Yesterday there was a ridiculous amount of hoopla about the new Visa Business Network application. The buzz all started with an Associated Press (AP) article which resulted in numerous blogs and news outlets covering the story. I honestly have no idea how Visa was able to get so much buzz going about a custom application that they’ve developed. Supposedly they are investing $2 million in advertising this application but so far less than 1,000 people have installed the application.
The application is designed to let small business owners promote their company within the Visa application. So how is this useful to small businesses, you ask? It’s not! I tried using the application and it didn’t work the first time around. The one benefit of installing this application is that the first 20,000 businesses that register get $100 to spend on Facebook Ads. I tried adding my business to this directory to get the free $100 in SocialAds but for some reason it didn’t register my company.
20 minutes later I’ve given up and am moving on. If there is one thing to learn about this campaign, it’s that spending $2 million to promote your application gets you a lot of press but it doesn’t necessarily get you a lot of application installs. They should instead invest in an install campaign to get some traffic going. If you want a free $100 for ads on Facebook go install the Visa Business Network application. Don’t blame me though if it doesn’t work!
Dude. Nick. Why the long face today? VISA is a major brand. The real risk is that it doesn't do anything. The fact that the company has stepped up and built an application is huge. They are now doing business where tons of small business owners hang out. Not a bad strategy. I'm sure they'll iterate and then blow it out with Facebook. Congrats to the Facebook team and VISA in seeing the opportunity and going for it!
Comment by Michael Lazerow — June 25, 2008 @ 7:10 am
@Michael … I think it's great that they are doing this, I just don't get why there's so much press for a brand launching an app …
Comment by Nick O'Neill — June 25, 2008 @ 8:16 am
I added it to my company's FB page as i was curious what it is. I don't know yet if it is something beneficial but i received the 100$ in my primary FB email as a code to redeem in my ads account. So this part is working.
Comment by Manogr — June 25, 2008 @ 8:41 am
They're getting press because all of a sudden $2M shifted from another media (traditional digital, magazine, TV, etc.) into Facebook. And this shows that Facebook is thinking about how to leverage its platform to make money. VISA has made a very smart decision — instead of just spending money on traditional media outlets to reach SBO, they're going directly to their consumers through the social nets. I'm not defending their product as I just signed up. But the important thing is that they LAUNCHED. Now Facebook and VISA will work together to make it better, iterate, add features, etc.MikeBuddy Media
Comment by Michael Lazerow — June 25, 2008 @ 8:55 am
They're getting press because all of a sudden $2M shifted from another media (traditional digital, magazine, TV, etc.) into Facebook. And this shows that Facebook is thinking about how to leverage its platform to make money. VISA has made a very smart decision — instead of just spending money on traditional media outlets to reach SBO, they're going directly to their consumers through the social nets. I'm not defending their product as I just signed up. But the important thing is that they LAUNCHED. Now Facebook and VISA will work together to make it better, iterate, add features, etc.
Mike
Buddy Media
Comment by Michael Lazerow — June 25, 2008 @ 9:55 am
Dude. Nick. Why the long face today? VISA is a major brand. The real risk is that it doesn’t do anything. The fact that the company has stepped up and built an application is huge. They are now doing business where tons of small business owners hang out. Not a bad strategy. I’m sure they’ll iterate and then blow it out with Facebook. Congrats to the Facebook team and VISA in seeing the opportunity and going for it!
Comment by Michael Lazerow — June 25, 2008 @ 11:10 am
@Michael … I think it’s great that they are doing this, I just don’t get why there’s so much press for a brand launching an app …
Comment by Nick O'Neill — June 25, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
I think it's an interesting idea. They're basically setting up a Yellow Pages (local business search) type of service within the social network.Local business advertising is an area that Google hasn't managed to crack, despite various attempts. I guess that Facebook could be a good arena to do it, since it has geographical networks and also social networks which are also usually local. If you want a plumber, you'd want two things: firstly he has to be local, and secondly you'd prefer it if a friend recommended him first. Facebook can provide both. Traditional local business search providers can only provide the first.Also, by giving businesses a free $100 introduction to Facebook advertising, they're getting small business owners to go through the process of advertising online – and hopefully showing them lots of options so that they can target to their local area.
Comment by David — June 25, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
I added it to my company’s FB page as i was curious what it is. I don’t know yet if it is something beneficial but i received the 100$ in my primary FB email as a code to redeem in my ads account. So this part is working.
Comment by Manogr — June 25, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
I think it's an interesting idea. They're basically setting up a Yellow Pages (local business search) type of service within the social network.
Local business advertising is an area that Google hasn't managed to crack, despite various attempts. I guess that Facebook could be a good arena to do it, since it has geographical networks and also social networks which are also usually local. If you want a plumber, you'd want two things: firstly he has to be local, and secondly you'd prefer it if a friend recommended him first. Facebook can provide both. Traditional local business search providers can only provide the first.
Also, by giving businesses a free $100 introduction to Facebook advertising, they're getting small business owners to go through the process of advertising online – and hopefully showing them lots of options so that they can target to their local area.
Comment by David — June 25, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
ok sure i will do that
Comment by Rachael loggie — June 27, 2008 @ 8:23 am