What does Facebook’s potential mobile payment platform mean for businesses & consumers?

Ever see your friends’ birthdays appear in your Facebook notifications … and then see an offer to buy a Starbucks card as a gift?

You know how simple that is to do, right?  Just select the gift, choose the amount, and send it off.  Voila … instant transaction (even if you’re on a mobile phone) … and the payment was accomplished by one click.  No need to enter in your credit card info again, as Facebook already has that on record.

Facebook may be offering you the same easy ability to purchase goods via your wireless device.

Here’s how this idea works.  Think about buying something now from your mobile phone.  Often, you would have to type in your credit card number on your phone (something that discourages instant gratification due to the tiny numbers and extra effort).

What Facebook will potentially offer is a button that lets you tell Facebook to input the billing information that you already gave Facebook from buying gifts or paying games.

Your payment will be processed via the original payment processor the application originally used.

Facebook merely filled in the information and made it possible for a one-click purchase.

Talk about a time-saver!

But let’s take that a step further.

Think about Facebook’s stake in mobile advertising.  Let’s say that it currently charges an advertiser 14 cents per click … but that click leads to a $37 purchase online.

Facebook can now tell the advertiser that their investment is delivering profit to them. Profit – it’s what every business wants!

One thing to keep in mind – it was earlier reported that Facebook was looking to compete with PayPal. Not so! Why bother compete when you can maximize the benefits of each service instead?

So what does that mean for you as a consumer or you as a business?

The more data Facebook can gather from online transactions…the more data they can provide advertisers that their expenditures are making them money in the long run.

And customers get the benefit from a 1 click simplicity that allows them to buy even more.

Truly a win win for all involved – Facebook, businesses that advertise, and consumers.

Yet again, it’s more privacy that goes bye-bye into the distance, waving forlornly back.

I’d bet the majority of consumers would be quite willing to buy into it, how about you?

Barbara Ling is a 17-plus year veteran marketing entrepreneur, currently specializing in teaching others how to build a viral fanbase/community online using Facebook, Pinterest, blogging, coffee (lots of coffee, or maybe tea if that’s your preference) and more! See her Google Profile here!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock. 

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Timeline coming soon for businesses

Facebook plans to convert business pages to the new Timeline format as early as the end of February when the company will host an invitation-only marketing conference in New York City, according to AdAge.

Marketers have been dreaming up ways to use Timeline for businesses since the new profile debuted at f8, but Timeline hasn’t been an option for brands because the social network requires companies use pages instead of profiles.

Timeline could be a significant improvement for pages, which users typically visit once to Like but they rarely return or spend much time on them. Giving brands more control over their presence on the social network is important for Facebook to maintain an advantage over Twitter and Google+. The change, however, could affect page tab apps, in which some companies have heavily invested over the past few years.

Page owners can look forward to a new design that allows for more branding with a cover photo and the option to resize posts. On the current pages, posts get easily lost, but with the Timeline algorithm, more important posts are surfaced when a user scrolls. Users can more easily find content that was shared weeks or even years ago. With an update to Facebook pages, businesses might also gain the ability to make posts to the past, as users now can with Timeline to share their history. A car company, for instance, might share photos of old models or a drink company might post vintage commercials.

A big question remains: what will happen to tab applications? Many pages — from top global brands to small local businesses — have invested in iFrame apps to welcome users to their pages or provide additional experiences. The company has frequently changed the size of tabs, forcing developers to redesign their apps, and it could do so again.

We also wonder whether Facebook’s mobile product will begin to support page apps, particularly if the company plans to bring Sponsored Story ads to mobile devices soon. Most advertisers will want a custom landing page if they are running a campaign, but perhaps a unique cover photo will satisfy that need.

The last time Facebook redesigned profile pages in December 2010, business pages got a matching update in February. “We hope to make pages more consistent with Timeline in the future, but we have nothing further to share at this time,” a Facebook spokesperson says.

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CityVille launches Buy 2 Get 1 free feature on Homes and Businesses

As a way to entice users to purchase more items for City Cash in CityVille, Zynga has launched a Buy 2 Get 1 free program within the game's store, offering you a chance to do just that - buy two of a particular item to receive a third of that same item for free. Of course, the only items listed under this program cost City Cash to start, so I hope you have plenty of that on hand to splurge!

There's only one business that has been given this treatment: The Intuition Technologies building, which costs 80 City Cash. That means that for 160 City Cash, you'll receive three of these buildings, rather than 240 City Cash, as is the normal price. The other items are homes, like the Gorilla Towers (104 City Cash each), Summer Sprawl (50 City Cash each) or Gardener's House (50 City Cash each). You can find the full selection of Buy 2 Get 1 items by heading into the game's market, clicking on the Specials tab and then clicking on "Special Offers" on the far right.

To be especially clear, you'll need to purchase two of the same item to receive a third of that same item. As of this writing, you won't be able to simply purchase two of these separate buildings and then choose a third - it's either all or nothing with this deal, so I hope there's at least one building here that you like enough to have at least three on you land. Keep in mind that some of these buildings are limited edition, so they won't be around forever. If you want to stock up, now's definitely the time. We'll make sure to let you know if other items are added to the Buy 2 Get 1 promotion in the future.

What do you think of this Buy 2 Get 1 free promotion? Will you purchase two of any of these items just to receive a third one, or is that far too expensive a prospect? Sound off in the comments.

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MerchantCircle Survey Indicates Plenty of Runway for Facebook Ads Among Local Businesses

While 66% of small businesses have used Facebook for marketing, only 22% have used Facebook ads, according to MerchantCircle, the largest online network of local business owners. The company released its quarterly Merchant Confidence Index survey of 5,000 local business owners today, and other findings include the following: two thirds of those who’ve used Facebook ads would do so again, location-based marketing is declining, and interest is on the rise for group deals, especially those published by familiar entities including Facebook and Google.

The survey’s results indicate that Facebook’s self-serve advertising business, which account for a very significant portion of its total revenue, has plenty of room to grow. If Facebook can convince more local marketers on the site to advertise, it could fuel big total revenue gains that might improve its standing in the event of a long-anticipated IPO.

While the sample size is relatively low compared to the amount of marketers and advertisers on Facebook, MerchantCircle doesn’t overtly tout an Facebook-related services, so the data shouldn’t be biased.

Here are the core findings of the study:

66% of local businesses use Facebook for marketing94% of local businesses are aware of Facebook Ads, though only 22% use themOf those 22%, 65% said they would use Facebook Ads againReasons cited for repeat use of Facebook Ads were: ease of use (66.5%), ability to pause (64.8%), quality of targeting (53.7%), opportunities for acquiring new customers (49.3%)Reasons cited for not using Facebook Ads again included: not acquiring new customers (69%), cost (34.5%), low click-through rate (28.5%)

The high awareness of Facebook Ads, coupled with the 44% difference between marketers and advertisers shows that there’s great potential for the self-serve ad product to grow. Facebook could increase the percentage of repeat advertisers and counter the biggest reason for not repeating by improving its education efforts and providing advertisers with best practices for targeting, creative, and bid management.

Only 9.4% of local businesses have offered a daily deal, with 8.4% saying they haven’t but plan to in the next six months77% of those who’ve run deals say they’d do so again, up from 50% last quarterCiting familiarity with these big platforms, 52% of of local businesses would choose to run Facebook Deals or Google Offers instead of deals through Groupon, LivingSocial or other deals providersOther reasons for preferring Facebook included bigger audience size (26%), and better local targeting (21%)Other reasons for preferring Google included bigger audience size (42%), and brand reputation (34%)

Facebook’s daily deals service Facebook Deals is off to a shaky start, with anecdotal evidence suggesting few purchases due to weak value and low quality of available deals. However, MerchantCircle’s data indicates businesses are interested in using the service. Facebook needs to consider subsidizing Deals so it can hook users with huge discounts, and should consider improving copy-writing and design to make Deals more compelling.

22% of businesses are using Facebook Places for marketing, down from 32% last quarterOnly 7% are using Foursquare for marketing, down from 9% last quarter18% of local businesses have used mobile marketing or advertising, with 71% citing a lack of understanding as their primary barrier to use.

Facebook’s location-based deals service Checkin Deals that builds on Places hasn’t seen much adoption despite it being a free way to inspire users to promote a business to their friends through checkins. Again, Facebook needs to provide better educational resources, perhaps in the form of webinars or live seminars in key markets to jumpstart business adoption of Checkin Deals.

Overall, the data tells a story of how Facebook holds significant marketing and advertising potential for small and local businesses. However, without large dedicated ads or marketing teams they can’t get a good enough understanding of social to dedicate spend there. While Facebook has purposefully tried to keep its number of employees low to maintain the startup feel, the strategy may be inhibiting it from conducting the education and outreach efforts that could accelerate growth of its business.

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