Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups

What is the difference between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group? Is one better than the other?

According to Facebook:

Pages can only be created to represent a real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. Groups can be created by any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject.

For artists, businesses, and brands looking to establish a presence on Facebook, both Pages and Groups offer similar levels of user interactivity via features such as the Discussion Board and the Wall. However, Facebook Pages offer several distinct advantages including greater visibility, customization and measurability.

Here are some of the benefits of launching a Facebook Page versus a Group...

Facebook Pages:
  • Your logo appears in each member’s profile with a link to the Page
  • Customizable and will work with Facebook apps (add a blog, video, etc.)
  • Provide detailed statistics about visitor traffic and demographics
  • Can be promoted via Social Ads
  • Messages are sent to each members' Notifications page
  • Pages never display their admins' names (so you can maintain a personal/professional distinction)
  • Unlimited ability to send messages to members
Facebook Groups:
  • Your logo does NOT appear in members’ profiles, only a single text link to the Group
  • Not very customizable and do not work with Facebook apps
  • Facebook doesn't provide you with traffic or demographic information
  • Cannot be promoted via Social Ads
  • Messages are sent to each members' Inbox
  • Admins’ names are posted publicly in the Group
  • Admins can't send messages to all members once the Group exceeds 5,000 members
Facebook Groups tend to be related to common interests, such as "Support New Jersey State Troopers" and "1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert," whereas Facebook Pages are specially designed for business use. Barack Obama and Coca-Cola use Pages to connect with fans on Facebook. Guess who else uses Facebook Pages to promote themselves? Facebook does.

Facebook will also launch a new design for Pages in the next few weeks. Pages will look much more like user profiles. The new design will not only make the Pages look less cluttered and more dynamic, it will also work to make sharing more prominent and viral.

What if you've already created a Facebook Group and want to switch to a Facebook Page? No worries. You don't have to start from scratch. Fill out this form and Facebook will transfer over the group members and any discussion board posts, reviews, posted items, and Wall posts to your new Page. (Unfortunately, any videos and photos will need to be manually transferred.)

[ Update 02/24/09: Jon Newman of The Hodges Partnership, a public relations firm in Virginia, shares his company’s reasons for switching from a Facebook Group to a Fan Page. Click here to read his blog post. ]

Search Marketing and Casual Games Connect

If you asked me a week ago what the connection was between the search marketing and casual games industries my answer would have been simply that SEO and paid search are highly effective traffic-driving tools for online game portals and that Slingo, a leading developer and publisher of casual games, is a client of ours. Of course, that was before travelling to Hamburg, Germany to present at the Casual Games Association’s (CGA) aptly named Casual Connect Conference. Now I see that the connections run far deeper:
  • Search marketing and casual games are young industries. Both have seen rapid growth over the past ten years and are continuing to evolve and mature at the same time.
  • Acquisitions, mergers and consolidation are happening as both industries struggle with revenue models, metrics and market expectations. Rumors are commonplace.
  • In spite of this intra-industry volatility, each is well situated to not only survive but thrive in these lean economic times as each offers marketers effective and efficient means of reaching target audiences.
  • Both search and casual games need to deal with emerging platforms like mobile and social media networks like Facebook. And how far off is the prospect of your TV becoming your portal to searching the Internet and game downloads instead of your computer?
  • There is no dearth of people looking to get a piece of the action in these “hot” industries. Unfortunately, the really good practitioners are few and far between and the rising level of mediocrity hurts each industry as a whole.
  • Organizations like the CGA and SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization) are important as outward-facing evangelists for their industries as well as inward-facing catalysts for improvement and sharing of best practices.
  • Finally, both industries are filled with fun, friendly and smart people. And that’s why it was my pleasure to make connections with some of the casual gamers at the conference and I hope to keep in touch with them.

Friday, February 13, 2009

January Travelogue

Dear DBE Blog –

Been on the road a lot but thinking of you all the while. Time to recap some January highlights:

January 21, New York City: Judging for the
2009 Effie Awards for the New York American Marketing Association. I like the Effies because they put emphasis on results over creative; marketing integration over a single execution. Reviewed many name brands that integrated their campaigns with a dedicated website (good), some had social media marketing aspects (better) but none of them integrated SEO/SEA keyword tactics (bad – especially as these campaigns were not lacking for budget). The closest anyone came to search was the presentation of a Google Trends chart showing increased searches on the product name as evidence of results of other marketing efforts. Bottom line, search marketing is still not part of the mainstream integration mix. This means there is still tremendous opportunity for smart marketers to not only win on the Web, but to beat the pants off their better known brand competition.

January 26, Philadelphia:
Marketing Executive Networking Groug (MENG) Chapter Event with Tierney presenting how to handle media interviews. Good line about how you control interactions with the press because you control what comes out of your mouth. Think it also applies to reputation management on the Web as you control your Facebook and other digital outpost profile content.

January 27, Basking Ridge NJ: Perfect segue to
presenting to the New Jersey AMA on how to leverage your personal brand online via search marketing tactics. (Visit our Facebook Page to check out some pics and video from the event.) Most attendees are on LinkedIn, but are not using it fully. Some are on Facebook, but aren’t sure how to use it for professional advantage and/or how not to use it for professional disadvantage. We ended the presentation with the announcement of DBE’s new consulting service for executives, Jump Start Social Media.

I just realized that I completed an AMA trifecta in less than a week – NY, NJ and PA (seeing as the President-Elect of the Philadelphia Chapter attended the MENG event at my invitation and has since joined the network).

Enough for now. I need to gather my thoughts on my trip to the 2009 Casual Connect CGA show in Hamburg, Germany. The casual gaming and search industries have more in common than you might think.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

What is Search Engine Marketing?

"What is search engine marketing, and how is it used?"

If you and your team are new to search marketing, it can be a little unnerving. So many terms to absorb, so many strategies and options. Questions about technologies, techniques, 'black hat' versus 'white hat' optimization, bid management approaches, Flash and SEO, social media, and so much more.

Our team has heard it all before, so don’t feel overwhelmed or intimidated. In fact our president and CEO, Niki Fielding, was recently interviewed by Love To Know's Business section for an article on search engine marketing. It's a great overview of SEO, paid search, and social media marketing for anyone who's just learning the ropes.

We've helped many companies sort it all out to arrive at solutions that work for them. Just contact us and we’ll help you get up to speed. You’ll be tossing around jargon in no time!

Monday, February 09, 2009

To Tweet, or Not to Tweet


What is Twitter? Why should I use it? Why would anyone want to know what I’m doing, and vice versa? Isn’t Twitter too time-consuming? I bet only teenagers use Twitter, right?

Whether I’m talking with friends or business associates, I hear these questions pretty often. To be honest, I asked them too – but then I gave Twitter a try and quickly moved through the 5 stages of Twitter acceptance. Now I adore Twitter. In fact, I posted my 400th update this week (see image at top). I use the micro-blogging service to communicate with friends and colleagues, to share articles that I’ve found interesting, to gather info for new projects, and to learn from and talk with people in the industry.

I’m not Twitter’s only admirer. Many business people swear by Twitter as an invaluable tool for professional networking. Dozens of brands, including Zappos, Comcast, JetBlue, Marriott International, HR Block, and Rubbermaid (as well as several of our own clients) have jumped at the chance to use Twitter as a platform for interacting with customers.

Still have your doubts about Twitter’s value? I recommend reading “Ending The Twitter Mystery: What People Think About Twitter—And How They Use It,” by Scott Abel, CEO of The Content Wrangler. In the article, Abel explores why and how people use Twitter by talking with members of The Content Wrangler Community (myself included).

Of course, the best way to develop an appreciation for Twitter is to try it out. Sign up for your own account and try following a few friends and brands that you love. You’re also welcome to follow me @PamAbbazia – I’d love to hear how Twitter works for you.

Monday, February 02, 2009

#BrandMonitoringFAIL

Society Needs to Catch Up to Social Media, Part 3 (The SuperBowl Edition)

While watching SuperBowl XLIII last night, I decided I would live tweet my opinions on the commercials as they came up. Nothing out of the ordinary – I liked some and disliked others.

Looking back now though, something happened right before halftime that has me thinking. (Yes, I do occasionally think.) I tweeted that I had my 3D glasses ready for the Monsters vs. Aliens trailer and the Sobe Lifewater commercial. Within minutes I had an @reply from “Lee the Lizard” (@sobeworld). At first I thought, “Hey, that’s kind of cool. They’re monitoring for mentions of their name and they’re playing along in character.” This is exactly what companies should be doing. I sent them an atta-boy tweet later.

Now that I’m thinking about it a little more though, I’m disappointed. I sent 15 tweets mentioning 11 specific brands or products. I had also sent a tweet last weekend expressing my feelings about a product made by another of last night’s advertisers. So out of 12 mentions, I got 1 response. One response?! Clearly companies still aren’t getting it. They have to be active and involved. Last night, eleven companies got it wrong. Congratulations to Sobe for getting it right.

This is an ongoing series of blog posts about the effects of social media in corporate culture and society in general. Part 3 was supposed to explore the business applications of social media and discuss why IT departments need to be less restrictive with those tools. I promise you that will be Part 4.