Strutta

Final Update from Ben -- The day started off with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg addressing the crowd and wrapped up with an inspiring performance by Alicia Keys, who entertained the packed house in the Museum of American History.

In between a variety of Facebook executives and marketing leaders from major brands and agencies took to the stage to share their perspectives. One major theme was emphasized throughout the day: that social marketing is the evolution from ads to stories, where people are no longer being "talked at" by advertisers but are a part of the conversation. This was the guiding premise behind Facebook's new Reach Generator and Facebook Premium, where wall posts will now be featured in advertising positions on Facebook and actively invite people to interact as if they were on the brand page itself.

Mike Fox, Facebook's Director of Global Marketing addressed the question of how we "make it social" by outlining four dimensions of social: Connect, Engage, Influence and Integrate. At Strutta we are very much aligned with these four pillars.

• Connecting is about building a fan base, which our apps can help facilitate.
• Engaging is about a series of interactions with your fans over time, which should include a mixture of interactions on page and through fun, engaging applications.
• Influence is tapping in to the power of your fan base to realize "word of mouth at scale." This can be accomplished through some of Facebook's new advertising solutions but also when you allow your audience to become your brand ambassador by sharing your promotional message through their participation in a contest, claiming a coupon, etc. and sharing that through their social graph.
• Integration is about pulling all elements together. As a Facebook Preferred Developer, Strutta is in a position to provide integrated experiences for brands and their fans that tap in to the power of the social graph to connect, engage and influence.

While the Facebook platform continues to evolve, this means we all learn and grow together. There will be some changes to the ways in which brands interact with consumers in the new brand Pages, but overall we are excited about the direction in which things are going. We are excited to be releasing our new social apps that will be optimized for the new Page format. And we look forward to working with clients to continuously improve our platform to be the most useful tool for DIY social marketing.

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Update at 5pm EST by Tina -- What a day! While Strutta's boss mingles with fellow fMC guests in New York, the Strutta team is already busy optimizing our existing products and upcoming social apps suite for the revamped Facebook platform.

Stay tuned for a full debrief from Ben tomorrow and for more details on what Strutta has in store. We're really excited for the opportunity that Facebook's Timeline for businesses, Admin panel and Mission control presents to our clients!

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Update at 1pm EST by Tina -- Here are thoughts from real people in real time. It's #fMC and Timeline for Page Storified!

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Update at 10am EST by Ben -- This morning Facebook made the long awaited introduction of new Pages for brands. We will be learning more details at the fMC event today but we wanted to share some initial thoughts. First, you can preview the new design on your Page but you may wish to hold off on publishing until any kinks are worked out and you've thought about how to optimize the new layout (hint: you'll need a cover image). The biggest changes you will notice are the addition of the cover image at the top, which is a great branding opportunity, but also the removal of a welcome or landing tab as the timeline is the default view for all users. Tabs are now accessed at the top of the page. Existing tabs should work by default but at the moment the "fan gating" option does not appear to be working properly. More updates to come.

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There has been much speculation about potential announcements at today's invitation-only Facebook Marketing Conference.

As guests at fMC in New York, Strutta will be the first to know about changes to the platform. As Facebook Preferred Developers we wil be the first to have access to any tools that may become available. You can be sure that we will make any updates necessary to optimize our existing products and upcoming apps suite for Timeline for businesses or any other Facebook platform changes.

Get an insider's view of today's Facebook Marketing Conference as our CEO, Ben Pickering, will be sharing any major announcements and noteworthy insider tips directly from the event. Stay tuned for updates throughout the day on our blog!

Official fMC Links and Resources:

• fMC Facebook Page
• Overview and Agenda
• Live stream coverage - Tune in live today from 1-5pm EST

Stay tuned. There's more to come!