Inter Studio

Facebook is a wildly popular social media marketing platform, and yet in many ways, can be termed the wild-wild west of digital marketing. Just as the final frontier of email marketing was conquered in the times gone by, the Facebook social networking platform is being civilized by up-and-coming best practices, upgrading user experience, and Facebook’s own tightening norms for governing social media marketing and promotional campaigns.

In this post, we’ll put examine common misconceptions about social media marketing on Facebook. Read on.

Myth #1: A newly started Social Media Marketing campaign will go ‘viral’ on its own through user and fan communities

If the objective of your social media marketing effort is to “go viral”, Facebook’s objective is to stop that. Before you ask why, just consider what’s so special about going viral. The answer is: as opposed to purchased ad-space campaigns, a viral campaign relies on a variation of the most popular (and free) force in advertising: word of mouth. Essentially, a Facebook page or contest being ‘liked’ and shared on user walls is nothing else but spreading word of mouth. That’s just as may be, the fine folks at Facebook are as mindful of revenue enhancement as you are, and that’s why they WANT you to pay them to drive impressions and engagement through Facebook’s advertising platform. Apart from that, Facebook’s core promise of delivering an uncluttered user experience means that the virality you seek is unlikely to start organically (as it should, ideally). In the initial stages, the ‘viral’ campaigns would have to be artificially driven in order to gather a critical mass of Facebook buzz. Then you can let nature and social media marketing take their course.

Myth #2: A Consumer ‘liking’ my company’s Facebook page is engaging with my brand

Engagement via social media marketing will not happen unless you give your consumers an incentive for showing interest. A single click of the mouse to ‘like’ your page doesn’t get you there, nor does a filled out contact form. Think from a consumer perspective: what’s so exciting about you filling out a form that you’ll tell even your family about it with any degree of enthusiasm? So no, them liking your page can only be the beginning of their exposure to exclusive ‘fan only’ content that can include contests, sweepstakes, or even just fun-facts; things that are ultimately going to earn you some social media marketing brownie points, and actually get the users engaged.

Myth #3: Trolls will overwhelm my social media marketing campaign page

Remember, your users are not truly engaging with your brand if you’re not giving them a voice; the whole beauty of social media marketing is that user feedback cuts through all the layers and filters that exist in conventional marketing feedback methods. Understandably, this also gives some room to the crackpots (or genuinely disgruntled consumers), a reason why many organizations are genuinely scared of allowing consumers an online voice. Understand that people will behave as they do: they’ll share negative opinions, perhaps even call you names, and create a general ruckus. Prepare in advance by having a comprehensive moderation policy framed. Also, if you have a fair degree of standing among consumers (without which trolls are unlikely to waste time over you), for every troll that trashes you, you’ll have loyal consumers springing to you defense. It can be a good idea for your own consumers talk you up in a public forum (such as your Facebook page) that neutral readers may also read: you couldn’t plan a better ad!

We’re not yet done with common Facebook misconceptions. We’ll be back with more on Facebook and its optimal use for social media marketing.