People long have loved to find new and innovative uses for the
most innocuous technologies and advances. In the late 19th century,
"moving pictures" were a nickel-arcade novelty. Today films such as
Avatar are made on budgets comparable to military-grade hardware investments.
Alexander Graham Bell's telephone could barely call from one room to another;
now the average iPhone has more uses and computing power than all the computers
used in World War II combined.
This trend is repeating itself with the rise of social media network marketing
practices. What started as socialization programs only slightly more complex
than the average e-mail client has grown into one of the newest and most
promising marketing niches in the entire world. Taking advantage of this means
familiarizing oneself with a few surprisingly simple concepts that have
unusually far-reaching implications. In particular, marketers are finding that
the "Like" and "Share" features on Facebook have become the
newest and best tool in the marketing online arsenal.
We "Like" It
The "Like" function is a pretty simple one - people click
"Like" for things that interest them. On the surface, this seems
almost irrelevant, but thinking so ignores the way Facebook operates. Taking
advantage of the "Like" function is actually the key to getting good
marketing opportunities out of Facebook.
When a user clicks "Like," whether on Facebook itself or through a
site's Facebook plug-in, Facebook records the data and uses it in a number of
ways. First, a notification is put up on the user's wall confirming the
"Like." This informs other users who are familiar with the wall about
the product, news item or event, giving them an opportunity to examine and potentially
"Like" it as well.
Therefore, if a user has even 200 friends, which is not that great a number
given the increasing inter-connectedness of online communities, that's 200
people who will see what their friend "Liked," and who will have the
chance to "Like" it themselves. This is the very foundation of viral
content, or content with the ability to move rapidly along through intermediate
connections of hundreds of people.
Additionally, Facebook makes recommendations to users based on
things they have "Liked." Thus if friend A has friend B, and friend A
puts a "Like" on business C, friend B will not only get an
announcement about the "Like," but may have the business recommended
to them since they "Like" friend A. This is still another route of
communication and an indirect marketing opportunity that requires no more
effort than a simple click. Thus it is to any business' advantage to put a
plug-in allowing people to "Like" them on Facebook via the business'
site.
"Share" a Little, Gain a Lot
"Sharing" is another process which allows users to spread information
about themselves and the products, news items or events they enjoy across
multiple networks. This level of extra-connectedness in essence performs the
same function as "Like," but with more data given which people can
use to evaluate contacts and make connections.
"Like" simply gets a basic fact out there.
"Share" will tell users more about each other, allowing for the kind
of networking that drives modern business. It also expands the audience beyond the
immediate momentary location of Facebook to other sources such as LinkedIn or
Twitter. This further creates the potential for any post to go viral, allowing
it to spread quickly among related yet distinct audiences.
Two-way Street
The communicative rather than broadcast model will serve marketers well in the
area of "Liking" and "Sharing." Yes, it is good when users
"Like" a business - it drives referral traffic to the business and
allows for more information to get out there. However, equally good is when a
business provides "Likes" to others and for their material.
In the first, most mercenary example it will increase the business' own traffic
automatically. Consider friends A and B from before. If friend A puts up a post
that Business C likes for whatever reason, friend B will see the
"Like." This creates another indirect marketing opportunity and
referral traffic automatically. So it's clearly to a business' benefit to be
active in the community and to consistently "Like" things that are
interesting to the business.
Indirectly, it creates goodwill in the community. The model of the Internet is
a place where people exchange ideas and information, so people respond well to
good comments. If business C "Likes" friend A's post, then friend A
may "Like" them in return, for reciprocity if nothing else. This can
be amplified by providing well-thought-out, insightful and proper comments on
various walls throughout a given Facebook community.
At its roots, Facebook "Likes" and social networking
"Shares" create opportunities to be more involved, and they reward
increased and thoughtful involvement more than automatic, disinterested
participation. Actively read through communities touching on a brand's
interests and look for the "Likes" and referrals others are
following. Provide commentary for your brand, as well as for the interests of
others, and people will respond out of courtesy. The brand that behaves like a
human will receive human consideration, while the brand that acts like a robot
will be blocked out automatically.
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About The Author
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat,
a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social
media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more
findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to www.BrandSplat.com
or visit our blog at www.iBrandCasting.com
Sources; SiteProNews, Wed 9/7/2011
