Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph

Transcription

1 Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Part two in a series of PowerReviews ebooks

2 2 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Table Of Contents Facebook Sharing Explodes 3 Facebook is the Consumer s Network of Choice 3 New Facebook Features Encourage Sharing 4 Facebook s Impact on E-commerce 5 Facebook Sharing is Happening Around Your Brand 5 Consumers Spend Most Time on Profiles and Their News Feed 5 Facebook Sharing has Evolved 6 Why This Matters for E-commerce 8 E-commerce Winners in Facebook Sharing 10 3 Tips on Driving More Sales With Facebook s Open Graph 16

3 3 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Facebook Sharing Explodes Facebook is the Consumer s Network of Choice Without a doubt, Facebook has become the consumer s social network of choice. 750M Facebook has over 750 million users. If it were a nation, its population would be well above the United States and just behind India and China. To look at it another way, there are more facebook users today than there were people in the world around the year Mark Zuckerberg himself has publically stated that he expects this number to reach 1 billion (users) in the foreseeable future. Facebook is a massive global phenomenon. What this means for all of us is that the volume of users on Facebook dwarfs anything we can expect on community pages on our own websites or blogs or forums. Facebook is aware of how consumers are reacting and sharing their likes and dislikes on a daily basis as evidenced by the number of users they have today. Zuckerberg s Law The sharing going on by all of Facebook s users is growing faster than the remarkable user growth. So much so that sharing is growing exponentially. Not as a figure of speech, but quite literally. Noted by the yellow line on the graph: sharing is growing much faster than user growth. According to Facebook, there are 4 billion things currently being shared daily. That s almost 1 share for every human on the planet! Zuckerberg predicts the current 4 billion daily shares are going to turn into 8 billion in a year s time. This is being based on what some people are calling Zuckerberg s Law, or the assertion that the amount of shared content will double roughly every year. Source: Facebook announcement livestream, July 6, 2011:

4 4 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph New Facebook Features Encourage Sharing What accounts for the exponential growth with sharing that s growing at a faster rate than users? It s simple. Facebook is continuously releasing new features that encourage sharing. Take a look at the graph below for a glimpse at the sharing growth. Overlayed on top of the graph are icons for the various features Facebook has introduced over the years. In 2004, all you could share was your profile information. The volume of sharing was much lower: roughly 0.1 pieces of content per day per person. Today, according to Facebook, that number is well over 30 times that. As Facebook has introduced such things as photo albums, the news feed, messaging and the like button, the volume of sharing has gone up. Facebook is making it easier for us to share everyday with new features that remove barriers to sharing content. As a result, we re seeing exponential growth in the volume of content being shared. Source: Facebook announcement livestream, July 6, 2011:

5 5 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Facebook s Impact on E-commerce Facebook Sharing is Happening Around Your Brand As you can imagine, some of these 4 billion pieces of content being shared are about your brand. In this example, we take a look at ways in which consumers are talking about Callaway Golf as a brand, and more specifically, their products. So whether consumers are liking a product, posting a comment on their wall (which will show up in their friends newsfeeds), or posting videos and photos of Callaway golf clubs, they are finding ways to interact with your brand on Facebook. Consumers Spend Most Time on Profiles and Their News Feed How is this content being seen by users? To understand that, let s understand where users are spending their time. A recent study by comscore (Mediabuilder, U.S. May 2011) looks at this data and asccording to them, almost half of the users of facebook spend their time on two things: profiles and news feeds. That s remarkable, as we ve just seen that there are many types of content that can be shared. But it turns out that how that content is being discovered is concentrated in just a few places. What this means is that facebook has done a great job in curation all of this content in your news feed and making it appear in your profile. Several Ways for E-commerce to Enter the Newsfeed The newsfeed serves as the gatekeeper for the content that the users on facebook see. A lot of the conversation happening about your brand will come up organically. There s also aspects of this that you can control. As a result of this open graph, which Facebook introduced last year, brands and retailers can influence what consumers see on Facebook, specifically through the news feed. On the right side of this graphic you can see examples of open graph intergration. At the top there s facebook connect. At the bottom, there s an example of the like button. There s different ways for you to bring facebook share to your site to in turn do a two way share back to users on facebook.

6 6 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Facebook Sharing has Evolved Let s take a look at how Facebook Sharing has evolved over time. Here we have an image of the evolution of this sharing. We created a 2x2 where on one axis we have openness and the other axis we have the impact on e-commerce. What we found is that the more open or integrated the method of sharing on Facebook, the greater the impact on e-commerce. Consider the bottom left purple dot as a traditional share, a one way share, where there s the ability for someone to share something on to Facebook, but there is no content coming back. The blue dot represents the Like Button, integrated with the open graph, where you re able to publish to Facebook but you re also getting data back in a lightweight fashion where you re able to see the number of people (and in some integrations, their profile pictures) that have liked that same item or page. And finally, the green dot represents Facebook Connect, which enables easier sharing than ever before but, more importantly, it allows e-commerce sites to bring Facebook data into the e-commerce experience via the Open Graph. How On-Site Sharing Penetrates the Newsfeed Now, let s take a look at an example of how on-site sharing enters the newsfeed where users ultimately consume the content. In this example we ll look at Jessica, a consumer, who is browsing a product on Etsy. In Step 1, she sees a product that she likes, so she clicks the like button. She has hundreds of friends and her friends will see this Like in their newsfeed, which we illustrate in Step 2. In Step 2, you can see the product shared in her newsfeed. Not all of her friends will see this, but a good majority will. Her friends, intrigued by the product that Jessica liked, click the link in their newsfeed, driving new traffic back to Etsy s product page.

7 7 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Facebook is Responsible for Increased Referral Traffic There s data that tells us that Etsy is getting more referral traffic from Facebook (in this case 15%) than they re seeing from Google. This is a remarkable number. And it s not just Etsy. Forever 21, just above that, is seeing even greater referral traffic from Facebook at over 17%. These are brands that found a way to really leverage the power of Facebook sharing. You may think that Etsy and Forever21 are brands that target a younger, more social savvy demographic, which may be true, but there are countless examples of major brands seeing the benefits of Facebook sharing, as well. So the question is: can this phenomena be recreated for a more main stream assortment of products? It turns out Amazon.com, the largest online retaler, is even seeing a larger referral rate from Facebook in their traffic. In October 2010, they were seeing 7.7% of traffic coming from Facebook referrals, 328% growth from previous years.

8 8 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Why This Matters for E-commerce Facebook integration can boost your traffic and therefore boost your sales Traffic x Conversion x Average Order Value = SALES. Facebook Friend Reccommendations Drive Sales Consumers are 68% more likely to buy a product recommended by a Facebook friend. The icing on the cake is that this traffic is likely coming as a result of a friend s recommendation and we know that consumers are more likely to buy a product if a recommendation has been made by a friend. Even though a user may have been on Facebook without the intent to shop originally, if a user recommends a product, the person seeing the reccommendation is more likely to click through to the product and make a purchase. It s not just friends that invoke trust in a product or service. We know from our own research with the e-tailing group that in addition to friend recommendations, consumers trust their own affinity groups or people like them. Affinity groups were ranked higher than Experts when consumers were asked about the online voices with the greatest impact on purchase decisions.

9 9 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph How Can You Take Advantage? Find a way to get into Facebook users news feeds to be discovered by consumers by intergrating with Facebook connect. It may be by using something like the lightweight Like button or with something richer and a little more intensive in terms of your product and brand. There are many brands currently implementing Facebook s Open Graph into their web experiences. Next we ll take a look at a few best practice examples of websites doing a particularly good job.

10 10 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph E-commerce Winners In Facebook Sharing REI It s amazing to think that just a little over a year ago the Open Graph was launched. Since then, we ve seen some brands do amazing things with the Open Graph. Pay attention to the 2x2 to the right side of the merchant name to know how each example fits innovation-wise. REI is a top 100 internet retailer that sells outside equipment and sporting goods. REI is notable because they are a very early adopter of the Like button. Again, the Open Graph was only announced in April of 2010, but REI was right there ready to take advantage of Facebook s innovation. In this example, you ll see REI s Like option on a product page. Like buttons can be found on product pages across their site. Through the Like button, REI can tap into a passionate community of customers who will readily share products with their social networks. Also notable is their Like button placement. It is non-intrusive to the product page design, near the customer reviews snippet and add to cart button for customers who need that final confidence boost before making a purchase decision. The results of their Facebook integration are that REI now averages 100 likes/product in some categories. That s a lot of new new links back to their site from a net new source of traffic that they weren t seeing prior to the launch of the Open Graph.

11 11 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Eventbrite Eventbrite is a website that makes it easy to buy and sell tickets to all types of events. They have also implemented the Like button across event pages. It renders very nicely into a user s Facebook news feed with clear event images and descriptions. Where things get really interesting on EventBrite is when Facebook Connect enters the shopping experience, which we ll look at in the next example. When Eventbrite users connect their accounts with Facebook, they are greeted with recommended events, based on their particular Facebook data, when they log in. Not only are they seeing events that Eventbrite thinks they might like based on Facebook data, but users will also see friends who have already bought tickets to events. This is where the real opportunity for e-commerce comes in as companies start blending Facebook data and social connections with their on-site experience.

12 12 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Finally, after buying a ticket, users are invited to share the event with Facebook friends. It s more impactful than a Like. Their Facebook updates will show that they actually purchased a ticket and are, in fact, attending. Knowing that their friends are attending an event, consumers will more likely click through and purchase tickets as well. Eventbrite released some incredible data around their Facebook Connect integration. The below results clearly demonstrate the impact that Open Graph can have not only in driving traffic to your site, but in driving quality #1 60% 20% $2.53 source of referal traffic was Facebook after only a year of using Facebook Connect of all Facebook shares happened post-purchase more ticket sales were driven from a postpurchase share vs. a pre-purchase share value of an event chared to Facebook in ticket sales source: Facebook Case Studies

13 13 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Step2 Step2 is a the largest American manufacturer of preschool and toddler toys and is our third example of a brand winning with Facebook Sharing. Above we show a snapshot of one of Step2 s product pages, where they ve got multiple hooks for visitors to share on Facebook. In the first example (1), we see the Like button, something we saw REI and Eventbrite both using. It s the easiest integration of the Open Graph and we see most merchants using it today. What s interesting is how Step2 uses the review display (2). Using PowerReviews Facebook OnSite solution, Step2 allows reviewers to verify their reviews with Facebook which brings a reviewer s Facebook profile picture into the review display and adds authenticity. Facebook OnSite also automatically creates a reviewer profile based on a reviewer s Facebook identity so shoppers can read all reviews written by a reviewer across your product catalog. Also worth noting is that in addition to the profile picture, name, and location, you ll see self-identified about me tags that help browsers find the most relevant reviews from people like them, which as we saw earlier, are second only to Facebook friends when it comes to the online voices with most impact on buying decisions. Finally, a browser can comment on a review (3) via Facebook which then appear in the newsfeed with links back to your product page- moving past sharing pages to sharing individual pieces of content within a page. This is extremely innovative and something that many e-commerce sites are not doing today.

14 14 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Similar to Eventbrite s post-purchase sharing options, when a reviewer submits a review on Step2 they re presented with the option to post it on FB and share with their friends. This also enables Step2 to bring a user s Facebook data into their on-site experience and lowers the barriers to sharing content on Facebook. The next time a user comes back to Step2 to write a review, Step 2 will recognize them and automatically associate them with their reviewer profile. On the right, we show how a shared review renders in the newsfeed. Consumers take pride in new purchases or the review that they spent their valuable time to write and as a result, this is where the majority of Facebook sharing is taking place through the PowerReviews solution. 7% 50% 135% 3x of Step2 s customers have verified their identy with Facebook OnSite of verified customers share product reviews with their Facebook friends Increase in referal traffic from Facebook over the past year Increase in revenue from Facebookreferred visitors Above, published in the July 2011 issue of Inc. Magazine, some Step2 results of their Facebook open graph successes.

15 15 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph PowerReviews Open Network Results Finally, we ll take a look at some of the average results that we ve seen from clients using Facebook On- Site across our network of 5,500 websites. of all verified reviews are shared to Facebook of all reviews shared to spur further engagement through Likes/Comments more reviews are shared with Facebook OnSite vs. traditional methods The value of a review shared to Facebook with Facebook OnSite We found that 57% of all verified reviews are shared to Facebook. Past that, 70% of all reviews shared to Facebook spur further engagement through Likes/Comments. This makes the viral potential exponential. There are 5 times more reviews shared with Facebook OnSite versus traditional methods. Finally, we found that the value of a review shared to Facebook with Facebook OnSite is worth $15.72! Nearly $16 multiplied by thousands of reviews shared... imagine the impact that reviews shared to Facebook could have on your business. PowerReviews has made available a Facebook calculator so that you can plug in your own data and figure out what a Facebook share though PowerReviews could be worth to you. Click here for more information!

16 16 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph 3 Tips on Driving More Sales With Facebook s Open Graph There are some simple steps you can take today to start taking full advantage of Facebook s Open Graph capabilities, and driving more sales. The following are 3 simple tips to improve your Facebook strategy. Tip 1: Launch Facebook Connect Now Whether it s allowing your users to connect with Facebook Login, Enhancing your customer reviews with Facebook OnSite, or your own creative application of Facebook Connect, it s essential to start connecting to your customers via Facebook Connect today. Not only for the near-term benefits of social sharing, but to set your company up to take full advantage of new apps and content types available through Facebook s Open Graph in the future. If you haven t integrated it already, the Like button is a great lightweight implementation to get things started, but the sooner you can fully integrate with Facebook Connect for login or verification purposes, the better.

17 17 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Tip 2: Integrate Sharing Throughout Shopping Experience Integrate Facebook sharing throughout your shopping experience. From the homepage to the category page, to the product page, add hooks that will encourage your users to share your content with their Facebook networks. Past the like button, make it possible for users to share specific pieces of content within your site pages. In our Step2 example, they ve made it possible not only for a user to Like a product page, but to comment and share individual reviews within the page. Arguably the most critical point to invite someone to share (as EventBrite and Step2 s numbers are a testament to), make sure you ve got sharing hooks in pages that follow a significant on-site action. Prime examples of this are on post-purchase and post-review submission pages. Your customers seek validation for their purchases and enjoy getting feedback from their networks. When it comes to sharing reviews, people like getting credit for the time they ve spent to review a product and more importantly, enjoy sharing helpful information with their friends. Be sure to integrate ways to share to Facebook, in a meaningful way, throughout your shopping experience. The more hooks you have allowing your customers to share your products and content, the more new referral traffic you ll ultimately see back to your site.

18 18 / Facebook Sharing Explodes: How to Drive More Sales with the Open Graph Tip 3: Optimize Shared Content for The newsfeed Our final tip is to ensure that the content you re sharing is optimized for the newsfeed where Facebook friends will ultimately be consuming the shared content. Facebook gives you many options to explicitly specify how your content is appearing in the newsfeed. Take advantage of this opportunity to help your updates stand out. 1. Imply purchase If possible, find a way to indicate that the user has actually bought the product being shared. In the previous Eventbrite example, Eventbrite clearly notes in their update that the user is attending an event. In the Step2 example shown, Facebook OnSite indicates that the user has written a review and rated the item, which generally comes along with the understanding that they likely own the product, as well. 2. Make sure your updates are visually appealing With all the content flowing through the newsfeed, if the content being shared to Facebook isn t visually appealing, your share is dead in the water. Help shared content stand out against a sea of other updates with a clear product image and in the case of reviews, star rating. 3. Information on why someone is endorsing a product. If someone s sharing one of your products, there s a reason. It s likely that they re sharing it because they endorse the product but why not take it a step further? In the example above, PowerReviews structured reviews help make it clear why the reviewer gave this product a great review. The update includes a portion of the actual review, some pros and cons (to offer a balanced theme), and best uses. Any additional information possible helps put into context why a reviewer is sharing the content in the first place. 4. Multiple Links back to the product page In this example, clicking the product image, title, or Read All Reviews link will all send a user back to Step2 s product page where they can access the full review and more information about the product. Make it easy for a friend seeing the shared content to click-through to your site where they ll ultimately be able to make a purchase.

19 About PowerReviews PowerReviews is the world s largest social commerce network, with more than 35 million products and services across more than 5,500 websites. PowerReviews helps manufacturers, brands and retailers organize and manage consumer insights to drive sales, increase traffic, shape R&D and build brand loyalty. The company s open network of more than 23 million consumer insights serves as the underlying engine for a new generation of commerce. For more information go to or visit the PowerReviews Blog. Contributors Pehr Luedtke CEO Cathy Halligan SVP, Sales & Marketing Nadim Hossain VP, Marketing Also: Blake Brysha, Sr. Marketing Manager Savannah Pendleton, Content Analyst