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Today’s a big day for brands on the ‘book. The social network held its first ever Facebook Marketer Conference (fMC) yesterday at the Natural History Museum in NYC (they felt a historical spot with dinosaurs was the only suitable setting) where they rolled out Timeline for Brands, among other treats. Other rumors included real-time ad metrics, 90 character limit on ads and… Kanye West. I was there, in all my dorky glory, to set the record straight. After all, it’s all about essential connections (wink).
Timeline for Brands takes over as ‘mission control’ for your stories, the history of your company and the stuff PTAT (people talking about this - aka, Facebooks made up metric) is made of. Tabs have now been given more prominence by Facebook, as large above-the fold beautiful links. What this really means? Tabs can no longer be default landing pages. So you best get out the big bucks - you’ll need some ads to drive traffic to them - despite their new and improved visual display spot.
You can pin posts to the top of your page, highlighting the most important stories (i.e. me in a bikini from 2 years ago). There’s Milestone stories (when I flew my first plane), Customer Service Messaging (for more creepy comments) and an uber effective Admin Panel (control center).
However, the most inspiring change to come of yesterday conference was that across the map, CEO’s - big guns - are personally taking on the social challenge. That company wide bans on social networks are being lifted, in exchange for company wide community managers. That social media directors, are to be trusted, whole heartedly, to help you, tell your story.
It was evident that marketing is on the verge of a shift - from advertising to story telling, from pushing to pulling, from shouting to listening. And as a storyteller, this is exactly the transformation I have been hoping for.
I started out in marketing by starting out editing, by starting out writing, by starting out taking pictures. I was searching for a new way to express my experiences, my stories from around the world. And this is at the root - the soul - of what we as marketers do. Millions of stories get lost in million of dollars, but Facebooks new reach generator and premium ad content allows for stories to be told in a more organic, conversational, natural albeit sneaky way.
We’re not trying to trick you, although that’s very much what these stealthy new tools may in fact do; We’re trying to share with you. And even more so, we’re trying to share with you the things we already know you’re interested in.
1000 marketers sure sipped the cool-aid… after all, it’s Sheryl Sandberg we’re talking about. I all but fainted when Christopher Cox strolled up in a suit. And seriously, was Alicia Keys really necessary? But be it dollars, dimes or decisions, Facebook is asking for action. They’re asking us to be proactive, innovative and fearless. They’re asking us to leap in head first and simply try.
Or, you can go one step further: hire sociologists to study human behavior, turn the entire company into Facebook activists, empower your customers to have a voice.. go back to the good old fashioned art of human communication and tell a tale. Hey, we’re only 1% of the way there.
via nationalpost
via fastcompany
