Facebook Changes: June 2013

POV: Facebook Changes June 2013 Introducing Hashtags, the end of Sponsored Stories, photos in comments, Verified Pages, Instagram Video, and new Facebook Insights

June 2013 By: Matt Kelly, Claire Lekwa, Dhara Naik, Meghan McMahon, Brian Camen, Eric Munn, Mac Cullen, Yianni Konstantopoulos, Kate Donahue

Facebook POV June 2013 2

Executive Summary Facebook has made considerable changes recently to its platform that affects how brands and consumers use the social network in May/June 2013. The introduction of Verified Pages and hashtags, the phasing out of Sponsored Stories and introduction of new Insights are important developments to understand in the scope of brands’ overall digital and social strategies. Moreover, Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, has introduced video functionality. This POV contains an overview of the latest developments and considerations for brands and marketers. Table of Contents Introducing Facebook Hashtags Ending Sponsored Stories Photos in Comments Verified Pages Instagram Video New Facebook Insights

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Introducing Facebook Hashtags On June 12, Facebook announced all users would soon be able to use hashtags, a functionality made popular by Twitter. This will allow users, including brands, to include an interactive hashtagged phrase in their status updates and comments. Clicking on the hashtag (or searching for them via Facebook’s search functionality) will lead users to a page featuring real-time content. At only a week post-launch, we at Social@Ogilvy have already noticed many of our brands’ constituents are already using the functionality.

How Do Hashtags Work on Facebook?

Facebook hashtags allow users to tag their posts or comments with an interactive link. This will make a broader base of content more easily discoverable than ever before.

What can they do?

Users may create hashtagged content and discover others users’ hashtags through search. The functionality also extends to other linked sites with hashtag capability, like Instagram and Twitter.

What can’t they do?

Currently, the product is limited to posts, comments and basic search. Unlike hashtags on Twitter, for example, users cannot simply scan the sidebar for the top trending hashtags in real-time and can only see hashtags that belong to friends or are made public. As of this writing, there is also not a paid offering in place to support the product (but that is expected soon).


Implications for Brands

Content Facebook hashtags allow brands new opportunities to extend reach and show real-time relevance with content on the world’s largest social network. They represent Facebook’s new focus on providing brands with better ways to discover real-time public conversations. The company announced that trending hashtags and new insights are also expected to roll out, which will help marketers maximize the potential of this new feature.

Brands should begin strategically testing Facebook hashtags now in concert with their current approach on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr. As more Facebook users receive the hashtag feature, any tagged content will become more visible. Brands should identify key hashtags to incorporate into content, such as brand/product names, current campaigns, and industry topics and trends. Monitoring these key Facebook hashtags will also help surface other relevant content for brands to share, especially for event activation strategies.

In addition, any hashtags from posts pulled in to Facebook from other linked platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram, will populate automatically. Brands may now consider cross-promotion opportunities from syncing select posts to promote contests, campaigns or events.

With Facebook hashtags, a real-time content strategy will be an even larger priority for brands. As key events and news cycles now become more easily searchable, brands have significant opportunity to swiftly engage in these conversations with Facebook’s wide audience (think surprise and delight). Brands that produce nimble, real-time content will reap the benefit of earned relevance. Community Because of Facebook’s popularity, many brands use the platform as a hub for social media interaction. As hashtags are adopted en masse, skilled community managers must be prepared. In the product’s current state, this means searching for ways to engage creatively with Fans in threads, directing them to relevant hashtags where applicable and searching for hashtags people are using about your brand. Though listening for opportunities beyond post threads is a manual process at this time, excellent community managers will include the step in their workflow to provide valuable insights that inform content and overall strategy. Furthermore, upcoming developments in hashtags could affect community management. If the platform allows users to view “trending” hashtags, it will shift the conversation for brands – even within threads about unrelated topics. Brands using the product in an honest, authentic, and respectful way will potentially reach a new audience. Community, analytics and content specialists must work together as they do on other platforms to ensure a holistic approach to executing this tactic. Advertising Facebook representatives have stressed that hashtags and other upcoming products serve brands’ overall business objectives. This should come as no surprise to brands, as the company has taken


several steps within the past year to introduce a more streamlined advertising offering. Currently, Facebook has not announced plans for advertising based on hashtags. Privacy settings affect hashtag results, so only public posts are seen, meaning the reach may not be as large as brands looking to shell out large budgets would like. Brands will be able to promote content that contains hashtags, however. And hashtags used on alternative linked platforms will be clickable and searchable on Facebook. Weigh the benefit of early adoption against the time spent managing your community’s reaction about the product. Because users are already filling their posts with hashtags, brands likely won’t stick out too much by adding them now. Search Facebook hashtags now allow people to consume more of the content they like, when they want it. The new hashtag feature means Facebook users are able to search for the content they’re most interested in, a lot faster. Users are able to see relevant and interesting brand content without leaving the platform (even though it’s not available via mobile as of this writing). Brands have the opportunity to build a more relevant community on their page. Those who are most likely to be interested in a brand’s content are looking to engage in dialogue related to the hashtag topic. Additionally, brands are also now able to participate in real-time conversations by using relevant hashtags. However, it is important to consider developing a comprehensive hashtag strategy to ensure your brand is participating in relevant conversations and not simply using hashtags to expand the reach of your content. Privacy Just like when Graph Search was introduced a few months back, it will be important for users concerned about the privacy of their posts to examine their settings, especially if they’ve included a hashtag. As it did before, directly beneath any status or update there exists a small toggle that allows you to select who sees your content (friends, friends of friends, the public, restricted, etc.) While public posts have always appeared to anyone on Facebook, there has NOT been a simple way to find them until hashtags were introduced. Now, in an effort to be an even greater player in the real-time conversation space, it will be very easy for content to be aggregated. For example, a public post like “Wow, that was a great episode of #Trueblood” will appear to anyone who is searching for #Trueblood on Facebook, not just someone who happened upon your personal profile.

FAQs

How do hashtags coincide with Graph Search?

Previously Graph Search allowed users to search for people, places and things by entering a keyword. Graph Search allowed Facebook users to search for which of their friends have specific likes/interests and other segmentation opportunities. With the introduction of hashtags, users can


now simply enter a hashtag related to a particular topic in the search bar at the top of their News Feed and take a look at relevant content. How will privacy settings affect the content that I am able to see for a particular hashtag? Currently, when you click on a hashtag in your News Feed or type a hashtag in the search field, you are only able to see content that is made public by an individual user as well as public brand page content. How can I advertise using hashtags? Brands will be able to promote content that contains, hashtags, however promoted hashtags are not available for purchase at this time. This is expected to change as the product develops. If I am already using hashtags on another platform, can I sync my content with the same hashtag on Facebook? If you’re currently using a hashtag on any linked third-party platform (such as Twitter or Instagram) it will populate on Facebook automatically. Users tend to adopt official hashtags from other platforms for use on Facebook and we believe this trend will continue. What about privacy? For Facebook users who want to remain extra vigilant about who sees your posts, you should set your default settings (in the settings menu) to only your friends. What happens to really old posts, or posts that were also posted in Twitter? According to Facebook, once it “turns on” the hashtag grouping functionality, it will automatically make hashtags from earlier posts clickable. So, it may be a good idea to go back into your timeline and ensure that you do (or don’t) want your hashtagged content to be widely searchable to anyone.


Ending Sponsored Stories

As part of an effort from Facebook to provide a more integrated and streamlined advertising offering (as based on feedback from Marketers), Facebook recently announced they are reducing the number of ad units from 27 to less than 14 beginning in July.

This slim-down of Facebook’s ad options includes the removal of Sponsored Stories. These ad units were generated in a user's newsfeed because of an interaction that user’s Facebook friend had with a brand’s post. While Sponsored Stories will be removed, some elements of the ad unit may be available through other ad offerings. No need to be upset by this removal as Facebook plans to make their ad unit offerings have a more consistent look and feel. This will make the ad creation process simpler for advertisers who are running multiple campaigns and taking a test and learn approach. Implications for Brands Looking to advertise on Facebook? Brands will still be able to utilize Like ads, Promoted Page posts and a number of individual smaller ad unit offerings from Facebook. Here’s a look at how previous ad units were combined. The result is the following new look ad unit that includes social context.


Photos in Comments Facebook is continuing to evolve their engagement offerings. Recently, the social networking site announced that users will be able to view comment threads by engagement or recent activity. Additionally, Facebook users will be able to attach photos to comments.

Having the ability to view comment threads by engagement could resonate with Brand Page users in a positive or negative way depending on Fan’s reactions. Fans who view comment threads by engagement may only choose to read the top 1 - 2 comments and choose to simply conform to those comments. Depending on what the comments states, this could have a positive or negative result for the brand. Implications for Brands The new functionality that allows users to comment on posts using photos (JPEG or PNG image files) is a benefit for brands. Previously, users could only link to images in a comment. Users will be able to comment with a photo right in the comment stream as a reply to a brand’s status update. This new functionality benefits brands as it will lead to an increase in user-generated content in the form of photos. Users should also expect to see an increased amount of photos in their newsfeed.


Verified Pages Facebook announced in May that it began verifying select Facebook pages and public profiles. Like the verification system on Twitter (a blue checkmark), Facebook verification allows high profile celebrities, public figures, and brands to stake their true claim to their online profiles. Additionally, users can more easily find authentic accounts for the top people and businesses they wish to follow. In Facebook’s words: “Verified Pages belong to a small group of prominent public figures (celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands, and businesses) with large audiences.” Currently, public figures and brands cannot ask to be verified. The Facebook team proactively verifies select profiles and pages. What Does Verification Look Like? Blue Circle Checkmark The verification icon looks strikingly similar to the verification icon on Twitter. It’s a circle checkmark directly next to the profile name. Within page posts, the verification icon will be visible when hovering over the page name. Your Brand’s Category As this new feature continues to roll out, brands should continue to monitor to see if their competitors are receiving verification. This could prove to be a competitive advantage as users associate the verified status with trust, credibility and -- ultimately -- authority in a category.


Verification in Search When searching for a brand in Facebook, the blue checkmark appears for verified pages. This will make it easier for users to identify the official brand pages within search results. Implications for Brands Beyond having the blue checkmark appear on your brand’s page and next to posts that appear in user timelines, there are no immediate effects of having a brand page verified. Still, there may be a few key considerations for brands attempting to bolster their online presences. Search Facebook users often find brand pages via the search function. Having a verified profile allow users to spot authentic profiles when unaffiliated fan pages or parody accounts may exist. This will help brand social teams combat parody accounts from diverting a user’s attention. Content When verified profiles post content to Facebook, the verified icon will appear in user timelines when hovering over the page name – but not directly in the news feed. Having a verified profile may help brand content further resonate with users (i.e. seeing the blue checkmark verifies that the content is authentic and credible). If Facebook ultimately allows the checkmark to show up in the news feed, this will become even more valuable for brands. Credibility As a brand’s digital audience grows, it has the opportunity to bolster the credibility it has with the public. Having a Facebook verified brand signals to online users that the brand has a prominent digital presence, and these pages may increasingly be seen as legitimate locations where the public can get relevant content and updates. Opportunity Moreover, this may reveal an opportunity for a unified and credible look-and-feel when cross-promoting content for brands with multiple Facebook pages. As this becomes recognized as the official seal of credibility on Facebook, consumers may only engage with pages that have achieved verified status. The rollout process is ongoing and there is currently no mechanism for requesting verification. Facebook will proactively reach out to verify accounts. Until then, continue to monitor parody accounts and community/interest pages.


Instagram Video Instagram, the photo-sharing app that was purchased by Facebook, announced they are entering the video arena. They mentioned via their blog that users can now start recording 15-second videos within the app. Users will need to make sure they are using version 4.0 of the app which is available in both the App Store and Google Play. When a user goes to take a picture with Instagram they’ll now have an option to click on a movie camera icon. Clicking this icon will allow the user to record a video and upload to Instagram and any other connected social accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. Similar to taking photos with Instagram, a user can also add a filter to the video and change the lighting and color. Also similar to taking photos in Instagram, a user can review their video before posting it live. Previously recorded videos cannot be uploaded to the app and there is currently no ability to tag people/brands in a video. One of the most interesting features is a Cinema function that will stabilize videos that may be shaky due to being filmed via a mobile device. Watch an overview here.

Implications for Brands

The use of videos in Instagram allows your brand a new way to present ideas and stories to your customers and fans. If you already have an Instagram account, it’s a simple way to start recording short films and get them out to an active audience. The length of 15 seconds is also longer than the current 6 seconds offered by Vine. This allows your brand some extra time to make sure your message is received. You can check out a full comparison between Instagram and Vine here.


The Vine question: It remains to be seen how Vine will perform in the market in light of Instagram’s update. Since launching, Vine has developed a modest audience of creative, quirky micro filmmakers (We implore you to check out Will Sasso’s videos) who may prefer Vine’s scrappy, on-the-go video sharing to Instagram’s more polished clips. But Instagram has a young, devoted, and highly engaged community that can now create and consume video content without leaving the app or recreating their social graph on another service.

In less than six months, Vine has grown to more than 13 million users. But its tight integration with Twitter — videos automatically display and play through Twitter Cards — means that Vines have the potential to reach Twitter’s audience of 200 million monthly active users. Still, Instagram lets users share photos and videos to Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Twitter, while Vine only shares to Twitter and Facebook. Time will tell if Instagram videos will be as impactful as Vine


Facebook Insights Changes Facebook recently announced changes to Page Insights, helping businesses gather more of the facts and data that they care about. The global changes focus on improvements to the way key metrics are organized and displayed. Overall, the changes are incremental and largely organizational. They don’t offer new data or metrics, but make the key metrics easier to find and report within the insights dashboard. These changes include:

Simplified Metrics People Talking About This (PTAT) The PTAT metric will no longer be available. Instead, it will be broken down into its component metrics that will be reported separately. These metrics will now be Page Likes, People Engaged (number of unique individuals that have clicked on, liked, commented on or shared a post), Page tags, mentions, Page check-ins. PTAT will continue to be available for Page owners that do not have the new Insights preview. These metrics are currently available, but not displayed by default. Virality Additionally, the current virality metric will now include post clicks to provide a stronger indication of positive post engagement. Furthermore, ‘virality’ will be renamed to ‘engagement rate’ to accommodate changes to the metric. Page owners may see increased average virality if their posts include links that are driving clicks. Better Content Performance Analysis Currently, post specific content is based on performance, reach and engagement, which are found in three different areas of Page Insights. In the new format, all of the metrics will be aggregated into a post-specific scorecard so that marketers can evaluate positive and negative metrics in one place.


This will allow branded page owners to effectively evaluate their content performance and make necessary optimizations a lot more quickly. This will enable Brands to publish better content with a greater impact. Demographic Breakdown by Engagement Because the PTAT is being replaced by the People Engaged metric, this change will also be reflected in the demographic data available. Page Insights will allow Page admins to see more demographic data in one place.


Implications for Brands For large brands that already have a thorough process for analyzing the data provided by Facebook insights as well as other analytics tools, this will not make a big difference in how they measure content performance. For lighter users, who rely heavily on the insights dashboard, this will have more of an effect. Page admins who are invited to use the new Insights will be notified within the Insights tool interface. The full Page Insights will be rolling out to all Page owners by the end of the summer.

About Social@Ogilvy

Social@Ogilvy is the largest social media marketing communications network in the world. Named 2011 Global Digital/Social Consultancy of the Year by The Holmes Report, the practice leverages social media expertise across all Ogilvy & Mather disciplines, offering an extensive list of services within the foundational business solutions – Listening and Analytics; Social Business Solutions; Social Media Marketing and Communications; Social Shopping; Social CRM; Social Care; and Conversation Impact.

For more information, visit social.ogilvy.com and connect with us at facebook.com/socialogilvy, slideshare.com/socialogilvy and on Twitter @SocialOgilvy
