Mobile Matters for Facebook Marketers

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Avis Cobb
6 years ago
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1 Mobile Matters for Facebook Marketers

MOBILE MATTERS FOR FACEBOOK If you re thinking of running an interactive quiz, contest or promotion on Facebook, there is something additional you should be considering. Mobile Traffic.

Do you own a mobile phone or tablet? Do you have the Facebook App installed on your cell phone? If so, how often do you log in? Consider these trends: 5.3 BILLION people are mobile subscribers.

91% of all mobile internet use is social related 44% 44% of Facebook s member base access the site through their mobile devices Projections shared in a Digital Buzz blog post estimate that by 2014,

2 MOBILE MATTERS FOR FACEBOOK If you re thinking of running an interactive quiz, contest or promotion on Facebook, there is something additional you should be considering. Mobile Traffic. You may be inclined to think mobile isn t mainstream, or perhaps you believe that your target audience uses desktops or laptops. Think for a moment, though, about your own habits. Do you own a mobile phone or tablet? Do you have the Facebook App installed on your cell phone? If so, how often do you log in? Consider these trends: 5.3 BILLION people are mobile subscribers. That is 77% of the WORLD. 91% of all mobile internet use is social related 44% 44% of Facebook s member base access the site through their mobile devices Projections shared in a Digital Buzz blog post estimate that by 2014, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop. That is just 2 years away. So what s the lesson for marketers especially those on Facebook? Odds are that your target audience does include mobile visitors, and your Facebook marketing needs to reflect this. In this guide, we ll explore the special mobile considerations you should be making now with your Facebook marketing in order to properly address this audience s needs and ensure that they have a consistent and positive experience with your brand. Specifically, we ll review: How your visitors find you How experience differs by access point Questions to answer to identify potential gaps in mobile strategy

UNDERSTANDING HOW YOUR VISITORS FIND YOU Even with tremendous mobile traction, Facebook has some mobile limitations that marketers should keep in mind.

3 UNDERSTANDING HOW YOUR VISITORS FIND YOU Even with tremendous mobile traction, Facebook has some mobile limitations that marketers should keep in mind. In particular, the limitations are related to the way mobile Facebook users experience custom iframe apps which live on your company page. On March 30, 2012 Facebook released Timeline layout for brand pages. This resulted in a change to the location of special iframe Apps which were previously located on the left hand side-bar on something called a tab. iframe Apps, like a Welcome landing page, a coupon app, or a lead generating quiz or sweepstakes are now found under a company s cover page in an area called favorite apps. To understand the way that Facebook mobile works, let s walk through the visitor experience for each of the ways someone could reach your Facebook page and/or your Favorite Apps. Pre-Timeline Tabs There are 3 main ways visitors will access your Facebook page or Tab: On a desktop/laptop through their browser On a tablet / smartphone through their browser On a tablet / smartphone through their browser Facebook Main Site ( Facebook Mobile Site (m.facebook.com) Facebook Mobile App For experience and functionality purposes, options 2 and 3 can be considered the same, but it is important to understand the nuances of the term mobile traffic which can be used to describe two different Facebook access points.

Prior to the Timeline upgrade, brands could choose to select a custom default tab (now Favorite App) as the greeting for any first time visitors to your page.

4 DESKTOP VISITORS We ll begin by walking through what viewers will see when they visit your Facebook Page from a desktop. We ll use SnapApp s Facebook Page as our example scenario to illustrate how it works. Prior to the Timeline upgrade, brands could choose to select a custom default tab (now Favorite App) as the greeting for any first time visitors to your page. With Timeline, you can no longer select a default tab so engagement with your promotional content or app will rely on 2 things. 1) Selecting a Favorite App icon that is visually appealing and will incite clicks and 2) pinning or starring the content on your page so that it has more visual real-estate on your Timeline. Below is an example of how all desktop visitors will experience the SnapApp Facebook page. You ll notice that our Favorite Apps include a couple different types of apps including a Welcome Page, an Engagement Quiz and often times a Sweepstakes that we ve created using the SnapApp platform. Desktop visitors have a full range of options to navigate through our Facebook page, our wall and our Favorite Apps. Example of a SnapApp Personality Quiz promoted as a Favorite App

Instead, mobile visitors will land on the wall which requires an additional marketing strategy to engage them with your apps.

5 MOBILE SITE & APP VISITORS Prior to the Timeline upgrade for brand pages, when mobile device users attempted to access the mobile version of Facebook s site, tabs were not available at all. In Timeline, the Facebook provisioned apps like photos, videos and likes will still appear on the mobile site. However, Favorite Apps that are custom created iframes will not be visible or available. Instead, mobile visitors will land on the wall which requires an additional marketing strategy to engage them with your apps. This is where Facebook Mobile optimization, In News-Feed Question and Answering and direct to wall posting are important. Here s an example to illustrate how these features work. To draw attention to our, How Effective is Your Facebook Strategy quiz, we ll post a link to the quiz on our wall. Mobile visitors can then click to answer the first question that they see in the wall feed. Once they do, SnapApp detects that they are viewing on a mobile device and will redirect them to a mobile optimized Facebook branded micro-site where they can fully engage with the quiz questions as well as like and share. When the content is shared, the In News-Feed Q&A feature also customizes the share text to include the first question and answers which drives greater interaction with friends of your fans. These features give us the ability to promote our Favorite Apps which would otherwise be blocked to the mobile viewer, as well as the capacity to optimize the experience for the mobile viewer so we increase our odds of capturing that conversion and engagement.

they would receive an error message or be redirected back to your wall posts never seeing the content they intended to view.

6 It is important to know that many vendors do not have the capability to detect mobile traffic at all. Without mobile optimization functionality in place, the mobile visitor would either not be aware that your custom Favorite App exists, or if they were to click on a shared link promoting your app, they would receive an error message or be redirected back to your wall posts never seeing the content they intended to view. This results in a confusing and frustrating experience for both the user and the brand. Take a look at the example below to get a sense for what your audience would experience in this scenario. This is the user experience generated by other vendors who DO NOT have mobile visitor detection, or Facebook mobile capabilities. In addition, some vendors offer only a limited Facebook mobile solution with just one or two types of content that will work for mobile. This seems a bit limiting and backward: Isn t it better to choose the best possible engagement type to achieve your marketing goals and then know that you have a vendor with a solution that will work?

7 REFERRAL VISTORS & SHARED LINKS An additional way your Facebook marketing campaign benefits from mobile optimization is with referral visitors. The inherent sharing nature of Facebook and additional reach achieved through exposure in the Ticker and Timeline features of Facebook mean many visitors will find your Facebook page and Favorite Apps through their friends. Again, since we know that almost half of Facebook s users login via mobile devices, we can assume that a high proportion of your newly reached audience will also be mobile visitors. Think about those first impressions and consider what you want that experience to be. Would you be more or less likely to seek out a brand (or like their page) if your first experience with them led to a dead end? This is where SnapApp s mobile detection can make a lasting difference for your brand. MANAGING MOBILE TRAFFIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR FACEBOOK Before you select a vendor, or begin work yourself on creating an interactive Facebook app, think about what your desired experience is for your mobile viewers. What should they see? How should it look & work? Once you ve thought that through, ask yourself these additional questions to ensure that the experience will be maintained with whichever vendor you select. Will visitors be able to view and engage with my app when they visit my app URL from a mobile device? Will it be easy to see and interact with my app in a mobile device window/browser? Will my app be optimally sized for any device? Meaning it does not require users to scroll, or resize before they can really interact with it. If you answered no to any of these questions, you may be risking conversion rate and brand experience with your mobile audience. SnapApp s Facebook Mobile Optimization features automatically detect when a visitor is from a mobile device and can minimize these risks by serving up the best user experience for device type.

8 THE RESULT By optimizing your Facebook interactive quizzes, contests and promotions for mobile viewers, you can significantly increase the engagement and conversion success of your campaign by capturing mobile visitors who both come directly to your Facebook page to interact with your content, as well as the mobile traffic which is referred to your page through social sharing features, in News Feed engagements, and Ticker & Timeline appearances. Ignoring this audience or providing them with a less than optimal experience would be detrimental not only to your Facebook marketing efforts, but also to your overall brand experience. PHONE TWITTER FACEBOOK info@snapapp.com SNAP facebook.com/ snapapp WHY SNAPAPP? SnapApp is a marketing platform that empowers brands, publishers and agencies to foster conversations across the web, social and mobile, that build brand affinity, connect, educate, entertain and drive sales. With the SnapApp platform, you create engaging sweepstakes, quiz apps and landing pages that can be shared on your Facebook page, website, blog and in ad units. Using SnapApp content on Facebook will help to monetize your social lead generation, extend your reach through viral sharing activities and drive higher engagement with your hard-earned Facebook community. Learn more at SNAPAPP S FACEBOOK SPECIFIC FEATURES INCLUDE: Facebook mobile optimization Facebook connect integration Multiple app support (run many apps at the same time) In News Feed Questions & Answers Rich Analytics to track your apps performance Multiple engagement types: quizzes, polls, surveys, sweepstakes and more Engage and Acquire Customers SnapApp.com info@snapapp.com Brought to you by Pangea Media

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