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Dayton Business Journal...
New rules to hit Facebook users
by Dan Eaton
Friday, September 23, 2011

Facebook is changing again and while the alterations may be good for personal uses, some observers think life for business users of the popular social networking site could get tougher.

“Businesses aren’t going to be as prominent as they used to be,” says Jessie Eckert, director of social media marketing for Columbus-based Blind Acre Media Inc. “Businesses are going to have to get more creative.”

Those “like” or “recommend” buttons on a business’ page – before, when a user clicked it, anyone viewing that user’s newsfeed would see that they like that business or product. Same with comments posted to a business page. But Eckert says that isn’t showing up in personal feeds anymore when clicked through Facebook, though it does appear in feeds when clicked through the businesses’ Web site.

“The ‘like’ button is being marginalized,” says Dave Ringler, Blind Acre’s director of marketing and product development. “How are businesses going to stay in front of their followers’ friends?”

It also means businesses will have to give more consideration to how they use “like” buttons on their Web sites.

This could have a big impact on businesses throughout the Dayton region, as social media of all forms has been growing in acceptance and functionality in the business community. Companies now are using sites such as Facebook for marketing and networking. Many Dayton area companies including Premier Health Partners    and Teradata Corp. all have Facebook pages.

As a result, Facebook has grown into one of the most widely used social networking tool by businesses worldwide to interact and communicate with customers. Institutions such as the city of Dayton, as well as the University of Dayton and even individual local business leaders, all have Facebook pages. Many Dayton area companies including Premier Health Partners and Teradata Corp. all have Facebook pages.

Pictures have changed, too – also to the detriment of companies. Eckert says that while pictures on personal sites are larger and will be laid out differently, pictures on business sites are the same smaller size and old format.

There also is less ad space, which has its pluses and drawbacks.

“The ramifications of that haven’t been addressed by Facebook yet,” Ringler says.

The plus is that the demographic and psychographic data on users are only going to improve and make ads more tightly targeted, but less space means greater competition for that space and potentially higher costs, he adds.

There could be some marketing benefits down the road though. Partners with Facebook – including Hulu, Netflix and Spotify, for example – will have applications that provide immediate access to their services. So, if someone is streaming a movie through Netflix, their followers will see that and can click on it too.

What does this mean for businesses?

Ringler thinks that as those capabilities evolve, it is an area businesses may be able to tap – maybe one day I’ll be able to buy something online from a certain company, my followers can see that and immediately do the same.

Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal


 
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