This year at F8, Facebook once again showed that they aren’t afraid to take chances and continually re-invent themselves. The new Facebook Timeline is a radical overhaul of existing user profiles and has the audacious goal of being the historical record of your life.  Together with the next generation of the Open Graph, these changes will unlock a wealth of new opportunities for brands to tap into with social applications.

But where should they start? This year we saw the launch of Google+, continued innovation by Twitter, and an entire ecosystem of developers building applications and services on top of these platforms. The array of decisions that a CMO must now make is staggering.

A recent study carried out by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business suggests that the app economy surrounding Facebook alone (between apps on Facebook and apps that use the Facebook API) has created at least 182,744 full-time jobs and at least $12.2 billion in wages and benefits in the US.

Knowing that the only constant here is change, here are a few recommendations and predictions for CMOs as they navigate the world of Facebook apps.

Create a personalized social experience on your site

Facebook calls this concept Social Design—a way of thinking about design that puts social experiences at the core.  By weaving in the social and interest graphs in ways that enrich things like content display, discovery, and navigation, brands can create more personalized, satisfying experiences for visitors.

The evolution of Social Design will occur in two ways, primarily:

1. Social will no longer be a “nice-to-have,” relegated to specific pages, tucked away in page corners.
2. Site experiences will become more intuitive, seamlessly personalized, and rewarding, based on factors like social and interest graph data, onsite behavior, visitor history and device data.

Begin experimenting with frictionless sharing

At f8, Facebook announced the ability to leverage the Open Graph to create and aggregate entirely new verb + noun pairings (Kevin <wants> a <product>, Mike <listened> to a <song>, etc.).  Once a user grants permission to a brand’s application, the brand has a tremendous opportunity to earn social currency by integrating further into their News Feed, Ticker, and Timeline.  This frictionless sharing removes the barrier of forcing a user to approve each action.

However, this innovation does not come without its potential red flags.  Imagine an automatically-posted feed item about a man buying an engagement ring for his girlfriend, or others being able to see that you’re reading every single article on a competitor’s blog, or that you’re watching videos on TheOnion.com when you’re supposed to be working.

Brands should experiment with this technology cautiously, give users as much control as possible over the actions they post on their behalf, and be as transparent about all of this as possible.

Explore rich, multidirectional integration

As brands build out deeper and more enriching experiences on their Facebook pages and websites, they should continuously look for ways to let richer content flow in ways that create more value. In some of the more basic integrations using out-of-the-box Facebook plugins, you’ll see things like “what your friends have shared” boxes, article sharing features, and Facebook-powered blog comments. The content here is mostly text and images, and surrounds a few common actions (such as likes, updates and status changes), which flows in one or two directions—from Facebook to the site, and vice versa.

But there’s far more value here, and it’s being unlocked for the first time by integrations that rethink content and redraw the lines along which it should flow. The right data should pass just as easily as other content, between Facebook apps, to analytics platforms, CRM systems, and ultimately, to those that can use it to create better experiences.

What every CMO should demand

The biggest integration mistake a brand can make at this point is to create barriers between their Facebook apps, site, content and data. These barriers result in poor user experience and incomplete information. Instead, CMOs should demand two things above all else from those creating their brand’s Facebook integrations: Seamlessness of design and information sharing, and the agility and skill required to keep pace with the incredible speed of social innovation.

Click here to learn about the latest ways Bazaarvoice is driving Facebook innovation and value for our clients.

Bazaarvoice Labs

These were exactly the sort of enthusiasts present at Google’s Hackathon at SXSW Interactive last week, which invited savvy web developers to learn about and experiment with new Google-related technologies. The event allowed Google to provide brief training on many of their platforms – including Google Maps, Android OS, Chrome, and Wave – and offered a place for developers to hang out and play with what they had learned.

Dustin Mihalik, Bazaarvoice Labs engineer, took the opportunity to experiment with HTML5 – and ended up walking away with the first prize for best application. We sat down with Dustin to learn more about the competition and what he built.

What do you do at Bazaarvoice?

I’m an engineer on the BV Labs team. We create proof of concept implementations for new products and features for the Bazaarvoice Platform. This position requires my team to constantly learn about new ideas and technologies in our industry.

Describe the Google Hackathon.

Google had many of their own engineers available for questions or discussions about their technologies. It was great to have access to the engineers, because I could get answers directly from the person working on the technology. Developers could experiment with what they learned to create applications for various Google technologies. At the end of the day, they provided prizes for the most exciting applications and mashups created during the day.

What was your application?

I created a multiplayer tank fighting game similar to the original Atari Combat. I used a couple of new features available in HTML5 that are slowly becoming available in Google Chrome and other modern browsers. Traditionally, browser games are written in Flash, but there are some new features in HTML5 that will make it easier to write interactive applications that run in the browser without any extra plugins.

I used the Canvas element for the drawing the battlefield and WebSockets to allow for multiplayer. Anyone who visits the web page gets a tank added to the battle. Then, they are able to drive around and shoot at other players.

What did you get for winning?

Google had a number of Android based phones as prizes for the contest. I picked the Nexus One, and also got a spot on the VIP list for the Google Blogger party that night.

We’re always looking for intelligent and innovative developers to join the Bazaarvoice Labs team. If you know a sharp, talented candidate, refer them here and you could earn up to a $5000 referral bonus.

We as consumers are sharing opinions online at a rate far greater than in the physical world. While that may not seem like a stop-the-Wordpress kind of statement, let’s look at some numbers. Each of those 100 billion impressions represents a time a consumer was exposed to opinions… regardless of how many opinions were expressed. If you figure that a typical exposure contains 10 ideas – be they questions, answers, product reviews, stories, photos, etc. – then you’re looking at 1 trillion (yes, trillion) opinions shared. That’s 170 opinions for every living person on earth, and about 600 opinions for everyone who’s wired today.

That’s just the content Bazaarvoice’s 750 clients are pumping through their websites. When you expand the lens to all opinions shared through all other social commerce channels (and not to mention social networks) you’re looking at some staggering numbers, where every single person in the world is getting at least one opinion, every day, wired or not.

Virtual has clearly surpassed physical in volume, and when you consider the reach of our digital opinions – where shoppers in South Korea are helping those in Ireland – we have long surpassed what the physical world could have granted us. Forward-thinking brands and consumers, together, have changed the face of commerce forever. I extend a heartfelt thank you to our customers, partners, and all consumers who are helping advance the reach of social commerce and its impact on our everyday lives.

We’ve seen that answers to customer questions on a site can drive sales – PETCO’s Answer Den case study showed a 72% increase in conversion. JC Whitney saw that answers decreased product returns on 80% of products with answers had a lower product return rate, with an average 23% decrease in return rates for these products. And Canadian Tire found that questions with more than three answers eliminated up to 81% of their pre-sales calls taken by the customer service department, greatly reducing those costs.

BrandAnswers notifies participating manufacturers when a shopper has a question about one of their products across all retail sites that use Bazaarvoice Ask & Answer. The manufacturer answers the question and it’s immediately posted to the retailer’s site. Manufacturer answers are badged with the brand’s mark, giving the brand even more visibility on the retailer site, and showing that the manufacturer is listening and responding to shopper queries.

Samsung sees the power of answers

Just over three months ago, Samsung launched BrandAnswers and we ran analytics to see the impact their answers have on sales on a major retailer site. We looked at TVs that are comparatively rated, have similar traffic, and are in the same price range. We split these televisions into two groups: those with high BrandAnswers engagement (an average of 15 Samsung answers per product), and those with low BrandAnswers engagement (an average of four Samsung answers per product). Here are the trends we saw over three months:

Samsung answers correlate with a 96% increase in product views, suggesting that Samsung’s involvement fostered an increase in interest for these products.

When Samsung answers questions, the number of questions doubles, suggesting that Samsung’s brand engagement influenced an increase in their community’s engagement.

Samsung fills information gaps while learning what’s important to shoppers. BrandAnswers helped Samsung address online knowledge gaps – 91% of the content Samsung provided in their answers was not already on the site. The most repeated question was, “Can I hang this TV on the wall?” From Samsung’s perspective, the answer may be obvious; however, shoppers are telling them that it’s not clear. Filling these information gaps can help turn shoppers into buyers.

Each answer creates a “ripple effect” of value. Unlike one-to-one communication vehicles, such as a customer email or phone call, answers provided online help the overall community. When a shopper asks a question, it’s safe to assume that others have the same question. Additionally, having these answers within the purchase path helps drive sales conversion, so just one answer from Samsung can help drive incremental sales beyond the one person who asked the question.

Now Samsung – and other forward-thinking manufacturers – can easily help inform consumers, increase awareness of their products, and help drive channel sales. BrandAnswers requires just one sign-in to see questions across multiple retail sites, can notify product experts via email, and can let manufacturers publish answers instantly.

The best part? Manufacturers finally have first-hand insights into how consumers consider and buy their products. This perspective will help them create even better marketing campaigns and product information, and help them gain a major leg up on competitors. Look for more interesting BrandAnswers stories to come from major manufacturers.

Oh…and the other best part…for retailers. The content is FREE to retailers, and requires no impact to IT if they are a Bazaarvoice Ask & Answer client!

From a technical side, the most talked-about demonstration at our booth was of our Social Network Accelerators – how we integrate social networks, namely Facebook, with social commerce. It was a huge hit; take a moment to request a demo yourself.

Search was another hot topic. While inline search indexing is important, it’s just part of the overall picture. Read more about our search philosophy here and download a free whitepaper from Range Online Media here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’re lucky in that booth traffic never really dies down for us at shop.org – one of the many reasons we attend each year. And while we like to think it’s because we’re so smart, we always try to think of fun ways to attract folks over. This year, we introduced Social Commerce Super Heroes in the form of – what else? – flying monkeys. We even set our very own (self-proclaimed) world record for the largest monkey launch in North America, thanks to our friends at Elasticpath, who orchestrated and, um, launched the effort (the launch happens at 1:10 in the video).

Each year we also try to have a great party, and this year was bigger and better than ever, thanks to our partners at ATG and Sapient. Sapient engineers created interactive touch-screen stations where attendees could get virtually married or order specialty drinks, all based on RFID bands. The party was great fun and full of interesting conversations.

Thanks again to everyone who came by, launched a monkey, or got married in Vegas with us! We’re already looking forward to next year.

This release focuses on two main needs of our client base:

•    Increase site traffic through SEO and social networks
•    Drive discovery and sales with social merchandising

For a little more detail on each of these, keep reading.

Optimizing search by putting keywords directly in URLs

Keyword density plays a major role in driving natural search traffic, and adding keywords directly into the URL amps up optimization. Adding specific keywords into SearchVoice Microsite or UGC Landing Pages helps increase traffic to these already-search-enhanced pages.

Using Facebook to spread word of mouth

Our Facebook Connect integration lets consumers post reviews, stories, questions or answers directly to their Facebook pages as part of the submission process, increasing the content shared across social networks. Brands still retain complete control over what gets posted and when – whether the content appears once it’s fully moderated, un-moderated snippets are shown, or content is displayed immediately upon submission. So far, no other provider offers these options.

Letting customers recommend their favorite products to shoppers in Ask & Answer

Customers can already help each other find the information they need with Ask & Answer. With Social Recommendations, answerers can now post product recommendations directly in their answer, putting the reader one click away from a purchase.

Helping shoppers discover new products with input from brands in Stories

Customers have been able to post product recommendations with their stories, and now brands can complement existing stories with their own recommendations, making it easy for customers to purchase.

This month marks another exciting release for Bazaarvoice, and rest assured we’re already working on our November release. Watch this space for updates every seven weeks – that’s how fast we iterate. And if you’re a Bazaarvoice customer, talk to your Community Manager about implementing these new capabilities.

Our new Social Network Accelerator program, announced today, gives brands a blueprint for plugging into social networks in the right way to drive sales. It all starts with engaging users through social commerce applications such as Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer, and Stories – and gives brands an integrated strategy to tap into social networks for better distribution, profile information and participation.

Distribution: With Facebook Connect, for example, customers can automatically publish reviews, answers and stories directly to Facebook to share their opinions with their network of friends. Unlike other solutions on the market, we give our customers control of the message. They decide when and if the content should post to social networks, ensuring the content is moderated and safe for the brand.

Profiles: Clients that integrate with Facebook Connect can let their customers automatically see opinions of their Facebook friends, and find out what products they liked best. This will help drive sales and increase engagement with the site.

Participation: There’s also an opportunity for customers to submit reviews, answers, and stories via Twitter or Facebook and automatically funnel back to a site, directly to the product and category pages, where they can directly influence sales, increase search, and more.

In addition to the superior technology of our Accelerator program, we'll also provide recommendations and best practices through our Community Managers. As part of a broader ecosystem, we recognize that our Radius partners will also play a key role in maximizing Social Network Accelerator results for our clients.

This all adds up to help companies broaden their reach, increase engagement with customers, and increase their intelligence about their customers as a whole. And – finally – companies can use Facebook and Twitter to drive real, measurable results. These are just a few ways we’re innovating to drive value throughout all of social.

As you've read in our other search blog posts, we think “beyond search engines” in search. To be successful in attracting the right shoppers at the right time, today’s companies need to present information in places where searchers want to find it – via search engines, in on-site navigation, and through social networks, to name a few.

Today’s consumer seeks to cut through the noise – there is so much information out there, they just want what’s most relevant to them. To attract the most users, it’s important to speak their language. And what resonates best with them? Input and opinions from other shoppers like them.

The most obvious example of this is the “top-rated products” list. When searching for a new product, shoppers want to know what other people like them think. And top-rated products aren’t just top-sellers – they’re the products that people bought and liked.

PETCO found that people who used top-rated product navigation converted 49% higher compared to people who viewed the same products and didn’t use top-rated navigation. And people who used top-rated navigation had a 63% higher sales volume than the average visitor. Clearly, those who look at top-rated products were able to cut through the clutter and buy quickly.

It’s also important to mine your user-generated content for most popular words, then use those words in your marketing – play them back to consumers. Read how Nintendo Wii did this back in 2007. Remember that searchers search and shop using the same language as reviewers and storytellers, and capitalize on that – both on your site and beyond. Many of our clients have used review snippets in email marketing, increasing conversion up to 10% — but this practice goes beyond online marketing. Use popular customer-generated words to attract shoppers inside your store, then help them discover products through snippets on product tags, in signage, and by sharing this input with your staff.

User-generated content can also fuel paid search advertising. Office Depot mined its keywords and implemented an SEM strategy leveraging top review phrases, driving a 196% increase in paid search revenue, plus a 24% conversion increase.

In short, when customers are talking about your products in a certain way, leverage that – it will resonate with your customers more than any type of marketing-speak you use. Sure, customer-generated content is valuable to the shopper within the purchase cycle, but companies can also use it themselves to fuel effective marketing.