Is Facebook Really a Viable Channel for Online Marketing?

Social media provides an exciting new frontier in online marketing. Businesses are noticing the wildly popular social networks like Facebook and Myspace and wondering how to access the millions of people logging in every day, every hour. Social networks may prove to be a difficult marketing channel, though. People who hang out on Facebook are not in the “buying” mentality. Those engaging in social networking just want to hang out and don’t want interruptions from advertisers – or do they? It’s definitely true that social networks have become a relaxed haven for people to go online. It’s understandable that social networkers might feel a little resentful of advertising-type intrusion into their personal web space. However, data is emerging that shows that maybe online socializers aren’t so resistant to business presence in social media.

A recent study Cone Business in Social Media study found that “85 percent of consumers who use social media believe a company should not only be present on social sites, but should also interact with its customers using social media.”

So people on Facebook think that businesses and brands should create profiles and build a presence online. This seems to contradict the fact that people don’t like ad intrusion into their personal social networking life. However, the results make sense at a second glance. After all, people love to go to the mall to socialize. Many people like browsing and viewing stores, clearance racks and advertisements. What a shopper does not like is when the man at the kiosk approaches and invades his or her personal space. Yes, you’re there to “shop”, but shopping can be a loose term. Shopping might not even involve buying, maybe just viewing, browsing, trying things on and checking out what’s new in the retail world.

So, social networkers might not be so resistant to ads and business profiles online. Even a little blurb in the newsfeed is not offensive to most social surfers. The results suggest that social networkers tolerate peripheral types advertising, and maybe even like it.

So here’s some takeaway points on social media do’s and don’ts:

• Don’t be like the pushy person at the mall kiosk.
• Don’t try to friend people that you don’t know.
• Don’t bombard social networkers with overt sales messages to their inboxes.

• Do experiment with paid ads on left and right side of the pages, like stores in a mall people will see your ad and maybe window shop. Sometimes they’ll click their way inside, sometimes they won’t. But you are still making impressions.
• Do create a profile on Facebook and add interesting relevant content related to your business.
• Do join groups related to your industry, connect with other enthusiasts and post content.
• Check back for Part 2 of this blog topic for more specifics on how to utilize social media for industrial websites.

Data Reference: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/11/10/social-media-leads-holiday-shoppers-to-bargains

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