What we can learn from the 1 Million ‘Likes’ Phenomenon

The word ‘Like’ has never meant more in today’s world than it does right now. Just ask the daughters of the Cordell family whose help-us-get-one-million-likes-for-a-puppy photo post on Facebook got them… (drum roll, please)… a puppy!

What started out as a fun, inventive family challenge has transformed into a 1 Million ‘Likes’ Facebook phenomenon. Since the Cordell’s one million ‘Likes’ photo success, everyone and their brother has jumped on the viral photo bandwagon. I’ve seen everything from a child asking others for one million ‘Likes’ for a trip to Disney, to a request for one million ‘Likes’ for a man to persuade his wife to have another child.

So what does all of this mean for PR and marketing pros? “Going viral” is a lot like Northeast Ohio weather; it’s not something that can be planned, it just happens. And although the idea for one million ‘Likes’ was a grand slam to begin with, it’s losing flavor and quickly becoming all too vanilla. When we play copy-cat to these types of tactics, we are adding to the white noise of the digital sphere and will quickly lose that thing we greatly cherish with our audience(s), aka engagement, all going downhill from there.

The last thing you want is for someone to say “Oh, there’s another one of those one million ‘Likes’” photos or whatever the digital campaign may be. Word to the wise: Be unique, keep it fresh, stay true to you, and always think before you jump onto the bandwagon.

Facebook is Changing – Why isn’t your Social Strategy Changing too?

Some marketers will tell you, “You’re only as good as your content.” While this is true in many cases, it seems Mark Zuckerberg overlooked the memo. I don’t know; maybe it posted on his Super Wall.

A Social Sea Change

With Facebook focusing on profit, it’s becoming more difficult for brands to connect with current fans. The focus on brand reinforcement is shifting toward brand awareness. Statistics form EdgeRanker show that engaged users of Facebook pages dropped from August to September. An in-depth look at the pages we manage confirmed their belief. Fewer people are seeing posts from brand pages.

Over time, social media managers can see patterns in a post’s engagement versus its reach. The higher a post’s engagement, the more people see. This is because Facebook displays posts in newsfeeds based on the level of interest in the post. For example, let’s say you and three of your friends like the same page. If those three friends like a status from the page, it’s more likely to display in your newsfeed. At least that’s how it used to be. Now, regardless of engagement, posts are displaying to roughly the same percentage of users who like a page (roughly 15 percent).

A Necessary Evil

I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that reach dropped shortly after the advent of the promoted post. With the promoted post, you can pay $5 to $15 to have posts displayed to a much larger audience of fans and friends of fans – much larger than any organic post could possibly deliver. The fee won’t guarantee engagement – just create the opportunity.

So your choices are simple. Show your post to a small group of people for free or show your post to the world for $15.

A company that has always put experience first is being forced to focus on profit, and marketers are an easy target. We all want access to the Facebook population and $15 isn’t an unreasonable price tag.

Marketers understand Facebook as a tool for brand reinforcement; you find people who like your brand and you interact with them – easy. But with pressure from shareholders, the stakes are raised for the social giant.

And make no mistake- the stakes are raised for marketers as well. What if you went to a CMO 10 years ago and said, “I want to allocate a significant portion of our resources to a free service that we have little to no control over?” But that’s what we do with Facebook everyday. We are at its mercy because it has six billion things we want.

A Plausible Solution

Great content and interaction are no longer the key drivers of success. Content still plays an important role, but the entirely organic nature of Facebook is gone. A really great post will no longer maximize your reach. Now, it takes a really great post and $15.

Some brands are trying creative ways to outsmart the system. One page posted an update that propositioned users to favorite their page so they wouldn’t have to “advertise.”

Instead of jamming a square peg in a round hole, our social media strategies have to evolve with the service. You must develop strategies that target the new audience available through promoted posts or find ways to mobilize the people who are still interacting with your page. There’s no simple solution. The technology will continue to change. The best advice: Stay agile. Watch your Insights and be ready to adapt your strategy accordingly.

4 Rules to Keep Your Facebook Contest in the Clear

Look to your left. Now, look to your right. Odds are, one of those people has engaged in illegal Facebook contests. And most didn’t even know it.

Facebook has a strict set of rules for what you can and can’t do when it comes to giving stuff away. You can see the full terms and condition here. Since the social network eliminates so many boundaries between brand and audience, a lot of people start to look at it as the wild west of marketing. And while there’s been very little policing, the landscape is becoming more and more domesticated everyday. Facebook has been introducing major updates for brands and personal users almost weekly since the IPO. It’s only a matter of time before they bring the hammer down on back-alley like-and-win shams.

So here are a few basic rules to live by when it comes to creating or promoting a contest online. You will see a common theme among all. Facebook doesn’t want to be legally liable for your contest in any way, which is understandable. Haven’t they had enough legal trouble anyway?

Facebook Means Business

Facebook will shut down your page without warning if you are caught breaking any of these rules. Allow me to repeat myself (clears throat). Facebook will shut down your page without warning if you are caught breaking any of these rules.

If you think you are lucky enough to avoid the po-po, then by all means, break the rules. If your boss or client is prepared to hear you lost access to thousands of customers, then by all means, break the rules. Otherwise, you’d better toe the line.

Facebook Actions are Prohibited in Contests

Facebook actions are ingrained in our lives – they were present even before it existed. We’ve always liked and commented on things in our daily lives. When I was a kid, I liked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and commented on their awesome karate moves to my friends. I do the same thing as an adult, expect it’s on Facebook – and possibly a little creepy.

The point is, Facebook owns the digital “like,” “comment” and “share” just like Nike owns the swoosh. Using Facebook actions (the like, comment or share) to qualify for a contest is like giving people a Nike paddle at an auction house. It looks like one brand is endorsing another. And Facebook doesn’t endorse anyone’s contest. To that point, terms and conditions also say you can’t notify a contest winner via Facebook message or comment.

Facebook has Authorized Vendors

Facebook contests are pretty trendy right now. A lot of brands don’t know why they want Facebook contests, but they’re sure they do. In reality, most contests on Facebook aren’t actually Facebook contests. They are simply contests promoted on Facebook. Entering and voting in contests mostly happens on brand websites or on third-party vendor’s websites. Some top third-party vendors include:

These vendors create apps or tabs for your Facebook page. The same way you access photos and fans on a page, you access other custom tabs. These tabs are actually other web pages, housed on separate servers. They are then replicated within a Facebook page. This is done through a programming technology called iframes, which makes a mirror of a page and put it somewhere else on the Internet. Hence, Facebook is released of liability because nothing related to your contest is housed on Facebook’s server.

You can make iframes do the same thing with a page on your website. Just make sure it’s sized to fit Facebook’s content area (810px wide).

Facebook Contests Must Adhere to Federal and State Laws

It’s not Facebook’s responsibility to make sure your contest is legal (remember, they haven’t endorsed it and therefore aren’t liable for your contest). However, you need terms, conditions and a privacy policy that release yourself from legal liability. Council of American Survey Research Organizations provides a nice overview on navigating these issues and what constitutes a sweepstakes versus a contest.

So, in short, your contest is fine as long as it’s not really a Facebook contest. It needs to be housed on a different server and can’t use any Facebook verbs to qualify a contestant.

Celebrate Mark Zuckerberg’s 28th Birthday with these 5 Facebook Favorites

Who would have thought twenty-eight years ago a boy by the name of Mark Zuckerberg would change the world forever. You may be thinking, “Wow, Erin. Pump the breaks; I wouldn’t go that far.” But, if you think about it, Facebook has altered our lives someway, somehow.

For some, it’s a way to connect a brand with its consumers. For others, Facebook is simply a creeping tool. (You can stop with the deer-in-the-headlights look; we are all guilty of it.)

Bottom line, Facebook has recreated the way in which we interact. I mean, it has 845 million monthly active users and is to start selling stock to the public on the Nasdaq Stock Market this Friday. No big deal.

With that said, let’s give the father of the social network a “hip, hip, hooray” for his big 2-8 and celebrate with these Five Facebook Faves that have changed the way we communicate:

The ability to share content and news— With a click of a button, you can share statuses, photos and/or links, allowing brands and businesses to create buzz about a certain event, campaign or cause.
You can connect virtually with just about anyone—No matter if you’re Plain Jane or Starbucks, you can target and connect with specific key audiences and markets. How many times do you see on TV or on an ad, “Like us on Facebook,” or hear from someone, “Are you on Facebook?” People love to interact, be in-the-know and share information—Facebook is the triple threat that gives individuals those options.
Business and brands have a new way to engage— Consumers and “fans” no longer have to pick up the phone or send an email to share their thoughts; they can resort to a brand’s Facebook page to give feedback about a product, create conversations with other fans and post photos or links that highlight a given brand. If you think about it, Facebook is much like a diary—you document events right as they happen, giving individuals a feeling of belonging and ownership to a company or brand. By creating that sense of community, a business is not only creating a conversation but also a reputation.
My grandma has Facebook—Need I say more?
Facebook allows brands to think outside of the box—In my eyes, Facebook is a Mecca where awareness, interaction and engagement all come together to form a community of people with similar likes and interests. Not a day goes by that I don’t see a Fan Page post a contest or link to an article. Facebook is all about what’s next—What’s next for the company, what’s next for fans, what’s next for the industry? The sky is the limit for brands to explore new ways to get consumers and fans excited for that next big thing, whatever it may be.

Mark Zuckerberg (and company) has come a long way since its days of being accessible to select networks. Now, the worldwide phenomenon is the go-to social media platform that has given us the best gift of all: the gift of communication. Now, that’s something worth celebrating. Happy big 2-8, Marky Z! Oh, and Mark, don’t forget to wear your party hat and eat a big piece of cake today. You deserve it.

If March Madness was a Social Media Tournament…

I’m sure the following question has crossed your mind a thousand times this basketball season: if March Madness was a social media competition, who would win? OK, maybe that isn’t the first question that comes to mind (maybe the second), but just take a minute and think about it.

How often do your resort to Twitter to get an update on a game? How many times do you catch yourself trash-talking with frenemies via Facebook because, for a split second, you think you are channeling the one and only Dick Vitale? And, how many times do you see hashtags take center stage at the bottom of TV screens and across sponsors’ banners—thank you, Gatorade and ESPN—to motivate fans from the farmlands of the Hoosier State to the stars of the Hollywood Hills to discuss, interact and share?

The answer is a lot, which is why Schwartz Communications, a PR technology and healthcare agency, took the liberty of analyzing the growth and power of social media surrounding March Madness with a formula I think is pretty baller. To determine each school’s Social Media Power Ranking (SMPR), the Schwartz MSL Research Group took the number of Facebook fans for each NCAA basketball team and added the number of Twitter followers for each team’s basketball Twitter handle and then divided that number by the total number of students attending a given university (as reported by Wikipedia.)

It’s OK; math was never my strong suit either.

From there, Schwartz MSL Research Group determined the social media powerhouse that knows how to make a slam dunk in the digital realm. Drum roll, please… the 2012 March Madness SMPR champion is The University of Kansas. Hey, at least you walk away with something, Jayhawks.

The point of this pep talk is this: with the growth and power of social media, one can’t help but take notice and advantage of our All-American communicators—Twitter and Facebook. These two social media platforms give brands, institutions and fans a chance to take their words to the Big Dance and create a little madness while they’re at it.