By now, most people are aware of social media. While many still struggle to understand the full scope of this rapidly evolving medium, it’s clear social media is not a fad. With tens of millions logging in nationwide, Facebook is the undeniable kingpin of social media. Having a mass following is one thing. Capitalizing on a captive audience is another. Let’s explore how Facebook can be put to use to generate leads and build loyalty.
Facebook erupted into our culture. Like a powerful volcano, Facebook is spreading its memberships from the core, college-aged users, and across the entire social landscape. According to a study done by iStrategyLabs, Facebook saw a 170% increase from January to July, 2009. That increase translated to nearly 30 million new subscribers. A sign of its staying power, the largest area of growth was for the ages of 35-54 and 55+ with increases of 190% and 515% respectively.
Facebook is unique in that unlike its predecessors, TV and radio, it reaches every demographic at any and all times. Even the 500 channel satellite dish packages can’t compete with Facebook because they require subjective content to entice viewers. With Facebook, users create their own content. They participate and monitor the lives of others better than any reality TV show ever could. Facebook engages users with interaction whereas radio and billboard ads have been background noise.
There are three ways to wield Facebook as a marketing tool – fan pages, Facebook ads and Facebook applications.
Fan Pages:
The quickest way to get involved is to start a fan page. Essentially, a fan page is like creating a personal profile for your business. Post content, videos, pictures, links or events and share them with people that have chosen to be a fan of your business.
The upside: Fan pages are free. They are versatile in that they can use a multitude of media to engage viewers. Fan pages show status updates on the news feed, or the homepage of anyone who has chosen to be a fan of your business. Because fans have sought out and actively selected to participate in your business fan page, they are prime targets for retention and loyalty measures.
The downside: Businesses cannot go out and place themselves in front of just anyone with fan pages. Members must opt-in, or subscribe, to your fan page. Unless there is a preexisting relationship or something to draw fans, your page will not reach as many people as it could. Fan pages also require significant effort to build relationships, seek contacts and update content relevant to the user.
Facebook Advertising:
A fundamental requirement to any Facebook campaign is Facebook advertising. Facebook ads appear on the side of the screen any time a user logs in and stays there for the duration of the page visit.
The upside: Facebook ads have minimal production costs and are easy to change. They link to external sites or internally to fan pages. Facebook ads allow businesses to target users with very detailed demographics. Ads can filter an audience by age, gender, city, school, marital status or even specific key words. Facebook advertising is very inexpensive compared to other media. Best of all, Facebook ads allow users to set a daily budget. For example, say you only want to spend $10 per day on Facebook. Once your ad has run or been clicked on a certain number of times, it will stop running. Think of the budget like tokens at an arcade. Every click or impression is like a game. Once you’ve used up your tokens, you simply walk away and come back tomorrow with another $10 worth of advertising. All ads can be tracked for effectiveness and swapped out for new ads.
The downside: Facebook ads have strict rules for writing and art direction. Titles are only allowed to be 25 characters long and the entire ad cannot be longer than 140 characters. Pictures can only be so large and must follow other rules. Ads are also getting more expensive. Even though Facebook ads are arguably the best bang for the buck, the relentless expansion may drive prices to a point where they become comparable to other media. Facebook ads are passive in that they don’t allow the same interactivity as fan pages or applications.
Facebook Applications:
Applications are small games, quizzes or prizes shared between friends on Facebook.
The upside: Facebook applications create action. They are displayed on news feeds and often times on profile pages. Profile pages are prime real estate that can be difficult to reach. Because applications are fun, they can often build brand loyalty as users will continue to go back and participate time after time.
The downside: Applications take a great deal of thought and programming to develop. Even by local media terms, developing an application is expensive. Moreover, there is no guarantee anyone will use the application. If the game, quiz or prize isn’t a large enough of a draw, the application won’t be used and won’t be spread across the network.
Every media has its place. Radio, television, print and outdoor advertising still play a crucial role in the success of any campaign. With the strong emergence of Facebook and social media, its more important than ever to understand the benefits of each media and how your budget should be leveraged. Actively pursuing new forms of media or partnering with an agency that does, gives your business the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and make the best use of the marketing avenues available. Absolute Marketing Group will be giving a lecture on Facebook and other social media at a Fargo Moorhead Chamber of Commerce luncheon for the Young Professionals Network on September 24. Post a comment or call us to learn how you can attend the event or how we can attend to your social media marketing needs.