Facebook is NOT Social Media – Here’s Why…

OK, of course Facebook is social media. It’s the de facto standard and the 800 lb gorilla of social media. But what I mean is advertising on Facebook isn’t social media.

Here’s what I mean.

If you’re planning on your post/boosted post/ad to go viral, you can forget it. It’s a rare occurrence and outside of adding cats* to your post, you can’t guarantee a post or ad will go viral, or even that anyone will share it just once.

What Facebook advertising is, is perhaps the best way to target your message.

Facebook can segment it’s 1,500,000,000 (1.5 billion) users by 88 main categories. And it gives that info to you – the business owner. Facebook Advertising

Want to segment by location – easy

How about by Net Worth? Folks looking to move? People who live in apartments? By age? By relationship status? Education? Job title? Life event? Political affiliation? Food or drink likes? Sports? Car? – All available – and stackable! 

That means you can target your ad to someone 20 miles from your store who is a financial professional that rides a motorcycle and has lived in his/her house for 20 years (if that’s who your target customer is.)

So, stop planning on your ad/page/post to go viral – chances are pretty good it won’t. Start planning your ads to hit the target people you’re looking for directly. Done right, it works like a charm.

Of course, if you need help with your lead generation and lead management, give us a call (973/736-3001)

* yes, I’m kidding – sort of.

What’s the Difference between Facebook Ads and Google Adwords?

What's the difference - Google Ads vs Facebook Ads - CellCon ConsultingFirst, let me say this is really the difference between Search and Social Media advertising – but I’m using the 2 800lb gorillas as examples.

It’s a question I get – a lot.  Before I tell you the differences, let me tell you what’s similar about them:

Both let you highly target your ad so it’s seen by who you want, and who your perfect target audience is. Both let you control the ad budget. Both give you reports on how well your ad is doing, and give you suggestions on how to expand your target audience.

Now for the main differences:

To me, it’s the difference between subliminal advertising and “in your face” advertising. Let me explain:

Facebook advertising from CellCon ConsultingI like to call Facebook ads Subliminal Advertising. Very very few folks go on Facebook looking for a business recommendation. They go on to play games, look at pictures, bitch complain about politics, etc. Sometimes they ask about a business for X, Y or Z.

But the chance they’re asking about your type of business is small. Very, very small. And even when they do, it will take an advocate of yours to (a) see it and (b) take the time to post on your behalf. Does it happen? Sure, but you’re not in control of the response when it does.

However, Facebook ads show up anyway. In your newsfeed, on your wall, in the groups you visit and the pages you like. Not to mention that they show up outside of Facecbook as part of the Facebook partner network.

So, while your customer may not be looking for your product or service while they’re wasting time reading about the latest news on Facebook, your highly targeted ad will appear. Numerous times. And if they’re interested, they’ll click (and if not, you’ll get tons of impressions for free, since you pay for a click, not an impression.)


Google advertising from CellCon ConsultingNow, Google is the exact opposite. When someone goes onto Google, they’re searching for something specific. Your ad appears when what they’re looking for is what you’re selling (and yes, in their partner network as well.) I call it In Your Face advertising. I’m looking for X… You sell X… Done.

And (IMHO) that’s the difference, in a nutshell.

Isn’t Social Media Marketing Free?

Isn't Social Media Marketing Free by CellCon ConsultingNo… No it’s not and it never was.

First of all, it always cost time. Not only the time to write a post or snap an Instagram photo, or write a tweet, but the time to do the followup and do it correctly.  Remember the first rule of Social Media. It’s SOCIAL. It’s designed for you (and/or your company) to create or join a community of people with similar interests.

So, if you walk into a new community and start off with “buy my stuff” – you’re D.O.A.  And, even if you post properly and follow the “rules of the road” if you don’t take the time to cultivate and grow the community, you will be dead soon enough.

So there was always a time cost.

But, now it actually costs money. Cash. Hard currency.

You see, when you write a basic post on Facebook, about 10% of the people who follow or like you will see it. That’s all. 10 out of 100.

Why? Because Facebook makes its money by selling information to advertisers.

You want more than 10% to see it. Facebook says “Boost it.”  – And by “boost” they mean “pay us some money.”

BUT…

It’s well worth it.   Why?? Because using social media you can target your message better than at any time or any other medium in history.  Think 10 years ago you could send a message to only women who are 25 miles from your location who have a child 0-3 months and like soccer?

No you couldn’t.

Today you can.

So, social media marketing is not free. It takes time. It takes money for the ad, and it takes expertise to know how to send a highly targeted message to a highly targeted audience and send them to a very specific landing page.

But done right, it’s sooooo worth it.

 

More Excellent Customer Service

Last week, I bought 2 tickets to the Blues, Wine and BBQ Festival in NJ, sponsored by the Garden State Wine Growers Association. The festival was to run from noon until 5, and we arrived at about 1:15.

After a wait to get to the front of the parking line, the very kind police officer directing traffic told me “Sorry, they’ve completely overbooked the event. We can’t let anyone else in.”

Disappointed, I emailed the GSWGA asking for a refund. Here’s the response I received from John Cifelli, Executive Director:

Adam,
What happened Saturday was unfair to you and disappointing to everyone involved, us included. I apologize for your experience. We could not have anticipated the crowd that attended (or in your case, tried to attend). We will have you fully refunded by the end of the week, and I would like to offer you two tickets to a future event as well. If you would share your mailing address, I will mail you these tickets.
See… See that right there. THAT’S the way you do it. “We screwed up, we’re sorry, here’s how we’ll fix it.
And from that, he gets pub on my blog, my FB page and a few other places. That folks, is excellent customer service in the wake of a disappointing “purchase.”
Learn from it – and do it.

And Who/How Gets it Right…

So no more than a few hours ago did I write about how a company is shooting itself in the foot with Social Media. READ THIS NOW TO LEARN HOW CUSTOMER SERVICE SHOULD WORK. Yes, I’m yelling but y’all really really really need to read this from an article in Forbes:

“I recently received a message from a good friend named Eileen Scully. She shared a heartwarming story from her friend Michael John Mathis. Michael had posted the following message on Facebook recounting an episode of lost glasses on a train:

I just experienced possibly the very best customer service of all time. A few weeks ago, I accidentally left my beloved Warby Parker reading glasses on the Acela. Annoyed, I bought myself another, identical, pair the following day. Today I received an unexpected package containing not one, but two pair of those same reading glasses, a copy of “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac and the following note:

Read the entire article HERE. Then memorize it. Then read it again.  THIS IS HOW BUSINESSES NEED TO WORK TODAY.  

Want to know how to go “viral?” DO THIS!

PS – I purchased my latest pair of glasses from Warby Parker and they truly do ROCK as a company – even without the above story!

 

Want to know how you SHOULD do Business?

I broke my glasses recently. The last pair I bought (last 2 pair actually) were from Sears. This week, Sears is having a half-price sale, which would bring my cost to about $150 – still a bit high for me.

So I remembered an internet company called Warby Parker and looked them up. They sent me (no charge) 5 pair of glasses to try on. When I had a question, I called and got:

  • A native English speaking person
  • On the first ring
  • Who answered my questions
  • Was pleasant

And what did I do? Wrote a blog post, wrote a FB post and tagged them…(oh and when I buy from them, it’ll cost me about $95 – a savings of about 35%)

Compare and Contrast:

I also called Sears about a snow-blower I bought last week and was supposed to be delivered (last) Friday.

I’m still waiting.

I’ve  called THREE TIMES over 3 days. Each time I get “You’ll get a call in 24-48 hours” – until I explained it was now 96 hours later and still no call.

ARE WE GETTING IT YET PEOPLE????

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