The App Gap FGIBI Webinar Slideshare 2008-06-25

June 25, 2008 “ Should Your Business Be Friends with Facebook?” New research on how businesses are using Facebook and other social networking strategies -- what’s working, what’s in the way, what’s next? Jenny Ambrozek, Bill Anderson, Victoria Axelrod, Conveners & Facebook Group in Business Investigation Participants Eric Edelstein, Francois Gossieaux, Kimberly Samaha

OUR FACES

FGIBI Overview

What we did, when, & why

What we learned about Facebook Groups in Business

3. Discussion

4. “Should your business be friends with Facebook?”

Facebook Group Growth Percent of global Internet users who visit this site May 25 Facebook open platform to developers

Starting Premise “ Facebook may, but also may not, become THE enterprise social networking platform, but it's here, use is growing, so we need to understand the phenomenon and learn from it.” Study Description 2008-02-08

FGIBI Co- Convener William L. Anderson

Activity Data Tracked

We also wanted to know about group member ties

Investigation Tools Ecosystem Email Main means of group participant communications Private Wiki Stored participant information, data, reflections & industry information Private Facebook Group Posted updates. Related links 21 st Century Organization Facebook Group A participant. Study updates posted. 21 st Century Organization & Praxis101 blogs Project announced here . Google Docs Tried sharing activity data with investigation team members

What We Learned

Eric Edelstein

Owner:

South African based retail chain,

eSquared Fashion

Participating eSquared Facebook Group

“ Facebook can offer rewards, can result in sales, but is not an easy marketing avenue for beginners to Internet Marketing”.

Eric Edelstein Reflections

Have to be active to make the Group active

We changed from using Facebook Groups to Fan Clubs

Better business marketing vehicle

Facebook Groups have communication limits

Internet Marketing learnings:

FB is one channel/medium of many; need to use them all

Try it. Be prepared to make mistakes

Facebook opened up social networking space

Internet marketing gets more exciting the more you do

We’re now experimenting with Twitter

Kimberly Samaha

Founder, Bordeaux Colloquium

Administrator Participating Facebook Group

Sustainable Energy - Innovation & Technology

Facebook Researcher

Facebook Group Study: Initial Objectives

Create an on-line platform to connect ‘off-line’ members of the Bordeaux Energy Colloquium for exchanges during the year

Create outreach to ‘concerned citizens’ – a link between policy makers and consumers

Network with other energy professionals

Find interesting energy projects & technologies

Created 5 Facebook Groups

Bordeaux Energy Colloquium : closed, private – members of Colloquium only

Sustainable Energy: 3 topics, open to public, used ‘advertising’ to attract new members

Innovation & Technology

Case Studies

Universal Access

Sustainable Energy Futures : event page for a ‘virtual tradeshow’ and on-line case study competition

open to public used ‘advertising’ and word-of-mouth recruiting to attract new members

Conclusion: Off-line to On-line Results disappointing

Facebook reputation still an obstacle for professionals (college or ‘kids thing’, company blocks, privacy concerns)

Facebook limitations: not able to send business type documents only video and photos

Over half the BEC members who went on-line are inactive

One action initiative launched: Hold an on-line case study competition on the event page. Over half of on-line members joined the group.

Most members are interested to hear status but slow to join or facilitate action

Conclusion: On-line Topic Groups Smaller groups but more committed members

Most topic group members are early adopters: found group through searches; involved in the energy industry or sustainability movement

78% found group vs. 22% through friends

92% of IT group became facebook ‘friends’

35% of group members are ‘very active’

Majority of topic group members also joined the Event group

Conclusions: On-line Event Group W ord-of-mouth works

Active recruiting is KEY to growth

Averaged 70 new members per week

44% of member growth from recruiters

33% from the top 5 recruiters

16% from one recruiter

Friends of Friends

47% of new members found group through friends

See others join through Facebook ‘newsfeed’ and ‘groups others have joined’ pages

Weak Links are harder to maintain

Group drop out rates averaged ~ 5% across the 4 active groups

55% of drop outs were friend of friend invites

Important Strategies to be Learned No easy way: High time level involvement required

Find other ‘like-minded’ individuals and ask for help

Actively facilitate group and group page

Members don’t check group pages often

Members do respond to ‘message all members’ emails

Weave a larger network

Reach into non-affiliated groups: establish presence and ‘friends’ to create ‘weak links’

Strengthen weak links around common areas of interest among other groups using surveys, links, etc.

Conclusions: On-line case study competition

Facebook is about joining more than action

Facebook creates a unique way to diffuse influence; but few advocate or invite “all” to join their activities

Facebook groups: more like mailing lists than places where people actively participate

Group emails regarded as ‘advertising’ or ‘spam’ and often go unread

Recruiting others to join the group was successful: > 60% of the group was invited by a friend

Evidence of the “Influentials theory”: top 5 recruiters accounted for 30% of the group membership

Conclusions: Business expectations

Facebook groups are like mailing lists: ~ 15% of total membership participated in the contest

Facebook limit on messaging groups is 1200: this is a BIG limitation

1-click campaigns can bring in big numbers but action or education does not go deeper than the click

Outreach can be successful: create a few good connections to new advocates and new channels for communication

Viral growth is not the norm in Facebook: slowly expanding mission or cause by reaching a reasonable number of new people is achievable

Number 3 in member growth, up 124% Sustainable Energy - Innovation & Technology Facebook Group Analysis by Accession Media

Francois Gossieaux Founder, Beeline Labs Administrator Largest Participating Facebook Group

You can tap the benefits of communities once only reserved for companies with deep pockets Community development and management has to be considered a real investment Pay attention to what you name your group The Marketing 2.0 Group: Lessons to be learned

Patti Anklam FGIBI Contributors Network Analysis

Network Forming Around the Study

A simple social network analysis (SNA)

Each participant asked:

Which other participants they personally knew prior to the study

Which participants they interacted with during the study

Before and After – Full Group The role that the researchers play in connecting the people in the network is revealed. Network analysis by Patti Anklam

Victoria G. Axelrod FGIBI Co- Convener