BACK IN THE SADDLE Fantastic new Campaign by Sonic that brings back “those two guys”  - they were funny then and funny now! Strategically a unique way to target with a not so obvious but still empathetic nod to the unemployment issue faced by many in America.

Commercials start airing Monday. Also check out the FB page https://www.facebook.com/those2guys

-Sara

No, that is not meant to be a trick question.  There really is a nighclub opening called FACEBOOK, but you’ll have to travel to the Brazilian Amazon if you want to check it out. I’m not sure sure how Facebook translates to social networking, but a a 30-year-old Brazilian entrepreneur seems to think the name alone will result in big success.  Brazil was recently named as the country with the fourth highest number of Facebook users, with some 35 million profiles, so maybe it will be a hit.

One thing is for sure, Facebook has found its way into nearly every facet of our lives.  I guess you have to ask the question:  why not nightclubs?

-Erin Naterman

In case you missed it - our annual Build A Beard competition is currently on!

How do you enter this competition?

1. Grab a bottle of shaving cream and put your creative spin on Santa’s epic beard
2. Strike a pose
3. Upload your photo to our Facebook page
4. Tag yourself and have your friends like it! (number of likes could correlate to the winning beard…hint, hint).

What’s at stake?

• The first 25 submissions get $10 iTunes gift cards - Hurry and submit!!!
• The winner will receive $100 iTunes gift card!

Submission due Jan. 4. Winners announced Jan. 5.

Here are three of the first 25 entries: 

Happy Bearding!

~Kristin

The debate continues.  Does Facebook really facilitate fan conversion? This article in today’s Ad Age shows some firm conversion rates for brands, and costs associated with reaching fans. Obviously, this data is based on a formula which was created to measure as closely as possible how fan conversion might be measured.  Everyone has their opinion and theory on the reality of conversion when it comes to social media. One thing is certain, brands can’t afford to not engage with fans through social media, which is on the rise and doesn’t seem to be declining anytime in the very near future.

-Erin Naterman

Will Facebook eventually become a one-stop-shop for socializing, networking, and online shopping?

Only time will tell, but research by Whitepaper with Webtrends and Adgregate Markets suggests company websites could become outdated and unnecessary since they are already becoming inferior to social networks in some cases.

“The study revealed that 68% of the top 100 companies were experiencing a negative growth in unique visits over the past year, with an average drop of 23%.” -Whitepaper on the top 100 Fortune 500 Companies

Their research suggests that this could partly be due to Facebook’s increasing popularity. Many companies are beginning to see increased traffic to their Facebook page while traffic to their brand website is declining.

An extreme example of this trend is Coca Cola: Over a three month period, Coca Cola had approximately 11,328 visits to its Facebook page while its website only had six unique visits.

Although websites with e-Commerce are faring better than their Facebook page counterparts, they are seeing an overall decrease in unique visits compared with last year. Webtrends believes e-Commerce is only a short-lived protection for websites against the increasingly popular Facebook pages.  Delta Airlines recently enabled customers to book tickets directly on its Facebook page.  Many companies are following suit by making plans to participate in Facebook commerce if they are not doing so already.

It is pertinent for companies to note the increasing popularity and importance of web presence on Facebook and other social networks.  However, company websites have not become expendable. While the use of social and mobile networks will become inevitable, they have their disadvantages when compared with traditional brand websites.  In the future, it will be more difficult and more important for companies to find their optimum balance of the traditional brand website and social networks.

-Sterling Smith, Intern

Source: Whitepaper

laughingsquid:

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook

I have a thing for motion infographics, what can I say. Doesn’t really matter if you’re a hater or not, Zuckerberg created probably created one of the most influential websites on the interwebs today. A few stats from the video:

• As of 2011, there are 500,000,000 active facebook users (1 in every 13 people on the friggin’ planet Earth)
• 48% of Young Americans discover their news through facebook
• The 35+ demographic now represents more the 30% of the entire userbase (trust me, if my grandma is on it, then this is confirmed.)
• 750 million photos were uploaded to facebook over New Year’s weekend

-Alex

thedailywhat:

End Of An Era of the Day: MySpace announced today that it will henceforth be allowing users to access accounts with their Facebook IDs in lieu of having to create MySpace accounts from scratch. In addition, Facebook “like” buttons will be added to MySpace content. The move, which some are calling a “full surrender,” is, at the very least, a concession.

One Mashable commenter reaction to the news sums it up quite well: “Now if only I actually wanted to login to MySpace.”

[allfacebook.]

“And that’s all folks!”. *Does Porky Pig jig of some sort.

In all seriousness though, this event does concern me in that MySpace not only is defeated, but facebook becomes even bigger. They’re just taking on everyone here. Sheesh. First foursquare, then trying to tackle gmail, now this? Wait, I’m sorry, the previous statement assumes MySpace has been a big deal for the last 3 or 4 years.

-Alex

(Source: thedailywhat)