Social networking has become the hottest way to engage customers. Traditional marketing is stumbling because people are tired of being sold to and tired of companies pushing their products on them. They want dialog and interaction. They want to see what other people are saying about products and companies and they want a voice. The vanity of the old one directional marketing model no longer engages customers. Here’s a great video that depicts how things are changing:
Old School Marketing Just Does Not Get It.
People simply don’t trust this approach anymore. Actually if you think about it, the basic concept of social networking driving business is nothing new. Let me explain. Let’s say you are looking for someplace to get your hair done. What do you do? You ask your friends where they go! How about this one…You want to know the best snow removal company in town. (It’s been snowing her all day today.) What would be more valuable to you?
| 1. A big ad in that book that barely use but it keeps getting delivered to your house anyway. 2. Or, an interactive tool with reviews, referrals, recommendations and in depth descriptions of how the company removes the snow. Plus 10 of your friends are fans of the company. |
One more example, your company is expanding and needs a new building. A business associate refers a real estate agent. Do you use him or go with some unknown?
Do you see where this is going? The idea of references is at the heart of social networking? The social networking sites are online communities where people interact and explore each others activities about the things that interest them. Looking specifically at Facebook in a business sense, here are 3 things to think about:
- Facebook by nature is viral.
When you log into Facebook or you click on the link to home, you are greeted with what’s called the “News Feed”. This tells you everything that your friends and connections have done. This ranges from status updates, to posting photos, groups they’ve joined and pages for which they have become fans.
At the same time all of your friends see what you are doing. So every action you take that they find interesting enough to follow, they spread that to all of their friends. For example if you become a fan of a page, all of your friends
see it. They can then become a fan and their friends see it and can do the same. - Your target market is easy to find.
For example, if your business was involved in staffing and recruiting. You could join a group about job search. Instead of doing canned marketing messages, you could get involved in the discussions and offer you advice. People that like what you said could easily follow a link back to your profile and your company’s page. - Facebook offers tools to bring your target market to you.
Speaking of “your company’s page”, this is one of the most interesting aspects for businesses. When you register on Facebook you can create groups and company pages. People can then interact with you on the page’s wall, contact the administrators of the page, post photos about your company and much more. You can even create interactive applications to gather information about the people using the page as well as drive people to your corporate website.
Here are a few examples of Facebook pages:
TriStarr Staffing Facebook Page
That brings us back to the start of this post. As traditional marketing is becoming less affective social media and networking is becoming not only another option, but a necessity for reaching customers. Furthermore, Facebook has become an internet phenomenon, leading the way as the world embraces online social networking. The fact is many of your clients and competitors, as well as their clients, are already using it. Isn’t it time you embraced it too?
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