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When Facebook announced their updated Pages product last week, it was a big deal as the Pages presents the opportunity for creating a more integrated branded experience. Last night I had the opportunity to speak with Gunter Pfau of the Stuzo Group to discuss some of the projects that they’ve been working on. He told me about the new AMP Energy Canada page that they launched in partnership with BBDO, Proximity & OMD Canada and I have to say, it’s pretty impressive.

It’s not just a simple landing page. Instead, there is an integrated application which includes videos and commenting within the Facebook Page. If you want an example of what the new Facebook Pages product has to offer, this is a great first example for any brand to check out. Below is the interview that I conducted with Gunter Pfau.

Nick O’Neill: What is the Stuzo Group and how did it get started?
Gunter Pfau (Stuzo Group): We are a digital agency specializing in measurable interactive promotions through social channels. We address clients’ unique marketing challenges through insights into social channels and the development of custom promotions and applications that provide metric-driven results. With a proven technology platform and the most promotions launched on Facebook, we have the experience and knowledge to help brands tackle any social marketing problem. We launched right after the Facebook platform was announced back in 2007.

Nick O’Neill: What’s your role at the Stuzo Group?
Gunter Pfau: I am the founder. My day-to-day is spent between management of the business and product development.

Nick O’Neill: What is the most effective campaign you’ve been involved in?
Gunter Pfau: That depends on the success metric in question. A portion of our clients aim to build their fan base, some focus on database marketing, while others measure success through brand engagement. We ran a program in conjunction with OMD for Gossip Girl that was deemed a smashing success because it produced a massive increase in engagement and new fans in a very short period of time.

Our team worked with Grip Limited on a recent sweepstakes for Bud Light that produced great database marketing results. All-in-all though, the ongoing Canadian Doritos Guru program is fast becoming the largest and most successful program to be powered by our platform to date. The technological innovation and power behind this execution lies in the fact that consumers can join in on the fun through Facebook and on the Doritos Guru microsite with seamless integration between the platforms.

Consumers can engage with the promotion on their own terms in the online environment that they feel most comfortable in. Video entries are uploaded through Facebook or the Doritos Guru microsite, hosted on YouTube, and can be voted or commented on in either Facebook or on the Doritos Guru microsite. In the first three weeks, the promotion generated nearly 800,000 video views, tens of thousands of comments, hundreds of thousands of votes, and millions of pageviews.

The game-changing promotion also showcases the power of Facebook Connect – over one third of the total submissions are from users connected to Facebook.

Nick O’Neill: What techniques have you found to be most effective to attract new visitors to your promotions?
Gunter Pfau: A media buy is a must. All of our clients execute a Facebook media to drive traffic to the promotion. Our platform has been optimized to generate trusted referrals that drive viral growth. We publish relevant and actionable feed stories every time a user enters a promotion and reengage users through various social tough points throughout the time of the promotion.

The success of a promotion is a factor of three things:

• Media Spend
• Prizing behind the promotion
• Cool factor of the brand

Nick O’Neill: What benefits do brands have from using Facebook Pages with integrated application over standalone applications?
Gunter Pfau: We view standalone applications as one-offs and Facebook Pages as the definitive home and launching pad for marketing campaigns for brands within Facebook. Brands can’t build and leverage the accumulated user bases from standalone applications for multiple marketing programs. Integrated applications enable brands to run strategically timed marketing programs throughout the year while building their fan base with each new program.

The applications to be integrated will differ for each program, however, the base of fans added from the previous program remains, functions as a launching pad for new programs, and increases with each successive program. Forward thinking brands understand this and are adapting a long term approach to Facebook Pages and the development of their community.

Nick O’Neill: How could Facebook improve their system to make it more conducive to branded environments/experiences?
Gunter Pfau: Facebook is doing a phenomenal job in enabling complete integration into their platform. The recent changes to Facebook Pages are amazing for branded experiences. We are excited to have launched a promotion with BBDO, Proximity & OMD Canada for AMP Energy Canada in the new format the day after it went live to the public. I’m confident that Facebook will continue to improve the toolset it provides to developers and brands alike. Our only ask right now is to have the same development latitude afforded to Facebook Pages as is currently available to Canvas Pages.

Nick O’Neill: How much time have you invested in optimizing Facebook advertising?
Gunter Pfau: Our promotions platform – Win Big – has been in continuous development since April of 2008. We launched our first promotion in August of last year and have to date launched the most promotions within Facebook.

Nick O’Neill: What are the average budgets for the campaigns you are running on Facebook?
Gunter Pfau: Budgets fall between $25K and $500K.

Nick O’Neill: Are any of your customers coming back for follow-up campaigns?
Gunter Pfau: Practically all of our clients and agency partners are coming back. Our promotions produce results. We run multiple programs per year for most of our clients and agency partners.

Nick O’Neill: How do you measure the effectiveness of any campaign?
Gunter Pfau: Top five success metrics include:

1. Number of promotion entrants
2. Number of trusted referrals published for each program
3. Volume of UGC submissions, user votes, comments
4. Percent of users that opt in to receive future communications from advertiser
5. Percent increase in advertiser’s fan base

Others include:

• Number of pageviews for each program
• Average number of pageviews per user per program
• Brand engagement as measured by interactivity and time spent on sites
• Number of gifts sent by users and number of brand views generated
• Visits to the advertiser’s Facebook fan page

Nick O’Neill: How could Facebook improve their system to make it more conducive to branded environments/experiences?
Gunter Pfau: There are two things I’d recommend. First, the enabling of autoplay for flash within Facebook Pages. Second, the added capability for developers and brands to change the name of the “Boxes” tab.

Nick O’Neill: Is there anything you’d like to add?
Gunter Pfau: Our platform has support for the following promotion types:

• Sweepstakes
• Photo, video, essay, multiple round, and all other types of contests
• Product sampling
• Couponing