Facebook Marketing – A “How to Social Network Marketing” Guide

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“How to social network marketing” is probably one of the newer and hotter topics in internet marketing recently. This form of marketing is indeed quite a new animal, different from the more traditional forms of internet marketing such as PPC, SEO, blogging, e-zines, and so on. These networks are also popularly known as Web 2.0, which sort of represents the new trend of online marketing which takes into account the social nature of human beings. It is this social nature within all of us that has spurred the development of social networks, of which Facebook is still the most prominent and successful social network to date. Besides seeking information online, it has been determined that humans seek to network socially online via emails, chats, as well as the many avenues of sharing made possible in a network such as Facebook, ranging from games, apps, photos, comments, and the list keeps growing everyday.

Therefore, an effective strategy using Facebook has to take full advantage of how we can market effectively on a network such as Facebook, which is different from marketing on a search engine. As mentioned, the focus of people on Facebook is to network socially, as compared to seeking information on Google. How to market on Facebook likely begins with one’s profile. This has to represent either the individual or business in an attractive or attention-grabbing manner. One should also make good use of fan pages, which allows businesses, brands, celebrities, and products to have a page of news, photos, and information where interested people can add themselves as fans to be kept updated.

Facebook has many other social features such as groups, events, and tagging, which allows people to quickly connect with each other by taking full advantage of the power of Facebook as a marketing solution. Basically, groups and events allow like-minded people to invite their friends and network among each other based on a topic or event of common interest. The true power of social networking becomes evident as friends of friends can also see what updates are taking place to a person’s profile, and hence word-of-mouth advertising is indeed very automated and powerful in a social network like Facebook. For businesses large and small Facebook marketing is undoubtedly a necessity in this the age of the internet. Businesses who are not taking advantage of Facebook marketing are in danger of lagging behind their competitors.

Are You Practicing Meaningful Marketing Or Mindless Marketing?

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“Mindless habitual behavior is the enemy of innovation.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter

In their book “Meaningful Marketing”, Doug Hall and Jeffrey Stamp lay out the differences between what they call ‘meaningful marketing’ and mindless marketing.

Meaningful marketing is a data-driven, analytical and methodical approach to getting the most from your marketing efforts while minimizing cost, effort and waste and maximizing sales, efficiency and long-term repeatable effectiveness.

Mindless marketing is that which causes you drop your prices at the whim of your customer, spend countless and unaccounted for dollars on promotions while hoping that customers respond differently to the same tired, repetitious messaging scheme.

How do determine if you’re doing “Meaningful Marketing”

  • Your marketing is actually useful in helping your customers make the best decision for their particular set of needs
  • Your marketing materials are 100% honest with no puffery
  • Your marketing is transparent and authentic and speaks with earned authority
  • Your marketing has FOCUS (target markets, message, what you sell and what you don’t sell)
  • All marketing is focused on customer acquisition and business growth (retention is a great goal too, but I simply call that ‘re-acquisition’)
  • Your marketing actually seeks to engage in a dialogue with customers rather than just ‘talk at them’ (think: blogging)
  • Your marketing seeks to fill a valid and well defined need rather than simply persuade a gullible customer into a one-time purchase

Watch out for these signs of “Mindless Marketing

  • You use sales & marketing gimmicks or tricks to capture interest
  • You don’t rely on the actual merits of your product/service to sell themselves and stand on their own
  • Your marketing is faddish or trendy and not part of an overall strategic plan
  • You have succumbed to ‘bright shiny object syndrome’ and are using the latest social media vehicles or other marketing tools without an understanding of how/why/what to expect them to do for you
  • Your marketing is focused on the transaction and not the relationship

At the end of the day, there’s no sense in marketing for the sake of marketing. It’s common sense really. As I was looking for some resources for a project recently, I found this quote from the government in one of the SBA marketing guides.

ALL company policies and activities should be aimed at satisfying customer needs, and PROFITABLE sales volume is a better company goal than maximum sales volume.

I would add that “ALL MARKETING activity should be focused on delivering a meaningful message and adding value during the prospect’s decision making process”.