Andy Jamieson: Entrepreneur

4 Steps to help you leverage this new marketing channel.

1: Marketers can work out exactly who they want to target:

Demographic targeting is being taken to a new level via the Facebook social media network. The ability to identify exactly who it is that you want to target is selectable. Whether that be a specific age, sex, location & employer. All these previously desired marketing criteria are now available for marketers to utilise. Therefore, as marketers, the challenge is now in working out whom exactly it is that you want to target. Did you know that there were

2: Facebook forces refinement of marketing messaging:

Pushing a sales message is increasingly not working regardless of the channel. However, a marketing message that is relevant and tailored to the user has a higher chance of achieving a successful marketing and business outcome. For example, if I work as an accountant, then offering me MYOB or Quicken might work, but I probably already have a professional accounting system. However, imagine instead if I, the accountant, was offered me a chance to either network with other accountants, engage with prospective clients or what might be most attractive, the ability for ‘professional development’. Imagine the response! We are all consumers, so don’t sell me lights, or a home loan. Sell me something that I might bite at.

3: Try the soft sell to drive consumer engagement:

Getting a consumer to engage first in a way that is quick, easy and yet rewarding is critical. A local artist trying to plug his gig invited his friends via Facebook. His friends, who are also his audience (think customers), were personally invited and so made to feel special. Although the frequency with which the muso and I have chatted via any medium over the past 5 or so years does make me question why I suddenly felt ‘special’. However, going further, there were incentives to stimulate attendance through the form of a free CD to the first 25 people through the door on the night. A great strategy to drive prompt audience (aka consumer) engagement. For bigger companies this soft sell approach could also work. Some alternatives could come in the form of providing a free trial, a special offer or maybe some more targeted information that has been generated just for me. Then after you have built some awareness and engagement, then you can look to drive conversions.

4: Facebook is built on community so marketers should leverage it:

Marketers need to find the community that revolves around their product or service and market directly into them. For example a search for ‘Pepsi vs Coke’ returns over 500 different Facebook groups that people can join. Now if I work in marketing at Pepsi or Coke, then what a great group to start engaging with and as a result drive brand equity and ultimately consumption. So whether you are in the business of ‘wood working’, ‘venture capital’ or ‘making great donuts’, you need to find the right group and start a dialogue with them. There are two ways forward, either you may find a pre-existing relevant group or you could locate some ‘champions’ and provide an incentive for them to create a new group.

It becomes clear to me, as a marketer, that the strengths this new medium and media brings will certainly enable marketing to truly work.