Facebook allows marketers to embed – what’s the big deal?

Yesterday Facebook revealed a new capability to their Facebook PMD Strategic Partners – the embedded post. This social plug-in allows users to easily embed public Facebook posts onto blogs, news sites and pages. Embedded Posts are a way to put public posts (by either a page or a person on Facebook) on your web site or web page.

The embedded post will show any type of media attached to it (hyperlinks, videos, pictures, etc) and it will show the number of likes, shares, and comments that the post has. Embedding posts will let people using your web site see the same user generated content that is  on Facebook.com, but directly on your site where it may be relevant to the conversation.  Embedded posts will also allow readers to follow or like content authors or Pages directly from the embed.

There are a few critical things to know about his capability:
– Only public posts from Pages and Facebook users can be embedded.
– They are launching Embedded Posts with CNN, Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, People Magazine and Mashable, with broader availability coming soon.
– Embedded Posts display just like they do on Facebook, with the ability to show pictures, videos, hashtags, and other content.
– People can interact with Embedded Posts by liking or sharing them, liking or following their authors, or visiting their related comments on Facebook.

What this means for marketers is a chance to comment on things in the news and start a conversation around that topic. The burden on brands who wish to participate with Facebook using the embedded post is that they will need a resource (similar to Twitter marketing) to be the voice of the brand. However being engaged with consumers in a genuine way is fantastic opportunity to learn, participate and show the face of you brand to the consumers.

Facebook has not created a dedicated API but you can talk with your Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) provider and get more information.