Social media management groups target top spot

A cottage industry of firms that offer social media management services is growing up on Facebook, as a race gets under way to become the marketing equivalent of Zynga, the gaming company that has rocketed off the back of the social networking site.

Since Facebook has become the de facto online social network in much of the world, with global users currently at 750m, the demand for services that allow businesses to exploit the full potential of its reach has risen dramatically.

About 28 social media management companies have emerged in recent years, several of them built on top of Facebook’s open platform in the same way that Zynga has. These companies help large brands manage their Facebook presence and maximise their exposure in people’s Newsfeeds, where marketing messages from businesses appear sandwiched between personal updates from friends and family.

“Newsfeed optimisation is where search engine optimisation was 10 years ago,” said Reggie Bradford, chief executive of Vitrue, which provides social media management software services to multinational corporations, including McDonald’s, Procter Gamble and ATT.

Large corporations pay, on average, $68,000 per year for these services, but that figure is expected to rise to the six-figure range in the next few quarters, said Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with the Altimeter Group.

While Facebook does not charge vendors to build on its platform, the company has embraced several of them, including Vitrue, Buddy Media and Efficient Frontier, as preferred vendors. Facebook will recommend these companies to big brands which need help managing the marketing and customer support communications on their Facebook pages. Then later, with the information they glean about their fan base and user behaviour from the campaigns led by the social media management companies, the brands will purchase targeted ads from Facebook.

“All boats rise with the tide,” Facebook said. “We see it as a way to grow the Facebook ecosystem and provide value to all sorts of advertisers.”

As Facebook prepares for its initial public offering in early 2012, several analysts believe the company will eventually look for a way to monetise its relationship with social media management companies, by either charging a fee to use its platform or demanding some kind of revenue share, as it did with gaming companies built on its platform. As of July 1, game developers must use Facebook Credits, the company’s proprietary virtual currency, for the purchase of virtual goods within games, and share 30 per cent of those sales with Facebook.

“Expect to see future dramas along the lines of the Facebook/Zynga battle over the use of Facebook Credits,” wrote Jed Williams, an analyst with BIA/Kelsey, in his report on the social media management industry.

For now, Facebook seems content with the traffic companies are driving to their Facebook pages with the help from the social media management vendors.

The average company has 29 Facebook pages. Large international brands and franchises have hundreds, creating a logistical nightmare for local marketing managers and a potential PR nightmare for headquarters. Companies like Vitrue offer software that helps companies streamline the appearance of all their Facebook pages, then target messages for local markets.

So, in line with local culinary tastes, a Dallas-based Facebook user who “likes” McDonald’s will see a promotion for its Southwestern chicken biscuits, while a Chicago fan will see the McRib sandwich, and a Boston fan, the Filet-O-Fish.

“We work collaboratively with McDonald’s to harness their 8m fans and manage their locations around the US,” Mr Bradford said.

Companies are studying their own campaigns to understand user behaviour on Facebook, then packaging their findings in research reports about how the social network is changing how people hear about new brands and products. Facebook itself is helping to promote these reports, and doing its own research, to convince brands of the importance of spending on social media marketing campaigns.

While the cost of Facebook ads is going up – “cost per click” increased 74 per cent in the past year – the rate at which people actually click on those ads is very low – less than 1 per cent. That has Facebook on a mission to educate marketers about the power of a Facebook Like or a Facebook Fan.

“We’ve invested in new ways to help advertisers to think beyond the click,” Facebook said.

Though it is difficult to put a dollar value on a like or a fan, Facebook and its social media management allies are trying to highlight the viral effects of both.

For every brand post on Facebook, fans write an average of 100 comments in response, said Efficient Frontier. For every fan of a brand, there are an additional 34 friends of that fan that can be reached with a marketing message, said Facebook and ComScore in a joint report.

Though it will still take time to prove, Facebook is working to draw the connection between the moment a consumer sees a Newsfeed post about a new product and the moment they hand their credit card over to a merchant to buy it.

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Safest Pre-Teen Social Networking Site Patent Pending Niche Market in Multi …

Coral Springs, FL US, Jul 28, 2011 (Filing Services Canada via COMTEX) –
BizRocket.com, Inc. (BZRT – OTC Pink),announces growing recognition of the KidzRocket.com subscription-based social networking website for pre-teens. The age 13 and under social networking market is estimated at over a billion dollars per year and rapidly growing. Company business plan projections of third and fifth year revenue of $37,162,002 and $126,464,983 and EBITDA of $22,117,624 and $92,059,673 respectively are doable and may be outstripped by anticipated acquisitions.

KidzRocket.com social networking website was invented for pre-teens. Similar to Facebook, but designed for pre-teens, KidzRocket.com is poised to become the leader in children’s Internet safety while providing a fun social networking chat, game and online activity site.The child cannot begin social networking until the Company has initiated parental contact, confirmed approval for the child’s membership and participation, and initiated a trial subscription. KidzRocket.com is said to be like a Facebook or MySpace for kids, but has added layers of protection for children against Stranger Danger and other Internet predator problems.

Immediately, parent involvement begins as the pre-teen invites friends to his/her page to correspond with and chat. To avoid predators, cyberbulling, and phishing scams, all invitees, buddies, and friends who their children communicate with on KidzRocket.com must be pre-approved by the child’s parent.

When the pre-teen leaves KidzRocket.com to move around the Internet, each site or category they attempt to visit is subject to parental pre-approval. Internet reports of their child’s online activities are easily generated using the free KidzRocket WebFilter, a real-time image composition analysis software engine. Parents control and monitor pre-defined Internet privileges knowing which websites and categories their children have attempted to access. Kids safely enjoy Internet-based socializing as parents reach a new comfort level knowing their children are having fun on the safest pre-teen social networking website.

“Parents know exactly what’s going on while their children have fun with friends online. Our proprietary, patent pending, cutting edge technology meets or exceeds current standards for Internet safety sites for children and pre-teens. From the website platform to the sign up process, we have the safeguards in place to ensure children are communicating only with pre-approved friends and buddies and visiting only pre-approved sites,” states Myriam Cohen, President. The KidzRocket.com Social Networking Website and free KidzRocket Internet WebFilter will present a powerful combination for the whole family. The site supports all activities for up to five family members at a cost of only $5.95 a month.

About KidzRocket.com

KidzRocket.com was invented to meet our national need to help protect children from Internet predators, cyberbullying, and various inappropriate contact. KidzRocket.com complies with the Children Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA). KidzRocket.com is a subsidiary of BizRocket.com, Inc.


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Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This press release may include certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include all statements other than those made solely with respect to historical facts. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results or performance to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Although we believe that these statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we cannot provide any assurances regarding future results. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT:

BizRocket.com, Inc.

Robert Williams

754.245.2717

Source: BizRocket.com, Inc. (otc pink:BZRT)
http://www.bizrocket.com

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