Facebook, Spotify, Sonos and the Power of Relevance in Ads

This is among the best example of great advertising on Facebook I can find. Really is.I've seen more engaging ads. I've seen more creative or visually effective. But this is as relevant as it gets - and at the end of the day, I believe relevancy drives success. So what is it: an ad for Sonos, a product that allows me to "wirelessly play Spotify in every room of my house"

Of course it is not a coincidence that an ad for a Spotify related product appears on my Facebook timeline: I am a Spotify user. They know this and they are advertising against it. This ad is directly relevant to me and really the only reason I care to pay attention to it. It also sits beside the Spotify / Music portion of my timeline. That is equally powerful.

Note: the first screenshot is my Facebook profile page. The second screenshot is just an upclose of the Sonos ad sitting beside my Spotify unit.

Facebook Sparks Offer Virality with Sponsored Offers, Anchor Promotion

Just last week I wrote about the new Facebook Feature Posts that are being anchored atop the newsfeed (and are very lightly marked as ads). Well here is another example of the anchored ad unit but using a new format: Offers. The example is from Macy's and includes an in-line offer.

Visually it is very clearly separated, includes a big visual and a unique border (you really cannot miss this).

The ad appears both in anchor format (top screenshot) and in the actual feed. Obviously, the anchoring / promotion causes more visibility and thus virality - the examples here move from "5 friends" of 7,200 Facebook users claiming an offer to 22 friends of 26,000 users within a matter of hours.

Porsche + Facebook + Pinterest

So much is great about this: Porsche takes to Facebook to alert fans that the Macan is on Pinterest.... that drives 2,500 likes and 200 shares within 6 hours. That alone is interesting and somewhat ironic. Then go to Pinterest. Despite 10,000s of impressions of their Pinterest post on Facebook (are you following?) there are only 700 followers on Pinterest, 2 pins, and 150 Facebook Likes.

So many potential comments including: - kudos to Porsche for adopting Pinterest - the concept of driving traffic circularly across networks is far from simple - I'm not entirely sure Porsche's Facebook fans understand what Pinterest is - Which might be because Porsche's fans are male (?) or because they Like things without context (?), etc

Quirky & Cordies Demonstrates Great Packaging and the Power of Crowdsourcing

In January, I wrote a Klout-inspired piece on the impact of great packaging. I was reminded of that message when I bought this Cordies cable organizer by Quirky. Simple product that is great because of the simplicity. And while the product's design is great - the packaging is every bit as good, from the box to the booklet. It is also a testament to the why crowd sourcing efforts like KickStarter are so popular - buying products 'created' by the masses is fun and uplifting. The back of the box and the booklet describe creator (Stephen Stewart), the number of "influencers" (562 others), and their 'ownership' (it outlines how much revenue goes to each community member).

It always feels good to buy great products (strange to admit, but true). Quirky has made it feel extra special.

Spotify's Valentines Day Email Promotion: Reminder of Timeliness & Segmentation

A good reminder here from Spotify about the:- power of timely marketing campaigns, and the - importance of user segmentation / relevant messaging

The good: this is a clever email merchandised nicely for Valentines Day (timely) and creatively (just really well designed and done - I like it). It is also actionable and tempting: a free 30 days of Spotify Premium? That is a strong offer and Spotify knows that the switching cost once you've tasted their mobile offering is high.

The bad: I am already a subscriber. So I shouldn't receive this. It isn't relevant and frankly a little off-putting since I didn't receive this offer =)

While that is not a real problem: it is a reminder that user segmenation of marketing, messaging, offers, etc is really important. For instance, if I had received this a day or two after initially subscribing - it would have been more uncomfortable.

Amazon Super Bowl Ad - A Week Later

Leading up to the Super Bowl, Amazon ran some clever sponsored story ads on Facebook asking fans to engage around the Super Bowl (will you be watching?). That of course leads to indirect transactions (clicking through takes users to a Super Bowl merchandising page)... but that is a different message than merely displaying product. And it leads to interactions:- 12,000 Facebook users liked the ad - 1,200 commented (10%) - 150 reshared it (1%)

That's unique and rather compelling. But: the ad is still running - a week later. So it's no longer relevant or even logical ("like this post if you'll be watching the game next Sunday"). I love the concept of ad timliness - but just as it's effective to promote current events (ie the Grammys are tonight!) it becomes ineffective and stale when creative isn't rotated.

6 Reasons to Be Bullish on Facebook

I am late to the game on publicly dissecting Facebook's S-1 filing and the business data they shared. There are many good reviews (two here: Dan Fromer and Bill Gurley). I wanted to throw my bullish opinions in from a very high business level, rather than from a valuation / financial / data perspective... sure it's a simplistic way to view it, but I think it is helpful. 1. They have a real business and they aren't even trying.

Simply put: Facebook is a great business today... and they haven't really focused on it. Examples of that are in the below bullets, but even onsite monetization efforts are far from optimized and efficient. And that's not a knock on Facebook in any way: their focus has rightly been on growth and engagement ahead of revenue optimization. That will change over time and the business will become more efficient - both on and off Facebook.

2. Facebook Connect is a huge threat to Google AdSense.

Google AdSense is a meaningful part of their business (ie $2.48 billion, or 28% of total revenues, in Q2 2011). Facebook's convoy is Facebook Connect and the Facebook Like buttons - already integrated directly onto 1,000,000+ of websites. You think publishers won't gladly swap out some javascript for a better integrated product and consequently better ad performance? Most publishers are already frustrated with Adsense's performance (inventory, monetization, etc) and I believe advertisers will gladly adopt Facebook Offiste Ads because they will be more relevant, less susceptible to fraud, will be social / personal and therefore will perform better.

3. Facebook = identity more than Facebook = social network. and

4. High switching cost.

Facebook has become more about personal identity than it has about social networking. Even if you choose never to share photos or post status updates - you would struggle to navigate the web without Facebook. This is a powerful position for Facebook from a publisher and product perspective. For instance, it means that publishers are more reliant on Facebook and more inclined to adopt new features (ie the offsite ads example above). And for consumers, it means that Facebook has terrifically high switching costs. From a social network perspective: this *is* where your friends and your data already is. And from a non-networking perspective: Facebook holds your web identity that that has a profound impact on your entire web experience. Leaving Facebook would dramatically change your online experience, behavior, etc. Hypothetically - as an example - I could imagine giving up on Facebook.com - but could not imagine deleting my account.

5. Facebook credits & payments.

Identity is the root of payments... and Facebook has an opportunity to be my wallet. People already fund Facebook to play games - but the opportunity is bigger. I be able to transfer money to friends, subscription services, etc. Not unlike PayPal, Apple, and other payment platforms... but Facebook again in a great position because: developers are already aboard (imagine a buy with Facebook button), identity is already solved (and thus a large portion of fraud), everyone has Facebook mobile (mobile will be key to payments), and people have already shown a willingness to carry Facebook balances. Now to move beyond virtual goods and gaming, Facebook needs to shift their 30% take rate (ie it simply doens't work for e-commerce) - but the opportunity is big enough that they can and should think through that.

6. Mobile.

Mobile is arguably one of Facebook's biggest strengths (425m actives in December from an overall base of 845m) despite arguably their worst product. Their mobile products will improve and the massive adoption has implications for new revenues (currently no mobile ads), new opportunities (ie payments) and new businesses (a Facebook phone does indeed make sense!).

Disclosure: I have a personal investment / position in Facebook.

Amazon Applies Intelligence to the App Store. You Should Too.

I've long argued that Apple's iTunes and the app store are woefully unintelligent. They are akin to merchandising in a storefront... when there is data available to make the store experience more compelling and better converting. Here's an example of that argument beginning in 2009 (!). After a week with the Amazon Kindle Fire (more to come - hint: I love it), they get the storefront concept and execute it well.... as we have come to expect from Amazon. Rather than using Facebook data, Amazon uses your purchase and search data. Below is an example of the Kidle Bookstore and notice that it's not just a compilation of bestsellers. Theses are items specifically tailored to me based on what I've bought, what I've searched for, and what they consequently think I like (sports, health, tech, young families, etc).

What's this mean for you? You likely won't have Amazon's breadth of data and users profiling... but platforms like Twitter and Facebook do - and you can leverage them to personalize your experience specifically for your users. It's more compelling. It's differentiated. And it's therefore converts.

Zappos Security Breach a Reminder that Facebook is the Web's Identity

The Zappo's security breach of a couple weeks ago was a reminder that your online passwords, data and activity are vulnerable... and to change your passwords often! For me, it was a reminder of another sort and crystallized my latest thinking around Facebook & its role on the web. Facebook is obviously a social network. But it has become something different over time... something arguably more important: it is an identity network. Facebook is the identity thread that connects people, content, data, logins, etc. Whether your Facebook social activity has increased or decreased over time - I guarantee your 'social exhaust' has increased. By that I mean: you may post to your Facebook feed regularly - but you are likely using Facebook to access, use and improve the rest of the web.

So how does this relate to Zappos' security breach? Simple: much of this would be avoided if my account was fully tied to Facebook. No new passwords would be exchanged / needed. Changing my single password (and having a long, unique password) would be so much easier if it were just my Facebook account.

For Zappos, this doesn't mean that they are ceding control of their users - they can still supplement accounts & details. Rather, it means outsourcing identity to Facebook... and that has some big benefits.