Internet Marketing Blog

Facebook Applications - The New Interactive Marketing Trend

March 14, 2008 – 1:34 am

What commercial businesses are doing to capitalize on a unique platform

The industry for Facebook applications has exploded since the dramatic moment when Mark Zuckerburg first announced that he would make the programming that supported the popular social network available to programmers (see “Facebook’s FoodFight: A Marketer’s Data Dream Field“). But although wildly popular (there are currently 19,290 applications available to users) no one has really figured out an effective way to make money off of them. As Skype discovered the hard way, offering customers a free product is poor incentive for those same customers to upgrade at a cost.

The ultimate answer may lie in the pocketbooks of marketers. Although intrinsically a poor source for profit, facebook applications are a powerful, powerful marketing tool. Far less expensive than other internet-based marketing techniques, and far more engaging for customers, applications represent the next major evolution in interactive marketing.

Why should marketers regroup their marketing plans to include a Facebook application? First of all, an application can be far more effective and less time consuming then creating a regularly updated blog, comprehensive new web site, or even search engine strategy. They are also way better at engaging consumers and easier to measure than traditional media, including print advertisements, commercials, public relations, and event sponsorship. With a few clicks, you can asses visitors, daily users, and reviews of your application.

So applications are powerful…but there seems to be a disconnect between the potential for applications and the success corporations have had in harnessing it. Major names including Google, Microsoft, Forbes, the New York Times, Warren Buffet, Match.com, the Gin system, and LinkedIn have all created Facebook applications, but only LinkedIn and the Gin System rank among the top fifty Business applications and no corporate sponsored application has made it to the top 100 applications over all. That is a serious problem, considering the following facts:

• Mass media-like reach is only found in the top 100 applications
• The top 100 applications by daily users range from 3,602,640 for the most popular application to as low as 48,926.
• The top 25 applications alone register a total of 16,761,596 gross daily users with over 10 million of those users coming from the top 5 applications.

Basically, corporate application programmers have thus far failed to capture the kinds of major numbers applications are capable of attracting. On problem is that corporate sponsored applications are not relevant for potential customers. Corporations need to research customer needs when programming the application to ensure that target customers are interested in it. The other major problem is that Facebook was founded on an independent, democratic, anti-commerical culture (see “Has Social Media Sold Its Soul?”). An overly commercialized application is often avoided for its very commericialism.

That said, make sure that your application ties closely with your product offering and branding. Post-It’s free desktop widget, which allows users to post digital “Post-It”-branded notes on their desktop, is an excellent example. Remember, any positive association consumers form with your bond is one step further towards increasing sales and market share.