I can remember the conversation between my sister and me as clear as day (which is saying a lot for a woman in her forties teetering on the verge of menopause)… “Facebook? I’ve never heard of it… I’m happy with MySpace, thank you very much!” That was three or four years ago… and yes, I did “look” at it. I registered, took one glance and instantly developed a headache. I did give it a whole two days to try and connect with it… to “feel it” as my sister so adamantly had. But I am old and stubborn and set in my ways and besides, I was darn proud of the fact that I could maneuver myself around in MySpace just about as well as my 14 year old could!
Then one fateful day, while at lunch with my girlfriends from high school, the conversation of Facebook once again filled the air. I remember feeling my eyeballs roll as their excitement rounded the table. Almost every one of them had MySpace accounts, so why were they straying? Why would you want to have to start over, to learn a new trick? You know what they say about “old dogs”? But as the conversation persisted, it became a “who’s who” of the class of 1988, 1989 and even a few from 1987 and 1986! And trust me, there is NOTHING a woman loves more than getting the “dirty nitty-gritty” on past foes, friends and lovers alike. So that afternoon, I went home, pulled up the website and dusted off my user name and password… and there it was… that same headache. But, this time I persisted… I had a point this time; I wanted to see what “Jane” from Ms. Doe’s class looked like! (Especially after supposedly gaining 50 lbs.)
Today, I proudly claim over 230 “friends” and I know or have known each and every one of them. I’ve found friends that I hadn’t spoken to in years, I’ve found cousins, aunts, and uncles… but most importantly, I found my brother. My brother whom I had not seen or heard from since our father passed in 1986. Years I searched for him to no avail, but one day I posted something in passing about trying to find him and asking for any advice and literally within 48 hours, I had his house pulled up on Google Maps and with a little more digging found that he had been on Facebook all this time and now I have the only real connection to our father that is left in this world, I have my brother… and it’s all thanks to Facebook.
So, that’s all sappy and great you say, but what does this have to do with advertising my business? Well, less than a week ago, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zukerberg, announced, “As of this morning, 500 million people all around the world are actively using Facebook to stay connected with their friends and the people around them.”
With those kind of numbers, the question I have is… “What are you still holding out for? Why aren’t you or your business on Facebook?” Although almost everyone has a Facebook account now, it has become painfully apparent to me that the awareness of using Facebook (or any other Social Media outlet for that matter) as a marketing tool for businesses (especially small businesses), obviously hasn’t taken the same flight! Recently while attempting to put together a Social Media Plan for one of our clients in the “construction/real estate” business, it quickly became clear to me that there was a severe deficit of local and regional presence on Facebook for that industry. Is this because of the lack of understanding, lack of interest (“I’m not interested, so why would any of my customer’s be?”) or just not having the time to fool with it? That question remains unanswered for me at least, but what I do know is that in the Tallahassee-Thomasville market alone, there are currently over 113,960 users, age 18+. But when I went to narrow that target down to users in this market who work for or are connected to real estate companies, I found a grand total of 80 users, and that was from the seven companies I found that even had pages on Facebook! SEVEN? There are three to four pages of realtors and real estate companies in our local phone book and just about as many in the Chamber of Commerce Directory, but search after search only came up with 80 people who worked at or had some sort of connection to the seven companies who had taken the time to create a page on Facebook in our area. Now, just for kicks, I entered the exact same search for users in the Jacksonville market and the total number of users age 18+ tripled to over almost half a million!
So seriously, what are you waiting for? I’ve been in the advertising industry for well over a decade now and whether you are young, middle aged or “seasoned” in years, this is it! Social Media is here, it’s where people are and if you aren’t utilizing it in some form or fashion within your businesses’ marketing efforts, you’re not just behind the margin, you’re missing it all together. Now I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that Social Media marketing is easy, it requires dedication and hard work if you truly want a return on your investment. If you’re not willing to learn, put in the time and socialize; then you’ll just be spinning your wheels, blowing your money and going nowhere fast.
On that note, Social Media isn’t free…it does cost time and money depending upon your target audience and your geographical reach. But if time is an issue, you can save a great deal of it by contracting the work out to an agency (like Kidd Group) that already knows the ropes and is always up-to-date on the latest technology! Think about it, do you really want your 21 year old receptionist or unpaid intern who may know their way around Facebook well enough, but inevitably spends more time looking at the pictures posted from last night’s Frat party being the voice of your business? Whichever route you take remember it takes time to build these relationships and connections; you won’t get immediate results. So patience (and persistence) is the key here. Social Media marketing has been around for years, so this isn’t the newest “band wagon” that you need to jump on. Like I said before, you’ve already missed the train and it will take time to catch up.
Last but not least, don’t be fooled into believing that just because you have a Facebook Page or add an icon to your website that “indicates” you’re on Facebook (or Twitter) will magically do the trick. Social Media is all about making connections with the people that use your product or services, that need your product or services in some form or fashion, it’s about interacting with them, learning from them… Socializing with your consumer.