As the demographics of Facebook skew towards an older crowd, will the catalyst that allows businesses to better engage the Facebook masses change? There are some people who think so.
Jefferson Graham wrote an article in USA Today last week that highlights two ways that businesses are now engaging customers via Facebook.
1. Fan Pages - Fan pages are free Facebook sites that allow a Facebook user to “follow” a company. Originally, these pages were created for celebrities (ex. You can identify yourself as a fan of Shaquille O'Neal), but companies soon joined suit and created their own fan pages.
Some small businesses have had success with these pages. Graham highlights a nightclub in Hermosa Beach, CA that has a “fan base” of 650 Facebook users. The nightclub sends its fans frequent information regarding specials, discounts, and events.
However, while there are more than 100,000 small business fan pages on Facebook, not many companies are successful at using this method to promote business, (although the article does highlight several exceptions). The common thread for success with this strategy is consistently offering something of value to the end user. If you expect people to engage with your business out of goodwill or to gain a sense of community, you’ll be disappointed. It’s like feeding a stray cat...If you continue to feed it, it’ll stick around.
2. Targeted Advertising - This is where it gets interesting. Graham reports:
“Advertisers can now choose pay-per-click ads similar to Google's auction-based ad program, bidding on words and paying when someone clicks on their ad, or traditional ads based on 'impressions,' or the number of times an ad is presented.”
That’s not too exciting in and of itself, but think about the information Facebook has about its users—much more than Google could produce in a random internet search.
“Marketers increasingly are gravitating to Facebook because they can advertise to a targeted audience, says Emily Riley, an analyst at Forrester Research. She says marketers can pick and choose consumers based on public information they share on their Facebook profiles, such as the city they live in, the college they attended, their group affiliations and their fan pages.
‘You can literally find a book lover in New York who is a fan of Stephen King,’ says Riley. ‘That is gold for a local book seller. Brides tell their friends they're engaged, and wedding vendors can run ads specifically targeted to them.’”
This type of targeting is remarkable (and a little scary), but must be applied correctly if it is going to benefit a given business. The types of products and services that are easily promotable in Facebook are those which are transactional in nature. More specifically...the things that you can buy over the internet after viewing an advertisement.
This is where the demographic changes will have the largest impact. Older users are able to buy a much wider range of products and services, and they have more money to spend. Also, they feel less awkward about buying things within the framework of a social network. After all, they did not get involved in Facebook for the same reasons younger people got involved. Therefore, they will not feel the same level of annoyance when someone tries to market to them.
Where does this leave the hiring manager or recruiter who is trying to leverage the power of Facebook in their business? With regard to soliciting candidates, it would be difficult to apply either of the two previously mentioned methods of engaging Facebook users... However, social networks are a natural support to traditional word-of-mouth marketing. This will continue. But, unfortunately, marketing on a large scale basis to candidates via this channel will probably remain uncomfortable and expensive.
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