red one, confusing social networking users in Germany.

Before Facebook filed suit, the two companies were apparently in discussions about a potential buyout of StudiVZ by Facebook, but that option didn’t materialize - with StudiVZ’s owner, the Holtzbrinck Grouppe, asking for a price above what Facebook was willing to accept. In November 2008, Facebook reopened its case against StudiVZ for copying its design and stealing its code, but the German court wasn’t convinced for a few reasons, saying StudiVZ launched in 2005 when Facebook was popular mainly in North America, and StudiVZ already had over 10 million users by the time Facebook translated its site into German in March 2008.

To date, Facebook has 2.9 million users in Germany compared to the reported 14.3 million subscribers StudiVZ has across three of its social networking sites: StudiVZ for university students, schuelerVZ for high school students, and meinVZ for the greater population.

The good news for Facebook is that many Germans are making the transition to Facebook anyways. We’ve heard from German users that StudiVZ is stagnating under its new corporate leadership, and as a result many Germans are moving to Facebook anyway.

Related Articles:

• Facebook Sues German Knock-off StudiVZ; Xiaonei Next?
• More Details on Facebook’s Battle With StudiVZ in Germany
• Facebook Audience in Germany Reaches 2 Million Users

Update (May 27, 2009): A few days after Iran’s ban on Facebook, the site is now restored and available to Facebook users in Iran. The government gave no reasons as to why the site was initially blocked and then reopened.

This weekend there has been much talk about Facebook users in Iran not being able to access the Facebook site. This marks the second time that Iranian authorities have banned Facebook, the first being in 2006 when Facebook was banned along with YouTube. Facebook was since unblocked and has climbed to become one of the most popular websites in Iran.

But Internet users around the world were skeptical of Tehran’s reopening of the site. As Christophe Ginisty of Internet without Borders says, “During election periods, as in the case of Iran, it allows the government to give the impression that it is offering more freedom. But that’s absolutely not what’s happening, because the first thing that happens following an opening is that filters and controls are established. It means they reopen Facebook when they have the possibility to put people in place who can control it.”

But apparently, that hasn’t been the government’s strategy this election season. On Saturday morning, Facebook users in Iran logged in to Facebook to find that the site was no longer available. The timing of this Facebook ban comes less than 20 days before presidential elections on June 12, when incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadirejad is running for re-election against reformist candidate and former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. The ban is seen by many to be an effort to stop Mousavi’s growing political campaign on Facebook: his Facebook Page now has over 6,000 supporters.

The 23 million Internet users in Iran are perhaps angry and frustrated, but they aren’t surprised. Internet censorship in Iran is severe, if not harsh. In 2008, the government blocked 500 million websites and arrested four bloggers, making its way to the “Internet Enemies” list. Censored content ranges from politics and religion to women’s and human rights.

In the recent U.S. presidential race, we saw how online platforms like Facebook and Twitter can change the potential for increased political communication - not just measured in reach, but also in the depth of conversation and engagement. And in this case, the Iranian government is feeling threatened by the power of the social graph to sway history against its favor.

Facebook has just issued a Friday night press release announcing the settling of a trademark dispute with Think Computer Corporation, whose founder Aaron Greenspan created the houseSYSTEM student web portal while he and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg were classmates at Harvard. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but if the rumored “$65 million” settlement with the founders of ConnectU is any indication, it’s possible Greenspan’s settlement could also be valued in the millions.

In the statement, Zuckerberg said:

“Aaron and I studied together at Harvard and I’ve always admired his entrepreneurial spirit and love of building things. I appreciate his hard work and innovation that led to building houseSYSTEM, including the Universal Face Book feature. At school, I was even a member of houseSYSTEM. We are pleased that we’ve been able to amicably resolve our differences.”

“I am glad that my contributions have been recognized by Facebook. Mark has built a tremendous company at Facebook, and I wish them continued success in the future,” Greenspan said in the release.

Here’s what happened: Greenspan’s houseSYSTEM, a web-based portal for students at Harvard that he built in 2003 (before Facebook was founded), included a feature called “The Face Book.” However, in 2005, Facebook was awarded a trademark for the term “Facebook” by the USPTO. Facebook was then awarded a second trademark in 2006. Greenspan had since filed petitions to have the USPTO revoke both of Facebook’s trademarks, saying he had used the term first. (See this 2007 NY Times story for more.) However, now all of that is going away: as part of the settlement, Greenspan canceled all of his legal actions against the company.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has settled legal matters originating from Mark Zuckerberg’s time at Harvard. Last year, the company settled claims from the founders of a company called ConnectU, whose founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra claimed Zuckerberg basically stole the idea for Facebook from them while they were undergraduates at Harvard. Drama has since ensued on the ConnectU side as the Winklevosses fired their lawyers and sought to have the settlement canceled, but the courts have upheld it since.

Facebook’s audience in Germany has just crossed over 2 million monthly active users – a number that outpaces Inside Facebook’s growth projection of 1.8 million users by May 1, 2009, according to our Facebook Global Monitor.

In the last 12 months, Facebook’s audience in Germany has grown by 260%. Germany now has the 18th most Facebook users of any country, leading Norway and Hong Kong, but trailing behind Denmark and Belgium.

However, relative market penetration in Germany is still low. Facebook’s main competitor in Germany is Berlin-based social networking service StudiVZ. Started in 2005 as a social network for college students, StudiVZ now boasts over 13 million users.

In 2007, it was sold to a German publishing group for possibly up to 100 million Euros. A year later, Facebook filed suit against StudiVZ for intellectual property infringement, a move that lead industry speculators to wonder which Facebook clone was next. Xiaonei?

Facebook hasn’t faced difficulty gaining market share in Germany alone. Our recent look at the Chinese market, for example, shows the challenges Facebook is having there. In general, by the time Facebook fully localizes in key emerging markets, local clones will likely have already won over the hearts of local Internet users. And while the cost of transition isn’t high for these users to switch to Facebook one day, it isn’t low either: Facebook would have to convert a critical mass of users for the switch to be worthwhile for the others.

But Facebook has demonstrated creative efforts to acquire users in the German market, including the Facebook German Application Contest, Facebook for Good - Germany, and even recruiting Facebook ambassadors in Berlin and Munich.

In related news, Germany’s largest newspaper, Bild, recently implemented Facebook Connect - a sign that other local media companies are hopeful of a stronger Facebook presence in Germany.