Many brands have spent the past several years getting consumers to ‘like’ them on the world’s most popular social network, Facebook. And for a seemingly good reason: when it comes to location, location, location in social, you can’t beat Facebook, which may surpass the 1bn registered user mark this year.

But after a recent lavish event Facebook held for brands in New York, brands may be asking whether Facebook is working for them, or they’re working for Facebook.

As AdAge details, Facebook used the event to remind brands that only 16% of their Facebook fans actually see the content they post organically on the social network. That’s because, in an effort to protect the user experience, Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm filters out content that may not be relevant.

But in the run up to the social network’s IPO, Facebook is willing to give brands a greater ability to ensure that their marketing messages reach a much larger audience. For a price of course.

AdAge explains:

Facebook unveiled a tool, Reach Generator, that will let marketers buy all the reach they want. Priced according to the size of a brand’s fan base, the tool is designed to take a piece of content and amplify its reach by resurfacing it as an ad.

The pitch is that just 16% of fans currently see organic content posted by brands: Most of it is weeded out by Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm, designed to enhance users’ experience by putting only the most relevant content in their news feeds. Using the paid ad tool could increase a brand’s exposure percentage to as high as 75%.

As PHD USA’s chief digital officer, Craig Atkinson, told AdAge, “Many [clients] have spent significant sums to generate these fan bases, and many of them thought of those people as though they’re an owned asset, almost like an email list … but now it looks like rented media.” Rented media indeed.

Brands really shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this has been Facebook’s modus operandi for some time. From the numerous privacy changes it has foisted upon its users to the promises it has made to developers and then broken,

Facebook rarely does favors for others. Now that it’s going public and needs to put the pedal to the metal in the drive for revenue, brands are being taken on a ride many of them didn’t see coming, or didn’t want to see coming.

More at: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9211-with-ipo-looming-facebook-reminds-brands-all-your-fans-belong-to-us?

Facebook appears ready to launch a new set of premium ad units, and, based on a review of documents which purport to describe them, the social network would seem to be doubling down on two core principles that mark fundamental departures from traditional advertising.

First, Facebook is making the new ads social by default, meaning they will automatically show users when their friends have already Liked the advertiser. And the new formats will draw their content exclusively from posts to brands’ Facebook Pages, rather from advertising copy written independently.

Combined, these features make two statements about where Facebook believes the future of online advertising lies—at least in its particular universe. It is saying that ads based on content, rather than messaging, have a better chance of hitting home, and that ads involving tacit endorsements from the people you know have a better chance of capturing your attention.

“When people hear about you from friends, they listen,” the Facebook materials say. “We’ll expand your ad with stories from friends who have already connected.” (“Stories” is Facebook’s shorthand for a wide varitey of interactions on the site. In the case of ads, it seems to refer to the fact that the ads will display which of a viewer’s friends have Liked the brand.)

Facebook has not commented publicly on the new ads (presumably they will discuss them at a marketing launch event in New York next week). But the materials describing the new units were posted to Scribd earlier this week. The news was first reported on GigaOm. The documents are below.

More at: http://www.fastcompany.com/1818952/facebooks-new-ad-units-reveal-a-future-that-is-social-by-default

There are a lot of articles circulating about the benefits of mobile advertising. In fact, many companies and brands are embracing mobile advertising and seeing impressive results. However, the mobile advertising market hasn’t been cornered by one particular vendor and some are wondering if Facebook is going to join the mobile scene.

Facebook is recognized as one of the top social media sites. Plus, numerous businesses appreciate the advance targeting features that are available in Facebook such as demographics, interests, connections, etc.

Some would like to use these advanced settings to reach the mobile market. This means businesses would already be prepared to pay Facebook to reach their respective audience.

Another plus is that people use their cell phones to check on their Facebook accounts already, so it’s not like Facebook would have to entice anyone to go on their site via a mobile device. They also, have loads of mobile user data at their fingertips.

According to an article on CNET, “Facebook already has access to data of a large mobile user base”… Facebook says nearly half of its nearly 800 million users already log in via mobile devices, giving the network momentum in a market estimated to be worth $630 million.”

More at: http://socialmediatoday.com/dleitchmorevisibilitycom/432670/rumors-about-facebook-mobile

There used to be loads of ways in which you could use Facebook to create innovative campaigns but as it has evolved from a social network in to a fully fledged platform the organic opportunities have waned and it is now mostly a pay to play game. Ads come in all shapes and sizes and without them you are going to struggle to get much traction on your own Facebook page. There are still things like customer service, engaging apps, competitions and rich media content that can help you grow engagement but even those areas are having the squeeze put on them by the volume of ads on the site.

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Pay Or Forget It

Basically if you want exposure on Facebook now you need to pay. Simple as that. Facebook have done a wonderful job of locking every area of the platform down so as they control most of the ad revenue that flows through it. Even the feed is getting harder to access and with ads coming there this month things will get even harder. A small minority of people will be able to get likes through innovative campaigns but those will need technical knowledge and will probably cost as much as advertising. The bottom line is that the quickest way to get seen these days on Facebook is through advertising.

More at: http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/facebook-is-now-pay-to-play-only-for-brands/

Ford used TV spots and traditional display such as Yahoo to drive consumers to the page, and was relatively successful from a branding standpoint, with 61 percent of Doug’s fans saying they were more likely to consider buying a Focus. But when you do the math for the campaign, Ford spent a total of $95 million to get a little more than 26,000 consumers to think about the Focus. Even with a forward-thinking social strategy, Ford failed to take full advantage of the power of Facebook’s social graph. By neglecting the friends of its fans, the automaker missed out on the opportunity to tap the ability of those friends to influence millions of other likeminded consumers.

And why did Ford use Yahoo to drive users to a Facebook page? The automaker probably wasted millions of impressions on Yahoo trying to drive users to a Facebook page. For the user who is on Yahoo, and sees a Ford advertisement that then drives them to Facebook, the experience can be summed up in one word: disconnect.

If Facebook has one clear advantage over traditional display advertising, that’s the ability to leverage consumer word of mouth at scale. Brands are quick to drive traffic to their Facebook pages from traditional offline and online media, but too many then miss out on a huge opportunity to market to their fans’ friends.

Ford decided to stop buying ads on Facebook’s network after hitting 10,000 Likes. Instead, the company opted to buy ads on other sites, including Yahoo, and drive consumers toward the Facebook page. It’s hard to understand the thinking behind that strategy. The failure of that strategy says much more about the strategy itself than about Facebook’s proven ability to deliver word of mouth at scale.

More at: http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ford-blew-facebook/230815/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage