FACEBOOK METRICS MOVING BEYOND INSIGHTS

Facebook has released an ad conversion tracking tool to a limited set of advertisers.  As Facebook describes the service, “Conversion tracking allows you to track activity that happens on your website as a result of someone on Facebook seeing or clicking your Facebook Ad.”

The new service will allow Advertisers the ability to assign a specific value to an action on their own websites and effectively determine the ROI of their Facebook advertising campaigns. This also promises to save a lot of time for advertisers who currently need to dump their data into spreadsheets and cross-reference that data when tracking ad spend ROI (return on investment).  Once the ad conversion tracking tool is fully released to all, Advertisers will be able to track conversions, tag conversion values, and a SKU codes.  Also, rather than providing the type of conversion funnel tracking provided through Google Analytics, Facebook is recommending that, “advertisers use a series of SKU codes for each page on your site”.

Facebook has realized that the more tools they can provide to advertisers, the more likely advertisers will be to spend money on the platform in the future.   And then there was light. ;)

View Conversion Tracking Tutorial (Slideshare)

CHEVROLET TESTS THREE SOCIAL-MEDIA APPLICATIONS AT SXSW

Chevrolet, exclusive automotive sponsor of SXSW music, film and interactive festival for the next three years, will use its freshman presence to get ideas on best practices and emerging technologies in social media. More important to Goodbuzz, Chevrolet is also using the show to test three social-media applications.

The first is a mobile location app from Austin-based Gowalla that tells a cell phone user's contacts where he or she is. When Gowalla users check in at various locations in Austin, they will get text messages with offers from Chevrolet and SXSW, such as a free ride in a new Equinox for those who use Gowalla when they get to the airport.

Chevrolet will also use Quick Response (QR) codes to tout the three vehicles it is featuring at the show. When mobile phone users photograph QR codes on the display vehicles, they will open a microsite detailing vehicle features.  Users who download the Chevrolet iReveal Augmented Reality AR application, available in Beta form, will be able to unlock three-dimensional models of Chevrolet vehicles. The application will provide key specifications of the vehicles, and insert the virtual image of the car over the actual streetscape viewed through the smart phone camera lens.

Finally, Chevrolet will run a team-based road rally called "See the USA in your Chevrolet: A SXSW Road Trip," in which teams will drive to Austin from various places like New York and San Diego while completing missions selected by followers on Twitter, and using social media and user-generated content to record their trips. 

The GM division will have a Chevrolet Volt Recharging Station for digital devices and a fleet of Camaros, Equinoxes, Malibus, and Traverses for conference attendees. Chevrolet will also offer rides to and from downtown, to exclusive events, and restaurants.  “The idea is to contribute to what people are there to do rather than brand all over the place."  All we can say is "Go GM!" ;)

Doritos® Viralocity | User-Generated Content (UGC) Contest

Kudos to BBDO Toronto (as this campaign is near perfect).  Like the site identifies, the "Internet is good for so many things. But let’s face it. It’s the daily joy of ridiculous wedding dance entrances, cuddly kittens, giggling babies, post-dentist dopiness, and the always-popular person falling down, that keeps us logging on again and again."


Doritos® Viralocity however, may make you super famous and super rich at the same time.  Just name the newest unidentified Doritos® flavour. Make a viral video about it. Then, use your Internet savvy to help your video go real viral, real fast. And that, my friends, is what Doritos® Viralocity is all about.    Visit the site.