Facebook is becoming more powerful. They are already the number one social media site by far, according to Pew Internet and users are using their facebook feeds as primary news sources. What does this mean for marketers? It means two things, first, what is in users facebook feed may be taken as news without further investigation and second, it means that marketers are going to have fight tooth and nail to make their content relevant.
Time is the new currency. Consumers are time compressed and having one site that meets their needs is one reason why they are spending so much time on facebook. Brands are struggling to get on facebook feeds, but we know from research that isn’t going to happen.
Advertisers are begging facebook to take their money as marketers have been taught to go where the eyes are but it has been my experience that ads on facebook don’t perform as well as more targeted ads. However, there may be a bigger danger for brands. People who share bad brand experiences on social media could cause brands to lose market share. How can brands prepare for a dominant portal?
1ne: Monitor social media and quantify threats to your brand/marketing. You’re not going to get it right the first couple of times so be prepared to fail and develop a system for feedback.
2wo: As facebook takes more online time, your content strategy is going to need to be revisited. You need to act like a consumer and ask “why do I want to read this?”.
3hree: Beware of the trolls. As the current election cycle is showing there are a lot of angry people out there and they love to zero in on brands they think are not responsive to their needs. Don’t bother to try and win them over, most are venting and there may not be anything you can do to say “we’re sorry”.
4our: The pendulum will eventually swing. Eventually, users will tire of facebook as their primary news source and new competitors will drain market share.
Following the eyes is not necessarily a winning strategy today. Engagement is more important than eyes and a form of engagement that few talk about is people actually reading your content.
