"...allow applications to create, modify, and cancel events, as well as submit a user's RSVP to any event that the application created.

With an active session and the appropriate extended permissions, your application can manage your users' schedules for any events created through your application. These events appear on their profiles alongside all their other events, so they can easily keep track of what's coming up as well as invite more friends. Applications that could take advantage of this include those that manage personal events and those that host events."

They've also updated the events APIs to be sessionless as well.

As a social media company that has been providing custom Facebook Pages for a wide variety of clients since their launch I feel that this post - and the opinion on the Web in general - is that it's really critical to understand with these Pages is that even though they are 'free' they also look free.

What do I mean?

All of them tend to look the same, have the same apps, and don't do a great job of getting a brand out there with any degree of uniqueness. Go ahead. Try it out.

I'll wait. They are 'easy to build.'

Done?

How does it look?

Now search some other Facebook Pages. Compare it to the one you just created. How similar is it?

Thought so. Nearly identical, right?

I'm not trying to sell our services here; however, I have heard stories of a number of companies who believe that these pages are the Holy Grail of 'Getting their Brand on Facebook.'

Remember this: Facebook Pages can host custom applications. This is what makes them different from Facebook Groups. But, more importantly, it's what makes them even MORE complex than most custom Facebook applications to develop. The entire world of social media is about two things: engagement and influence. A plain Facebook Page offers none of the former or the latter. The same rules apply for all other social media ROI as I've said in this post. Depending upon your social media strategy you need to understand that to make your Facebook page look and more importantly feel branded you have to develop some custom applications to make it so. Perhaps several. And yes, this costs. It costs money, time, and thought to get it right for your brand or strategy. I have heard some major marketing media firms talk about the fact that a custom Facebook application is more complex than a Branded Facebook Page.

Quite simply put: they are completely and utterly wrong.

Some other critical points that people looking at Facebook Pages miss:

• Drop-off rates from users who are led to other sites OUTSIDE of Facebook from a Facebook Page are horrfically high. > 90% in most cases (our numbers). If you think you are going to slap a Facebook Page up and expect users to happily leave the walled garden of Facebook to visit your existing Web properties for monetization or content you have surprises in store for you. Big ones. That you won't like.
• Fans of your Page WILL contain your competitors. Why? Because you can update every one of your fans at once once per day. Think about it. This is critical to starting a conversation and moving your brand or strategy forward. Don't fear this; embrace it! Fan their pages, too. Remember, this whole thing is SOCIAL.
• One of the popular apps available for free from Facebook for Pages is a Forum widget. A lot of companies are still terrified of UGC (user-generated content). 'What if someone says something negative about our brand/service/company/content?' We hear this a lot. What happens is a conversation that you can turn into something more positive than you can possibly imagine. Remember the Digg effect: removing negative or controversial (to you) content can have HUGE negative consequences almost never worth experiencing. See the book Groundswell for more information. Do not fear this. Any conversation is an opportunity to grow your brand/service/company for the better.
• Someone representing your brand/service/company needs to be involved with the design of the Page from the beginning. It needs to reflect your B/S/C in a way that reflects what is important to YOU.
• Your Page must be ready to change. It is NOT a website. If you want viral spread, if you want more fans, if you want people to start and continue the conversation you need to make sure USERS COME BACK. Engagement, people! ENGAGEMENT.

Facebook Pages are a critical tool that can really help your social media strategy. But be aware they are not free if you are expecting real results from them.

This approach is based on setting and meeting a set of clearly defined objectives rather than using measurements in the traditional sense, though some of them may still be valid. Companies have to ask themselves a very simple question: "Why are we investing in social media, and what would we consider a successful result?" It seems trite, in a way, but it is critical to understanding the new meaning of ROI. It's not about return on investment anymore. It's all about defining the meaning of ROI as it applies to your business. It's all about gaining influence or leverage for your investment and measuring the return on that influence.

Influence is the key concept at the core of social media. Peer/friend opinions and reviews hold more sway than any other. Brands can be created in an instant and just as quickly destroyed when you are dealing with the economies of scale and the numbers of users involved on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. But social media encompasses so much more. Myriad online communities exist and all are potentially valid social media outlets. Companies need to understand that by focusing only on the immediate effect on their bottom lines they may be missing the point; additionally, casting too wide a net is just as shortsighted.

One other area that companies need to understand is the new concept of 'engagement' as it applies to their social and new media strategies. What is 'engagement?' That's the million- or perhaps billion-dollar question. There is no metric for it that means the same thing to everyone. One interesting equation of sorts has been proposed by socialmedia:

E = mc^2

...which translated means:

Engagement = media buy * (creative ^ 2)

I agree in a sense. Creativity is STILL KING. You can spend millions on your media buy to get your social media product noticed. But, if it's not creative (or for you math geeks as creativity approaches 0) your engagement tanks. It's simple, but critical to understand this. True, this all depends upon your objectives. You have to put your social media assets in context: if you are looking for tons of repeat users (i.e. page views, visits, etc.) and engagement is near zero, FAIL.There are enough single-use social media apps and widgets out there that support this hypothesis that it's not worth expanding upon. If you want your clients to come back, you need to interact with them. You have to engage them to make them come back.This is critical for both growing brands and generating leads. The traditional marketing funnel is still relevant - but the rules that govern the journey from one end of it (eyeballs on your content) to the other (the buy) have changed. You have to provide content that engages them all along the way. Think of it as 'social content affinity'.

Another thing that businesses need to understand is that the content viewing model on the Web has changed. Think of it as an extension of the 80/20 rule. In the past when content was put on the web you could expect about 80% of your audience to see that content within a short period of time. If your spend was X at some specific or measured CPM you could expect some specific results based on traditional measurements. This is no longer the case with social media. Now, you can expect about 20% of your media to be viewed (if you're lucky) and over time, if you're influence and engagement are high enough, you can expect that 80% to come trickling - or ideally virally pouring - in after it's available for some time. It's not a linear graph anymore. You hope it's exponential. But it's not guaranteed. It's about creating a social media campaign that is relevant to YOUR business and your needs. No one can do it for you if you don't understand why your business is playing in the social media space in the first place and what you'll consider a successful result.

So:

• Develop a social media plan: 'Why are we doing this? What would we consider a social success?'
• Make sure that plan is realistic: viral spread of apps and widgets is much harder on ALL the networks these days. Do NOT assume that it will spread just because it's there! And if you don't change it over time if needed it will die over time.
• Define your own ROI: it's about meeting your objectives. Seriously. Tell your CEO/CFO. Make them understand this.
• Make someone OWN your problem on YOUR end - that means on your business's end: you cannot expect someone to do everything for you and guarantee excellent results. You need to understand and manage your end of the social media strategy. It's not easy (anymore) - you are going to need to work at it to make it successful. Every social media rollout is different so what steps you need to take may be different in every case. But be aware that paying someone to slap a widget or app up on a social network for you and expecting it to get 10M users in a month is unrealistic. It's just not going to happen anymore. You are going to have to spend. Your time, your interest, and your business's money.
• Develop metrics that matter to YOU: since there are no global ones in the current sense you need your own based on what your plan deems a successful result.
• ITERATE, ITERATE, ITERATE: set a timed goal for reviewing your strategy; if it's not on target at the end of that time then review why, refactor, retest, and relaunch until you get it right. It's NOT ABOUT being the best, smartest, or brightest anymore. It's all about being the fastest and getting the most relevant results based on your plan and the metrics that matter to you. And do it fast. Very, very fast. Beg, borrow, and steal from the successful apps/campaigns you find that meet your needs. It's about speed now. Spending inordinate amounts of time perfecting things just slows your time to market.
• Understand the social media lifecycle: how long do you expect your strategy to live in the wild? Lifetimes are shorter these days. You cannot expect a drop-in solultion to be relevant in a year from now. See the last point. See the fact that the top 25 Facebook applications have changed drastically in the last year. And will again. And again.
• Cast a net that matters to you: there are a ton of social media outlets out there now. Find out where your demographic lives. If they are 50-year-old financial executives then MySpace is probably not worth investing in.

It's all about the conversation now. Be a part of it. Understand that ROI is different now and you control what it means. Define success: what returns on your marketing objectives you consider a win. This is your ROI.

Tags: social media, facebook, myspace, opensocial, marketing, ROI

You can also get them on slideshare here.

http://en.oreilly.com/gspeast2008/public/schedule/detail/3272

According to this article at MobHappy, with applications like this that incorporate the technology into users’ daily lives, MMS may finally come of age and start to generate real revenue for the mobile ecosystem.

Fitness Together Middleton (FT Middleton) launched a dynamic Facebook page created by Thought Labs to help increase their membership and their member's usage of facilities and offerings. FT Middleton, located in Middleton, MA, is a franchise of Fitness Together. Their business is to provide one-on-one training and fitness coaching to their members, which tends to be middle-aged women. All existing advertising has been done by direct mail, and they do not currently have an external website.

FT Middleton had two objectives for their Facebook efforts:

1. Attract new members to their gym that weren't being reached by direct mail
2. Enhance retention of existing members by providing a community of support beyond their time at the gym

The result was a Facebook Page with several interactive applications designed to give their members useful tools, a forum for community discussions, and the visual appeal to attract new members. The launch was successful, leading into a round of advertising using Facebook's Social Ads.

Actions

Thought Labs created and released the Facebook Page for FT Middleton on February 28^th, 2008. It contained both graphical design elements and interactive elements.

Visual design

The page's visual design included colorful graphical elements such as a large main picture, a quote about their philosophy, and a Flash video showing their formula for success.

Custom Applications

Two custom interactive applications were built - a health quiz and an interactive food journal.

The quiz was designed to let non-members learn something and become attracted to the Page as a source of useful information. The food journal allowed members to enter their daily food content and exercise results and produced weekly reports for the trainers to go over with the clients.

Facebook Built-in Applications

The page had the community forum application, set up with an Ask the Trainer topic and a Healthy Eating Options in Middleton topic. The goal for this forum was to help clients interact with the trainers, get tips, and to show new potential clients that FT Middleton was more than just a gym.

The reviews section provided satisfied users with an opportunity to express their appreciation of the service. One member posted a 5-star review within the first few weeks. This provides another opportunity to entice new clients.

The testimonials application showcased a single user's great experience at FT Middleton. These testimonials would be rotated over time.

Challenges

Seeding the Page with Fans

To get the Page started, it was decided to get a large Fan base right away. This served three purposes - to start to build an active user community, to generate the viral news stories from each user becoming a Fan, and to make the page look active for any new viewers. Friends and family were initially recruited. In-gym signs were put up giving away a free session to existing members who became fans. These actions resulted in 16 Fans for the page.

Current members weren't on Facebook

Only a few of the existing members were currently Facebook members. The rest had heard of Facebook, but didn't understand its new older demographic growth or how it could help them. Education about Facebook in general and the new Pages features was provided in the form of a newsletter, describing how to create a new Facebook account and use each application.

Getting new, Facebook-savvy users and Fans

Since the existing FT Middleton membership was not yet active on Facebook, new well-connected Facebook users were needed. Facebook Social Ads were determined to be the best vehicle to achieve this; however, there were unexpected limitations on which towns could be targeted. For example, the towns of Boxford and Topsfield, Massachusetts, while having hundreds of Facebook users, did not even show up in the Social Ads location targeting list. Thought Labs is currently trying to work with Facebook to fix this situation. In the meantime, a new Social Ads campaign is being worked on to target all towns in the surrounding area.

Page Management time

Right after the release of the Page, there was an unexpected loss of a trainer by FT Middleton. This unfortunately prevented FT Middleton from being able to actively participate on the site with new discussion topics and tips and tricks. With the hiring of a new trainer, these activities should start to take place in the near future.

Results and Future Actions

Facebook Social Ads will be used to increase the Fan base

Seeding is critical and there were not enough active seeds in the first set of fans. The existing membership was not active online or on Facebook. The first set of fans was made up of friends and family, many of whom already attended the gym. The number of active seeds could be increased by using in-Facebook advertising. Responders to these ads would be most likely to use and appreciate the interactive page. Once a critical mass of Fans or users is reached, the Page could become self-sustaining.

FT Middleton will become more involved in the Page

Company involvement is essential in the early stages to cultivate the Community. Due to the loss of the trainer, cultivation of the community by FT Middleton was not sufficient to capitalize fully. This can be rectified through some of the following actions:

1. Encourage existing members to switch from their current paper-based journal to the online food journal. Regular use of this application would establish regular viewing of the page.
2. Offering on-Page only content and tips either as Notes. By telling members about this new source of information, more members would be likely to visit the page.
3. Create or participate in forum topics, such as Ask the Trainer or local healthy eating. By getting members to interact with the page, and having them help each other, it would the increase the value of the services, and also provide an enticing site for new users.

Thought Labs continues to work with Fitness Together Middleton on their Social Ads program, as well as providing support for developing the Page's community. We expect an increase in Page participation within the near future, and will provide updates as the new data becomes available.

About Thought Labs

Thought Labs provides custom software development and consulting services with a specialization in Social Network technologies. We build branded Facebook Pages for your company or multiple Pages for your various products. In addition, we create rich interactive applications on your Page to help users find your products and services. Thought Labs can also create custom Facebook, Bebo or OpenSocial applications carrying your message and your brand with them.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our work. We employ top application developers who are creative, highly skilled, up-to-date on Facebook's constantly changing API, and excellent at project management. We set high standards for ourselves and we meet them. In this new world of social marketing, Thought Labs delivers extremely innovative, high-quality work on time and on budget. Find out more at http://www.thoughtlabs.com.

To download this case study in PDF format, click on the link below:
Case Study : A Facebook Page for Fitness Together Middleton

We have made several Pages for clients, so I tried to look on up. I started with our Fitness Together - Middleton Page. The Directory is laid out somewhat like a dictionary - alphabet at the top, descending into begin-end ranges. So, the Fitness Together Page was under F -> Fitz Gardens - Five O's. Yes, that makes no sense, but there seems to be a few kinks in the system.

The ranges you click on are not the ranges you get. The Page should have been under Fitness Franchise - FitYummyLifestyle, but clicking on that actually yielded Fistfunk - Fitness Audio Vault. Fitz Gardens - Five O's went to Fitness By Andrew - Fito Kahn.

Assuming that they get that fixed, this directory is a great enhancement to Facebook's utility as a business platform. It should make Pages much easier to find and therefore increase usage.

Update: Facebook support says that they are aware of this problem and are continuing to work on the directory.