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According to a study by ForeSee Results, only 25% of the top 100 online retailers have a Facebook page and another 25% have less than 10,000 fans. These statistics are shocking, especially since the recent news that Facebook now has grown to over 400 million users. Where else do you have the opportunity to engage millions of potential customers?

In a related study, Razorfish surveyed visitors to some of the biggest US retail websites and found that majority of shoppers “friend,” “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, etc. For example, I’m a fan of Best Buy on Facebook and I follow them on Twitter. I read almost every update that Best Buy posts within Facebook and it’s driven me to their website on several occasions where I’ve made a few purchases. If they weren’t on Facebook I honestly don’t know if I would have ever made my way to their website as often.

Brands that haven’t established a significant presence in Facebook are truly missing out on the opportunity to serve their customers and to reach new ones. As Facebook continues to enhance Fan Pages, I would hope to see more retailers embracing social (particularly Facebook) and taking it to new levels.

[via MediaPost]

Did you get your free bagel on Facebook? A few weeks ago, Einstein Bros. Bagels offered a coupon for a free bagel to Facebook users who became a fan. All you had to do was become a fan of Einstein Bros. Bagels, print out the coupon, and take it to a store location to get your free bagel. The promotion received a lot of buzz and the Einstein Bros. Fan Page went from around 4,000 fans to well over 300,000 fans during this bagel giveaway.

Fast Company has a good article recapping the details of the promotion. According to the article, Einstein’s had “done extensive homework to ensure that this promotion is a success.” Just looking at the numbers it does look like it’s a successful promotion, but after looking a little closer I’m not so sure. Below are 3 reasons as to why I think this promotion was not entirely a success:

1. Several fans had difficulty printing the coupon (and I was one of them). It looks like they tried to reach out to most of the fans having trouble with the coupon, but I noticed several fans who never got help. The Discussion tab on their page had several entries where fans needed help.

2.  Some store locations weren’t accepting the coupons.

3.  Now that I’m a fan, what do I do now? Post giveaway, you’ve got the attention of 300,000 fans who are looking for some engagement and I’ve yet to see any communication from Einstein’s on how they plan on engaging the fans.

I’m an advocate of promotions that grow a fan base, but I think a crucial piece that is often overlooked is the “now what” factor once the promotion is over.  You’ve got to have a plan in place to interact and respond to fans or they could drop off or worse, turn on you. Social media is a commitment and not just a campaign.

Back in December, I blogged about how Facebook was planning to have a major redesign to their website and it looks as though that day is finally here. According to Facebook, they started rolling out the the new design changes to 80 million users last night. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the lucky 80 million users (but somehow Jeff Hilimire was one of them). I got to take a look at his Facebook page, and although it will be a shock to most of the Facebook community at first, these changes will make “Facebooking” much easier.

Below are my top 3 things I like most about the new redesign:

1. Email Message Inbox – now you can check your messages and send messages without having to leave the homepage
2. Instant Messaging – your IM contact list will no longer be hidden in a popup menu in the bottom right corner of the page and has been moved to the left sidebar
3. Search – larger and more prominently placed search bar

What are your thoughts on the changes? Do you think it will improve your experience on Facebook?

This weekend I attended SoCon10, the fourth annual Social Media “Unconference” held at Kennesaw State University. This was my first time at SoCon and I had a great time (definitely will be back again).

I had the pleasure of attending the conference along with my colleague Kathlene Hestir. The conference was broken into two sections on Saturday, two keynote speakers in the morning and a diverse selection of breakout sessions in the afternoon. Below are a few highlights from the keynote speakers.

The first keynote speaker at the conference was Carol Kruse, VP of Global Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, and she presented on Coke’s “Fans First” approach in social communities. She talked at length on how the Coca-Cola Facebook Fan Page came to be and how they are managing the page. Coke’s approach? It’s the fans page, not theirs. According to Kruse, 70% of the content is generated by fan participation and 30% of the content is from Coke participation. I was pleasantly surprised by this as I think most brands take the opposite view of how to manage their fan page. Toward the end of the presentation, Kruse summarized some key lessons learned in social media:

• Social media is a tactic & should always be in support of brand objectives
• Platforms change frequently & can be disruptive
• Keep it simple, fewer objectives is better
• Measure along the way
• “Viral” shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan
• Clear the Legal hurdles first - this is new for everyone so legitimate questions arise around every corner
• Always work with pros – there is no “sticking your toe in the water”
• Each new community is an entirely new market and should be treated as much

Dan Siroker, former Deputy New Media Director, Obama Presidential Transition and Director of Analytics for Obama’s Presidential Campaign was the second keynote speaker. He spoke about how his New Media team used data to win the Presidential Election. As a research geek, I’m always excited to see how data can transform the way we do things. Siroker discussed how his team used multivariate testing during the campaign that resulted in raising over half a billion dollars. By testing different elements within the splash page of Barrack Obama’s website, Siroker and his team were able to optimize the page which increased email signups and campaign donations. The following summarize the lessons that were learned during the campaign:

• Define Quantifiable Success Metrics
• Question Assumptions
• Segment & Target Your Audience
• Take advantage of circumstances
• Always be Optimizing

Below are some links to additional blog posts recapping the event:

• SoCon10: The Social Media “Unconference” – Stacy Williams
• SoCon10: Part of the Crowd – Steve Burns
• An Unconference: Social Media Business Plans and Revenue Models – Christina Stallings

According to a breaking-news Mashable article, Twitter will launch location-based trending topics. All I can say is, about time! This new feature will allow you to set your specific location, so that you can see what’s trending around you. It looks as though it will be limited to a few counties and cities, specifically 15 U.S. cities and Atlanta is one them.  I think this is a really cool feature and a good move for Twitter. It will be interesting for users to see what’s trending in their home city and it will be beneficial for local businesses/brands to see what’s going on around them.

Twitter will be rolling this feature out to 1% of Twitter users today. Unfortunately, I’m not in the lucky 1%, but Mashable was able to get some screenshots of the new feature. Check them out below.