Facebook F8 and What It Means For Brands

Facebook F8 and What It Means For Brands April 2015 Written by: Michael Mangi Peter Fasano Senior Vice President of Managing Director Interactive Technology North America Social@Ogilvy Social@Ogilvy

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Facebook F8 and What It Means For Brands

At 2014’s F8 conference, we saw the emergence of the new Facebook ethos. In response to data concerns and the negative backlash from developers over "move fast and break things" as a platform to build upon, the new Facebook Ecosystem arrived.

Built on a three-pillared promise of build, grow, and monetize, the new Facebook Ecosystem promised to be a more stable, data-safe environment aimed at stimulating building on top of the platform. More like “move slow and do things right”.

In addition to a new mentality, 2014 brought new challenges – organic reach disappeared, and concerns over the validity and reach of Facebook as the content distribution platform of the future arose.

Which brings us to the 2015 version of F8. Facebook not only unveiled a host of compelling new reasons to continue building, but showcased the platform’s evolution into a richer ecosystem capable of engaging users all the way down the purchase funnel.

No longer just about getting people to the Newsfeed, Facebook has evolved “into a family of apps and services” aimed at helping people connect and share with each other, no matter where they are.

This paper touches on the main themes and new features coming to Facebook coming out of F8, and the implications for brands moving forward.

Facebook-Beyond-Facebook

Facebook video, off Facebook

Starting this year, Facebook is going to expand further beyond Facebook itself than ever before. Content and ads that previously lived solely on the Facebook platform will be able to be spread out throughout a larger, growing ecosystem. For example, at F8, Facebook revealed a new video player that will be embeddable on other websites. Much like YouTube, video will now be able to be hosted on Facebook but posted and viewable virtually anywhere. The key feature here is that people will be

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able to like and share these videos directly in the player, even if they're viewing it on Buzzfeed or The New York Times.

What does this mean for brands?

This presents an opportunity to extend reach, allowing users to engage with a brand's Facebook content while not actually on Facebook. Additionally, this will give brand content a much longer shelf life, as brands won't have to be at the mercy of constantly updating their Facebook Newsfeed to stay relevant. Brands should prepare for this new feature by looking for additional video advertising opportunities—if brands are now able to display Facebook video outside of Facebook, they can also leverage rich Facebook targeting data elsewhere, too.

Mirrored commenting

Another reveal at F8 that falls in line with the Facebook-Beyond-Facebook theme is the debut of mirrored commenting. Facebook revealed that their comments plugin will get a new look and include a key new feature. If Facebook-hosted video is expanding across the digital ecosystem, it's natural for commenting to follow suit. Soon, the Facebook comments plugin will combine conversations that are happening on Facebook with those happening off it. For example, with Mirrored Commenting implemented on The Huffington Post, that comment on the .com site will also appear in the Newsfeed of that user and in the Facebook Page Post of The Huffington Post automatically.


This consolidation of the conversation will benefit both publishers and users, as it will likely result in higher-quality conversations that are streamlined across destinations. The updated comments plugin will also include improved brand safety features such as a new moderation tool and improved spam filtering. There are "smaller" rollouts than mirrored commenting, but are very important additions from a brand perspective in their own right.

Share Sheet!!

Mark Zuckerberg announced that people shared 50 billion pieces of content from apps to Facebook in 2014. The issue, though, was inconsistency. Without being able to

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preview exactly how content would appear once shared on Facebook, developers had trouble providing a consistent experience for users who were looking to share to Facebook from different apps. Facebook's new Share Sheet should improve the quality and consistency of shares from apps. Now, users will easily be able to share from a native app to Facebook, and will seamlessly be able to share to their Newsfeed, to a Group, or in Messenger.


Easier shareability means greater shareability, which is a clear positive for brands. There are 700 million people using Groups and 600 million Messenger users. These are engaged communities that are ready to consume more shared content from branded apps. This should lead to increased discoverability, and will help brands to enhance app install campaigns. A consistent, seamless sharing experience will likely drive higher consumer engagement.

Expanding ad ecosystem!!

It's not just the Facebook content and engagement ecosystem that's expanding, but the ad ecosystem. After acquiring LiveRail last year, Facebook made a definitive statement of leadership in the video advertising space. At F8, they further cemented that perception by announcing that their offering will include support for display ads within mobile apps.


The LiveRail and added mobile app display ad capability will have a number of impacts on brands. Firstly, LiveRail's improved ad exchange includes Facebook-anonymized user data baked into its targeting capabilities. This will allow advertisers to create much more efficiently-targeted ad campaigns. Advertisers must now consider a number of ad exchanges when planning media. Facebook has an edge, given the massive user data brands can leverage to target content to the right people. Google, which relies on tracking cookies for its ad exchange, has certainly been put on notice. This update is a fundamental shift.

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Facebook takes on Mobile Messaging

Messenger Redesign!!

Facebook Messenger has been constantly evolving as a platform, but it's biggest upgrade was announced at F8. Previously, Messenger was simply an intimate communications channel, intended for small groups of people to chat. There was no place for branded content in Messenger, until now. Facebook unveiled a new Messenger redesign, which allows developers to build applications that enhance messaging within the app. This allows users to install apps directly from Messenger, allowing brands access to this intimate, previously forbidden space.


With privileged access comes heightened responsibility and risk. Brands must be cautious in leveraging Facebook Messenger; they should be wary of exhausting users, who have a plethora of other mobile instant messaging apps they can migrate to. Branded Messenger Apps that will succeed should contribute context to the message but not be a distraction.

Business on Messenger!!

A major addition to Messenger, revealed at F8, is Business on Messenger. Business will be able to engage with customers in very personal and real-time conversations. This evolved eCommerce and customer care approach to communication is an evolution from the asynchronous phone, email or chat experiences that support these functions today.


This presents the opportunity for a very true 1-to-1 engagement with consumers. The technology is there; Facebook Messenger has launched with digital customer service tool ZenDesk, and there's added live-chat functionality which is a CRM and community management game-changer. With Facebook's robust user data, businesses have a unique opportunity to

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match user data to specific transactions, which allows for better-tailored engagement in the future. Business on Messenger is essentially a brand new, engaging service hub for all types of businesses.

More Reasons to Build

Parse!!

The Internet of Things (IoT) is coming. We're not yet in a fully-connected world where all of our devices are communicating with each other, but the seeds are being planted. Eventually, the lights in our house will turn on automatically as our phone opens our locks...and the house will be at the right temperature as the heat clicked on once we were a certain distance from reaching home. The water might even be at at a perfect boil just as we make our way down to the kitchen. Connected devices also have a much more noble potential impact; imagine better insulin trackers that help people living with diabetes.

There's no way that Facebook wouldn't have been a huge part of this shift, and Parse is the proof that they've punched their ticket to the IoT dance. Parse interacts with IoT devices on many platforms, like Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Phone.


It's becoming easier, and more sensible, for brands to find support for taking their analog products into the digital world. Parse represents the technology shift in the all-digital direction, while other products are starting to digitize which presents the opportunity for brands to engage with consumers in new ways. Imagine reading something on your Facebook news feed on the screen of your fridge while you reach for a pint of ice cream?

Analytics for Apps!!

Keeping track of engagement, usage behaviors and overall performance on social and digital media has always been a challenge. It's difficult to know truly how effective a campaign is if people are accessing Facebook, both the app and the website, from multiple devices. Facebook is trying to help fix this through their new analytics tool, Analytics for Apps. It's cross-platform and Facebook-powered and will help track growth, engagement, usage

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behaviors and overall performance in apps. It will also include functionality for tracking performance of in-app ads.


Firstly, it gives an enhanced ability for brands to see how mobile apps impact business more directly; how are users moving through the brand experience or purchase funnel across devices? What's the percentage of people downloaded your mobile app that ended up purchasing something on your website? What are the affinities of your installed user audience? Analytics for Apps will also give brands a better idea of the steps people are taking within their app—where are they falling off, and where should we optimize against? This will provide much smarter app marketing, letting brands more accurately measure the lifetime value of an app by ad network or campaign.

New Experiences to Come

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are on the horizon. By 2020, they will both be multi-billion dollar industries. Much like the IoT, there's a bit of an arms race amongst big tech and software companies to see who is going to be the first to successfully get AR and VR out to market and at scale. Google recently announced that YouTube will have 360-degree video capability, and at F8, Facebook announced that it too would be able to support it.

Oculus Rift is the name to keep an eye on when it comes to AR/VR. At F8, they presented a session wowing users on how virtual reality can essentially "hack" someone's brain and trick them, making the unreal seem like reality. Brand integration has already begun with Volvo and Marriott, while the entertainment world has leveraged Oculus Rift for premieres like the film Insurgent and the television show Saturday Night Live.


AR/VR gives brands a clear opportunity to take video advertising to the next level. AR/VR will grow with gamers first, followed by entertainment and then home entertainment. But these developments are less of a trend, and more of an evolution of aligning the sensory experience of head motion with the audio and visual experience we see in HD televisions, IMAX film, or gaming. Could providing a rich, truly immersive video experience render all other video advertising obsolete? What better way to sell a product, service, or idea than for consumers to virtually experience it themselves? 360 degree video isn't quite that, but it’s a good first step.

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Conclusion

The Facebook ethos continues to evolve. Two years ago, Facebook was in a place where it was trying a lot of new things, quickly. Its reach was declining and its value was being questioned, and internet privacy became a hot button issue, causing many folks to jump ship to more intimate comunication channels. Facebook's response was enhanced privacy controls and better ad targeting, which restored some of the damaged user value. This also came with the emergence of Facebook as a powerful paid distribution platform, and the death of organic reach.

The many unveils and announcements at F8 2015 collectively signal more improvements to Facebook as a brand platform. The year 2015 may be the year of "Facebook Everywhere", as the Facebook ecosystem will expand beyond Facebook itself. Improvements in commenting and messaging will have people engaging with Facebook content everywhere, leading to more opportunities for brands to engage with users throughout the entirety of the customer journey. i

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Facebook F8 and What It Means For Brands