All About FaceBook

[Engage]

In another thread MikeF421 suggested I really should be taking a look at marketing my site on FaceBook, so I've been looking in to that the last few days.

I started learning about FaceBook features and accounts etc. I've since realized I really need to sell myself on the marketing value of FB, before I learn all the mechanical details.

Is anybody here using FB to build traffic to you site? If yes, how's it going?

For me, it's a time management question. There are only so many hours in the day, and I'm wondering if I should invest time in learning a whole new FB environment (that I don't really like that much) or whether I should invest the same time in to adding content to my site, getting traffic from Google etc.

Stay focused, or try something new?

Your thoughts will be appreciated, and real data is especially welcomed if you care to share.

Thanks!

[MikeF421]

There are 4 reasons I recommend Facebook to people.

1.) It's FREE.

2.) Over 50% of Facebook users log on to Facebook every single day. That means if you post a status update, you are almost guaranteed that the majority of your followers are going to see it. Anybody in advertising would pay thousands of dollars to have that kind of guarantee on an ad.

3.) The viral nature of it. If someone "likes" your site, that status update goes into their news feed. That means all of their friends see that. Birds of a feather flock together. If they are interested in what you are offering, there is a good chance a lot of their friends and family are too. Many will decide to check out your site too. Then their friends see that they "liked" your site, and so on, and so on.

4.) It's FREE.

[Engage]

I understand the theory, and it is appealing, in theory.

If I loved FB, I would just do it, and whatever happens happens. But I don't love FB, so I'm feeling the need for some real data.

Building my own site is "free" too, so I have to compare the two activities somehow.

[MikeF421]

I don't want to twist your arm in any way towards using Facebook. Maybe you want to hold off on it for a little bit. That or scour the internet for articles relating to it. If you don't really believe in doing something, you may not put your best foot forward.


I look at online advertising the same way as offline advertising.

You have a bunch of ad sources all funneling towards one goal. A business might have an ad in the Yellowpages. The business might run an ad every week in the local newspaper. It might send out mailers. It could also run TV and radio ads. Most offline marketing agencies would tell a business owner not to rely on just one source of advertising.

In my mind, the same thing goes for online advertising. SEO is one source. Video marketing, email marketing, article marketing, Twitter (I hate even saying that stupid word), and Facebook are all just more sources to try to reach people.

[Suzi]

You know - it can actually be fun! Both personally and professionally.

I am constantly amazed by the connections that come out via facebook.

Personally (and believe me, I was reluctant) I have now found friends, genuine friends, who I lost contact with because our friendships pre-dated email, and it has been an absolute joy to find them. I also have better relationships with my friends who live in other countries because I have a window on their every day life.

Professionally - my facebook page is still in its infancy, and people are just beginning to engage with it. But looking at other people's pages, I can see that there are so many opportunities that come out of it. It just draws people who are like-minded together, and one day someone says 'Hey - I could help you with that' and a great partnership is born. I see it time and time again.

It might take a little bit of time to set up, but once it is, it's not time consuming at all. It takes me two minutes to post something to my facebook page every day, and the good thing is, I know it doesn't have to be some well-thought out post that has taken me hours to put together. Just a quick comment can be something that starts a great discussion.

Perhaps if you could just try suspending your concerns for a little while and believe that you might just enjoy it, that will allow you to get started. Give it six months. If you hate it, then abandon ship and know you don't have to try it again!

Suzi

[Engage]

A business might have an ad in the Yellowpages. The business might run an ad every week in the local newspaper. It might send out mailers. It could also run TV and radio ads. Most offline marketing agencies would tell a business owner not to rely on just one source of advertising..

To continue your example, if one has a limited ad budget, one has to decide which of the available ad buys will be the most effective.

I think what we need here are real people tracking real results, who are willing to share what they've learned.

[lindastacy]

As regularly I see this question, I can't say I've ever seen any real data on results. Many people say they like Facebook and similar sites and they say they work, but I don't see people saying, "I get xxx visitors a day from the site" or "xx% of my sales come from social networks."

Of course not all benefit has to be measured by numbers, and I certainly think networking and relationship building is valuable.

I use Facebook and while my stats don't show many referrals from it, my site traffic decreases when I haven't been active on my social networks for a few days.

I think it's the kind of thing where the benefit you get is directly proportional to the benefit you give.

[Engage]

Hi Linda,

As regularly I see this question, I can't say I've ever seen any real data on results. Many people say they like Facebook and similar sites and they say they work, but I don't see people saying, "I get xxx visitors a day from the site" or "xx% of my sales come from social networks."

Yes, that sounds right to me, thanks.

Twitter, Facebook, and social sites in general seem to be benefiting from a tidal wave of viral hype. As best I can tell, lots of folks enjoy these services, and are going to use them whether or not they are good marketing investments.

I'm that way about forums. Forums seem a poor marketing investment, but I enjoy them, and so I sometimes rationalize posting as "work" in my mind.

Here's an example. I've probably written some 10,000+ forum posts over the years. It was surely fun, and made some friends etc. But I can't really specify any significant business accomplishments.

Suppose I had written those 10,000 posts on my own site?

Suppose Facebook fans invested the time they spend on Facebook adding their content to their own sites, instead of building Facebook.com? Billions of hours being spent, building somebody else's site, for free.

Like I'm doing here.

I dunno. Questions, that's all.

I will say, it does seem easier and more fun to write in a social environment, where we can bounce off of the energy and ideas of others. As much as I like to blowhard, I really doubt I would have written 10,000 posts to upload as isolated articles on my own site. Well, the fact is, I didn't.

Of course not all benefit has to be measured by numbers, and I certainly think networking and relationship building is valuable.

Yes, I agree in theory. In practice, if it's business that's the goal, sooner or later we have to measure progress in numbers of some kind.

Anyway, good discussion, thanks.

[lindastacy]

Yes, I agree in theory. In practice, if it's business that's the goal, sooner or later we have to measure progress in numbers of some kind.

I hear ya! I've been spending more of my "social" time on BlogCatalog because I found that I get much more traffic from there than from FB or Twitter.

[Entreprenette]

Hi Engage,

Facebook is now No 2 on the alexa ranking, No 1 is google. It has over 500 million active users with 50% of it's users interacting on the site daily. Unlike google, it's a social marketing tool, meaning you can talk to your prospective customers and put a human face to your business rather than just load up web pages and squeeze pages that talk at your prospective customers.

Social Media is not just a hype, it's the new way of doing business, people don't want to be sold too anymore they want information, conversation, help, support and direction and facebook does just that. It's tipped to take over google in the next few years and is already doing similar PPC style advertising and mobile apps etc.

The great thing for your business now is the facebook fan page, which is truly interactive. It's like having a shop and getting all your customers in for coffee and giving feedback on your business.

It does take more work than google, that's for sure. To be successful you have to be present. You have to engage with your customers and listen and understand their needs and then do what you can to meet those needs, in a more bespoke and personal way.

I read a book by Seth Godin back in 2002 and he was talking about the internet moving in this direction back then, so I for one would put my money on facebook being around for a while!

I'm only at the beginning of my facebook journey to be honest, I don't know much yet about how to truly deal with customers and advertise my fan page etc, but I am attending a webinar later by a guy called Chris Farrell. I won't put any links or anything here as I'm sure that's not allowed, but he's a great guy and the webinar will be top drawer. So go on to facebook and look him up and all the details will be on there.

As I'm sure you've gathered, I'm a big advocate of facebook, but only because having run an offline business for the past 5 years, I'm convinced this is the future of business and I wouldn't want you to miss out :-)

Good luck!

Jo