Facebook Revamps Brand Pages

Facebook has changed once again, no surprise there! But this time they made huge improvements to the mobile app. Facebook has been changing the design of its mobile brand pages. This new design has been focused around interaction instead of content, which is easily accessible at the top of the page. New changes to the Facebook web page are coming soon!

Facebook took a different approach by changing their site to be more mobile friendly. More than half of Facebook users access their profiles through their mobile devices, so the change has already proven to be more user friendly.

Facebook's Timeline is Changing....Again!

Can you handle all the changes in less than one week? Facebook has made yet another change to their website! They have created a new layout for your timeline. Originally, this design was being tested in New Zealand, but now has now expanded to affect all users.

Your timeline navigation will now be located in the top right corner. The "About Me" information will now have its own box below your profile picture. Your name will be placed next to your profile picture overlaying your cover photo. Also, there will be a new section added that allows your to add music, movies, books and TV shows that interest you in the form of apps, placing them right alongside your photos and your friends list.

Facebook said the new layout will allow more customization to your profile. Different apps, such as, Netflix or Goodreads will show what movies you've been watching or books you've been reading. This new look is expected to be in affect within the next couple of weeks. 

This means great news for advertisers! Because of the focus on images, businesses will have a better opportunity to grab the attention of their consumers. This also means that businesses pages will have a more attractive look to them. Along with consumers, business pages will be able to customize their profiles too, allowing them to give the consumers more of what they want.

Mobile Business Apps: Increasing Productivity and Revenue

The buzz is all about mobile business apps! Mobile productivity and process apps went mobile in 2012 and revenue associated with them is estimated to be around $25 billion for 2012. Research firm Strategy Analytics says this number is expected to rise to $50 billion by 2017.

The mobile experience has evolved from simple mobile email and messaging apps to productive apps with content authoring abilities like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and consumer resource management (CRM).

The importance of worker productivity on the go has driven the rapid growth of mobile business apps and has pushed the market revenue to new highs. It’s exciting to see the ways businesses are stepping up to the plate when it comes to mobilizing their business operations.

The mobile device has evolved to fit each and every business need and surely the apps market should be one to watch in the times to come. 

Silly Social Media Mistakes

Making a mistake on social media can be seen by thousands, if not more, in the matter of seconds. Brands and businesses always need to be careful when monitoring and posting on these sites, such as Twitter. 

This infographic (created by MDG Advertising) shows examples of some social media screw-ups. To avoid these issues, always edit your tweets and make sure you know what's going on in the news and the world around you before you speak on it; or in the case of social media, "tweet on it". These types of mistakes are 100% avoidable when paying attention to social media etiquette. For now, check out these social media blunders for a good laugh, and hopefully to learn from others mistakes!

Facebook Testing Promoted News Feed Posts for Non-Fans

Companies may now be able to advertise in the news feeds of users on Facebook who are not a fan of their pages. Facebook revealed on Tuesday that it will begin testing promoted posts for brands so that they have the ability to reach people who haven’t become a fan of their page.

Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta announced that Facebook will shortly be starting a very small test which will allow companies to promote posts to users beyond the fans in their news feed. The promoted posts will appear both on desktop and mobile versions of the site.

The promoted posts will look like typical updates in a user’s news feed, but they will be labeled as “sponsored.” As of right now, only fans of a company have the option to view their posts in the fans news feed. 

Facebook Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

With more than 900 million people utilizing Facebook, it’s crucial to implement marketing ideas to the best of your benefit. Most companies have no problem figuring out best practices and trends, but along with this comes things you absolutely shouldn’t do. Here are a few tips on how to not make these mistakes:

1. Not completely filling out the page
Although this may seem obvious, many companies still forget to fill out the page completely. Be sure to include hours, address, phone number, and pictures to get the most out of your page.

2. Not following Facebooks rules for cover photos
Cover photos are not allowed to include information such as pricing, a call to action, or contact information. This is a simple mistake a company can make when trying to promote their business. Instead, post a picture that represents your brand.

3. Refrain from Facebook contests
Although it’s somewhat of a grey area, any type of contest run on Facebook is illegal. All contests and giveaways  must be administered through Apps within Facebook.

4. Over posting
When it comes to Facebook, less is more. Consumers don’t want to be bombarded with posts and information. Start out with two posts a week, and customize a schedule to see what works best for you.

5. Too much text
Keep it short and sweet! Research shows that consumers are most responsive to posts between 100 and 250 characters, or one to two lines of text. 

Powerhouse USA Adds 3 New Team Members

We’re very excited to announce three new hires to our growing team here at Powerhouse USA!

Jenn Allen is now the company’s Creative Services Manager. “Art has always been my passion and I love working in the fast paced environment at Powerhouse USA and being able to bring agency and client ideas to life,” said Ms. Allen about her new position. She will be overseeing all graphic content elements of online and print campaigns.

Andrea Rodrigues has been added as the company’s Marketing Coordinator. “I’m thrilled to be at Powerhouse USA and working with their diverse roster of clients.” Her responsibilities include client relations, budgets, presentations, and research.

Megan Neuner is the company’s newest Internet Marketing Coordinator. “Internet marketing is such an exciting area and working at Powerhouse USA provides me with the opportunity to help with their existing client base as well as grow future business.” Ms. Neuner is responsible for client web presents and develops online marketing and advertising campaigns as well as social media.

5 Ways to Monitor Your Brand’s Effectiveness

In today’s world, branding isn’t entirely about numbers anymore. Now we have to take generating a fan base into account. Here are 5 ways to measure how well your brand is doing online:

            1.   Are you engaging your fans?

Effective marketing is about building relationships with fans and customers, not about yelling out information in a busy marketplace. Social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to see how responsive and active we are with our customers.

A French telecommunications company named Orange asked their followers to tweet summer plans with hashtag #thissummer. The company was able to record the responses and generate traffic which allowed the followers to identify with the company’s branding.

2. Are you adding value to the conversation?

It’s a great idea to post content that other people will want to see and share with others. Healthy Choice posted a 75 cent coupon on Facebook which would increase in value as the site grew more followers. The company gained 10,000 fans in just a few weeks. This is a good example of how a company can bring value to its customers by increasing engagement.

3. Are you practicing the 20-to-1 rule?

The 20-to-1 rule means that you have to make 20 relational posts for every 1 marketing posts. In order to be successful, you need to be a giver instead of a taker. Companies need to be generous with their fans, so when you do need something, your fans respond.

4. Are you monitoring feedback?

If you want to be effective, you have to know what works and what doesn’t. A blogger with a large amount of followers tweeted about a negative experience he had with U-Haul. In no time, U-Haul lost thousands of dollars and long-term damage to their brand, solely because the company didn’t understand how much power the consumer has in today’s world. Creating an outpost where you can monitor what people are saying will allow you to address the consumer’s concerns, receive immediate market feedback, and show your customer’s you’re listening.

5. Are you engaging through your blog or website?

Most people believe you need a website with flashy graphics and a fancy design in order to generate higher traffic. However, this is not the case. Customers mainly want to feel like someone cares and is listening, not so much about how appealing the site looks. Try ending your blog with a question so readers feel like they can engage.

Facebook to Let Advertisers Bid on Ads Using Your Browser Data

Facebook is expected to introduce real-time bidding as a feature to their advertising. This is something that Google has done for years, which legs advertisers use browsing history to target users.

Facebook Exchange, the bidding feature, is projected to be launched in a few weeks. Facebook is currently working with eight different firms, such as Turn, TellApart, MediaMath, DataXu, AdRoll, Triggit, and The Trade Desk, to create this feature. Facebook has just begun to include cookies to track users by their browsers. Third parties will match information from other sites with those cookies. If a user searches for “truck,” and then goes onto Facebook, advertisers in the auto industry will be able to show that user ads on Facebook for trucks.

Although Facebook’s traditional advertising is very successful, the new changes will allow for advertisers to achieve more impact and insight, more quickly, at a smaller cost. Facebook already leads the U.S. display ad market, with a 14% share in 2011, and is expected to rise to 16.8% in 2012.  

5 Hot Facebook Marketing Trends

Facebook has drastically changed in the past year, and marketing on it has changed as well. The image-heavy Facebook timeline has made many changes for how businesses market their products and services through the social media site.  There is an impressive amount of pressure on Facebook to be advertising friendly, and a lot of this comes from the fact that with its 133 million users, it can potentially have a bigger audience than the Super Bowl.

The first marketing trend the new Facebook has is the ability to post more and larger photos. Consumers are getting used to a more image filled web, so the new Facebook design features much bigger pictures than before. An analytics firm that measures brand performance, Simply Measured, confirmed a 65% jump for photos and videos combined that companies posted on their Facebook timelines. Sprinkles Cupcakes is a strong believer in the effectiveness of posting photos and videos to their Facebook page, especially with a call to action, seeing the number of likes and comments triple when one exists.

The second trend Facebook timeline has is tapping real-time data. Businesses now have the ability to immediately see the success of their campaign, while typically you have to measure the results at some point in order to see if the ads are working or not. This past April 17^th on Tax Day, TurboTax saw their Facebook post on “Most Common Tax Questions” doing well on Facebook’s “People Talking About This” page, so in turn they advertised on Facebook to increase the reach of the post.

The third trend is to use your Timeline cover photo for marketing. With the cover photo being a giant picture at the top of the company’s Facebook page, brans are realizing this photo can be a banner ad. The huge image provides instant exposure to all of the brands Facebook fans. Other brands are using the cover photo as an interactive photo for their fans. With different call to actions, such as posting a question on the image, fans can now interact with the cover photo.

The fourth trend the Facebook timeline creates for marketing is the gamification of posts. Coca-cola is a very well-known brand on Facebook.  Coca-cola has been posting URL riddles to its millions of fans. Along with them, JetBlue has also been posting more interesting and interactive posts such as “Fill in the Blank” status updates. JetBlue received 182% more comments per most than other typical brands with their post gamification method.

The fifth and final trend on the new Facebook timeline is creatively saying ‘Thank You’. By coming up with creative ways to thank your fans, you can single out and give your fans praise while entertaining the rest of the fans, who normally would have been uninterested in the post. Kraft Mac & Cheese did this by posting a 7-minute video thanking 4,800 fans who had “liked” a post of theirs. The video consisted of a song which included each of their individual names. The 4,800 fans were individually thanked, and the rest of the fans were still entertained in the process.

Gone Viral!

Yahoo's fourth-quarter net earnings decline 5 percent

Yahoo's fourth-quarter earnings fell 5 percent as newly minted CEO Scott Thompson acknowledged the company needed to do better, but was short on details about his plans.

The company’s fourth-quarter net earnings declined 5 percent year-over-year to $296 million, with revenue off 3 percent to $1.17 billion. And search advertising revenue dipped 3 percent year-over-year to $388 million.

Yahoo’s full-year revenue hit $5 billion, a far cry from the $6.3 billion it recorded in 2010. During the company’s earnings call Tuesday, Thompson said he's spent “a lot of [his] time and attention”understanding the problems facing Yahoo’s display advertising business. Referring to the company's results, Yahoo CFO TimMorse said during the earnings call, “we expected better.”

Thompson repeatedly said that it was too early to discuss how he plans to improve Yahoo’s performance. But he isolated the consumer data Yahoo holds as “the key component for driving innovation.”

“Our data may be Yahoo’s most underrated, underappreciated and underused asset,” he said.

Thompson said he aims to mine the data collected from Yahoo’s 702 million monthly unique visitors to improve the site experience for consumers, which he said would lead to more time spent on site and better results for advertisers.

Thompson and Morse downplayed the uncertainty that has dogged Yahoo throughout the fourth quarter and continues to follow the company. Morse—who took over as interim CEO after Carol Bartz’s ouster in September—termed the period “challenging” with “numerous distractions,” and Thompson said there was a lot of “commotion” surrounding the company.

Thompson’s appointment earlier this month may have settled the CEO question. ButYahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the company’s board last week, and questions persist over whether Yahoo will be sold.

As to the latter, all Thompson would say was that Yahoo “remains open to anything that’s good for our shareholders.”