Facebook Face-Off!
Published July 13, 2010 | 
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are you?
Who, who, who, who? – the who
A Facebook page is a free, no brainer way to market your company. Not having a Facebook page today suggests either a unique marketing mindset or lack of it… Some companies see social media is a way to really connect with their customers, provide better customer support and as a way to reach out to the next generation as well. Some companies simply feel they don’t need or have the time to deal with social marketing. I’m in the first group in that I think some companies will be regretting their lack of connection now in about 10 years or so.. but that’s my opinion and I could certainly be daft as brush…
As you can guess my Facebook musings had me wondering about sea kayaking manufactures use of Facebook. I wondered, who was on, and how many “friends” or “fans” they had. That number does not necessarily mean anything. Low numbers when compared to others could simply mean their audience does not use the web, (As hard as that is to believe these days!) or that they only recently got on the Facebook train. It could also suggest they are not worried about, or doing a poor job communicating in general. Maybe they set up a page, but don’t really tell anyone about it. Thing is, a “friend” or “fan” had to take an action to be there. They had to click a button at the businesses website, other web advertising, or search a company down on Facebook directly. The fan number does represent somewhat web savvy folks taking an action to connect with a kayak company, something meaningful in any marketing guy’s book.
So here are some of the sea kayak manufactures I found on Facebook and their current fan or friend numbers as of this morning:
- Epic currently has 1,164 “Fans”
- Wilderness System – 1,153
- Necky – 841
- P&H – 792
- Perception – 732
- Current Designs – 470
- Prijon – 367
- Tiderace – 225
- Sea Kayaking UK – 118
- Seaward – 49
- Rockpool – 17
- Valley – ?
- Impex - ?
I know I missed some, feel free to post other companies and their numbers as well!! (For sake of comparison Darren Bush’s (Owner of Rutabaga in Madison, WI) personal FB page just has Epic beat! )
So.. are these Facebook friend/fan numbers telling us anything? Maybe, maybe not. Interesting nonetheless!
2 Responses to Facebook Face-Off!
Derrick, not wanting to diss your story but I read this interesting article on advertising on Facebook: http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/2010/06/value-of-facebook-fan.html
TAC seems to think that “social Media” advertising is more hype and hope than substance; his articles however often are backed by alarming facts…
Interesting article. I didn’t catch the part where he said social media advertising had no value. I just woke up though, and my eyes are still blurry… What I read was that he felt that Syncapse did a lousy job explaining how they quantity their report. While he states:
“Syncapse clearly shows that there is a connection between Facebook fanhood and certain financial and marketing benefits to a brand.”
He questions the value of those fans, with “But to demonstrate that Facebook fanhood has value, they need to show that the connection is causal, not just a correlation.”
I think he’s asking good questions within the context of that report, however the bigger issue is if SM can be quantified in such a way at all. (SM is not a comfortable outlet for folks who lean toward mathematics and accountancy!)
It comes down to how we define “value”. Frankly that can mean different things to different companies. My impression is that companies often simply don’t understand the function of social media. They want a mathematical ROI which is mostly impossible to measure, but at the same time quite obvious. It’s like trying to measure the ROI of date. If you have one date, then go home and try to formulate the ROI of the date it won’t necessarily state the true value of the evening. You may have to invest lots of time and attention over weeks, months or years and the pay off may not be easily quantifiable but still valuable as we all know. Thing is, you can’t simply formulate the ROI of a relationship and that’s what SM is all about. We know the value of a relationship so frankly we don’t need to quantify it. These guys trying to come up with formulas to determine ROI on social media to my mind are either hacks or taking advantage of companies who have lost their souls long ago and simply can’t feel their toes anymore.
Having a Facebook page does nothing all by itself. Companies must be willing to interact regularly, directly and honestly almost daily and not worry about measurable sales that can be directly correlated to their Facebook page. The have to be aware that directly hawking their products in SM is a total fail. Customers & “Fans” expect you to talk about your products, but don’t want you hyping them 24/7. They want to talk to you. I think it’s most important that companies find charming, entertaining, sincere, people oriented people within their organization to manage their SM. These need to be folks who, while believing in their companies, are partial to advocating for their customers rather than the company. That’s why many companies hire ghost writers or 3rd parties to handle their social media. (Which is something I do in my “real” business by the way!).
In the end, the real value of a “fan” is that you simply have a customer who is willing to listen and learn more about you and your product. How you take advantage of that relationship will decide that person’s ultimate “value”.