When Facebook Marketing Fails
Facebook is very popular these days. That’s why I’m using Facebook marketing as an example.
As a social networking website, Facebook generates a lot of traffic and divides people according to their interests and hobbies.
This way, you will be able to know where to market on Facebook. This division tells you where you should advertise your products and services and you will also be able to specifically TARGET (mind the caps!) the people you want to sell your products to.
These are the basics of social network sites. And a lot is written about how to use them to your advantage.
What you have to do to market successfully on these sites in just a few short steps is:
- create an ‘awesome’ profile first,
- then make a ton of friends,
- create a group of mutual interest,
- invite all your friends and…
- pitch away!
The question that I have with this strategy, one that is NEVER answered in these guides, is…
then how many pitches do I get to see?
Because everyone is reading the same guides, right? Certainly the free ones where this marketing strategy is discussed in abundance.
I’ve received invitations for many products, unique memberships, awesome groups, tons of fun and a lot more that I just HAD to check out.
Not to mention all the invitations to speed dating, green things, becoming a billionaire, how to save on gas, how to avoid paying taxes in the US (where, according to my profile, I do NOT live; remember the TARGET in caps; hey, who cares?), confirm blog ownerships, becoming TOP friends… just to name a few. What’s next?
So basically, this strategy is nothing else but a replacement of bulk email. Instead of receiving the emails, I now get ‘invited’!
That’s NOT why I am on Facebook.
And I’m NOT on Facebook, or any other social network, to make 5,000 friends. I even don’t want 5,000 of them. Simply because they aren’t friends! That’s one reason I don’t autofollow on Twitter (a couple of weeks ago I checked my followers; about 20 of them got their account deleted! Huh, friends?).
Mind you, I DO have friends. A couple of hundred, spread over sever social networks. And I meet them frequently. Because, and this is key, I KNOW who they are and they KNOW who I am and what I do!
Although I haven’t personally met the majority of them, these people are friends because they’re willing to help me if I have a question or need some explanation.
And I do the same for them. In fact, my very best ‘articles’ are the personal messages written to my friends. Because I honestly want to help them out, the same way they do for me.
One of the best places I meet my friends is in Willie Crawford’s The Internet Inner Marketing Circle. Because that place is crowded with like minded people.
And on Facebook, to be honest. Some of my friends have checked my profile and as a result invited me to join a great group where information is exchanged that can help me achieve my goals.
Examples are joint venture groups, where product launches are announced. And a group where upcoming seminars are published. Or a group announcing webinars about coaching, marketing, off line business and so on.
So yes, there are great marketers on Facebook. Their success is providing useful information that you can use to achieve your own goals.
And that’s exactly the right way you should market on Facebook or any other social network: Provide useful information instead of sales pitches or showing off with the next fun app.
Don’t you think so?
Put your comments below.
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Great post, I’ve gleaned some great tips about facebook marketing. thank you
I agree that you should avoid all the sale pitches all the time. Providing useful info is the key to getting good friends and followers.
Facebook is very fascinating as a marketing tool, I see many people create a group and start sending news letters periodically to them.
Those are some nice examples of when marketing on Facebook is done well. Companies just need to realise that social media is a place to build relationships, get feedback and offer helpful advice – not a place to try to sell.
I agree, Facebook has a lot of “extras” that I really don’t have time for. IT’s hard to market on Facebook because you get so many “friends” not interested, even if you target groups. I find the same on MySpace, but I do get a lot of Blog traffic there.
Marianne
I thought about using facebook as a marketing tool but have been realizing that most people are not happy to receive that kind of stuff so instead I now use facebook for personal use.
However if I do need a little love on a new post or help working something out I know I can count on friends from facebook and various other social platforms.
Great article… you hit the nail on the head.
Forest.
There is only one problem with facebook at the moment…. it limits you to 5,000 friends. But then again… maybe that forces you to become more selective and prun the friends list. I guess in another point of view, it also reduces the likely spam.
I agree, you’re on Facebook not just to make sales or to market your product. But you have to provide also useful information and facts about you and to things that you can share to your online friends.
Wow, very nice idea
i loved it. i will try to sign up facebook
thank you for sharing
I have followed your advice and found that it works a treat!
Many thanks for the great SEO advice.
Dave Smith
Your post is so true. Many people will use social media as a means of spamming and then state that social media traffic is no good. Well of course it’s not going to be any good if people just spam it.
Connecting with your target audience on a personal level is the BEST way to sell any product, and social media, such as Facebook, allows you to do just that. So as you say, by creating informative, helpful groups and genuinely try and help your friends on there, you’re much more likely to establish a good quality brand that people will respect.
- Phillip
If you are entering Facebook marketing with the intention to sell, then naturally you will meet more people with the similar intention to sell to you too. Sharing with like-minded people or at least helping those who are unsure is a far better way to effectively market your products or services.
Rif Chia
Wow, great article. Didn’t thought of social networking sites as a marketing tool.
But now, I guess its obvious, in a social networking site you are gifted with such a big user base, getting visitors just becomes easier -without spamming of course.
Rafaat
I agree and disagree. First, to be true, I have used the Facebook marketing strategy. And ofcourse, not in a clean way as you would suggest. To be successful, you can never directly refer users to your sales. It has to be done in an indirect way. For example, I opened a Megan Fox fan group (which accumulated over 20 thou members), and just posted a link to my blog within the group. And to my surprise, I found about fifty to hundred unique visitors visiting my blog everyday. Now, the process was not about sending thousands of annoying invitation, rather an indirect approach. I am sure the more direct methods do not succeed.
However, these practices have gone tougher with the new facebook layout. Since the new layout does not support mass mailing and forwards, spams have decreased by a large extent.
But at the ed of the day, however, I would like Facebook to be more of a “friendly” place. I donot want to add up thousands of people, and I donot want to receive those invitations. But about business, you might have to think otherwise.
SadekJake
I think that what marketers often forget about social media is that it is just that – social. People are in these spaces to contribute to relevant conversations they care about and issues, topics and items in which they are interested. If marketers throw out blatant sales pitches and calls to marketing action, they are finding that social media users don’t want anything to do with the applications and pages they build. The key is tapping into an interesting aspect of your product or idea that resonates with users beyond just the sales aspect.
Marketing and selling to people on Facebook is always going to be tough. Social networking can be a route to successful marketing – only if done in the right way.
Although Facebook is a slightly different network and the only true successes will come from anything that is creatively and virally executed.
The WISPA example comes to mind – a brand brought back from the dead…a great piece of Viral marketing and PR.
I know we are ‘not ‘friends as such (but we could be!) – I am an artist by trade but my gf works for a UK landscaping company – see the link – it’s not very popular on the net but the company is rather big. My question is have you or anyone come across a popular gardening type of social network? I’ve tried one at Ning which is filled with competitors, I also tried Linkedin but so far no results? I know it’s an obscure question but I’m at the end of my tether over this – my gf asks everyday – have you found one yet? Have you? Sorry for dumping my troubles on you :/ Ah well a true sign of desperation I suppose! Thanks for your time anyway – Cheers Paul Baines
I have applied your theory on my blog and it is good for my blog I am getting traffic from these techniques which you have dictate here.. Thanks a lot for your valuable information.
Marketing on facebook can be quite tricky. I think i’lld rather just have my 400 close friends and use facebook to connect with them on a friendship level. Alternatively, I am quite very impressed with the facebook paid advertisement scheme. Its quite inexpensive and I can target any demographic I want. By the way, I think i’m really loving this blog!