Several years ago, Facebook released a platform that allowed developers to create applications to
leverage the site’s features and the social information of its users. When a user installs or adds your
application, the app can display content on his Profile, as well as gain limited access to his information.
For marketers, applications present an opportunity to create engaging, branded experiences that are
inherently social.
This chapter details what you need to know to brainstorm an idea for a great application, as well as how
to plan for its development. To build an application, of course, you’ll need development resources. You
could task a programmer at your company, hire one, or learn how to code yourself. Any competent
developer can learn to work with the Facebook API, but it is not within the scope of this book to teach
you to program.
Create Inherently Social Applications
“Make it go viral!” You’ve heard the command, but what does it really mean? Confusion about social
and viral marketing is frustratingly common. Viral is an outcome; it is the result of the successful release
of a contagious campaign. Contagiousness is not something that can be tacked on as an afterthought,
but the applications with the greatest chance of going viral tend to be the ones that are inherently social.
While it can be a jarring experience when an application abruptly asks a user to invite others,the value or
enjoyment a user gets from a truly social application often comes directly from her interactionwith other people within the app.
enjoyment a user gets from a truly social application often comes directly from her interactionwith other people within the app.
Improve Existing Social Behaviors
Facebook itself has been described as a social utility, rather than a social network, in that it is not a
collection of people who interact, but a collection of tools that allow people to interact with their existing
social networks. For many, Facebook is not a place to meet new people; it is a place to connect and
communicate with those they already know. Users were interacting with their social circle long before
Facebook existed, and many interactions still happen offline. Facebook is a tool that makes it easier to
connect with people over long distances or about specific activities or pieces of content.
One of the easiest ways to design an inherently social application is to identify pre-existing social behavior
and make it better. A user is much more likely to use your application to send congratulations to a
college graduate than in an entirely new kind of social interaction. The latter is entirely possible it’s just
much harder from a motivation and marketing point of view. In fact, one of the most popular applications
on Facebook allows users to send one another birthday greetings, an activity as old as birth itself.
Knowing your target audience can help immensely with this. For instance, if you’re targeting mothers,
you could create an application that allows their children to send them virtual flowers on Mothers’ Day.
Or, if you want to reach new parents, you might build an It’s a Boy/Girl application. Even a limited amount of research or knowledge about your prospective users should allow you to create a list of popular, pre-existing social interactions they have on Facebook. Once you’ve got a list of those actions, decide which fit best with your brand strategy. A cleaning products company would do well to build a party-related application with a reminder that they can help clean up the next morning. If you have an email list of customers, a simple survey asking them what they currently do on Facebook is a
quick and easy way to get a ton of great ideas.
Remember that no one wants to socialize about something they perceive as boring (no matter how fascinating you may find life insurance).
They want to socialize around themselves and their friends. Work hard to position your brand as the one that helps them do that better.
They want to socialize around themselves and their friends. Work hard to position your brand as the one that helps them do that better.
Learn from Success
Stretching the viral marketing metaphor, you might think of contagious Facebook applications as actual,
living organisms. If you wished to create a new dog with a certain set of characteristics, you would select parents with those traits and breed them. Similarly, you can borrow features and ideas from successful applications already spreading in the wild and blend them into something new.
In some industries and niches, you’ll have one or more direct competitors building applications on Facebook. In most, you won’t have this luxury. Rather than look for competitors who are selling products similar to yours, look for companies and applications who are targeting the same audiences you are. In 2007 and 2008, one of the most popular Facebook applications was the virulent Vampires game in which players “bit” their friends to turn them into vampires and gain points. Rather than risk a potentially unsuccessful new idea, Sony Pictures rebranded the application to promote their vampire movie 30 Days of Night.
What if you needed to promote a zombie movie? You might try creating a similar zombie application (a few already exist) with your own branded twist.
Approach this borrowing tactic with some caution; you don’t want to be seen as merely copying someone else’s application. The key is to inject your brand’s own special spin into the borrowed concept.
A wind power company, for example, could make a wind-farming version of the most popular app on Facebook at the moment: FarmVille. Many popular remix versions of this game already exist and are gaining users daily; check out how PetVille, FishVille, and YoVille built differently on the same idea.
You can also look to successful applications (especially games) outside of Facebook for inspiration. One
of the most popular applications ever developed for Facebook was based on the board game Scrabble.
Don’t infringe on a major brand’s trademark as the makers of Scrabulous did (and were eventually sued for),but popular card games, nonproprietary board games, and schoolyard sports are all fair game.
For example, Zynga’s Texas Hold’em poker is an extremely popular application.
For example, Zynga’s Texas Hold’em poker is an extremely popular application.
Clarity, Simplicity, and Speed to Engagement
Remember that your target users are probably already familiar with using Facebook to socialize and
aren’t super interested in learning a ton of new behaviors. You should strive to make your application as
intuitive as possible. One of the most popular Facebook applications of all time is Super Wall, which simply
enhanced the existing Wall back before Facebook itself integrated a range of new features. People
already understood the concept of a Wall and so there was very little delay from the time they installed
the application to the time they were using and enjoying it.
Think of your application in terms of friction and inertia. Friction is the amount of time investment, hassle,
and commitment a user faces when using an application, and inertia is the movitation that user has to
push through the friction. If your application is the best thing to happen to Facebook since FarmVille,
and everyone knows this to be true, potential users will have enough motivation to deal with a fairly high
level of friction. On the other hand, if they’ve never heard of you or your application, it had better be
pretty easy to set up and get value from. Work to reduce friction and increase inertia.
Integrate with Viral Facebook Features
Facebook is a social network, and as such it contains a wide range of potentially contagious features.
Users can invite one another to applications, suggest Pages, send messages, and tag people. Most of
these actions trigger Facebook to send messages to the target user informing him of his friend’s actions.
Users can also post updates to their feed, which is displayed on all of their friends’ home pages.
Be sure your application correctly utilizes these viral features.
Be sure your application correctly utilizes these viral features.
Give users reasons to invite their friends, but be careful not to demand or force users to do this. Build
in a reason for your application to post to users’ feeds. Mafia Wars players get points when they build
their crime families by inviting their friends to join the game, and it has become one of the top 20 most
popular apps.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you can just slap these viral mechanisms onto an app after it’s
been built. For best results, these mechanisms should be deeply integrated and part of the fundamental
reason for using your app. Don’t design a Facebook application that functions in a social vaccuum.
Build something where the entire point is to interact with other people and spread the app.
Parts of Your Application
An application has essentially three parts or places on Facebook where you can interact with users: the
canvas Page, Profile boxes, and your fan Page. The fan Page is a normal Page dedicatedto your app,and the functionality there is the same as any other Page. The canvas Page is the centralplace where users will use your app. Profile boxes are sections of your users’ Profiles where you can display some content and functionality.
Development
After you’ve come up with an awesome idea for your app, draw out exactly how users will interact with
it. Don’t worry if you don’t think you can draw; in fact, the worse you are at making pretty pictures, the
better off you’ll be when creating mockups. Use a pen and paper (markers work great for this since they
force you to forget the details and focus on the overarching structures) or a digital tool such as Balsamiq
Mockups, Adobe Photoshop, or even Microsoft PowerPoint. Block out the most important features and
user actions and get this mockup in front of potential users as early as you can. Even without a functioning
prototype, you’ll be surprised at how many great insights you’ll get. Draw these fast and don’t get
too attached to any individual version—you shouldn’t be afraid to throw them out and start over.
As mentioned earlier, you probably won’t be developing the application yourself. When you’re fairly
comfortable with your rough mockups, start talking to your developers: they’ll give you ideas about how
easy or difficult specific parts of your app will be to develop and maintain. You should also start working
with your designer at this stage, if you have one separate from your development resources. If you have
the resources, it’s also a good idea to hire a dedicated user experience and interaction expert.
Facebook is a fluid environment, and you’ll be learning as you build and launch your application, so plan
to develop in iterations. Forget perfectionism; get a minimally functioning application up and running as
soon as possible and keep working to improve it. The best development methodology for projects like this is a variant of agile development, a subject on which you can find any number of websites or books.
soon as possible and keep working to improve it. The best development methodology for projects like this is a variant of agile development, a subject on which you can find any number of websites or books.
Art and Copy
Before you launch the first version of your application, you’ll need to craft some images and text.
The text will be mostly short or microcopy content, including your application’s name, a description, and any instructions your users will need to use your app. You’ll also need to create an icon.
Spend some time and make it good: icons convince users to install and use your application. Thinkof them in the same iterative ways as your development efforts and strive to constantly improve them.
Spend some time and make it good: icons convince users to install and use your application. Thinkof them in the same iterative ways as your development efforts and strive to constantly improve them.
Launching and Promoting Your Application
When the first usable version of your application is complete, you’ll want to start introducing it to potential
users. If you have an existing Facebook community, like a Page, those Page members are perfect initial users.
Post the app to your Wall. Your Twitter account, blog, or newsletter are also great ways to soft-launch your application to users who already have an affinity for your brand. Listen closely for their feedback and use it to inform the next development iterations you make.
Post the app to your Wall. Your Twitter account, blog, or newsletter are also great ways to soft-launch your application to users who already have an affinity for your brand. Listen closely for their feedback and use it to inform the next development iterations you make.
When your application reaches at least 5 total users or 10 monthly active users, you should submit it to Facebook’s Application Directory. The link you’ll need is on your application’s settings Page.
In addition to the required 250-character description, you can optionally upload a 75-pixel-square logo. Take advantage of both of these opportunities. Describe your application using keywords people are likely to search for and provide an enticing screenshot as your application’s logo.
If you designed your application to be inherently social, your soft launch will form a seed of users who will begin sharing it with their friends. In a perfect world, you’ll have done such a good job that this seed is all the promotion the app needs to start spreading like wildfire. If that’s not the case, don’t worry.
Remember that you’re working iteratively and you’ll be constantly making improvements. There are several paid options for promoting your application, the easiest of which is to use Facebook’s built-in advertising system. You can also buy ad space from one of the Facebook application advertising networks,but it is generally a good idea to start with the built-in Facebook ads.
Summary
The most important element of designing a Facebook application is to build social activity directly into
the fabric of the application. Don’t add on sharing functionality as an afterthought. Figure out what existing
social behaviors your target users are performing on Facebook, and use your application to facilitate them.
Minimize the time it takes a user to get value out of your application. Reduce, simplify, and clarify your
application so that the experience of using it is as intuitive as possible, and make sure people are being
social with your application.
Facebook application development is an ongoing process, and you should strive for the iterative development
goals of release early and release often. Think about your application as a constantly improving
work in progress.
