Like me on Facebook! I have TANKS!
Are you like me? Do you remember when commercials were just commercials? Do you remember at the adolescence of internet and how it would creep into said commercials and briefly mention that you should visit their website at cocacola.com? or pepsi.com? Oh how the world has continued to evolve and change. What do commercials ask us to do now?
They ask us to show our support and in turn make us more susceptible consumers to a corporate message. That’s right, we Like them on facebook.
More than a simple thumbs up, more than a simple icon on a page, it is a visible pledge to the facebook universe, to our friends and families that yes, we in fact DO LOVE OREO COOKIES. That simple action is in fact a first step in a modern marketing program that is useful to those who understand it, but is pitifully attempted by marketing agents who do not understand the true intent and purpose of being “liked on facebook”.
I was working on a web page for a client who was paying a group of imbecilic, freshly Bachelorized, “consultants” to manage their social media presence. I.e. Make a facebook like page and in a year of work generate a piddly 64 likes and implement zero marketing campaigns to increase their visibility, the public understand and ideology of the company, or draw more unique visitors to their site or brick-and-mortar. It is incredibly important to understand each service being utilized and be critical on WHAT the service is, and HOW it can be used to benefit you, and WHY this vehicle is the best to use to deliver a message.
Drawing tangible support from the facebook universe is a great start, but it is up to you to understand what is your next logical step after that like is generated? If you’re just in it for the thumbs, I suggest hitchhiking as an alternative action. Once a user has “liked” your company or product, your product/company shares its announcements and updates to their their news feed. You must understand how that opportunity could be and SHOULD be used; if you overdo it, they may unlike you and that opportunity is lose, if you do nothing with it then it’s a wasted marketing action.
As a final note, and as per the link presented earlier, it’s not simply just “marketing to an audiene” it is creating content that is likeable, that is important, that is impactful, and genuinely useful to your customer. So really, it makes sense, more tanks, less marketing.
