By Zachary Reiss-Davis • Business2Community • Mar 26, 2015
Yesterday at F8, Facebook discussed several key areas that matter for advertisers. First, it flexed its muscle and showed all of the ways that it has helped its partners grow their businesses. This focused on the Facebook vision of helping developers Build, Grow, and Monetize apps.
There were a couple points of special interest to advertisers. Facebook introduced a new app analytics SDK; and integrations between LiveRail, Facebook Audience Network, and Facebook’s people-centric approach to ad targeting.
Mark kicked things off with a few big numbers: Last year, Facebook drove over 3.5 billion app installs, and people shared over 50 billion pieces of content from apps directly onto Facebook. A full 80% of the top 100 apps use the Facebook login. In total, Facebook has driven more than one billion paid app installs!
Facebook has evolved from a single monolithic platform to a whole ecosystem of apps, each of which is massive in its own right – more than 700 million people use Groups, another 700M use Whatsapp, 600M use Messenger, and 300M use Instagram.
Next, Facebook showed a new Facebook Analytics for Apps which is a free tool that helps you better understand your app’s audience, measure how people use your app, and track key events within the app. This will be powerful for advertisers in two ways: first, with a better understanding of who your users are, you can hone your ad targeting to show ads only to the people more likely to be interested in your app. Second, by tracking in-app events, you can focus your measurement not just on app installs, but specific conversions within your app, such as a shopping cart checkout of in-app purchases, which drive real revenue.
Finally, the biggest announcement was that LiveRail will be included in the Facebook Audience Network.
Last year, Facebook acquired LiveRail to provide a premier solution for video advertising across all of digital, and now, Salesforce Social.com advertisers can leverage the same people-based approach to advertising that is central to our shared vision, and directly advertise to customers across the LiveRail ad network.
On top of this, with Salesforce Active Audiences, advertisers can programmatically bring their view of their customers into these advertising campaigns as well. Premium video advertising, bought across the web and mobile, using addressable 1st party data is a game changer.
Today, native ads are already half the Facebook Audience Network, and have an average CPM of 7x higher than banner ads. Facebook will combine the premium ad units of LiveRail with the people-based ad targeting of Facebook’s existing solutions.
Small steps in social often mean huge leaps in connectivity (and connectedness): Get the latest on how Facebook's plans will change your relationship to your phone, Instagram's new collage layout app, and Twitter autoplay videos. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Skim to stay ahead.
What you need to know from Facebook's F8 conference
First up: Facebook will open Messenger's API to third-party developers, transforming that annoying extra app in your phone into a social network in itself: Send GIFs from Giphy, order a cab, or even transfer payments to friends. Unfortunately apps that work with Messenger will have to be downloaded separately, meaning you'll probably need a whole separate folder dedicated to Facebook alone. But, in the near future, Messenger will be more than a chat platform that you're reluctant to use: It may soon be a place you never leave, embedded into many of the apps you find useful tomorrow.
Take special note of Businesses on Messenger, also previewed at the F8 conference. It enables people to have "rich and personal conversations with businesses." After buying something on your site, people could opt to receive Messenger updates, including order confirmations and shipping status updates, and it will even let users modify or track orders... or simply ask questions. The feature will launch with a handful of partners.
Other goodies: Facebook's launched an iOS version of React Native—a framework for native environments—and successfully piloted a drone that will "help connect people living in the world's most remote communities." It's also diving deeper into Artificial Intelligence, and is investing more into Oculus; Facebook hopes its virtual technology will "completely change the way we communicate and collaborate." It'll be a big year for the new Big Blue.
Oh, yeah. Did we also mention its spankin' new video embed feature? Check it out below. To embed videos, just go to the post in question and click on "Embed Video" on the lower right-hand side of the screen.
1. Use Facebook data to auction off mobile app ads
Through a new, real-time auction feature run by LiveRail, Facebook's video ad exchange, mobile app publishers can now sell in-app display and video ad inventory. Facebook will also avail anonymized user data to marketers, for improved ad targeting. This makes Facebook a big player against Google's AdMob mobile ad network, not to mention Apple, Amazon, Yahoo, and Twitter's MoPub mobile ad exchange. Given that Facebook will soon be owning users' phones, it only makes sense that it become your one-stop mobile ad market, too.
2. Get Facebook marketing-certified
Facebook's new Blueprint training program is a series of courses and in-person training sessions that will help you master the fine art of Facebook marketing. Some 35 courses are available, including Facebook terminology, A/B testing, and direct response marketing. The program tracks your progress and results; and, once you've finished, you get a certificate from the 'Book itself.
3. Boost your nostalgia quotient...
Facebook's launched On This Day, a feature that builds on #tbt (Throwback Thursday) popularity by making it easier for you to share moments you've already experienced. A separate "On This Day" section will show what you shared, or were tagged in, in past years on the day in question. To see your page, click on the On This Day bookmark, search for "on this day," or simply visit facebook.com/onthisday. Only you can see it... until you decide to share a moment with others. Everyday will be Throwback Thursday now (just don't tell our moms).
4. Say hello to Instagram Layout
If you've ever seen collages on Instagram and wondered how people made them, you needn't worry ever again: Instagram's launched Layout for iOS (with Android support to come). Layout lets you combine multiple images into one, and it's super-easy to use. A Faces option lets you toggle to photos in your camera roll that feature faces in them. In addition to filter options and the ability to change the sizes of pics in your different layouts, you also get a Photo Booth, which lets you instantly capture photos for quick layout creation. Think of all the selfies you could make! Or, better yet, share all the servings of a dinner, or features of a product, without imposing four separate photos on your community.
To boost your Layout skills, here are nine pro tipson producing immaculate Instagram photos. Watch your back, Wes Anderson.
5. What actually works on your Instagram account
Why dive into the photo race blind? Picstats tells you what hashtags work best on your account and which filters your community loves most, in addition to details on top likers, commenters, hours of the day, and days of the week. That's just the beginning: It even provides stats on your community's reading grade level. Do with that data what you will; if you're using Instagram for storytelling, it may actually help a lot.
6. Twitter's testing autoplay video ads
Like on Instagram or Facebook, the video ads will start playing in your feed when you scroll by—making it more likely for users to stop and watch. Paired with Periscope, a recently purchased service that lets you watch and create live video from a mobile phone, it may well give Meerkat a run for its money.
Speaking of Meerkat, here are eight ways brands can add it into their marketing mix. These include product demonstrations, events, product launches, promotions, interviews, and more. (This can all apply to Periscope too, obviously.)
7. Salesforce: Using social & CRM to improve ads
Salesforce is wedding its bespoke CRM tool to Facebook's and Twitter's ad platforms to trigger ads based on users' past interactions with marketers. Active Audiences lets you "take your existing customer database and target specific contacts within it with ads," says Senior VP of Product Marketing Eric Stahl. Basically, cut up existing contact lists and serve ads based on previous behaviors: For example, show ads only to customers in an existing loyalty program who haven't booked a room in a few months. The data Salesforce uses will be drawn from customers, so cookies won't play a big role. Say hello to a new age in granular advertising.
8. The definitive infographic guide to Millennials
What percentage of Millennials lives with mom and dad? What's their average marrying age, and when are they most likely to buy a home? Goldman Sachs produced a gorgeous, super-detailed infographic subsite on the Millennial generation (people born between 1980 and 2000). Quick tip: When setting up a Millennial-focused service, think less about ownership and more about access. They care more about the latter... and don't mind sharing.
9. Introducing deep linking by bit.ly
Our favorite link shortener has launched a deep-linking feature to drive mobile users directly from one app to the next (instead of first sending them to a browser to open a link to an app). Use it to drive app installs.
10. Content marketing on a budget
What's the best way to handle the click-through giant that is content? Start here to ensure your plan doesn't go off into the weeds. You'll learn how to define what content to use (and reuse), identify your audience, and develop a content and distribution plan to keep you on track.
11. An oft-updated guide to social media image sizes
If you're having trouble keeping track of all those ideal-image-size infographics, just hold on to this link, which Buffer plans to update regularly. Throughout the year, it'll be the best place to find out what pixel ratio you should be using for your Facebook cover photos, Twitter profile pics, LinkedIn pages, Pinterest profiles, and more. Why guess when you can always just know?
12. We'll wrap with a shout to the YouTube Music Awards
If you love music, this is gold: On Monday, over a dozen artists debuted new music videos just for the awards, and you can access all the playlists right here. Hosted by Tyler Oakley and produced by Vice, the social spectacle is one piece in YouTube's plan to better serve musicians. Check out the winners, which will give you plenty of ear candy to listen to for the rest of the year.
As of today, Periscope is available on iOS devices, with an Android version coming soon. Photo: Periscope via Twitter
Welcome to the tipping point, when livestreamed mobile video officially became part of our digital world's everyday social experience.
Today, Twitter officially launched Periscope, which it bought as a startup and rolled out publicly after a week of letting a few key influencers, tech journalists and viral content creators test the app. For now, Periscope is only available on iOS devices, though an Android version is reportedly being fast-tracked.
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A potent competitor to the rapidly embraced streaming app Meerkat, Periscope offers a few key differences from the scrappy upstart that won over early adopters at South by Southwest. But it also shares some of Meerkat's lesser-appreciated features, like constant notifications and questionably valuable content (the latter of which, of course, isn't the app's fault).
So what exactly makes Periscope one of the year's hottest apps? And will it, in fact, relegate Meerkat to the dustbin of digital obsolescence?
We rounded up some of the more pointed commentary from tech writers who've had some time to play with the app:
Overall Experience
"As far as livestreaming apps go, and there aren't very many so far, it's certainly the best I've seen. ... It was admittedly sort of cool. And a tiny bit addictive." - Nicole Lee, Engadget
"It feels like the right platform and the right time. We all have smartphones now, with good cameras and fast LTE connections. And we're desperate for more unmediated access to the people we care about. ... It's more immediate than Twitter, Instagram, even Snapchat. It's life, right now, through anyone's eyes I choose. It's intoxicating. - David Pierce, Wired
With just a few taps of the smartphone, users can start broadcasting their surroundings to the rest of the world. Like Twitter, this means Periscope has the potential to capture the mundane as well as the prolific moments. - Yoree Koh, The Wall Street Journal
How It's Different From Meerkat
"Right up top are broadcasts that are currently live, but if you look underneath that, you'll see a list of recently recorded ones. That's right; unlike Meerkat, which doesn't let you view archives of past livestreams, Periscope lets folks keep their live broadcasts around for later replay. And because Periscope allows me to watch videos hours after the moment has passed, I get to see a lot more of them than I would with something like Meerkat. - Nicole Lee, Engadget
"With most streaming apps, from Meerkat to Livestream, there's a long gap between when something is captured and when it actually appears on your screen. It makes for awkward, asynchronous interactions, because one of you is way behind. Meerkat's commenting feature is crushed by that latency, which never goes below about ten seconds and often goes much higher; Periscope worked to get streaming latency down to as little as two seconds, which means you really can converse with the broadcaster in real time." - David Pierce, Wired
"I've been using the app for the last week. I do prefer the clean, fast and friendly design to Meerkat's lackluster interface, not to mention the fact that I can actually watch streams that are no longer live." - Joanna Stern, The Wall Street Journal
"Yes, both apps stream video with almost zero friction. But when you get down to it, Periscope is what Meerkat would look like with a little more thought put into it. It's cleaner, the chat function makes more sense and you can save your videos for later viewing. Plus, it features something that's sorely missing from Meerkat: the ability to line up a shot before streaming." - Roberto Baldwin, The Next Web
Key Features
"Perhaps the greatest part of Periscope—I certainly think it's a highlight -- is the fact that you can send hearts to the broadcaster by tapping on the screen. Each tap will send a heart. Tap the screen multiple times and you'll send a flurry of animated hearts. ... It's a very minor feature but it's one that I find rather delightful.
"Of course, Periscope is still very much in development. There's currently no support for landscape mode and you're not able to type in the comments section yourself—the idea is that you're supposed to speak to your viewers, not just type at them" - Nicole Lee, Engadget
"Periscope is all about the love: hearts are the service's most visible number, measuring not just how many people like your broadcasts but how violently they like them. There's even a list of the 'Most Loved' users." - David Pierce, Wired
"You can save videos for later use.While disappearing photos a la Snapchat are fun, disappearing videos, not so much. I've clicked on too many Meerkat feeds on Twitter only to discover the stream has ended. Eventually I've stopped clicking on any Meerkat links that are more than two minutes old. Periscope lets you save videos to watch later." - Roberto Baldwin, The Next Web
User Experience
"Broadcasting on Periscope is a very easy task as well. Simply hit the camera button and give the app permission to access your camera and microphone (which, duh, is necessary). From there, you can choose to enable or disable location sharing." - Nicole Lee, Engadget
"A lot of Meerkat users have already complained about its incredible notification spam. Periscope does have a bit of the same problem right now, though. I only follow a couple dozen people, and my phone's already dinging constantly with that weird Periscope-y chirp." - David Pierce, Wired
"As with Twitter, things can get noisy. Periscope sends you notifications not only when someone you follow starts broadcasting, but also when they recommend a stream by someone else. Unless the alerts system gets granular control, I'll probably have to turn it off so I don't succumb to notification overload." - Roberto Baldwin, The Next Web
"The big problem with Periscope and its peer apps, as I see it, is that crazy thirst for engagement. Imagine getting a push notification each time every single person you follow on Twitter tweeted. That's Periscope in a nutshell—but instead of easily digestible tweets the notifications lead to livestreams, some of which are many minutes long." - Casey Newton, The Verge
Is It a Meerkat Killer?
"Meerkat's already caught on with some important people, and Periscope isn't so obviously better that it will destroy the competition on impact. Especially not when the the competition has a slight head start. For now, having both Periscope and Meerkat on your phone is easy enough, and as people continue to learn about live-streaming in general, each probably benefits from the other. But eventually, as the apps try to build larger and more exclusive social networks, it's hard to imagine two live-streaming apps both winning out." - David Pierce, Wired
"Meerkat has traction. It has users. It has a term for streaming video, "Meerkatting." Sometimes, being first, even when the app isn't as polished as a competitor, is enough to keep you ahead of the curve. Even when a rival has the power of a social media giant like Twitter behind it.
"Remember Slingshot, Facebook's kinda-of-sort-of answer to Snapchat? It looked nicer and had a hook. Snapchat is ugly, the UI borderline unusable and OMG, that show they produced. But Snapchat was first and it won and continues to win. I'm sending a Snap right now." - Roberto Baldwin, The Next Web
"For everything it got right, Meerkat still looks like an app built in eight weeks — which it was. Periscope has been in development for more than a year, and the app arrives showing nice attention to detail.
"I'm not quite prepared to say the app is a Meerkat killer—Meerkat has been growing its user base at 30 percent a day, and it just announced a big new round of investment this morning. But for now at least, Periscope better matches the way that most of us actually use the internet. As of today, Meerkat has a lot of catching up to do." - Casey Newton, The Verge
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