Facebook Updates Insights. Includes ‘People Talking About’ your Brand

A couple of days back Facebook introduced something new to its insights platform.

They are now updating ‘People Talking About Your Brand’

You can thus at any point in time see how many people are talking about your brand on the Facebook platform at that instance.

“People Talking about this” counts ‘stories” – structured content that people choose to share through Facebook that is eligible to appear in a user’s news feed:

• liking your Page
• posting to your Page’s Wall
• liking, commenting or sharing one of your Page posts (or other content on your page – like photos, videos, albums)
• answering a Question you posted, RSVP-ing to one of your events
• mentioning your Page, phototagging your Page
• liking or sharing a check-in deal, or checking in at your Place.

A key disadvantage of this approach is that it does not ‘actually’ count people talking about your brand in their status updates for example unless the user tags the brand.

eg. if i just type i like FoxyMoron without tagging the page I will not be counted as a person talking about the brand.

Another metric that Facebook will be putting increased emphasis on is Friends of Friends and ‘Total Brand Reach’. eg. If one of your fans posts or interacts with your page, Facebook will also be able to calculate how many of his or her friends actually saw this interaction and also be able to do this ACROSS your fans hence giving you a figure of a weekly total reach.

Below is  a screenshot of the same (New insights platform that Facebook will be releasing shortly)

If your brand is also running sponsored stories or ads on Facebook the combined reach of those ads + the combined reach of your page should give you an accurate understanding of your total reach on Facebook.

Ofcourse this too can be fine tuned in the sense that brands may also want to know how many of these reached people are actually keyed into the brand i.e. spent more than 10 seconds looking at the message or other such information. For that too, we’ll see a lot of apps developed as Facebook has just launched its API for insights which allows developers to visualize and make sense of the data they have in many different ways.

This should reflect in your reports in the coming weeks.

If you have any further comments on this or questions do let us know.

FoxyMoron is Hiring: Designers. Visualizers. Interface Designers.

This announcement is for all those who’ve got Design in their veins, eyes, heart, soul – everything! FoxyMoron is hiring Interface Designers, Visualizers, and generally people with an eye for All Things Beautiful and the ability to translate that vision into reality.

We’re on a mission to make the Internet beautiful and would love YOU to join us on our quest to do so.

We’re not too big on position names, so irrespective of what the job is called, here’s what you’ll be doing and what we expect from you:

(i) Designing some of the World’s Top Websites (or atleast they will be classified as one of them when you’ve got your hands on them)

(ii) Putting your skills to use to create fun applications that sync with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

(iii) Dreaming Up the Eureka Moments with respect to the Design Language of some of India’s top brands.

(iv) Every idea that goes out of the FoxyMoron Ideas Factory is destined to be one that will last the test of  time. Or we hope atleast – so crafting an identity is extremely important for every piece of communication. Logos, identities, Symbols – things that the campaign get instantly recognized by.

Fundamentals in research and extreme love for visual appeal will win you extra brownie points.

Some of the brands you will get to unleash your creativity on are (Google the brands to see the kind of work we’ve done for them):

Clients FoxyMoron works with

What we require from you.

i) Have a mad sense of the way things look (or are supposed to look). Have the ability to visualize the same thing in 10,000 different ways.

iii) Have the hunger to work long hours and late nights.

iii) It helps if your academics are strong! If they aren’t its fine as long as you have the 2 points listed above!

iv) Software software software. It’s a bonus if you can also think like those strategy guys and kick their a$$ when they aren’t making sense and pushing you to do a design that you don’t agree with.

v) Ideally we’d like you to be well read. Know what’s going on, we love people we can have a conversation with.

vi) HAVE AN OPINION. At FoxyMoron we love people who have opinions.

vii) Give us a really good reason to hire you!

viii) Have the ba!!$ to work with a Creative Director who’s obsessive about quality, extremely protective about all the work that goes  and a creative strategy team that keeps throwing 1 idea after another.

ix) Be Sharp. Be Innovative. Be Foxy

The Environment

You can have a look at how we work on our Facebook Page. - http://www.facebook.com/befoxy

We’d also love it if you could visit our website - http://www.foxymoron.org and our blog - http://www.befoxy.in before you come in.

If you are interested, write in to arjava (at) foxymoron.org AND/ OR harshil (at) foxymoron.org (they reply quickly) or info (at) foxymoron (dot) org. If you have all the particular requirements, we’re waiting for you with arms wide open!

ADDITIONAL PERKS:

We feed you well (really well)

Our office is a roller coaster ride!

You will learn. A LOT.

Life at FoxyMoron: (for more click here & here)

Facebook Deals – Yet another Game Changer!

Facebook launched Facebook Places and people already started touting it as a 4Sq Killer. Its taken another step in that direction by replicating the 4Sq for business function and launching Facebook Deals in an Apple style event!

On tapping the check in button at a particular location, users will see a list of nearby Places. These will also now show a yellow coupon icon if they are running a Deal. Users can tap through to the Places page where they can see details about how to claim the Deal, for instance by checking in, or checking in and tagging three friends. Once a user completes the Deal’s instructions, they’ll be shown a confirmation screen which includes the reward, an expiration date, and how many people have also claimed the Deal. This can be shown to an employee of the Place to redeem the reward. Pretty interesting and i think it takes the idea of loyalty to the next level. It adds various dimensions to loyalty – more than just the card.

I hope Facebook can tie up also with local application developers to tie in Facebook Places actions to loyalty cards – the physical ones. Could it also be that the next step is tying in Facebook Page actions into your central account that enables you to automatically unlock certain deals? And then also some where only actions on Facebook Pages in a certain quantity can enable you to see certain deals? Sounds super interesting to me!

The obvious concern will be privacy – for a deal where you can tag 3 friends and receive the deal, Facebook may have to restrict the publication of those stories into the newsfeed. Also i think they will have a metric where users will have to authenticate the unlocking of certain deals.

Overall very interesting. We at FoxyMoron will certainly be watching this very closely.

24 Hour Fitness, Gap and Palms Casino Resort have already signed up.

The Adidas Match Tracker

Saw something extremely interesting today – The Adidas Match Tracker

It allows users to actually see everything that transpired in a match from ever pass to every host, block, formation change etc.

The theory is “the more you know about the game, the better you are at the game”

I think its an interesting application and football geeks (can i call them that?) will love it!

Im not sure how the technology is developed – if you think you do let me know!

I think another feature that can be added is a ‘future mode’ section where users can forsee the future of their teams by putting in what they think the result of every game will be. In a sense then, a fantasy predictor game can be tied in too.

Good innovation. Neat execution. Nike owns the mindspace of  ’im a football fanatic’ because of its viral hit ‘Write the Future‘ (which is turning out to be a bit of a joke looking at how the World Cup has transpired) – here is Adidas taking big steps. I don’t think its one of these things that generations will talk about though.

They also have http://www.facebook.com/adidasfootball just like Nike has http://www.facebook.com/nikefootball?ref=ts&v=wall

Puma is also doing something similar – http://www.facebook.com/PUMAfootball – i like their communication “Make Football in Public” and “Love = Football” – their scale is lacking though.

I see these brands doing it for Cricket too. If im not mistaken Nike already is. I see us helping them do some of it.

Another Screen Grab from the Match Tracker

Coke Opens Happiness

Went to this interesting site thanks to Prashant – its  website by Coke. They have this Smilizer where they will donate $1 for every laugh uploaded.

I think its a perfect fit. Large organisations usually commit large sums of money for CSR. Here they have used that to integrate it in their brand campaign (in all likelihood). Its a win win situation for the charity, the brand and the consumer.

Here basically the consumer laughs and ‘Opens happiness’ and $1 is donated to the National Park Foundation. What i like is the fact that we can then hear people’s ‘laughs’ by rolling over bubbles and then rate them. Good fun. Neat execution.

Finally a video worth showcasing!

From the Factory

How can a Beer brand get men to love it?

Here’s how!

Fantastic idea! Not sure if many men actually tried it. It makes for a great video though!

Brands should allocate a production sum for ambient viral ideas and their agencies should take measures to make sure that the videos spread the web like Wildfire!

Hat tip Vikky Jain.

Lenticular Lighted Panels used by Coca Cola

Came across a fantastic video thanks to Mrugank from our team. Coke has used a fantastic ambient idea and created a Mexican Wave.

The trend is also pretty clear – create something unique and creative offline and also make it viral online. Increasingly, ambient activities are become viral hits. It started with flashmobs and is now moving towards things like ambient engagements being recorded and spread. The funtheory virals that won at Cannes are another example.

I see a huge opportunity for this in India. We’re super emotional people.

Managing Passion Driven Communities

Over the last 2 months we at FoxyMoron have been managing a couple of sports & film communities. Both i think come in the space of passion. Once triggered, the easiest to manage on Social Media. There are a few learnings that we feel are worthy sharing:

With respect to Sports Communities, one things is certain – the obvious: These communities are largely passion driven. That’s a goldmine for brands to exploit when it comes to Digital. A sports brand is an extension of an individuals lifestyle. Its something larger. It elevates you. It drives you. If you’ve supported a sports team, you would know.

Few Hygiene Factors:

• Reply to every fan. Or atleast try. Fans will always post questions/ comments.
• Identify fans who will help you out with replies and drive them.
• Update frequently. Very frequently.
• Share what fans share if you think its really exciting.
• Help fans make a decision
• Always update insider news first.
• Host regular contests with give aways

Other not so hygiene stuff that helps:

• Reward individual members – feature them on the landing page of the community/ profile of the week
• Create a Fan Army – Find a set of members to be your champions. And keep building this base of champions.
• Recruit a fellow member programmes. Make sure the community then welcomes them.
• Take measures to Aggregate the best content onto your website
• Members driving votes programmes with a carrot at the end
• Offline Activities
• Allow members to determine the nature of Offline Activities
• Use members to organise/ guide and spearhead offline activities

The idea is to have thematic campaigns over time that make the community and brand association jump. Act like a mother who nurtures her kids. Be nice. Do no evil and always be entertaining.

This of course after you have figured out the sweet spot to build your community around.

Make every community a passion driven community. I think thats our ideology to designing social strategies. I think its the idea of passion. The idea of triggering passion. The idea of uniting people around something larger than the brand itself and then fitting brand attributes into the same is something worth considering for all brands. So far we’ve been able to do it successfully.

How to tickle that passion is another altogether. A new post. A new approach. Till then.

PS – i realised that i have used the word ‘fan’ a lot. Thank you Facebook platform for tickling the right ideas.

FoxyMoron is Hiring Social Media Managers!

This is a ‘notification’ to all those wise people who love to waste their time on Facebook and Twitter and the rest of the social media/ network brigade. If you’ve every wished to work for this super edgy ‘Foxy’ organisation.

There’s no clear name for this position. Some of the people who work for it at FoxyMoron call themselves either ‘Social Bhai’, ‘Social Media Catalyst’, ‘Online Marketing Manager/ Strategist’ and what have you.

Irrespective of what the position is called here is what you would be required to do:

a) Manage brands and their complete web presence online

b) Cook up interesting ways for Brands to be noticed online and on mobile

c) Find that Eureka Moment for some of the biggest brands in the country – ideas and creativity will be at the center of everything you do!

You will also required to have strong fundamentals in research and ensure that FoxyMoron reaches the pinnacle of the online marketing profession in India in the next couple of years.

What we require from you.

i) Be Sharp, Be Innovative, Be Foxy

ii) Have a mad sense of humour. Have the ability to say the same thing in 10,000 different ways.

iii) Have the hunger to work long hours and late nights.

iv) It helps if your academics are strong! If they aren’t its fine as long as you have the 3 points listed above!

v) It would also help if apart from the usual Microsoft Softwares you are a king (or atleast a prince) at the Adobe Suite (Photoshop particularly, Illustrator, Flash and After Effects) – if not we’ll make you one!

vi) You should be active on all major social networking platforms

vii) Ideally we’d like you to be well read.

viii) HAVE AN OPINION. At FoxyMoron we love people who have opinions.

ix) Give us a really good reason to hire you!

x) An eye for Aesthetics. We at FoxyMoron like everything to be beautiful. Your eye should be able to accommodate all things beautiful!

The Environment

You can have a look at how we work on our Facebook Page. – http://www.facebook.com/befoxy

We’d also love it if you could visit our website – http://www.foxymoron.org and our blog – http://www.befoxy.in before you come in.

If you are interested, write in to harshil (at) foxymoron.org (he replies quickly) or info (at) foxymoron (dot) org. If you have all the particular requirements, we’re waiting for you with arms wide open!

ADDITIONAL PERKS:

We feed you well (really well)

Our office is a roller coaster ride!

You will learn. A LOT.

Life at FoxyMoron: (for more click here)