It seems nothing changes faster than the big social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Google . No sooner do marketers figure out how to best promote a product or business than they change the rules!
That’s been especially true for Facebook, which had to find new ways to make money after going public two years ago. Twitter has also been making changes since its IPO in November, but most of them?including a visual redesign, tagging people and uploading multiple photos?are geared toward user friendliness. Even Google , owned by Google, which went public way back in 2004, is constantly tweaking its features.
Forget the “Likes”
The tweaks bringing the most squeals of protest are those being made by Facebook. Basically, it has taken away users’ ability to reach (for free) all or even most of the people they’ve worked so hard to attract to their pages. In the past, the goal was to get as many people as possible to “like” your page or to “friend” you if you were using a personal page for marketing purposes. Now, Facebook makes you pay to get people to like your page by charging you to promote your posts, and then it makes you pay again to get your posts in front of them. That seriously devalues the “like.”
Only 5 to 10% of people following your business or brand pages (sometimes even less) will see what you share if you don’t pay for extra visibility via a “boosted post. So forget the “likes” and shift your focus from working to get people to follow your page to getting your content to your market.
Take Advantage of Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts
Facebook’s inexpensive ads and boosted posts actually offer some great benefits:
- Flexibility. Facebook allows you to create ads and boost posts for any number of reasons. For example, you can create content designed to drive people to your website; get them to engage with you; to sign up for an event; or even track visitors.
- Targeting. Did you know that when you create an ad on Facebook, you can choose the specific types of people you want to see the ad? Targeting on Facebook goes far beyond the traditional demographics of age, sex, and location. You can target people based on their interests. Are you a sports bar owner in Miami who wants to attract Chicago Bears fans to watch the games at your place every week? Facebook makes it super easy for you to reach people who live in your ZIP code, who are over 21 and who love the Bears.
- Reporting. Facebook offers very detailed reporting so you can rest assured that you will see exactly where your ad dollars are going. There is a slight learning curve to figure out the best ways to utilize the data, but it’s there for you.
Facebook’s ongoing changes should be a lesson to us all not to become too dependent on any single social media platform. All of the sites will continuously evolve to find the best mix of optimal user experience and profit. It’s up to us to keep up by changing the way we use them to optimize our marketing goals.
Want to learn more about boosting your brand on social media? Consider these AMA seminars:
Leveraging Social Media to Engage Customers and Build Your Brand
Mobile Marketing Boot Camp