Arnold Waldstein's Blog

Great collection of thoughts Arnold.

*begin independent open web rant*
My issue with Facebook fan pages is that they are a 100% Facebook owned space, not a company or community owned space. In fact everything in Facebook is owned by Facebook (they even own the little fan page widgets we can place on our sites). Much like our Rolodex being “held hostage” inside Facebook, many are hesitant to expend resources on building up a Facebook branded fan page.
*end rant *

For small or starting out businesses it makes perfect sense to organize and identify your community out of a larger collective. But at some point the most important thing a group can do is identify themselves with a shift in priorities existing independent of Facebook, Twitter, or wherever they met up (Stocktwits successful made this transition recently)

As to viral spread and efficacy of businesses that exist (at least partially) within Facebook (applications) there's a fantastic startup called Kontagent which Robert Scoble recently interviewed. They have many factors which they track in real time to measure the virality of a business or offering.

Hi Mark

Let me take each of your points one at a time.

Rant abt. ownership. Couldn't agree more. I'm a believer in open as you know.

But for a rock star with fans, a studio with a new movie or a small business with customers they need to take advantage of this 'free' channel to aggregate and talk to their fans. The risk for the brand is much less than the risk for the developer focusing solely on this platform.

Yes on the second item but that is another discussion. The most expensive thing for a brand or company is acquiring its customers/fans and seeding the community. Once you have that dynamic, moving it is possible but still open to question. In the beginning however, you need to go the path of most upside, least resistance. Net net…you need to go to where your customers are.

I'll check out Kontagent. Thanks!

Always a pleasure stopping in!

Not sure if you read Steve Blank but his latest on agile startups looks great , bookmarking it for when I have free time tonight.

I'll check out SteveB as well. You turned me onto his blog…a great find.

Hey Arnold. Another great post.

I know I've commented on this before here, but Social Video is something that excites me more than anything, and integration with facebook is IMO a very complimenting marriage. Just the other day, a fan of my local snowboard pub, mentioned they could not make it to a yearly event/competition we have at Beaver Creek in memory of a local pro snowboarder that lost his life riding. In response to her a few others mentioned they also couldn't make it. The idea popped into my head that I have the tools to bring the event to them, so why wouldn't I. Using the iPhone 3gs and the wantowle.com setup, an iPhone video editing app, and tumblr I was able to deploy the event in real time (about 5 minutes after each competiton) and bring the event to facebook fans who were stuck in their offices. The response was pretty good for how quickly we threw it together. But now, ideas are surging on how i can take that to the next level once vpype goes mobile.

Trial and error is sometimes part of the fun, and more often than not cool strategies are created on accident, from user interaction. If she was able to make the event and never mentioned it, the idea would have never come to me.

Take Care,

Rich

Hi Rich.

Thanks for sharing the story…and yes I agree, having such powerful tools at our disposal opens up doors for communications that were simply not there before.

I'll let you know as soon as Vpype starts to share its mobile strategy and beta app with outside folks.

Re: boarding, you guys are still at it in Colorado. My son boarded in Eldora on Sunday and I guess that was the end of the season for that hill.

Re: whiteouts…see the pic in the Snapshot on the right hand column of the blog for me in a whiteout snow blizzard in Vail two weeks ago. Really great fun!

Enjoy.

I was right there with you during the whiteout. That was the most snow we saw all season!

I really enjoyed your thoughts on this subject. I agree that there is immense potential within this realm for brands to extend their relationships with their customers (and add new ones). Nonetheless, the challenges are significant since brands are operating in a “social” network environment — with a “commercial” agenda. While many embrace the presence of businesses in this domain, there are others who see the businesses as something akin to a bunch of parents crashing a high school party. I think one of the main reasons businesses have been slow to innovate on the Facebook platform is because, although there is much to gain, there is also the potential to make negative impressions within this very large group of potential customers due to its inherent social context. Innovation on this type of platform would be a lot like cracking a joke in front of a group of people who you just met: yes, the joke could get you laughs and win you fast friends, but it could also fall flat and take you a couple steps back from where you were before you told the joke. Of course with Facebook, that group is made up of over 400 million people. (No pressure, brands…)

Thanks for your comments Michael.

Remember the debate (and I guess it is still going) about the upside and downside of having blogs for companies on the open web? What to do about negative comments? How to respond to the unhappy customers? There seems to be similarities here.

With Facebook, and you are right, brands need to get over themselves and figure it out. Their customers are there. The data connecting 'friending' to purchase intent is not to be ignored.

My sense is that the brands that will survive and grow will figure it out. Those that can't are opening the door for others to step in. The playing field is changing for certain.

Thanks much for stopping by and sharing your thougths.

I completely agree with you that the playing field is changing. It is a huge opportunity for ambitious brands to separate themselves from their competitors through a higher level of engagement with their customers. For far too long, major brands have relied on distribution to sustain their brand equity in the marketplace. The Industrial Age was all about a production-focused distribution orientation: “this is what we make, so this is what you can get.” The perfect representation of this attitude is the old Henry Ford quote: “the customer can have his car painted in any color he wants so long as its black.” And this was obviously the right approach for the time — it allowed Ford to deliver tremendous value at a great price. But the Internet has successfully democratized distribution and in doing so has shifted the orientation to the consumer. Now just “showing up at the party” isn't enough. There is an urgent need to elevate the quality of the dialogue businesses have with their customers. Engagement is the key in the Age of Information: a meaningful, authentic, personalized, interactive dialogue between brands and consumers. In other words, those big, old dogs are going to need to quickly learn some new tricks (and we all know how unlikely that is)… or else the clever puppies are going to start to have the run of the neighborhood.

I agree completely.

The internet is the great democratizer and most industries are undergoing dramatic changes, pushing everything to a customer centric point of view. I say, GREAT.

Thanks for weighing in with so much passion and detail.

Hi Arnold

Lady Gaga has over six million followers on Facebook. Madonna has over 3 million. This is something I have been discussing with people I met at http://ww.ilmc.com 2010 this year – and how – well – Artist to Fan direct could come into play sooner than most people think. Who needs a daisy chain of managers, agents, labels, promoters and ticketing companies between a music artist(s) and their fans?

Lady Gaga, with her six million fans on Facebook could easily sell out her ticketing inventory, plug her merch, figure out where to tour next, and flog her downloadable music.

We are are organizing a think tank, brainstorming meeting in Paris with some people from the music industry and from the technology community to analyze this in about six weeks. Maybe you could pop over?

Email me if you find some time.

Richard K
Agora Media Group

Hi Richard

You are talking about two items that are very close to my core passions and beliefs:

1. Social commerce…transactions as a key component of the social graph. Within Facebook, trust and community are setting the scene for community based, social commerce to become part of the ecosystem.

2. The real-time internet is the great disintermediator of industries and the democratizer of access and possibilities. This is true on the open web. It is true on steriod within a social environment like Facebook. The handshake between fan and star, brand and customer, supporters and cause are direct and authentic. The in-between seems artificial and unnecessary.

Please provide some details on the Paris meeting. I've been asked to speak at Electronic Retailing Association conference in June on social commerce and the Vpype solution. We are deciding on that this week as well.

Again, thanks for sharing and reaching out.

Arnold

Great article! My company just started using a great facebook application called Storefront Social (http://storefrontsocial.com) and it's already been able to start generating revenue from our fanpage by importing our products onto a storefront tab on our fan page! Now that we have that in place, we're trying to figure out how to get more fans!

Thanks for the heads up on storefrontsocial.

Can you share a link to your facebook page so i can see how this works?

I'm working on a post on social commerce so any input on this is most appreciated.

Sure thing!

Here's what my company's done: http://www.facebook.com/PeekKids?v=app_36966609…

It's a showcase of our products for our fans–you can see the price, description, image, and then it all links back to our ecommerce store–goal: get more eyes on our products, and tease them enough to get into our actual store.

there are other apps out there that don't have as nice of a presentation of the products, but then also make it a store. This was not our objective, we wanted to keep our transactions on our ecommerce platform, but SHOW our products to everyone.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to answer!

Thanks Benjamin. Looks great.

So the app is basically a display app, pulling from your off-Facebook site/catalog and displaying on the fan page? Correct? Would you be happier if the actual transaction and the community comments on the products themselves happened on the page itself?

That's what I'm looking for. Especially a QVC type of solution where a video broadcast can be used to talk about the product live with comments, then commerce. I may be dreaming though

Can you please share the other links of the products you mention that are less sophisticated but have the commerce happen on the site itself?

yes, this product is a showcase only. The idea of creating yet another portal for managing transactions is NOT the goal. The goal is to drive customers who might not normally see your product TO your website. Driving traffic to your full website = more brand control, better user experience, and the management of your own ecommerce transactions whereas the products that offer a transaction solution from your facebook page, it's clunky, because it's almost 4th party — they are a third party working THROUGH facebook. If facebook changes something without notification, you are ultimately affected and cannot do anything about your transactions that you're missing. Therefore, Storefront Social is the best solution for really showcasing your product, and getting them to your true ecommerce door.

The other app i was referring to was netcarnation and payvment.

Thanks much Benjamin.

Facebook and their changes and lack of communications is a real issue for brands and developers. A huge problem actually as you note.

Major reason I was asking was around the idea of social commerce..the idea of buying within the community structure. Picture a product for sale and the ability of the community to talk about it…”I bought this and it was great” or “See pic with those shoes on” and so forth.

I like your site BTW. Let me know how it goes and in general, if you are willing to share some of your conclusions about the effectiveness of the Facebook funnel, I'm very interested.

Again, thanks for your time and input.

I wish the best of luck with the biz!!

Interesting observation on utilization or adoption (or lack there of) of Facebook fan pages for brand awareness.Personally I think business owners may be suffering from social media fatigue.

We are advised to tweet interesting links to related articles and to ensure you blog 3 times a week. Well to find 5 useful articles a day to tweet about thats at least an hour a day ( more like 2) reading through related iPhone blogs or tech related sites for my twitter business account @buy3gpower2. When I am done with that then I might spend 2-3 hours working on a blog posting. If I am lucky I post once a week. If I were to post 3 times a week thats 6-9 hours. Thats a lot of time. I know I don't have another 2-3 hours a week to produce original content for my Facebook Fan page. So I don't.

Instead I spend that time responding to customer emails, preparing invoices/product for shipment, emailing/calling possible distribution channel leads, rolling money from paypal to my bank account, tweeking/updating my web site… You get the point.

Lastly it seems more people will retweet an article as opposed to sharing it on Facebook. Seems like less friction or effort involved. My article in Inc magazine this month makes me think this . 15 retweets vs. 3 shares.

Just a few thoughts from a small fish.

Hi Bill

Thanks for spending the time to share your thoughts.

Yes, folks are confused and tired around the topic of social media. A lot of lists. A lot of silly rules (like the # of tweets). A lot of info from folk who are not understanding.

Social media in general is simply a series of tools that let people and businesses interact with friends and customers in a more natural way…and in some cases with what I call the 'star connection' in special cases.

There are some general guidelines just like there are general guidelines to be a good salesperson or entrepreneur.

I think there are only two rules:

-be yourself and be genuine. A great salesperson at a local store knows how to act and how to service customers that already have a trust relationship with him. Don't change that!

-communicate in an interesting way and be informative.

Nothing more…These are what I use and what my clients are using successfully as far as I can tell.

Regarding Facebook to Twitter. I think they are just different channels. Some folks use some, some others. Good companies bring their messages and value to their customers and should use whatever channels to whatever places their markets are.

Glad to answer any questions or address topics that are of interest in future posts.

And BTW–pls forward the link to the coverage you mentioned so I can read it!

Arnold,

Here is the link:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100401/war-zone-s…

Your posts are great ,you should share more often!

Thanks Bill.

Checked out the link…quite a story and good luck to you!

Keep asking questions and I'll find a way to blog more and try to answer some of them.

Very valuable insight and visionary approach to social media! I would love to share this article on my blog with your permission.
Please advise.

Carrie

Thanks for the kind words.

I would be glad do have you share it on your blog. Are you thinking of linking to it? Excerpting then linking? Some Q & A then a link?

Let me know what you had in mind. arnold@waldstein.com is email to discuss details as necessary.

Again, thanks much and glad you found the post usefull.

Thank you for the offer. I am thinking of an exerpt with a link and a Q and A after.
My blog is a WordPress Blogsite at http://www.GIVE-connect.com
Carrie

Sounds great….please let me know if you need anything else from me and if there is a way that I can answer questions from your community directly.

Ping me when this is going to go live.

Again, thanks… and I like your site!

Great…ping me if there is anything else I can assist with including answering questions directly from your community once the post goes live.

Again, thanks for the interest.

[...] If you’re interested in knowing more about this topic, I suggest that you read the recent blog written by high-tech executive/marketer/blogger Arnold Waldstein titled, Facebook Fan Pages: the new promotional web sites for brand. [...]

An add-on to Facebook fan pages. The thrust appears to be making fan pages integrate with existing pages. In other words, Facebook is moving away from more content inside of Facebook, and reaching out to make existing sites more social. As you are aware, I'm a big fan of a more adaptive web, which I think Facebook will push forward. I'm concerned that keeping all the behavioral information behind corporate walls may result in regulation though, and I suspect Facebook will be willing to share user interests in a more web-like fashion.

Mark

I also see the push for 'Like' outreach as a move towards an adaptive web and add 'social' to sites on the open web.

But I still see businesses wanting to move resources to the fan page. Think commerce. Do you want the fan page to be a doorway to your e-commerce site or for commerce to take place on the fan page itself?

Maybe I'm overthinking this but I see this as a big difference.

An add-on to Facebook fan pages. The thrust appears to be making fan pages integrate with existing pages. In other words, Facebook is moving away from more content inside of Facebook, and reaching out to make existing sites more social. As you are aware, I'm a big fan of a more adaptive web, which I think Facebook will push forward. I'm concerned that keeping all the behavioral information behind corporate walls may result in regulation though, and I suspect Facebook will be willing to share user interests in a more web-like fashion.

Mark

I also see the Facebook push for 'Like' outreach as a move towards an adaptive web and spreading 'social' to sites on the open web.

But I still see businesses wanting to move resources to the fan page. Think commerce. Do you want the fan page to be a doorway to your e-commerce site or for commerce to take place on the fan page itself?

Maybe I'm over thinking this but I see this as a big difference.