For a while now I have been questioning the value of Facebook as a marketing platform for business. Their constant changes of what shows in the news feed and changes to business rules have made the platform frustrating.
While it is terrific to get plenty of likes for your Facebook page and there are some who successfully use this to communicate with their customer community, there is a growing community of people concerned with where facebook is headed.
Mark Cuban, Chairman of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HD Net, wrote about this recently at The Huffington Post. He gets to the heart of what Facebook in:
Facebook is what it is. It’s a time waster. That’s not to say we don’t engage — we do. We click, share and comment because it’s mindless and easy. But for some reason Facebook doesn’t seem to want to accept that its best purpose in life is as a huge time-suck platform that we use to keep up with friends, interests and stuff. I think that they are overthinking what their network is all about.
As far as a platform for reaching out to uncover new customers for any of my newsagencies, I am finding Twitter to be a far more useful and less costly platform. I am also able to more easily see the reach of what I put on Twitter than Facebook. That said, I’ll still use Facebook to connect with existing customers. We do live, after all, in a world with more routes to market than ever before.
I mention this today as there are social media experts pitching their service to newsagents, saying they can help you achieve plenty of likes for your newsagency Facebook page. Do your research before you go and give them money to achieve something that may be of questionable value.
Yesterday, I found the real power of communicating on Facebook. Posted a picture of the new Rolling Stone magazine on the shopping centre website. A customer came to the kiosk and enquired about it. 6 magazines later and a healthy amount of lotto, we were very pleased. Now started to use Twitter for the same reason, and generated QR codes for customers to scan for special news and deals that stay on their mobile phones.
wow someone likes me on facebook WHO CARES don’t use it never will
I don’t personally use Facebook but my staff put new things on our FB regularly so
we are using it in business.
I didn’t even think about it until it brought
down the Egyptian Government and then I
thought “wow, what a powerful tool when
used for good”.
I guess the problem is that it might also be used for “evil”.
I guess we have to understand FB but not
necessarily embrace it.
Having said that I have had to be strict with staff who now think they can check FB during working hours simply because
they know we have a company FB.
us
Mark have you see what pos solutions says about this.
I read what Bernard published on his blog yesterday about Facebook. Not sure the relevance to what I’ve written other than the timing.
On Facebook, anyone using it for business should read what Mark Cuban has written – a case well made.
” I guess the problem is it might be used for evil”
Goodness gracious me. Are u in the superman comic section again June
Retired, maybe you should take up golf.
Retired, I was just using “evil” as the opposite of “good”.
Perhaps I should have said “not for good”.
I really meant that e.g. the Cronulla riots
were instigated by FB and mobile phones.
Is that “evil” or “not good”?
I like to think I know my words quite well, Retired.
However, I accede to the “superman” thing
because I am, by definition a “superwoman” juggling business, family,
etc.
I have yet to hear a woman call herself “retired”. We just leave one job
for another (at home).
Did you get under my skin – yeh! a little
bit but not too much.
I love a laugh and you made me laugh.
Hune don’t forget Alan Jones – he told people what to do and encouraged them to act. Disgusting.
Lighten up people!