Social networks

Covent Garden based specialist marketing and design recruitment agency, Aquent, supported the Institute’s Women in Marketing Conference this year. Here they talk with Dave Kerpen, CEO, Likeable Media, on why the only choice is to be likeable on Facebook.

In the four years since Dave and Carrie Kerpen formed their company, social media has exploded to become a central element of word-of-mouth marketing, and much of that activity takes place on Facebook. In a recent Aquent webinar, Dave Kerpen demonstrated the myriad ways for organisations to use Facebook marketing to expand and extend their reach.

Word of mouth “has always been the best and truest form of marketing,” Kerpen said. “We all do business with people and businesses that we know, like, and trust. People trust their friends.” But he said Facebook has changed the definition of friendship to take in a far wider network of connections. The average Facebook user has 130 friends, and “that’s drastically different from how word of mouth could travel just a few years ago.”

The other advantage for marketers is consumers’ willingness to hear from companies and organisations via social networks. “Take your marketing hats off for a moment, put on your consumer hats, and think how you feel as a consumer about telemarketing, television commercials, and direct mail,” he said. Despite that sense of inundation, 85% of social media users are actually putting their hands up and saying, ‘I want to interact with you using social media.’ This means it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when and how you will join the conversation, and how effective you will be on Facebook.

Tips to get ‘liked’ on Facebook

• Have a great profile picture and a welcome tab that will grab attention on your fan page.
• Utilise the five most effective ways to engage your fans: Use Photos, video, links, questions and interactive applications (including polls, quizzes and virtual gifts to your advantage).
• Set up a content calendar and provide useful content.
• Share your content. Ask your fans what they think. Develop a news feed to share comments, gain attention and attract likes.
• Understand how Facebook works and target your perfect customers using Facebook ads.
• And, most importantly, make the conversation about your customers, not your organisation.

Facebook reported 500 million users in early autumn and is growing at a rate of 750,000 to one million users per day. It will likely reach one billion users in 2012 out of the 1.8 billion Internet users worldwide.