June 9th, 2010
Facebook has less than 1% penetration in 7 of the 10 most populous countries
That’s right. They have 36,180 users out of the 1.3 billion people in China, 9.6 million users out of 1.2 billion people in India, and the list goes on. They do have 42% penetration in United States, where 126 million of their base of almost 500 million users reside. Facebook may appear to be the dominant player in social networking from a US perspective, but they are getting creamed by in other countries:
* In Russia, Odnoklassniki and VKontakte each have over 30 million users, while Facebook has 1.1 million.
* In Korea, Cyworld has 18 million users out of a population of 48 million, which is about the same dominant ratio Facebook has with US users.
* And don’t forget Qzone in China with 376 million users, just behind what Facebook has.
* And the list goes on.
So if you’re truly a global brand, you need to be on these other sites– many of which you may not have even heard of if you live in the United States. Even MySpace, which has lost 20% the last year, versus the 30% gain that Facebook has had, is still a force at 1/3rd the size of Facebook. And that’s not even counting the formidable other properties owned within the Fox network.
Whether you’re a US-based brand that has presences in other countries, an international brand with decentralized management, or a country-specific brand, it makes sense to have experts in local markets that have their fingers on the pulse. Note that in the Philippines or Indonesia, for example, you can buy targeted traffic at a 3 cent CPM bid, which often works out to a penny per thousand impressions, since you pay only a portion of your maximum bid. Consider new markets for your products and services.
The world is not accurately represented by Facebook.
Click here to see the country stats from last year.
Tags: facebook stats
Posted in BlitzLocal, Company Blog, Learning Center | No Comments »
April 20th, 2010
by Kody Wilcox
Remember when everyone warned you about the “Internet predators” that were out to get you? Since then, Facebook has stepped up and added some extra security features to your profiles. You have the ability to show or hide certain details on your profile from certain people or friend lists.
For instance, if I don’t want my boss, co-workers, or clients seeing that I am “Swimming when I should be working!”, I can now add them to a list labeled “Work Related” and hide my status updates from my “Work Related” friends.
From your home screen, type a status update and click the “padlock” icon beside the “Share” button. Then select “Custom”.
From the “Custom Privacy” screen, select which people/lists you want to be able to view your wall posts. Next, choose which people/lists you wish to hide your posts from.
Remember to “Make this your default setting” to make this setting permanent.
Facebook also has many other Privacy Settings. You can use the same Show/Hide feature on many other pieces of information on your profile. For instance, Profile information (birthday, religious views, etc.), Contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, etc.), Applications, and Search. Just go to your “Account” and select “Privacy Settings”.
You then can use the same Customization Tool to choose who can or can not view certain pieces of information on your profile.
Facebook also has a very useful tool for “Preview[ing] how your profile appears to a specific person.”
Under Profile Information, there is a “Preview my Profile” button that allows you to view your profile as if you were another person. You get to see how they view your profile from their screen. Cool huh?
By Default, the view is set to the public view. This is how your profile appears to someone who isn’t your friend. Notice the limited profile information. (some information is blurred for privacy)
For example purposes I view my profile as my boss Dennis, who is NOT listed in my “Work Related” list, therefore making my Wall posts visible to him.
Eric on the other hand who IS in my “Work Related” list can NOT view my Wall posts. Notice the lack of information he has compared to Dennis. He can view my contact information, unlike my public view can. Yet he doesn’t have access to my Wall.
Looks like I’m going to be in some trouble with Dennis! Thanks, Facebook, for the privacy options. Too bad there isn’t a “Travel Back in Time” button.
Posted in Company Blog, Learning Center | No Comments »
April 15th, 2010
So you have a nice new Facebook Page for your business. But how can it make your cash register ring?
Here are a few steps to get started:
1. Place a Facebook “Become a Fan” button on your website, so your site visitors can find your Page.
2. Ask all of your Facebook friends, employees and family members to “Fan” your new business Page on Facebook. Post a link to your new page on your personal profile and ask your friends to post it on their profiles.
3. Tell your customers “Fan us on Facebook!” (Share news of your new page with your customer email list.)
4. Once you get 50 fans, ask Facebook for a “vanity” URL (or link to your page). Here’s why. When you first create your Facebook Page, its link is long and full of numbers and symbols. A “vanity URL” that looks something like this — www.facebook.com/mybizname — is much easier to share and remember.
5. Offer some generous coupons on your Page so your fans will be motivated to share them with their friends. Theis can generate traffic and new customers.
6. Consider advertising on Facebook. This may be the fastest way to reach new customers. You can target Facebook users by the words they’re using with friends (“spa,” “facial,” “baggy eyes”), by their age, their interests and more, combined with very precise geographic terms — within 1, 2, or 5 miles of your store address, or where you know your best customers live. Steer them to your website to book some services, or to your Facebook Page to collect monthly special coupons.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat — cha-ching.
Tags: Facebook, online marketing, small business, tips
Posted in BlitzLocal, Learning Center | No Comments »
March 4th, 2010
Save money, sharpen your AdWords skills and learn from experts by signing up today for the first-ever AdWords Advantage Online Summit, a three-week online event beginning Tuesday (March 9).
The summit’s 14 sessions are led by top industry experts, including Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder Future Now Inc., Frederick Vallaeys, product evangelist for Google, and Dennis Yu, CEO and co-founder of BlitzLocal.
As a bonus, BlitzLocal is offering free pay-per-click campaign templates for a few industry verticals for those who attend “AdWords for Local: Sort Heads from Tails, Find Free Clicks and Calls,” which Yu is leading on March 16.
Yu will cover a number of topics including:
- how to build effective campaigns for businesses that have a local customer base
- why mobile ads are a hidden gem for lead gen on smartphones and non-smart phones alike.
- how to manage the difference between “Chicago restaurants” and “restaurants” searched from Chicago: find out how much traffic can you expect from geo-targeted search versus geo-multiplied keywords.
For more information and to save $200 by registering today, please follow the link here.
Tags: AdWords, local search marketing, PPC
Posted in BlitzLocal, Learning Center | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
Have a blog and want to share it with your friends or fans on Facebook? Here is a quick and easy way to do so.
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Login to Facebook. If you do not have a Facebook account, please register.
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After logging in, on the bottom left toolbar you will see an Applications button. Click this, and select Notes.
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Here you will see your friend’s most recent notes, but that’s not what we’re interested in. On the right side of your friend’s notes you will see an “Import a Blog” link, click that.
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Here you have the option to import your RSS feed URL. Make sure to read their disclaimers.
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If you have previous posts, they will be imported into your notes. Every future post will now be imported within a few hours of publishing.
You’ve successfully added an RSS Feed to your Facebook!
Posted in Learning Center | No Comments »
