Powered, Inc. Strengthens Online Community Presence for Brands With Facebook Connect Integration

AUSTIN, TX--( May 18, 2009) - NEWS FACTS

• Powered, the social marketing company, today released Facebook Connect site integration for its clients` branded online communities, enabling users to more easily share media, extend invitations and provide activity updates to existing Facebook friends. This capability allows both enterprises and their community members to better spread site awareness among new and existing members.
• Facebook Connect integration is the latest enhancement to Powered`s long-term platform roadmap to enable innovative brands to energize users with meaningful interaction.
• For enterprises using online communities built on the Powered social marketing platform, Facebook Connect integration will enhance the reach of site content as it’s more easily shared with community members that have the same interests; increase user interest in generating content as it will be exposed to a larger audience; and increase community loyalty as members will be more interested to see what new content their Facebook friends have created and which Facebook friends are new members of a particular online community.
• Facebook Connect will enable Powered`s customers to establish metrics to track users and their behaviors, as well as community member conversion. Key Performance Indicators are also established to gauge the value of Facebook Connect by tracking feature usage; content reach; online transactions; and, word-of-mouth demand generation.
• Facebook Connect allows Powered social marketing platform users to access their Facebook account from within an online community and also enable them to share and start conversations about community content outside the confines of the Powered platform. Key user features of Powered`s Facebook Connect integration include the ability to:
• Extend existing Facebook account credentials which eliminates the need to create additional passcodes;
• Implicitly share community content activity with Facebook friends (e.g., photo uploads, course ratings, etc.);
• Explicitly share community content with Facebook friends;
• Extend community site invitations to Facebook friends;
• Quickly and easily view other Facebook friends who are also members of the site and view site content that these friends have created; and,
• Use existing Facebook profile settings, such as avatars, in their site profile.

"Although other organizations are beginning to dip their toes in the Facebook Connect pool, we are the first vendor to offer this integration for branded online communities. We foresee this feature becoming a clear differentiator across the competitive landscape for providing the richest engagement and conversation facilitation within online communities. People are busy and don`t want to juggle multiple user names and passwords. With this integration Powered is giving them one less thing to remember and ultimately giving users back the time they need for the content they want."

-- Aaron Strout, VP marketing, Powered, Inc. -- click for The Engaged Consumer blog

"Facebook has emerged as the top destination site for peer-to-peer social networking. By seamlessly integrating their branded online communities with Facebook, marketers can grow their customer networks by orders of magnitude, leading to significant increases in customer engagement, brand advocacy -- and, ultimately, return on marketing investment. In my view, Powered has dramatically enhanced the value of its online community platform by enabling marketers to automatically plug into the single greatest source of online conversation through Facebook Connect."

-- Jeff Zabin, Vice President and Research Fellow, Aberdeen Group

ABOUT POWERED

Powered creates social marketing programs that help brands connect and build relationships with their customers through managed online communities. Unlike other marketing programs, online communities allow businesses to engage with customers through a combination of expert content and online community interactions. Throughout the Customer Lifecycle -- from Awareness to Advocacy -- clients achieve measurable results with real-time data and insights. Our leading-edge, integrated technology platform coupled with years of experience building successful online communities sets us apart. We define the right community strategy, develop professional content, and deliver insightful program analytics to help clients meet their marketing objectives. Innovative global brands including HP, iVillage, Atkins, RadioShack, and Sony rely on Powered for intelligent social marketing programs that drive sales, build brand loyalty and deliver a significantly higher ROI than other marketing programs.

For more information, please visit www.powered.com.