With Facebook’s IPO expected to take place tomorrow, there are a lot of mixed opinions about the investment potential of the company. Many analysts have raised concerns over the social giant’s long-term sustainability given its revenue model, mobile strategy, and Mark Zuckerberg’s own leadership.
There are others, however, including Christian Taylor, that believe strongly in the company and its CEO. Taylor, who is the CEO of the leading Facebook ecommerce platform Payvment, told WebProNews that the social network was quickly becoming “engrained into the fabric of the entire Internet.” As he explained, the people that view the company as simply Facebook.com are limiting its true potential.
In addition to advertising, Taylor also sees a big future in the ecommerce side of Facebook. He built his company on top of the Facebook platform for the different type of ecommerce experience it creates. According to him, this new shopping environment will carry ecommerce into the future.
In terms of the company’s imminent meeting with Wall Street, Taylor said he has “no worries” at all. In fact, he expects Facebook to accelerate in every way.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on May 17th, 2012. Comment. 
Facebook gaming was recently given a big transformation after Gaikai launched the beta of its Facebook app. As David Perry, Gaikai’s CEO, explained to WebProNews, the cloud gaming service is bringing console quality games to the social giant.
It’s clear that gaming platforms such as Zynga have had tremendous success on Facebook. Therefore, Perry believes that gamers will also respond to Gaikai’s offerings, which include, Saints Row: The Third, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Magicka, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Orcs Must Die!, and Farming Simulator 2011.
Through this announcement, gamers will have the ability to play directly on the Facebook platform. Furthermore, game developers will have the opportunity of potentially reaching hundreds of millions of new gamers.
Perry told us that Gaikai’s goal is to make video gaming as accessible as music and movies. He believes its cloud gaming Facebook app is one step in making this happen.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Apr 24th, 2012.
Although the rivalry between Facebook and Google is already high, a new study from Appcelerator and the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates some surprising results that will likely heat up the competition even further. The study, which surveyed, more than 2,000 mobile developers, found that 39 percent of developers plan to focus on Google initiatives instead of Facebook’s social graph this year.
Since this was a bit of shock to everyone, Michael King, Appcelerator’s principal mobile strategist, told us that the companies actually did a follow up survey to find out what was really happening. As he explained to WebProNews, developers think Google is better in terms of its network assets such as YouTube, search, maps, and Android. They also felt Google was better about engaging with them and offering guidance for how they should develop social applications for mobile.
King said that Facebook really needed to step up its efforts because, if not, Google could move ahead of it.
The study also found that developers have a smaller interest in Android apps, but that both HTML5 and cloud development are on the rise.
Do these results come as a surprise to you, or did you expect developers to gravitate toward Google instead of Facebook? Please share your thoughts.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Mar 24th, 2012.
Facebook took the big step earlier this week when it filed for its initial public offering. The news had been rumored for a while, and the social giant finally took the plunge on February 1st.
It’s clear that users have played a big role in building Facebook, but what does the IPO mean for them? According to Chris Treadaway, the founder of Polygraph Media as well as the author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, Facebook will improve the user experience but will be very focused on increasing its revenue.
While there are concerns over how big and powerful Facebook will become, especially in light of all the data it has, Treadaway doesn’t think that people will simply drop the service. As he explains, Facebook provides many benefits for its users and has become a huge part of society. For these reasons and others, he says it would be difficult for the trend to change so quickly.
Another group that has influenced the growth of Facebook is marketers. The Facebook platform offers a unique opportunity for marketing, and both marketers and advertisers have taken advantage of it. Treadaway tells us that, with its IPO, he expects Facebook to become more involved in lead generation with consumers and sellers of consumer goods.
In addition, he said there would likely be more tools going forward to accommodate Facebook’s greater push toward behavioral ad targeting.
What are your thoughts on Facebook’s IPO? We’d love to know.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Feb 4th, 2012.
Is your Facebook fan page supercharged and utilizing its full marketing super powers? Maybe you’ve gotten so bombarded with “social media best practices,” you’ve taken a break from your Facebook efforts altogether. We don’t blame you, (although we don’t encourage that anti “social” media behavior), but your business can’t afford not to use this flourishing marketing platform. So stop your Facebook frenzy, press the pause button on your optimization overload, and tune into our 5 simple ways to optimize, or rather, help people find your Facebook business page and become avid fans.
1. An Optimized Profile Picture
A profile picture is worth a thousand Facebook posts. It is your presence to the Facebook community and your “face” in all posts and interactions with fans. In order to optimize your picture to its full potential, keep it streamline with your company website logo and any other platforms you have online (LinkedIn, Twitter and blog). Your business profile picture can also be the perfect opportunity to capture three important features: business logo, what your business does, and a call to action.
For our /excelamktg profile picture, we include our branded “mktg” logo on top (which we use as our thumbnail), what our business does in the center, and a call to action at the bottom (we encourage fans to “learn more about /excelamktg!”).
Tip: Remember to keep your profile picture aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Avoid packing in too much imagery and/or wording, as it could be distracting and appear spammy. The masterminds at our excela creative department designed our logo.
2. Custom Photo Row
Your photo row consists of 5 pictures that appear under your page name. These photos will randomly change position each time the profile is refreshed, or a picture added. Many businesses leave their row at random, but when you have the capability to get creative, wouldn’t you? By doing so, your photo row can turn into a great way to keep your branding consistent, professional and streamline.
Tip: Choose 5 photos that will make sense no matter what order they appear. For our client Erica Anenberg’s photo row, we highlight various styles of her popular Twosome™ rings:
3. Appropriate Featured Likes
Facebook pages have the option of choosing 5-featured pages that your brand “likes” and essentially, associates with. These pages appear as thumbnails under your “Featured Likes” column. Normally, these thumbnails randomly list in any order, but in your settings you can set these Featured Likes to 5 pages that will always appear. Customizing your Featured Likes is a quick and easy way to showcase what type of business you are, what kind of message you want to emulate and it gives a custom touch to your Facebook page. After all, you are who you associate with, right? Well, your fans will look at you that way.
For our client Face Place, we chose to include celebrities who embody the type of image Face Place desires, and type of audience they like to attract:
4. Vanity URL
Your vanity URL is your virtual nametag. It will determine the success of how search-friendly you are as a business. With over 800 million ACTIVE users (not counting total pages), you need to be specific to rise above the noise. You want to ensure that your Facebook isn’t, “facebook.com/kjhdsfg123424,” but rather, a URL that is search-engine friendly like, “http://www.facebook.com/sunsettower.” To create your vanity URL, simply click on your page’s “Account Setting” in the top right hand corner and enter your desired Facebook “username” in the box provided.
There are truly endless possibilities to customize your business fan page (FBML, apps, etc.), and while these might seem like daunting tasks, they are a necessity in our social world. We are here to elevate your small business and get you on your way to Optimization Om.
What will be the first change you make to your Facebook page? Visit /excelamktg for further customized Facebook ideas, designs and insider tips for optimizing your Social Media.
Be sure to check out our Social Media on a Budget web series. Each week, our panel of experts will take a closer look into the social media hot topic of the week.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Dec 28th, 2011.
