Can you afford to ignore Facebook?

NrupalDas

[ Edit : Edited title, recategorized ]

Well on the first look it seems a stupid question. The first reply can be why the hell should I ignore Facebook.

However I would like to spell out some of my observation which would need your insights and thoughts.

1) Should online start ups focus on facebook for brand building, visits and sales conversion etc?

a) There is a perception that presence in FB is somewhat vital. The number likes are a way to show your users "like" you and you can get visits, sales n others.

b) As the name suggest "likes" is a stamp that people like you but they dont love you. So sometimes they do not do the way you want them to do. Share your words, buy your things or make you more popular.

c) Your competitors are mopping up likes by some means or the others and you simply just can stay behind.

d) The cost of acquisition of FB likes - Does it really translates into better brand building, sales or visits.

* Cost of acquisition might include the number of man hours you put in you FB page, FB ads or any other paid means which fetches you FB likes.

e) There is also an perception that each and every kind of website should have its presence in FB (new ones specifically, to get a pie of social media traffic). News websites, recipes, restaurants .. name any. (Well exclude the obvious big shots - manufacturing n others)

f) In many cases the cost of FB likes acquisition in no where near the number of visits it generates from the FB pages.

Should these website ignore FB. Do we have cases where FB pages have been closed after due diligence ?

I recently saw a web directory saying that apart from approving your website (paid plan) it will also send out your links to thousands of FB fans and twitter fans. Although I am puzzled how a web directory manages so much interest and likes in FB, but still it claims as USP in terms of it business by leveraging FB fans.

Now it seems many website are clubbing their advertisement plans along with promotion in FB through their FB pages.

sumandash

well I have got my first few sales via Facebook and then I spent some more to get more likes and received some more orders, so it worked for me. of course not all the likes convert into sales, but more number of likes definitly help in branding/positioning and building trust in the mind of a new customer who lands on the page!

thanks

Suman

sinha

Great question.
Frankly, I am not really sure whether a brand's value is related to FB likes (unless one is a brand manager, waiting for the next appraisal cycle).

In fact, we did ignore Facebook on Pluggd.in and added the FB like box only 3 months back - was that a good idea? Well, I don't really care how many likes do we have - but I know for sure that a lot of people have bought FB fans (@Rs. 4-5/like) in order to boost the number.

The real traction is in discussion and that's what one should focus on - i.e. engagement on FB and that works quite well, I believe (much better than other channels).

yatendra

I like what facebook had done with open graph. Its a natural progression from likes. Now you could define custom actions and objects and your actions get shared with your friends giving you ability to generate recommendations based on social activity of a user and friends, making it a bit more relevent is many cases. But again this might not suit to all products and actions. People in real life dont do everything socially and tell friends about it. This is suitable only to things that people would tell friends about or discuss with them.

Ganesh

A straight and simple answer is NO.

sukhneer

You cant afford to ignore facebook ! Even a half successful FB campaign can pull all your servers down. Companies have had ipo's thats to facebook.

You question is fixated on likes acquisition. Like's by no means should the metrics to judge your social campaigns. Most of the likes that you buy from 'brokers' are made using fake accounts unless u actually do a targeted media buy on facebook you will not get a good audience.

a) fb is vital but your sales number will still depend on how you market.

b) How do you make someone 'like' something ? ( By proving that others 'like' it also ! ) Its better to start your marketing by first buying a few 1000's likes. [ I can write an answer as long as a book but ill stop here now]

c) In the end the quality of likes is what matters.

d) No. but marketing to your acquired audience will.

e) Be social. Having a presence and being social are different things.

f) Promotion to fans = Visits. ( likes not eq visits)

NrupalDas

@sukhneer - Thanks for your detailed answer. My question was fixated on likes since still many companies, websites have a perception that likes is a valid metric for "being social". Nevertheless I agree with what all of you have said, specifically that the key is the "discussion about your company" or the power of creation of social buzz.

Now do we know any way in which the social buzz can be quantified so that we move out from the obviously quantified - "number of likes". Do we have any app which can come up with a social buzz score - very much similar to page rank or moz rank - which seems trustable to a large extent.

sukhneer

@NrupalDas I have lately been asking the same question to myself. Whats the best metric to measure social ?

I do not have a final answer for it yet. for now you have to make up a metric that best matches your line of business. Maybe the number of coupons shared would be a good start.

Here a good read on the subject

http://www.pluggd.in/metrics-that-matter-in-startups-297/

NrupalDas

Thanks buddy.

saipothuri

for me i got a lot of whole world out of FB.. and i even dont say that its waste.. but it got its stand.. for me for my business we depend on FB very less.. Our core issue is to take care of present customer, who comes again and again and next again with his friends and thats how a real and practical business grows up. But i even wont say that as it happened to me it has happened to all

Thanks

Sai

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