Takeaways from #SocialFresh. Social Media Atlanta Week – 2010.

Thanks to Bob Kennedy from ExactTarget, I was able to get into the afternoon session of the sold-out SocialFresh meeting (part of Social Media Atlanta Week).

Main topic of discussion: Facebook.

I still think many companies roll their eyes when they hear that Facebook is one of the best tools for business. To all you eye-rollers, that’s fine, the rest of us will connect with your customers. (At least for the next five years).

Case-in-point – Chick-fil-a.

Not only one of the best designed Facebook pages I’ve seen, but they truly interact with their audience. They have their “corporate” page (actually founded by a fan), but they also have local restaurant fanpages. I don’t think I’ve met anyone that is “lukewarm” about Chick-fil-a. They either love it, or don’t. So for them, interacting locally on Facebook with their “fans” is really paying off.

Me and My Son trying the Spicy Chicken. I reserved mine through Facebook. Then promoted through Twitter. May 2010

Corporately it’s paying off too. Most of their marketing for the Spicy Chicken Sandwhich was done through social media. I don’t have the exact number, but over 1 million people “reserved” a spot to go into a local restaurant and try the new sandwich. 1 million people made reservations at a FAST FOOD joint! (Myself included.) Tell them that social media doesn’t work . .

Moving on  . . .

Other takeaways:

• Facebook is going public in 2012.

• Don’t use bit.ly for shortening URLs (guilty). It’s an open site. So just putting a + after any bit.ly URL shows all of the clicked information. Try it. Copy this url – http://bit.ly/aU5o0j – put it into your brower, then but a + right after and hit enter. (Thanks to Yvett Evans from Vitrue for that insight).
• Studies show that campaigns that start on Facebook perform better if you drive the audience to another page on Facebook. So, instead of creating ads that then drive the audience to your website, drive them to a uniquely created tab on Facebook. – Thanks to @justinkistner for that insight.
• Engagement life of targeted campaigns on Facebook – two weeks.
• Companies are modeling their websites after social media. More social. More interaction. Which wasn’t cutting-edge news to me, but it’s good to hear. If you think about it, 90% of websites are one-way communication. But, allowing your audience to interact with your brand on your website is key. Especially if and when social media starts to lose it’s hype.

The afternoon ended with a great panel discussion (Vitrue, Graco, and Webtrends) on the use of Facebook for business.

From Left to Right.

Erika Brookes is the vice president, marketing for Vitrue.

Kelly Voelker Public Relations and Social Media Manager, Graco Children’s Products.

Justin Kistner is the Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing for Webtrends

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