Why Marketers Should Leverage Facebook

The American Chronicle gives us eight reasons and although I agree with Scott that that the viral nature of Facebook should be further down on the list of compelling reasons to use Facebook I do think the list hits the main points:

1. The very nature of Facebook is viral.
2. Facebook is the ultimate in social presence marketing.
3. Your target market tells you exactly what it wants, and they’re easy to find.
4. Over half of the people using it, use it daily.
5. Better, stronger online connections.
6. Hard core marketing is out of vogue and declining in effectiveness.
7. Your clients — and your competition’s clients — may already be on Facebook.
8. Facebook friends are willing to continue the conversation.

First on the list should be what they are calling "social presence marketing" which isn't even in Wikipedia but is defined in the article as, "the activity of promoting by participating in the pre-existing conversation around your target market, in a way that enhances and uplifts the dialogue, rather than intruding upon it."

This is what social media is really about - being social and joining the conversation. In some ways this has brought us back to a time when the marketplace was a gathering of local villagers who would all talk with each other and share their experiences. Now that same interaction is enabled in an online marketplace – the benefit to marketers is the ability to communicate directly with our customers. But it also means we can't hide behind corporate speak and those who try will suffer. As the sixteenth rule from The Cluetrain Manifesto, the original Bible of Social Marketing, states: "companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone"

Are you voting for Ray Hopewood?

Of course not, he doesn’t exist – he’s a fictional character at the center of a viral marketing campaign that according to SF Gate has “served 45,000 videos in the first couple of weeks, 15,000 page views, and (has stickiness of) 1 minute and 40 seconds (per visit).”

Ray Hopewood may be a fictional character in the real world but in the virtual world he has a profile on MySpace, Facebook, and flickr. He's got his own blog, an ecommerce site, and banner ads on various other sites.

So how much gold is there at the end of the Social Media Marketing rainbow? I think that depends on the execution. My team’s Marketing 2.0 / Social Media Marketing plan is built around these execution strategies:

1. Understand the Rules of the Game – There is no ‘control and command’ when it comes to Social Media Marketing – you need to be willing to let go and trust that your product or service can withstand the truth. As the twelfth rule from The Cluetrain Manifesto, the original Bible of Social Marketing, states: “There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone."
   
2. Exploit Social Networking Sites – Spend time driving traffic to your site or campaign using new media sites. David Wilson has done an interesting study that shows which social sites are likely to provide the highest returns.
   
3. You don’t have to start a conversation to have one – Go where your customers are – Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or wherever it might be. Go there, sign up, connect and start typing. Starting a conversation is a lot more work than jumping into one.
   
4. Don’t forget the Basics – Content is still king. Whatever you have to say make sure it’s worth saying.
   
5. Learn as you go – No risk, no reward. We are all treading in new waters here – don’t be afraid to go out on a limb and see what happens – it worked for Ray!

Hey! If CBS can do it . . .

Right now there’s a marketing professional standing in front of her CMO holding a print out of this blogpost and saying “Hey! If CBS can do it, how hard could it be?”

CBS is the “Traditional” in “Traditional Media” and there’s some credence to the thinking that if they’ve jumped onto the Widget Wagon the other media behemoths are sure to follow suit. For some time CBS has been fortunate to be very popular with the more “mature” audience at the cost of attracting TV’s most coveted viewers: the 18-34 set. You’d have to think that their willingness to cannonball into the deep end of the Web 2.0 pool is a sign that the “old guard” is more committed to trying to attract a new audience with how they position and deliver the content, not just the content itself. Also, this morning’s news regarding their acquisition of last.fm and their recent acquisition of wallstrip.com and investment in Joost among others indicate that CBS Interactive is leading the charge and providing a good example for us all.

I’m already working on my “If CBS can do it . . .” slide!

The Marketing 2.0 Revolution

Marketers should be well aware of the shift that is happening on the web. The web revolution that is being defined as Web 2.0 is changing the way we communicate.

For Marketers, this changes everything. We as marketers need to evolve to Marketing 2.0. Using O'Reilly's model to define Web 2.0, Marketing 2.0 can be defined as:

Marketing 1.0 -----> Marketing 2.0
interruptions --------> integrations
transactions --------> interactions
commercials --------> product placements
press releases --------> blog posts
direct mail --------> email
push content --------> pull content (RSS)
collateral --------> videos
seminars --------> webinars / podcasts
business generated content --------> user generated content
building websites --------> building communities


View the evolving definition of Marketing 2.0 here.

As a marketer I will be learning and experimenting with these technologies as they continue to evolve Marketing as we know it. On this blog I will capture lessons learned, define best practices and provide thoughts and ideas from my experiences. I hope this site becomes an example of social networking as others begin to post comments and contribute to the conversation.