29 Mar Facebook Redesigns Brand Pages and Instagram Gains Momentum | Social You Should Know
Hot Topic: Facebook buys Oculus VR, a Virtual Reality Gaming Company
In its latest acquisition play, Facebook bought Oculus VR for a cool $2B. Initially funded through Kickstarter, some of its early supporters aren’t happy with the deal, but the high price tag suggests that Facebook sees huge opportunity. So far, Facebook has been mum on its plans to use Oculus beyond this vague statement from Zuck: “Oculus has the potential to be the most social platform ever,” he said. “Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.” What is clear is that this isn’t a user acquisition play like last month’s $19B WhatsApp purchase. One possibility is that Zuck sees this as a way for people to use Facebook in a FaceTime like way. We’re scratching our heads.
Something to Keep an Eye On: Facebook Brand Pages Redesign
Reminiscent of the 2011 overhaul, Facebook has started rolling out a redesign for brand Pages. Facebook says the new streamlined look for Pages will make it easier for users and Page admins, but don’t expect the change to really affect brand impressions as the majority of these happen in the News Feed. The News Feed also got a makeover this week that has images from links becoming much more prominent. It’s too soon to validate the impact of these changes with actual data but our guess is that it will provide greater potential for interaction with links. Neither will help or hurt impressions but more engagement around link-based posts may result in better reach for those types of posts. It’s definitely worth testing.
Channel to Focus On: Instagram
Instagram reached 200MM monthly ACTIVE(!) users this week, 50MM of whom signed up just in the last six months. We’re keeping a close eye on Instagram and are seeing success for brands using the channel for branding and engagement. Two obvious issues with the platform is that tracking measurable referrals/conversions is difficult and it’s not built for seamless viral spread. Keep an eye on Instagram, it’s a fast growing channel with a highly engaged user base and brands that aren’t already there should at least start considering it.
Hot tip: New research this week shows that photos with faces equals more engagement and posting too often decreases comments.
A Little Client Love: Jeep, Evite & BuySeasons
The Jeep® brand was called out by Social Media Examiner this week in a list of 26 Creative Ways Brands Use Facebook Status Updates. For celebrating with our fans that the Jeep Patriot won the Kelley Blue Book 5-Year Cost to Own Award.
So proud of our client and our team!
And last but not least, congratulations to our client Jennifer Dominiquini, Chief Marketing Officer for Evite & BuySeasons, for being named one of Brand Innovators’ ‘Top 50’ Women in Brand Marketing.
