Facebook Changes for Businesses

Facebook Changes for Businesses

Many of the announcements made last week at the f8 conference mean that there are many Facebook changes for businesses as well as for the general users experience.  Zuckerberg’s announcement of the new features of Facebook’s Open Graph, mean that a business’s multimedia content just got a whole lot more interactive.  The Facebook changes for businesses are reaching across the entire internet by connecting people with content that their friends enjoy through apps attached to Facebook’s new timeline.  There are going to be a whole new set of rules and a desperate need for marketing creativity to take advantage of Facebook changes for businesses, and BlackBoxSocialMedia will be here for the ride.

Facebook Changes for Businesses | Open Graph

One of the major Facebook changes for businesses is its newly improved Open Graph, with a newly evolved NewsFeed and Ticker that delivers even more relative content.

Here’s what Forbes had to say about the Open Graph and Facebook changes for businesses:

Content has always been key; these changes just upped the ante, making content even more critical. What marketers should embrace with open arms are the opportunities brands have to be part of a user’s social experiences at an even deeper level.  Brands can go beyond the positive feedback that “Judd ‘Likes’ iHeartRadio” and leverage the deeper connections individuals are making with brands via actionable updates such as “Ava is eating McDonald’s” or “Charlotte is shopping at Best Buy.” Remember: almost 90% of all purchases are made because of a peer, family or friend recommendation. Facebook just revamped their utility to make it even easier for us to surface these actions and brands have the power to make it viral.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/27/social-is-open-for-business-with-the-extended-open-graph/

Facebook Changes for Businesses | Apps

Apps were a major part of the discussion at the f8 conference, and this is going to be a surefire way for marketers and businesses to give its users something they can actually use with their Facebook pages.  This is important when considering Facebook changes for businesses, because these apps allow the users to share what movies they’re watching with their networks as well as songs.  I’m sure that most of you have heard about the stake that both NetFlix and Spotify have in this, and I don’t its going to stop there.

The LA Times warns about these apps on the privacy of your page however:

Facebook unveiled last week services that make it easier for its 800 million users to share more information about themselves and their lives online. The social networking service showed off a dramatic redesign of users’ profiles, a timeline that charts in chronological order all the information users have shared in the past. Facebook also said that third-party applications would — with users’ consent — automatically share every action users take, such as the songs they listen to or the videos they watch.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-privacy-20110927,0,1713193.story

We’ll just have to wait and see what the privacy watchdogs over at the Federal Trade Commission have to say about this, but in the meantime this isn’t a bad change for businesses, as they’ll have access to more customer’s likes and dislikes.

Facebook Changes for Businesses | Bottomline

As we find ourselves adapting to Facebook changes for businesses, it will make all of us happy to know that Facebook’s social commerce is on the up-steady and most people buy products after being recommended by either a friend or family member.  Its our job as marketers to find out exactly how to tap into that and create solid relationships with Facebook users.

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