Facebook announced this new feature over the Easter weekend in its developer blog with a neat travel marketing example. Typically the button lives next to a Like button at the beginning or end of a page or post. It's purpose is, of course, to let you share content that you are reading or watching directly with specific contacts or to a Group.
It's like the "Send to a Friend" or "Forward to a Friend" which has been used for years to make emails more viral. So you could say Facebook has an even stronger viral effect now since these are direct recommendations to an individual or group.
If you look at the screen grab below (from Mashable in this case) you'll see that unlike the general Like button which posts content to your wall, you're now able to share the content with:
Mark Zuckerberg claimed he was going to implement a modern messaging messaging system and reinvent email - and this is another step towards that even if on it's own it doesn't seem especially exciting.
So - make sure that you're implementing the Send button on your site, it can only make the sharing potential of your content even greater. You can implement send as a Like+Send feature or completely stand alone. More on that detail here.
It's important to note that Facebook has also updated Facebook Groups to allow Group Questions and Group sharing of photo libraries. Remember that Facebook developed Groups for targeted sharing: words, pictures, videos, links and documents. Facebook recognises that within social networks there are sub-groups - work colleagues or close friends, maybe just family, for example.
In short - people can share with a tighter sub-set (more targeted and relevant) group of people, and therefore more likely your message (in the form of content) will get seen by those that matter. It also means we're more likely to friend people we might not have, and as a result become more sophisticated in our usage of Facebook, as individuals.
The Send button will very likely lead to a boost in the adoption of Groups - sharing work humour/stories with work friends, for example.
By Danyl Bosomworth
Dan helped to co-found Smart Insights in 2010 and acted as Marketing Director until leaving in November 2014 to focus on his other role as Managing Director of First 10 Digital. His experience spans brand development and digital marketing, with roles both agency and client side for nearly 20 years. Creative, passionate and focussed, his goal is on commercial success whilst increasing brand equity through effective integration and remembering that marketing is about real people. Dan's interests and recent experience span digital strategy, social media, and eCRM. You can learn more about Dan's background here Linked In.
Turbocharge your results with this toolkit containing 12 resources
The Social Media Marketing toolkit contains:
Start your Digital Marketing Plan today with our Free membership.
Recommended Blog Posts
Our compilation of the latest social media statistics of consumer adoption and usage of social networking platforms Social networks have transformed marketing and, as this post shows, their popularity is still growing in our latest global social media statistics research …..
To make sure your social media campaign is as successful as possible, follow our 7 steps to plan and structure your campaign strategy If you have an upcoming marketing campaign for a new product feature, or a holiday promotion that …..
What do marketers need to know and do? Exciting times for marketers who enjoy following how digital platforms evolve… It feels like 2008, as I said in my first post on Threads… Since I’ll be talking about it, amongst other …..
