I recently attended a monthly meeting of the Social Media Club of Fort Worth. The majority of those in attendance at the meeting handled their company's social presence or worked for an agency handling social media for other companies. The changes to Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and how they affect businesses and fan pages were a key topic in what turned into a good debate.
If you are not aware of the changes Facebook implemented, here's a decent summary from Mashable:
It has removed the "Top Stories" and "Most Recent" links on the top of the News Feed and replaced it with a smarter feed that adjusts content based on the last time you checked. If you haven't been on Facebook for three days, it will pull out the top stories from your network. This means you won't miss important relationship status changes, photos or big life events.
If you're a more frequent visitor of Facebook, your News Feed will be filled with more recent content in chronological order. The social network is also giving you the ability to tweak the top stories in your News Feeds by marking or unmarking updates as a "Top Story."
The main feeling was that these changes would greatly affect their ability to market to those they had easier access to before. And while I don't disagree that there will be some impact, I have to question the problem with the process.
I know, I know. I'm a businessperson; I'm supposed to be all for the greatest access to customers that I can get. But there's something in me that just can't accept that as the best way of doing business. Maybe I'm an out-of-age child of the social revolution. Maybe I inherited some old-school values about personal space; you can choose. But the bottom line is that the social phenomenon is built on one thing: Choice.
In essence, the changes that businesses are upset about are put in place to make Facebook a more targeted experience for the user, showing you what is most relevant first and leaving the less intriguing for further down the page. And if, as a company, you don't make it into this top tier for the Facebook user, maybe you should remember that people don't first get onto Facebook to connect with companies, but instead with people. I believe MySpace lost its edge because it forgot this simple fact. Maybe Facebook is making sure it doesn't follow the same path.
Eventually, users will warm to the change, and businesses will adapt to make use of the system. It's the way -- we've seen it before, and we'll see it again. If you think this is the last time Facebook will change its stripes, then I have news for you.
Thumbs up or down?
But as a business, how do you deal with the changes? The same way you always have; by staying informative and relevant. If you weren't doing this, then people weren't reading your messages to begin with. I was reading an article by Jay Baer about part of the Exact Target Social Media Series called "The Meaning of a Like." The article was titled: "The Real Reason Your Customers Don't Like You on Facebook." And though the title was surprising, the statistics were even more disheartening. Here are the findings:
Only 32 percent of people have ever Liked a company on Facebook
The average Facebook user Likes only 9.8 company pages
Thirty-nine percent of people who do Like a company on Facebook do not view the Like as permission for that company to market to them in their feed.
From a business perspective, these stats are staggering. Think of the scope for a moment. Only a third of people on Facebook Like companies -- and those who do only Like about 10 -- and many of them do so just to add color to their profiles. That says a lot about the mindset of a Facebook user and about the businesses that are vying for their eyes. It says that people do not exercise the Like freely, but instead choose their circles in earnest. This might be from years of seeing pointless ads from careless businesses.
Or maybe, just maybe, it might mean that they consider Liking a company on Facebook a grander expression of their support than we realize. What about you? How many companies do you Like on Facebook? And how much thought do you put into pressing that one tiny little button?
I think a lot of companies tend to use social media services like Facebook as a one-tier platform where they present out the information and updates about their products or services to the users. What they fail to realize is that Facebook is two-way communication which gives them a chance to interact with their customers and potential customers and get enormous feedback from them. Rather than posting ads of their products, companies should use their pages to engage into useful conversations with the users. The posts should be targeted to make users respond to them and participate into discussions. One useful feature I have seen recently is when companies throw out opinion polls to people who like their page. That's one good way of getting customer feedback.
I also separate Facebook and linkedin as friends vs. business. I have marked some companies which are important to me like former employers (which I still like) and a few other exceptions. However, I am not adding my work colleagues to my friends' list.
Since my Facebook is towards family and close friends the only advertising which reaches me are organizations like for breast cancer, music and hobby type. Most of my relatives or friends have the same thinking. I would say the business on Facebook is very specific.
Fantastic post as always. The perspective on the meaning of "like" is fascinating. I can say from my own experience that I silo my personal and professional lives. LinkedIn is for business, Facebook is friends and family. Not practical, but for the time being that's how I manage it.
The idea of a discriminating "like" on companies is interesting. I guess I like companies, but I'm more likely to like products. Also, I have to feel really strongly about something to like it. I'm more likely to trash something than praise it. I wonder if that is behind the trend we're seeing.
I think that is really true, that especially in the manufacturing engineering audience, it can be tough to get attention for your brand. Consumers do follow brands on Facebook, but its generally well-known, consumer products brands that sell things they like, and engage with games and big marketing dollars (there are exceptions to the rule, but, they are exceptions.)
I think the best thing a manufacturing or engineering co. could do is to play up what they offer and be creative in interacting with the audience. Are you a high-tech electronic product? Well then turn your page into a hub for future-trend news.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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