Top 10 Things You May Not Know About Facebook...for Marketers

Think you know all there is to know about Facebook?

I admit it, I like Facebook.  I think it's compelling, addictive, and fun, even though I hate those vampire apps and any app where you gain more points by inviting friends to use the app.  I'm guessing you've tried it - If you have, you've probably found a few high school friends, connected with some college buddies, you've SuperPoke'd some people, you've been bitten by a werewolf or two and you think you're addicted.  You might check your account a few times a day.  You get poked, you poke back, you deal with all the BACN.  But what about the marketing tools?  What's the reach of the audience for a retailer? 

Today a regional sales director from Facebook came to our home office to talk about how the Facebook advertising platform works, the origin and history of the company, and how we can better advise clients to leverage the platforms to drive traffic and promote their sites.  Here are the top ten things I learned about Facebook that I didn't know, after about 4 months of being a regular user:

10. 60% of Facebook's current traffic is from outside the US

9.  1 out of every 2 people online in Canada is a Facebook user

8.  Facebook has doubled in size every six months

7.  Half of Facebook's users today are over 25

6.  When a company buys a social ad in your news feed, and a user opts to participate, the first 3 friends of that user who see the ad are free to the buyer

5.  Sponsored stories in your News Feed always first show at #2 on the list, show at the most 5 times in 24 hours, and naturally move down your News Feed in that time

4.  The average Facebook user has just under 120 friends

3.  The next big opportunity where Facebook currently doesn't advertise?  Facebook Mobile

2.  Companies will soon be able to leverage a tool called "Chatter" to measure and track the buzz going on in Facebook about their company

1.  Facebook has an AVERAGE of 200 data points on every user

That last point really got me - I knew Facebook had a lot of information, but for an average user, 200 data points?  A marketer's dream and a privacy advocate's gasoline to pour on the fire.  Either way, thanks to Facebook for presenting today, good stuff and I look forward to figuring out how to to leverage the tools available.

Comments

[David Gillespie]

I actually think Facebook is a terrible platform for marketing, and here is why: http://splashjumanji.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/facebook-advertising-heaven-or-hell/

[Adam Cohen]

Thanks David - a very thoughtful post. This part resonated strongly with me:

"you had better make sure you know enough about your audience to be in the right place at the right time (Hint: the right place is not Facebook, the right time is when they are not on Facebook)"

It will be very interesting to watch this evolve, but I believe that marketers can still benefit from the newness of Facebook and the buzz attracting so many right now. It may not last, but it is a relatively cheap way to interact with fans of a brand. For now at least.

(By the way, I'm new to blogging, is it proper etiquette to reply to your comment here or on your blog? I'll post it there too.)

[David Gillespie]

Absolutely Adam! I had a few interesting conversations over the weekend around the value of simply having a brand presence vs. monetisation. Marketers obviously want to put their products in front of this audience, the question is are people receptive to that or is it just going to piss them off? I'm currently thinking the latter, based on my experience and the experiences of the people I've talked to. But, time will tell, and perhaps once it has happened a dozen times or so, people will just accept it.