Content Apps Could Be First to Embrace Facebook Mobile Likes

Now that third-party mobile developers can integrate Facebook’s likes into their mobile apps, brands and marketers are dreaming up new ways to embolden their mobile strategy with the powerful sharing feature. App developers and branded content creators will probably be the first to start.

“Apps with content will be the first big winners as content tends to be the stickiest. We are content-hungry when we wait for the bus or at the airport for a flight. We look to our timelines to feed the need,” wrote Nick Lynch, VP of platforms at engage:BDR, in response to email questions. “The same way we saw our friends ask us to join their farm or their mafia gang online, we will soon see a resurgence of these in our timelines as now the thousands of mobile games that we play will have some sort of like or share component to incentivize their users.”

He expects companies like Rovio, which successfully cross promotes its Angry Birds titles, to make significant strides with Facebook’s like feature added to their mobile apps.

Success will not only be measured in the number of likes a mobile app can drive to Facebook users’ timelines, but also in how effectively the sharing mechanism can be used to incentivize users to like other products and increase engagement with their brands across the board.

“I think what will be interesting is what brands and apps do to utilize likes to cross-promote their other apps and brands,” noted Lynch. He said he is already receiving interest in Facebook’s new built-in feature for the Open Graph and he expects many clients and partners to implement the functionality in short order. Engage:BDR is an ad network and technology provider that also offers brand strategy for creative campaigns.

Instagram and Foursquare have already included the new feature in their apps, enabling users to automatically share their favorite content with their friends on Facebook. Users who enable the like button and opt-in to connect the app with Facebook will receive notifications on Facebook and see their friends’ likes from other apps in the news feed as well.

As for when brands should integrate the new like feature into their mobile apps, Lynch said there is no better time than now. “I think this gets implemented immediately. Any tactic to allow users to share that they are interacting with a brand will be carried out as soon as possible. A Facebook user’s timeline is prime real estate.”