Facebook = Fad?
July 6, 2009
I have been hearing from some misguided individuals and companies that they are unsure if they want to have a Facebook presence, only to have it become a dying fad within the next year. Why would they invest time and money in something that could be a possible passing fad?
It really doesn’t matter if you are a company or individual, everyday it is becoming more and more critical to have a Facebook presence. When it comes to social networking / marketing (they have become almost one in the same) what happened in the past or what could happen in the future is not as important as what is happening “right now”. When dealing with social networking / marketing “right now”, is the ideal concept to keep in mind.
Keep in mind, Twitter and Facebook keeps people engaged and re-engaged in their networks because of our need to know what is happening “right now” with our friends and favorite companies. Companies have been seeing success with exclusive time sensitive sales and offers they only make available on Facebook and/or Twitter. This keeps theirs fans engaged and watching for the “right now” opportunities these companies are having. I suppose you could compare this to the “blue light specials” that large retailers would have in their stores in the past. Retailers would offer a deep discount on a product for a very exclusive time (usually for less than 15 minutes) and the shopper would only know about the deep discount if you were in the store at the time it was happening. Similar is happening “right now” in the social networking world. When a company updates their “Status” or “has a poll on the NewsFeed Page of Facebook, they are engaging their customer fans to react to a message the company is targeting to them exclusively.
In the past month I personally have purchased movie tickets, concert tickets, frozen yogurt from my favorite “fro yo” chain, free iTunes samplers, coffee specials, and even an entire dinner from specials I saw exclusively offered through Facebook and / or Twitter. More importantly, I shared this information with my Friends and Fans on Facebook. This offered these companies a personal endorsement from me to all my friends and Fans. All of these offers appealed to me because they were presented to me because the company presenting the offer took the time “right now” to engage me as a customer. I may have not been even thinking of the company prior to seeing their offer on the social network, but when I did, the appeal engaged me to react and take advantage of the offer that was “right now”. When these companies offer exclusively to their Facebook and/or Twitter fans, the fan is made part of the inside team at that company and the reward of being on that inside team – is the “right now” special.
It really doesn’t matter if either of these highly successful social networks are a possible fads.
- What does matter is what are you missing out on “right now”, when you are not actively engaging your company or you as an individual on these networks?
- How much money could you be saving with your active presence on Facebook and/or Twitter?
- Do you really know what, how & why your customers purchase from you?
- Do you understand how CB Media (a media solutions division of Careerbuilder) can make your company stand out to your customer fans?
Do you have these and other questions about Facebook for your company? I would love to talk with you about your company and introduce you to your fans and how CB Media through our unique relationship with Facebook will build and engage your fan base “right now”.
Take a look at what The Chicago Tribune recently said about the possibility of Facebook being a fad.
Email me at Jerimie.monahan@careerbuilder.com
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