Today Facebook introduced their new Facebook Questions feature, which allows you to ask questions to the Facebook community and is public to everyone on Facebook and perhaps viewable by search engines too.

Here are some questions asked:

Seems like a nifty new feature that distinguishes regular Status Updates from “Questions” and can be useful for brands on Facebook Pages.

Example look at Questions Feature on Earthbound Media Groups Facebook Page:

It looks like Facebook still has some work to do in terms of publishing options, where currently since I’m an admin of Earthbound Media Groups Facebook Page it’s adopting my personal profile publishing options versus the EMG Fan Page’s custom options. It may be a fluke since I doubt Facebook is now allowing Fan Page status updates to be customizable to publish to Administrators’ friends only.

Here’s a look at the difference between a Status Update from the Fan page versus a Asked Question:

You also have the option of following the Question to be updated on when people respond to it.

What do you think of Facebook’s new Questions feature? Let us know!

Let’s Discuss:

Facebook Fan Pages have evolved to be more than just branded mini-sites filled with engaging apps and a forum for discussion, they are very commonly used for entertainment (as discussed in a previous post on “Other” Facebook fan pages.  But now, skipping the bad and going straight to the evil when the misuse of brand names on fan pages can be considered misleading and spam.

Are Facebook pages used as a marketing tool to “lure” unsuspecting fans into signing up for 3rd party reward offers?

EMG 30-Seconds Rundown:

Facebook pages are meant to be public profiles for businesses and products to drive customer awareness. Brand pages for companies and consumer products, such as Disneyland and Coca-Cola are considered “The Good” type of fan pages.

But there are an increasing number of “Other” Fan Pages for a cause, a movement, or simply just for entertainment.

As Facebook fan pages become more popular, there will be a continual increase in “other” fan pages. Recently, there is a new breed of fan pages on the rise, created by using familiar big brand names, such as Ikea, Walmart, and Best Buy, to convince fans into thinking they can get “gift cards” or “iPads” by becoming a Fan of that recognized brand.

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Microsoft’s Business Productivity home page tries to be multiracial…

They could have at least photoshopped the hand too.. Fail.

Original site links:

http://www.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/poland/businessproductivity/default.mspx

Before we dive into how Social Media Marketing can greatly assist any online marketing effort, let’s first define some overall goals for an online marketing campaign:

Doing more with online marketing goals-

You want to Increase:

• Website traffic (number of unique visitors & returning visitors)
• Page views
• Ad Exposure
• Conversion and Sales

Down to some specifics, you want to:

• Improve number of qualified visitors
• Increase number of leads
• Reduce the cost of leads
• Increase online inquiries
• Improve overall online user experience

More specifically for your company, product, or service, you want to:

• Grow brand awareness
• Create positive brand engagement
• Find business and networking opportunities

Those are some hefty goals, but guess what? Social Media Marketing efforts can deliver powerful results and help you reach all your online marketing goals.

5 Benefits of Social Media Marketing:

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