Clara Shih on “Marketing in the Facebook Era”

Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing Clara Shih, CEO & Founder of Hearsay Labs, speak on the topic of “Marketing in the Facebook Era” at a DMA of Northern California luncheon. Clara recently wrote a book on the topic: The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff, available on Amazon. Prior to founding Hearsay Labs, Clara created Faceconnector – the first AppExchange application to dynamically pull Facebook profile information into Salesforce.com.

Here are 10 key take-aways from Clara’s presentation:

1. Facebook now has 300 million users (1/3 of the Internet population) and 1 million developers across 180 countries
2. Facebook and Twitter have created new social norms in which people are sharing more information about themselves
3. Marketers need to be where their audience is, and increasingly it’s on Facebook
4. College students don’t use email much anymore – they communicate via text messaging and Facebook wall posts and messages
5. B2B and B2C CMOs are shifting budget to social media, even in this down economy
6. Facebook has taken off because it modeled itself after real-world networks (college, work, friends) unlike other social media sites like MySpace that focused on virtual friends; as a result there is a level of trust among Facebook friends
7. Direct marketers take note – users expect personalized interactions and relevant content based on their profile information
8. Fans of Facebook Pages are the ultimate in “opt-in” marketing and can become a company’s volunteer sales force
9. Marketers should create drip marketing campaigns on their Facebook Pages and can drive and measure response rates with special offers
10. Facebook advertising is hyper-targeted. Ads can be served up based on the public profile of the viewer –  location, age, education, and interests

Clara’s new company, Hearsay Labs, helps marketers and small businesses build relationships and grow revenue by leveraging Facebook Pages and Twitter handles. The application provides a behind the scenes view of Facebook and Twitter, including analytics on Fans and the ability to create business rules based on Fan actions.

It’s an exciting time for marketers as we experiment with these new ways of engaging with our community of prospects, customers, and partners.  And Clara is clearly on the forefront of this wave.