The Facebook Conundrum




Does Facebook Make Money?


Social Media Marketing is NOT an easy sea change to understand. Retailers think in terms of Stimulus - Response. They create a sale (stimulus) and their customers respond. 



Social media marketing has a S to R curve too, but it is VERY slow and more like water eroding the Grand Canyon than Pavlov ringing a bell and having dogs (us) salivate.




Is social media creating or accentuating a shift? I would vote for accentuating like throwing gasoline on a fire accentuates the blaze. The real trend is we (shoppers / people) don't care about the same things in the same way anymore. Social media and the webification of everything is changing US. Fewer higher quality things are going to get on our radar. Facebook's accentuation of the "social share" is a big part of how we are changing.



Last week I Scooped a piece about the virtuous viral loop started by Facebook login. I titled the piece, "The Virtuous Social Loop - Why Facebook Is Making Ecom More $ Than They Realize:






With inspiration coming from Jeff Bullas' post: 5 Reasons Why Facebook Drives Consumer Buying Infographic.



Today my friend Bill Ross from LinchpinSEO shared an interesting infographic he created showing Facebook ad performance by business segment. Telecom and Fashion look like the only business verticals that really understand SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile) marketing right at the moment (a feeling I've had before) while Facebook in particular and social / mobile marketing in general remain mystery wrapped in enigma for the rest of us.



I return to something I wrote over a year ago. Social Media is the MOST valuable ROI even if we don't fully understand how to rate, track and make it better. The worst thing any Internet marketing team can do NOW half way up the mountain is to go back down and give up.



Something way to important is happening. The CORE of how we related to STUFF and what we allow in and how far is changing rapidly, permanently and completely. Even if your social media marketing has FAILED 100 times my advice is to keep testing ideas faster and faster even if you fail 100 more times. The greatest sin right now is giving up. Here are tips that may help NOT to give up:




  • Don't require same ROI from Social as from everything else (go easier).

  • Don't spend less than 10% of your marketing budget on social media.

  • Be generous with conversion funnel attribution (very generous). 

  • Don't look for Stimulus - Response curves in social. 

  • Invest in social for our FUTURE even if you FAIL now. 

  • Failing just means you need to test more. 

  • Contests and Games, Games and Contests


That last bullet is familiar to regular ScentTrail Marketing readers. Games and contests are the most viral and engaging types of content so having a steady stream of them helps your marketing. That last sentence applies equally to B2B relationship marketing too. When you excite, create competition and engage you develop relationships and relationships sell.




You In?


Here are helpful links so you know I'm not crazy, just in a hurry :).



Martin W. Smith, Director Marketing Atlantic BT



Martin Marty Smith on Facebook



Martin Marty Smith on Linkedin



Martin W. Smith on G+










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