I see a lot of people on Facebook and Twitter putting out how to stuff or informational material and see a lack of people having fun. I think that social networking should be first and foremost about having fun. That’s why when I was thinking about how to have fun surrounding a pickling campaign we are working on, this video came to mind. When I watched it this morning it put a huge smile on my face, I hope the same happens to you!
Embedding Video within an FBML Tab
August 31st, 2010 · Uncategorized
We recently finished this little stop-motion video for Eco-Products. They are in the final stretch of accepting nominations for a business to win a Disposables Makeover – that means saying goodbye to styrofoam and getting a free year’s supply of Eco-Products cups, forks, plates, etc. which can be composted.
Instead of just uploading the video to YouTube and posting about it, we wanted to create a tab within Facebook for the video. Another plus is that we are able to direct Facebook advertising to this tab.
We certainly aren’t the first to do embed a video on an FBML tab, but that’s not what this is about. We had to do quite a bit of searching and testing to find the correct code to pull the video from YouTube into an FBML tab. And since my mom taught me that sharing is caring, here’s how it’s done – the simple way. You won’t need to be a developer to do this.
First, the code:
<fb:swfswfbgcolor=”5d9732″ imgstyle=”border-width:none; border-color:none;”swfsrc=’http://www.youtube.com/v/UmMlI9sDxMU&autoplay=1&rel=0?
‘imgsrc=’http://www.officialtwitterguide.com/ReTHINK/video/video_click.png’ width=’452′ height=’279′ />
And because we’re friends, here’s the breakdown for the colored pieces of this code:
imgsrc=’http://www.officialtwitterguide.com/ReTHINK/video/video_click.png’ width=’452′ height=’279′
On Facebook, users have to click something before the video can be displayed. This can be any image and does not need to be pulled from your video. So, you have complete freedom to design whatever you’d like. I’d recommend adding some sort of play button so that people recognize it is a video. Also, be sure to make it the same size as the video player. When you’re designing, keep in mind that the new max width of an FBML tab is 520px. Once you create your image, simply upload it to an FTP client and replace the link for the imgsrc.
swfsrc=‘http://www.youtube.com/v/UmMlI9sDxMU
Here is the YouTube link for the video that I want to use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmMlI9sDxMU [*Note: this is NOT the embed code, it is the link] As you can see this looks a bit different from the version in the code, but everything you need is right there. All you need to do is replace watch?v= with v/ which gives you http://www.youtube.com/v/UmMlI9sDxMU
Hurrah! Your video is in the FBML tab. Now, a few tips to optimize performance within Facebook.
&autoplay=1
Without this bit of code, users would have to click to reveal the video player, then click play again before the video starts. So, be sure to tack this on to make it easier for everyone.
&rel=0?
This disables related videos.
So instead of seeing this after your video is watched:
They’ll see:
There ya have it. Good luck with those videos!
Like us? Please?! [Welcome Tabs on Facebook]
August 20th, 2010 · Uncategorized
I was roaming around Facebook today looking for some inspiration and solid examples of welcome tabs. And although it was a bit of a wild goose chase, I did come across some great ones. This was my absolute favorite:
Red Bull seems to frequent the “Best of” lists on Facebook for virtually everything, and let me be the first to say, they are also Christy-approved. (It’s legit, I swear) They recently redid their welcome tab making it super simple and fun. It speaks the brand and serves it’s purpose well. You’re probably not going to look at this and be confused about what the call to action is. Lately a lot of pages are switching from website-like welcome tabs with loads of information and links, to simplified versions with one call to action. Just like this.
We launched a welcome tab for Backcountry.com a few weeks back with a similar plan. One call to action and an image that isn’t what you normally see on Facebook.
Unlike Red Bull however, this brand needed to get a little more explanation on its welcome tab. We paired the launch of this tab with an extensive Facebook ad buy which brought their page from 34,000 to 50,000 fans in just 5 days.
Since the likes of Red Bull seem to have this welcome tab situation figured out, here’s my two-cents on the importance of welcome tabs for small businesses. What to do:
Greet and provide a call to action.
When it comes down to it, the purpose of a welcome tab to get you to click like. That’s it. So, guide your visitor’s eye to the like button – have an arrow, show someone pointing, etc. Say hello, and encourage them to click.
Explain yourself.
Smaller brands will need more than a strong visual. If a user hasn’t heard of your brand when s/he lands on the page, you’ll need more than an arrow to entice visitors to like a page. If your page is small, directing new visitors to a welcome page where you can explain yourself can be much more powerful than taking them right to the wall. In this case, we want people to judge your page by its cover — err, welcome tab.
Get them to click.
For small businesses, this needs to be larger than the brand itself. What do you bring to the table? Are you providing free loot? A platform to discuss issues bigger than your brand? What makes your brand interesting? It’s easy for companies like Red Bull to have huge pages, everyone has heard of them. If you are running a page of a lesser known brand it takes a little more work. My advice, start with a welcome tab.
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Facebook Places – First Impressions
August 20th, 2010 · Facebook, Marketing
Facebook has brought location-based networking to the mainstream masses. With a model replicating Foursquare, Gowalla and others the new Facebook Places feature will evolve the way Facebook friends connect and network. What does this mean for other location based networks? At first I think that the other networks will maintain their loyalist followers until Facebook works out all of the kinks. From a marketing perspective, I think that Facebook Places will dominant the other players. While the API is still in the ‘write’ stages, limited to a select group of developers, the forecast points to some innovative opportunities for brands to connect to their enthusiasts and collect valuable information about behavior patterns.
A couple of things that I like so far:
- The ability to tag friends at a location. This is a convenient element that will help to exponentially grow the popularity of ‘checking in’.
- The rigorous business ‘claiming’ process. One of the things that frustrates me about Foursquare is the amount of junk that people add to the locations database. When I go to DIA (Denver International Airport) and try to check in on Foursquare I have to filter through 20+ entries to find the actual airport location. The Claim form requires a business’s federal taxpayer ID # and a copy of the business license or other formal documentation.
A couple of things that I dislike:
- On Foursquare I only connect with people that I wouldn’t mind knowing where I am, on Facebook I have 400+ friends, a hundred of which I would actually care to share with where I am and when. The vast size of the network makes me somewhat nervous, but I’m interested to see how it plays out.
- The inconvenience of touch.facebook.com. I’m not an iPhone owner so utilizing Facebook Places at this point is somewhat of a hassle. Supposedly applications for Droid and Blackberry are on the horizon, but until that happens I think that iPhone users will be the primary users. I would’ve expected that FB rollout smartphone applications along with the announcement of the new feature.
What I’m excited for:
- The complete availability to the API for Facebook Places. Here is what is currently provided to developers for Facebook Places http://developers.facebook.com/docs/api#places
- The opportunities available on the location pages.
More to come -
-Eric
→ No CommentsTags:Application programming interface·Facebook·Facebook Places·foursquare
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