Is Facebook right for your business? Here are some facts which help marketers make their decision. Facebook currently has over 500 million active users, with 50% of them logging on, on any given day, and with the average user having 130 friends. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, and users install 20 million applications every day!
Depending on what you sell, you could have a large percentage of your audience on Facebook, and its good business sense to target them through a medium they use and understand.
In a report published by eMarketer, it states that the 2011 forecast for ad revenue spend on Facebook is $4 billion. But with all this money being poured into Facebook, savvy marketers are beginning to ask questions such as:
- How can we measure Facebook?
- Is my fan page successful?
- What is the ROI on the time, effort and money spent?
- Who are my best customers, whom should I target?
- Do I pay for additional advertising on Facebook? If so, what should I pay?
- What is my return on ad spend?
- Can I measure direct and indirect response?
And the ultimate question: What is a fan ‘like’ really worth to my business?
I mean we all start off with a Facebook page and perhaps a company page, and then proceed to collect as many ‘likes’ as possible. But what are these ‘likes’ valued at and how tangible a web marketing strategy is it for a company?
Ask any marketer what one of the most important aspects of online marketing is, and he’ll most likely respond – understanding what the customer needs. As the shift has moved from what the seller wants to what the customer demands, this understanding becomes all the more important.
Which is why simple tools like a Facebook ‘like’, is being held under such scrutiny. Imagine giving the customer a chance to tell you, quite directly, what he does or does not like about your product.
The value of a fan can mean different things depending on your business. Take the case of pizzeria Papa Johns. If you are a pizza lover, chances are you’ve heard of them, and maybe even ordered a pizza from one of their restaurants. But would you connect with them on Facebook? Nearly 2 million fans seem to think it’s a great idea. Papa John took their time in creating a page for fans to connect, exchange recipes, participate in online giveaways, and even offer suggestions. They started their page only after they tracked a few fans that were actually creating Papa John fan pages! A want already existed and the company sensed the time was right to fill it with an official offering.
In this instance, the value of a fan ‘like’ is tangible and hard to ignore. For some companies, the value may mean an actual sales figure, for others, it is the evangelical aspect of ‘likes’ that can prove invaluable. How do you know what your fan value is?
Companies like Syncapse have assigned a value of $136.38 to a fan, while Virtue brings it down a huge percent, to $3.60! In fact Virtue has released a free tool; Social Page Evaluator that helps you set a value to your Facebook page. While some argue it is not necessarily the most scientific way to base your online marketing strategies on, it gives you a starting point to work with.
And for the amount companies spend on promoting their brands via Facebook, marketers do have to show results. But as with any social media, traditional measuring tools don’t necessarily work, and the results are often hard to compile. So step outside the box and use the following 5 means by which to see if Facebook ‘likes’ can work for your business.
1. Consider the nature and size of your business: It is important to understand that the actual advantage to a company will depend on a number of factors, including its size and ad spend of the company, as well as the nature of the goods and services they promote. Smaller enterprises may well focus their efforts on Facebook as a single online marketing tool, whereas larger companies will regard Facebook as part of a bigger social media strategy that spans the enterprise – across marketing, sales, and customer support.
2. Question your ‘transactions’: More and more retail stores are using Facebook to target their clientele, with the simple premise customers will come to Facebook and like their products if they are given something in return – discount, shopping codes etc. Business sites can use a similar customer integration program offering value to their fan base. You may need to ‘give’ more in order to be ‘liked’.
3. Reassess your evaluation methods: It’s ironic, but most Facebook owners do not track or analyze their results as often as they should. Having someone (or hopefully, many people) like your page is not enough. You need to track the results to see if these ‘likes’ convert into paying customers, repeat customers, evangelists etc. Use analytics to track your statistics and base your campaigns at least in part on the results they produce.
4. Recognize the sustaining value of the social media you select: Twitter has adopted far less changes for example than Facebook, which is constantly reinventing itself via applications and advertising methods. Can your business keep up with these changes? If so, yours may be the ideal business for a Facebook webpage.
5. Explore the ability of your business to adapt to social media challenges: All new mediums require an investment – time and money – before they show results. The problem is that modern technology ensures changes occur before most of us can catch up to them. Is your business able to adapt to these changes, and if so, can it come up with immediate solutions to meet these new needs?
In the end, the quicker your business can adapt and convert ‘likes’ into actual sales, the better the chance you have of becoming a Facebook success story.
