Facebook held its first Facebook Marketing Conference (FMC) on February 29, 2012. Key announcements included: (1) Timeline will be mandatory for brand pages by March 30, requiring redesign; (2) Private messaging allows brands to respond to customers privately; (3) Reach Generator can boost reach of page posts. Digitas recommends brands prepare for Timeline, use private messaging, consider Reach Generator, and incorporate new ad units. Facebook aims to make advertising as high-quality as content from friends.

1. Facebook Updates from FMC 2012
Implications for the Pharma Industry
March 2, 2012 Contributors:
Sarah Larcker, Dir | Account Planning
Christopher Andrew, SVP | Media
Executive Summary
On February 29, 2012, Facebook held FMC, the first-ever Facebook Marketing Conference in New
York City. Unlike previous developers conferences that focused on the bells and whistles of the
platform itself, for the first time, the focus was on advertisers actively using the platform. Some
of the developments announced will have significant impact on the way pharmaceutical, biotech,
and medical device companies view Facebook, especially the imminent rollout of Timeline for
brand pages, the introduction of private messaging, the creation of Reach Generator, and new ad
platforms options that help improve storytelling opportunities and enhance social context for paid
placements.
In light of these new developments, Digitas Health recommends that companies:
1. Immediately develop a version of Facebook pages for the timeline feature, which must be
implemented by March 30, 2012.
2. Take advantage of the private messaging feature to both enhance customer service and to
remain compliant with FDA guidance on keeping certain communications private.
3. Consider participation in the Reach Generator to expand the impact of Facebook participation.
4. Incorporate new ad units into upcoming media planning.
5. Ask agency partners to begin reporting via the Insights feature on Facebook page
performance.
Six Key Announcements
1. Timeline for Pages
Description: While many individuals have been using personal Timelines since F8
(Facebook’s 2011 developer conference), brand pages have remained in the traditional
format. Beginning March 1, brands will be empowered to transition their pages over to the
Timeline format. Brands will have 30 days to complete the transition, and will be forcibly
moved onto the Timeline platform on March 30, 2012.
Implications: Many marketers have viewed Timeline on brand pages as sub-optimal
because brands change over time and may not want to feature older content, brand
positioning, or claims. However, this feature will be mandatory on all brand pages as of
March 30, 2012.
Pages for FDA-regulated companies and their products will need to be redesigned. It will no
longer be possible to designate a “landing page” on Facebook, as all visitors will be
automatically directed to the brand’s Timeline.
100 East Penn Square | Philadelphia, PA 19107
© 2012 Digitas Health phone (215) 545-4444 | fax (215) 545-4440 | digitashealth.com

2. Brand teams should take advantage of this ability and use “preview” as a staging
environment. Screen shots of this new design should be reviewed and approved by the
medical, legal, regulatory committees as soon as possible so it is implemented on time.
Pages promoting products will, of course need to be submitted to OPDP (or APLB) prior to
implementation. Given the tight timeline, it is recommended that brand teams use existing
approved assets to ease the approval process.
Additional Details:
• Tabs: Existing tabs on brand pages will not be eliminated. Instead, brands will be
forced to prioritize which tabs will be prominently displayed in one of the four
available spots on the Timeline homepage. Deprioritized tabs will still be accessible,
but visitors will have to click a drop-down menu to display them. Tabs will also now
be 810px wide.
• Mobile: At this time, Timeline is not yet available for brand pages on mobile devices.
No dates were given for mobile implementation, but future implementation is
reportedly in the works. Current mobile implementations will continue unchanged for
the time being, so companies do not need to immediately make changes.
• Backdating: Brands can backdate all aspects of their Timeline at any time, but
cannot date forward (e.g. the Timeline can reflect when the company was founded or
important research milestones, but not talk about anticipated future events). When
updating the page with the backdate feature, it is possible to disable the feature that
updates our fans on these changes to avoid spamming them; in this case, updates
will only show up on the brand page itself.
• Pinned Page Post: Pinning allows brands to highlight important posts on their wall
for up to a week. For example, if a brand posts daily but wants an important post to
stay at the top of the list, Page Posts allows prioritization such that and the
designated post would always bubble up to the top. This feature could be used to
highlight Offers the brand wishes to remain top-of-mind. This post could also
potentially contain risk information in the form of Important Safety Information,
community guidelines, or any other information that is deemed essential (e.g. link to
the PI, PPI, Med Guide).
• Controls: New controls will be put in place to allow the administrator to determine if
a post will show up on the page wall. Additional details about these features are
forthcoming.
• Layout: With the addition of Timeline, there are a number of additional layout
changes that should be considered:
o The logo will be front and center, to the exclusion of dates, promotions, calls
to action, offers, and calls to Like a page
o Pages will need to develop copy to reflect what the page is about, as this
information will be highlighted on the page
o Pages will need to design/choose a large cover photo. This photo can change
frequently and will set the tone for the brand and the page. The image is
designed to be 851 x 315 pixels
March 2, 2012 Digitas Health FMC POV Page 2 of 4

3. 2. Private Messaging
Description: With the rollout of Timeline at the end of March 2012, pages will also have the
ability to private message a user who posts on the wall.
Implications: Private messaging removes a core hurdle for products that have been
participating on Facebook. This update allows pages to satisfy FDA guidelines (especially
those recently announced in the guidance about responding to unsolicited requests for off-
label information) and baseline visitor expectations for customer service (e.g., informing a
user why a comment could not be posted due to violating terms & conditions). As a result,
private messaging should be built into existing response schematics and plans.
3. Reach Generator
Description: While Facebook algorithms have traditionally throttled newsfeed exposure so
that only 16% of fans see posts on a weekly basis, this new subscription product will allow
broader message penetration across the fan base, perhaps as high as 75%.
Implications: Companies should strongly consider subscribing to Reach Generator as a paid
media buy to ensure page fans will actually be exposed to page content via newsfeeds,
which is the primary means by which fans consume information.
4. Newly Upgraded Premium Ad Units
Description: There will be six newly upgraded premium ad options: Photos, Videos,
Questions, Status, Events and Links.
The basic premise of these units is that page posts (the six types mentioned above)
seamlessly become content for premium ads. Premium ads will be delivered through the
right rail, within desktop newsfeeds and mobile newsfeeds. In addition, there will be an
optional 4th placement, the “logout experience,” which is an ad placed on the page after
users logout of Facebook, instead of redirecting to the homepage.
While Facebook has replaced its former advertising model with these new ad units, two
former ad options will remain. Sponsored stories (paid advertising that amplifies the visibility
of earned actions by page fans) and marketplace ads (text/banner ads in the right rail, with
the option to drive off-site) will continue to exist in addition to the new ad options.
Implications: Companies with pages have more options than ever to attract visitors and
fans to their pages with new premium ad units. However, it is now more critical than ever
that content is valuable, relevant, and timely, since all premium ads will be based on
elevating this existing content.
Paid/owned/earned components must work in concert and be carefully orchestrated in order
to perform effectively. This will be amplified now more than ever. Premium ad content (paid)
will now be re-purposed page content (owned) and the quality of that content will determine
shares, likes and engagement (earned) both on the posts and the ads themselves.
Content calendars should take these new premium ad options into consideration.
March 2, 2012 Digitas Health FMC POV Page 3 of 4

4. 5. Facebook Offers
Description: The social graph and network connections naturally enable social sharing of
coupons and offers. Early beta tests of Offers have resulted in positive ROI for marketers and
add value and utility to both marketers and consumers.
Implications: Offers seems to raise concerns about whether a company wants fans of its
brand pages to share coupons with other people who are not themselves fans. If companies
are already enabling features such as “Email this page” on their brand websites that allow
site visitors to share a co-pay offer, then the same principles would carry over to the
Facebook experience. This feature could have greater impact for over the counter products
within the broader health category.
6.
Insights
Description:
Facebook
has
upgraded
metrics
brands
can
obtain
from
Insights.
A
new
metric
called
"People
Talking
About
This"
is
more
representative
of
brand
engagement
as
it
includes
interactions
from
across
the
social
graph,
not
just
"Likes.”
Insights
are
also
now
available
in
real-­‐time.
Implications:
Companies
should
update
their
measurement
plans
to
include
the
new
insights
metrics
available
on
Facebook
to
better
reflect
brand
value.
Brands as People
From
Carolyn
Everson,
Facebook
VP
of
Global
Marketing
Solutions:
"Our
main
objective
is
to
make
sure
that
over
time,
the
advertising
is
as
good
as
the
content
you
would
receive
from
your
friends
or
family.
It’s
very
similar
to
your
own
Facebook
experience.
There
are
certain
friends
that
you
probably
love
getting
updates
from-­‐-­‐they
are
witty
and
interesting-­‐-­‐and
that’s
really
what
we’re
trying
to
do
with
brands:
Stop
thinking
about
brands
over
here
and
people
over
here,
but
actually
[think
of]
brands
as
people."
Official Resources
Visit
www.facebook.com/business/fmc
to
find
the
following:
·∙
Guides
to
the
new
products
·∙
Best
practices
for
organizational
design
and
page
publishing
·∙
An
overview
of
measurement
offerings
and
Facebook
Insights
·∙
Videos
of
the
fMC
keynote
&
breakout
sessions
·∙
Videos
of
client
success
stories
and
new
products
Visit
www.facebook-­‐successstories.com
to
get
inspired
by
some
of
the
most
successful
campaigns.
Fast
Company:
Brands
are
People
article
March 2, 2012 Digitas Health FMC POV Page 4 of 4