As you can see in the chart below, Facebook reigns supreme over all other networks when it comes to user age. No age group measured fell below the 95% mark.

Photo Credit: Mashable

It should be noted that the total number of Golden Generation adults on social networking sites is significantly smaller than younger age groups. And that they use these sites less frequently. But Forrester’s findings are still significant for online marketers who promote and sell products and services that cater to those in the upper echelons of the age spectrum.

Source

Does your business need help with achieving its Facebook marketing goals? Contact Cement Marketing today.

When the Arena District called on Cement Marketing to create a campaign that would increase and engage their Facebook fan base, our response was Hunt the District – a photo scavenger hunt.

Every Tuesday from October 18 – November 22, the Arena District Facebook page posted two items for fans to find, photograph and upload to the District’s Facebook Wall by the following Monday. Every participant who completed the hunt received one pair of FREE Arena Grand Movie Theatre passes and each week, five participants were randomly selected to win a $50 Arena District gift card.

The Facebook landing page we designed and developed explained the Hunt in more detail. Note our use of the Facebook reveal tab: the ultimate in intriguing Facebook users and converting them to fans.

The results

Hunt the District was a huge success. Over 17 entries were received, but the campaign and our supporting advertising gained the Arena District over 3500 new Facebook fans.

Find out how Cement Marketing’s social marketing team can create ties that bind between your brand and your customers today. Contact us.

Facebook is all about your fans. That’s easy enough to say, but how do you prove it and also engage your fans at the same time? How do you drive them into an action with your Facebook page? One sure bet is through photos. Feature a photo of a customer or client on your Facebook page and they will come back, tag themselves and share that photo with their friends. It’s simple really, but how do we bring that to life?  

While working with Raising Cane’s of Ohio on their Facebook marketing, we put the photo tagging tactic to the test by suggesting Cane’s set up a fun photo booth for a couple of nights outside their newest location in Pickerington. We asked fans one questions – “What is your one love?” They answered on a dry erase board, got into costume and hopped into the booth.

We showed up to document the action and, as you can see, “Caniacs” loved it.  After emerging from the booth they were handed a business card size flyer telling them to find the picture the next day on the Raising Cane’s Ohio Facebook page and tag themselves. And tag themselves they did.

Most of the people in the photos were not already Cane’s Facebook fans and wound up “liking” the page to tag themselves. Also, because tagged photos show up in friends’ Facebook newsfeeds, Raising Cane’s Ohio received hundreds of additional followers from that extra bit of exposure.

Moral of the story: As much as your business’ Facebook page is about your brand, it’s also just as much about connecting with your followers in new and creative ways.

Want to talk Facebook and social marketing? Contact us today.

Facebook is overhauling its fan page layouts. But Facebook fan page administrators need not fret — at least not that much — because these changes are mostly for the better.

Fan pages are about to get far more versatile, allowing brands and businesses to engage the Facebook community in new and exciting ways. Take a look at the most important fan page alterations you’ll be seeing come March 1.

Keep your wall newsworthy

There will only be two default filters for Facebook news feed posts now: Everyone and Just The Page. Previously, users could filter a page’s wall three ways: Just The Page, The Page And Others and Just Others.

While that change might seem fairly banal, Facebook will be applying its news algorithm, EdgeRank, to posts on a page’s wall. That means after March 1, a Facebook user could come to a fan page and find older posts at the top of the page’s news feed because EdgeRank deemed those older posts more relevant than recent ones. Admins can combat this by ensuring users land on a default landing page with current information.

Be the page

Administrators will finally be able to travel around Facebook disguised as their Facebook page personas and comment on and friend other fan pages. All an admin has to do to activate this feature is select “Use Facebook account as page” from the personal account drop down menu and presto, you are your page. And it’s just as easy to revert back to using your personal account again.

Pages won’t be able to comment on personal profiles, but when admins assume the identity of a fan page, they’ll receive notifications in real time when users like or interact with the selected fan page.

Meet me at the photo bar

A photo bar, just like the one that appears at the top of personal pages, will now sit right above a fan page’s news feed, but unlike the personal page photo strip hacks that appeared around the end of last year, the new fan page photo bar will display a fan page’s five most recently tagged photos in a random order every time the page is reloaded.

Even though that last bit of information might come as a disappointment to some, the photo bar’s sequential randomization will keep page admins on their toes as they try to keep their photo content fresh.

Good-bye tabs. Hello left hand navigation links.

The tabs at the top of Facebook fan pages are moving from the top of the page to the left sidebar.

This change once again makes a company or client’s page look more like a personal Facebook page. And unlike the old top-of-the-page tab system, link titles in the left sidebar won’t get cut off, allowing users to see the full name of a link all at once.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for iFrames

The Static Facebook Markup Language (FBML) tab app will officially be a thing of the past come March 11. That’s not a typo. This development does proceed the overall page design change on March 1.

However, developers will still be able to use FBML, HTML, PHP and now iFrames to create new Facebook apps that could create a richer user experience. Don’t worry, though, any Static FBML tab created before March 11 will still appear in a page’s navigation links and admins can still create Static FBML tabs until that date.

If you have any questions about Facebook marketing or want more tips on how to improve your Facebook page’s marketing power, contact Cement Marketing or ask in the comments.

Here’s a clip from Part 1 of the series, The Social Side: Social Media for Small Businesses. Read the entire post here.

The Social Side: Social Media for Small Businesses, Part 1

“I want to do it, but I don’t get it.”

The above is the most common statement about social marketing I hear from my clients or potential clients. They have been persuaded through the mounting evidence and successful case studies that social marketing works, but entering the space is an entirely different challenge.

From my vantage point, as a professional digital strategist, their acceptance is a sign of huge progress. In fact, accepting social media and, more importantly, finding the patience to let its effect take hold is paramount to “getting it.” So, congratulations. You’ve made it this far.

Read the entire post here.

In July of 20o7, I wrote a blog post and included this picture of my son and his new E.T. doll.

Over a year and a half later, a guy named Josh in California Googled the term “life size E.T. doll” and found my post. Unable to find the doll anywhere else – Josh sent me an e-mail.

The doll you got for your kid is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for. Can you give me any information on this doll? (manufacturer, details on the tag or anything else you think may aid me in my search for this illusive collectible?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Josh

After a few e-mails Josh revealed that he wanted E.T. to join him on the front of his bike for a ride in California benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. After a chat my son, we decided to lend Josh the E.T. doll. I figured packing E.T. up for a trip across the country would serve as an awesome lesson for Benjamin in geography, sharing and being altruistic.

After a few good-bye shots in the Cement Marketing office

Benjamin and I brought E.T. to the nearest FedEx store.

Before packing him up

and shipping him off to a far away place called California.

Just a few weeks later the pictures started pouring in.

Josh had E.T. all over his Facebook page and apparently, E.T. had become the star of the benefit bike ride.

In the end, E.T. ended up back on our door step with a beautiful notebook filled with thank-yous from riders written to Benjamin. One Google search led Josh to us, leading E.T. to him and his race and then Facebook ultimately impacting hundreds of cyclists and those who benefited from their charity.

Now–a question for marketers. What if Benjamin and I had been a business and E.T. had been our product or related to our product or service in some way? How are you engaging your clients or consumers? Are you proactively creating online content like blog posts, photos or videos that they can share or find some day? If not today, then when?

There’s no time to lose and so many opportunities to be missed. Not even to mention amazing opportunities to help make the world just a little bit better.