Social Networking World Forum Social Media Lessons Learned Toby Beresford Nudge London

Social Media Lessons Learned

Toby BeresfordNudge - nudgelondon.com

Facebook Developer Garage Londonwww.facebookgarage.co.uk

March 10th, 2009

Lessons LearnedApps in Focus

The Good: What works The Bad: What doesn’t The Ugly: Platform Issues Organisational Challenges Your Social Media Success Toolkit

OH HAI!

Toby Beresford– Commercial Director at Nudge London– 15 years creating for the Web– Now a Social Network Marketing ninja– Founder Facebook Developer Garage London– Worked on campaigns for MasterCard, CNN, The RAF, Sky

News, Comic Relief, BBC, Last.fm

Nudge London– London-based Social Media Agency– We work with startups, brands and digital agencies

What WorksPrinciples

Exist in the world of your target demographic Remix your product inside engaging social games and utilities Build communities that create conversation opportunities Create lively features that trigger social actions Format all content for sharing Funnel users into deeper engagement Plan and provide for user feedback

What WorksExamples

Games– Zynga & Playfish– Bop It (Bebo)

Sharing– iLike– Trip Advisor: Cities I've Visited

Poking, Friend Lists– Top Friends– Best Crew by Far

Friend Quiz⁻ Likeness, Compare

People, Friend Facts

Utilities– Superphotos– Zoosk dating

Texas Hold ‘em: 10.5M MAUMafia Wars: 7.9M MAU

• Fun with friends• Heavy cross-app promotion• Very viral – recruit with, compete

against friends• Long term properties – high value

GamesZynga have the stickiness

PlayfishI’m only 14th among my friends

Who Has the Biggest Brain?– 4.1M MAU– Competition-oriented– Be smarter than your

friends!– Big Brain Academy (Wii)

version on Facebook.

PlayfishGeo Challenge

“Geo Challenge takes you on a tour around the world as you put your geography knowledge to the test! You and your friends can prove once and for all who knows the most countries, flags and cities of the world.”

4.6M MAUCompetition orientedApp skinnable for campaigns– Herbal Essence skin

shown in screenshot

Bop It on Bebo

Existing Bebo Fan page Users asked for online,

playable version 21K users in first month Very high visibility Bebo a good space for

UK teen audience – games and entertainment

Social GamingBlue Skies

Much more engagement when playing with friends

Playfish – high production values Zynga – large stable of in-house game apps Opportunities for in-game advertising and

cross-promotion Future looks good for console gaming & social

network crossover

SharingiLike

“iLike lets you add music, playlists, and videos to your profile, dedicate songs to your friends, and see who’s going to what concerts.” 7.5M MAU Friend recommendations are valuable Small quiz competition element iLike also manage Fan Pages for artists In-app advertising opportunities

SharingCities I’ve Visited

“An interactive travel map to share with your friends and help them plan their trips. See your where your friends have visited.”1.8M MAUAvailable in English, French, Italian, German and SpanishDrives traffic to TripAdvisor.com

Poking & Friend ListsTop Friends

Show who your top friends are on your profile

17.2M MAULots of features added after stabilising initial userbase

Poking & Friend ListsBest Crew By Far

“Choose the mates you'd call up for an RAF mission. Invite them to take on roles from Fighter Pilot to Regiment Sniper.” Short 3-month campaign 16K users in first 3 weeks Deployed on Facebook and Bebo Good outbound traffic to rafcareers.com Small investment by end-client Good Viral loop, but no retention

Friend Quiz

Friend Facts– Simple– Low production values– Super Viral– 13M MAU– 1 bn questions

answered

UtilitiesSuperphotos

Print your Facebook photos on Photobox. Allow friends to make prints too

2K MAUValued service for existing Photobox customersGood leadership by PhotoboxFirst foray into platform apps – more to come!

What Doesn’t Work

Apps in a vacuum - Think about your Apps in the context of your overall campaign

Unseeded apps- You must spend to get the initial user base

Fire and forget campaigns- Iteration is key, analyse and optimise!

Unsocial apps - Don’t just make things that work on the web – make it so I can play with friends

Risk Averse marketing departments - Social media is new and scary to some – but so was the Web 15 years ago

The UglyPlatform Issues

You must track change on social network platforms.UI Changes

– Facebook layout update had a lot of repercussions– New MySpace profile layout

API Changes– Always happening in the background– At least monthly full unit testing recommended

BugsUser support

Come to the Facebook Developer Garage, we’ll help keep you up to date!

Organisational Issues

Ownership– Someone needs to take the lead and own the project– Apps will die a natural death if no one cares for them

Education– All stakeholders need to get the basics of social network

platforms– Train your people. Get a day’s workshop for all your team.

Success Toolkit

Get a good team– Agencies: Ready-made, experienced team– In-House

Training may be required – for everyone

Plan for change– Analyse, Optimise, Iterate. Then do it again…– Don’t be afraid of radical changes– Test with 5 real users before launch– Listen to your users – Features, Translations

Success Toolkit

Analytics– Use the best tools you can afford– Track everything you can, from the start– Monitor KPIs daily and stay on top

Concept and Creative– Start with a Fan Page (“Public Profile”)– Make it simple, fun, and share-friendly– You want your message to be a conversation topic

About Nudge

Nudge is a dedicated social media agency based in Greek Street, Soho, London.

We specialise in running social network digital marketing campaigns.

Our service includes social ad buying, application design and build, and campaign analysis.

We can run multi-lingual social applications and fan pages on all major social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Ning and Bebo.

Follow me on Twitter:twitter.com/tobyberesford

Telephone: 020 7096 0146

Email:[email protected] Address:Nudge23-24 Greek StreetSoho, LondonW1D 4DZ

Web:www.nudgelondon.com

“dedicated social media experts” – Inside Facebook, June 2008

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